How to Track Blob Fees and Usage
Tracking Blob fees and usage can be done most directly by using data dashboards like Dune Analytics to view EIP-4844 related metrics, or by directly querying each Ethereum transaction carrying Blobs on a block explorer (such as Blockscout). Blobs are a temporary, low-cost data storage format introduced by EIP-4844 (Proto-Danksharding), primarily used by Layer 2 networks to batch submit transaction data to the Ethereum mainnet.
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Where to Look: Key Data Sources
Here are several tracking methods suited to different user habits:
Scenario A: Using Dune Data Dashboards (Recommended)
This is the most comprehensive approach. Dune has dedicated datasets for Blobs (e.g., hildobby/blobs) with preset query dashboards.
Visit the Dune Analytics website, enter "blob" in the search bar, or directly search for the author "hildobby"'s Blob dashboard.
You can view 7 core metrics:
blob_total_fees: Check total fees and network congestion.
blob_base_fee: Get the real-time base fee for Blobs (price signal).
blob_data_inflow: Track the data inflow of L2 chains (reflecting L2 activity).
blob_storage_size: View the historical cumulative storage size.
blob_chain_ratio: Analyze the proportion of Blob usage across different chains (e.g., Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum).
blob_recent_24h: Monitor data from the last 24 hours.
blob_fullness: Check the fill efficiency of Blobs.
Completion Standard: Successfully open the dashboard and see the current Blob base fee and a trend chart of usage changes over the past 24 hours.
Scenario B: Querying on a Block Explorer (Precise Tracing)
If you want to check the specifics of a particular transaction or block, you can directly operate on a Blob-supported explorer.
Open a browser that supports Blob view, such as Blockscout.
Enter a transaction hash (Tx Hash) or block number that includes a Blob transaction.
On the transaction details page, you will see a "Blob" submenu. Click into it, and you can see:
Blob count and hashes: The number of Blobs contained in the transaction (maximum 6).
Data size: Each Blob is fixed at 131,072 bytes.
Gas fee: Blob Gas Price, independent of regular gas.
Actual Blob data: Downloadable or viewable raw data.
When viewing a block page, if the block contains Blob transactions, the top will display the number of "Blob txns".
Completion Standard: Successfully locate a transaction containing Blobs in the explorer and view its Blob Gas fee and the block's "Excess Blob Gas" data.
Key Data Interpretation
| Data Metric | How to Read | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| Blob Base Fee | Blob Gas price in Dune dashboard or explorer | Similar to EIP-1559, the price is automatically adjusted by network congestion. |
| Excess Blob Gas | Excess Gas data in block details | Reflects the Blob load of the current block. The target is 3 Blobs per block; if it contains 6, the fee will rise. |
| Blob Fill Efficiency | blob_fullness in Dune dashboard | Check whether Rollups are fully utilizing Blob space, which affects L2 transaction costs. |
| Data Storage Period | Technical documentation | Blob data is stored in the consensus layer for approximately 18 days (4096 Epochs) and is automatically deleted after timeout. |
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Confirmation of Completion
If you successfully loaded the Blob dashboard on Dune, or viewed a Blob-carrying transaction in a block explorer and confirmed that its Blob Gas fee and size match the description, you have mastered the tracking method. Next, you can periodically check the Dune dashboard to monitor network fee trends, or use private RPC tools to automatically record Blob data for your own transactions (for example, using the blobwatcher tool to monitor your execution client's mempool).
