On Ethereum and most EVM chains, every transaction needs gas, paid in the chain's native token. For new users that is a wall: before they can use your app, they have to buy ETH on an exchange and move it to the right network. A paymaster removes that wall. It is a smart contract, part of account abstraction (ERC-4337), that pays the gas for a user's transaction, either as a gift from you or in exchange for a token the user does have, such as USDC.
What We Build
- Gas sponsorship: you pay the gas for your users, within the rules and budgets you set.
- Token paymasters: users pay gas in USDC or another ERC-20 token instead of ETH.
- Custom paymasters: your own sponsorship logic when a managed service cannot express your rules.
- Integration with managed services such as Alchemy Gas Manager, Biconomy and zkSync's native paymasters.
How a Paymaster Works
With ERC-4337, a user's smart account signs a "user operation" instead of a normal transaction. A bundler collects these operations and submits them to the EntryPoint contract. If the operation names a paymaster, the EntryPoint first asks the paymaster whether it agrees to pay. If it does, the gas is taken from the paymaster's deposit in the EntryPoint, and after execution the paymaster gets a chance to settle, for example by charging the user in tokens.
Managed Service or Your Own Paymaster?
For many apps, a managed paymaster service is the fastest route: you configure a policy, fund a balance and integrate an API. Your own paymaster contract makes sense when you need rules the service cannot express, want to avoid per-transaction fees or dependence on one provider, or need tight integration with your own contracts. We help you choose, and often start with a managed service and move to a custom paymaster once volume or requirements justify it.
What to Watch
- Abuse: anything free attracts bots. Sponsorship needs limits per user, per action and per day.
- Funding: a paymaster with an empty deposit silently breaks your app. Monitor balances and refill automatically.
- Validation rules: bundlers only accept paymasters that follow ERC-4337's validation rules, which limit what the paymaster may check during validation.
- Chain support: paymasters work on chains with ERC-4337 infrastructure; zkSync has a native alternative with its own model.
Frequently Asked Questions about Paymasters
Do users need a smart account to use a paymaster?
With ERC-4337, yes: the paymaster pays for user operations from smart accounts. Regular wallets can get a similar experience through meta-transactions and relayers, see gasless signing flows.
Which chains support paymasters?
Ethereum and most major EVM layer 2 networks, such as Base, Arbitrum, Optimism and Polygon, have ERC-4337 infrastructure. zkSync supports paymasters natively in its protocol.
What does sponsoring gas cost?
The network fees of the transactions you sponsor, plus a fee if you use a managed service. On layer 2 networks, fees per transaction are usually low, which is why sponsorship is common there.
Who owns the code?
Ownership of the source code is set out in the contract, and the code can be fully yours, including documentation and tests.
Make Your App Gasless
Tell us who your users are and which actions should be free or payable in tokens. We will design the paymaster setup and the limits that keep it sustainable.
Book a free call about paymasters
Alchemy Gas Manager Integration: Sponsored Gas Policies
Alchemy Gas Manager integration: sponsor gas for ERC-4337 smart accounts with spending policies, allow-lists and limits, plus monitoring and fallback.
Biconomy Integration: Smart Accounts and Paymaster
Biconomy integration: smart accounts, gas sponsorship and ERC-20 gas payment through Biconomy's paymaster and bundler, set up with sensible limits.
Custom Paymaster Development: Your Own Sponsorship Rules
Custom paymaster development for rules a managed service cannot express: NFT-gated or subscription-based sponsorship, on-chain conditions, your back office.
Token Paymaster: Let Users Pay Gas in USDC or Any ERC-20
Token paymaster development: users pay network fees in USDC or other ERC-20 tokens instead of ETH, with reliable pricing, safe charging and automatic refills.
ZKsync Paymaster Development: Native Account Abstraction
ZKsync paymaster development using native account abstraction: sponsored gas and approval-based token payments, built into the protocol itself.