How to Mint an NFT for Free
While NFT may have lost some of its luster as compared to the past, it still retains a large community of creators and investors. Some of the most expensive NFTs can cost up to millions. Everyone wants to mint an NFT, but not everyone can afford them due to sky-rocketing gas fees.
But did you know that you can mint NFTs for free? Though some marketplaces charge expensive gas fees to mint your digital art, new marketplaces are coming up with cheaper and better ways to mint.
In this article, we will look at different ways to mint an NFT for free without having to worry about paying gas fees.
What Are NFTs?
NFTs are non-fungible tokens, unique packets of digital data representing ownership that cannot be replaced by anything else. NFTs can be anything digital, such as music, sketches, artworks or drawings. But these days, the greatest excitement is around using technology to sell digital art.
The growing popularity of NFTs has attracted many creators and artists looking for blockchain-based technology to monetize their talents and earn profits. NFT artist Beeple, known for his top-selling NFTs, had an image sold for $69 million at Christie’s.
NFT minting is the process of uniquely publishing your token on a blockchain to make it purchasable. In simple terms, minting is converting your digital file into a digital asset that can be bought or sold by adding it to a blockchain, typically that of Ethereum.
NFT markets have quickly grown, and myriad digital files are exchanged daily. But buying, selling and transferring NFTs typically comes with high gas fees. In fact, the average cost of minting an NFT could be as high as $500 on OpenSea. While Nifty Gateway has created a smart contract to significantly reduce gas fees, who among us wouldn’t prefer being able to sell their NFT art free of fees?
Minting NFTs for Free
Blockchains are decentralized networks that aren’t owned by any central authority. Miners maintain the blockchain and mint creators’ NFTs by using their own computing power and resources, earning gas fees as an incentive in return.
You may be wondering: If there are fees involved in minting tokens, how is it possible to sell NFT art for free?
To overcome the higher gas fees, you can try lazy minting, whereby an NFT is available outside the blockchain and is only minted after a sale. This means you don’t have to pay gas fees as they are borne by the buyers instead. Some of NFT creators’ most preferred NFT marketplaces for minting NFTs for free include OpenSea and Rarible. While a less popular platform, Mintable also allows you to mint NFTs for free with an Easy option that creates gasless NFTs.
OpenSea
OpenSea is the first and largest marketplace for NFTs, where you can buy and sell any digital goods in the form of assets stored on the blockchain. It supports multiple blockchains like Ethereum, Polygon and Solana, focusing on growing the marketplace for creators, buyers and sellers.
Creating an NFT on OpenSea is free, but selling it is not. The OpenSea marketplace charges sellers two prices before they can sell NFTs on the platform. The first fee is charged while initializing an account, priced between $70 and $300. The second fee of $10 to $30 is required to enable OpenSea to access the NFT. This platform is among the most trusted and preferred by NFT traders.
How to Mint NFTs for Free on OpenSea
Follow the step-by-step guide below to mint your first NFT on OpenSea for free.
1. Create a MetaMask wallet account
To sign in to OpenSea, you must log in through your cryptocurrency wallet account, which supports multiple blockchain networks. The most commonly used wallet on OpenSea is MetaMask, which can be created and used for free.
Source: MetaMask
2. Create an OpenSea account and connect a wallet
Then, create an OpenSea account and link your wallet to it.
Source: OpenSea
3. Set up your NFT collection
Next, set up your first OpenSea collection by going to your Profile icon on the upper right, and click on My Collections. Then, Create a single NFT, or click on Create a Collection. Fill in the relevant fields — your name, logo, descriptions, price and royalties, etc.
Source: OpenSea
4. Select Polygon Network
Since Ethereum gas costs can be high, make sure to switch to the Polygon Network at this step to make your minting process gas-fee-free.
Source: OpenSea
5. Start minting
Begin minting NFTs by clicking on the collection, and then on the Add item option. This will open up the form. Upload the piece of media that you want to convert into an NFT. Click on Create.
Source: OpenSea
Now you’re done. You’ve just minted your first NFT on the Polygon Network, without paying gas fees. If you want to sell this NFT, click on Sell and proceed.
Rarible
Rarible is an Ethereum-based platform that facilitates the creation and sale of digital assets on blockchains. Rarible is both a marketplace and a network built on Ethereum that facilitates trade between them. It even has its own token, RARI, an ERC-20 governance token that allows its holders to propose improvements to the marketplace.
How to Mint NFTs for Free on Rarible
To create NFTs for free on Rarible, follow the steps given below:
- Go to their official website, Rarible.com, click on Sign in, and connect your crypto wallet account.
- Next, click on Create and choose the type of NFT you want to create, Single or Multiple. If you’re choosing to make a collection, select Multiple. Upload the image(s) and fill out all the information — title, description and price — to mint your NFT.
- The next step is to choose the type of NFT minting. To enable lazy minting on Rarible, switch Free minting to On.
- Click on Create item and sign authorizations with your wallet. Now you’re done!
Source: Rarible
Source: Rarible
Source: Rarible
Source: Rarible
When your NFT is sold on Rarible, it will be minted, which automatically transfers the gas fees to the buyer.
Mintable
Mintable is another Ethereum-based platform. What differentiates it from others is that its gasless NFT creation process isn’t just free, but also easy. With its breezy steps, it’s an ideal platform for beginning users. That said, it has a 5% service fee for the completion of a sale.
How to Mint NFTs for Free on Mintable
If you want to mint an NFT for free, just follow these steps:
- Visit the official site at mintable.app. Sign up and create your account on Mintable.
- Once sign-up is completed, connect your wallet to Mintable. Then click on Mint.
- You’ll have the option to create a new item after clicking on Mint. Next, choose between the available options for minting. Choose the Easy mode for the minting, which will automatically help you create a gasless NFT for free.
- Fill in the details about your NFT and upload the digital file you want to tokenize. Once done with these steps, click on List this item.
- Sign a message to list your NFT for sale, and it's done. Your NFT will be listed and available for purchase at Mintable Gasless Shop.
Source: Mintable
Source: Mintable
Source: Mintable
How to Sell Your NFTs
Once you’ve minted your NFT, the next step is promoting it with a systematic marketing plan that helps you reach potential buyers. The crypto and NFT marketplace is saturated daily, so it's essential to ensure buyers find your creation and buy it the right way. Once you “drop” your NFT, your next task is to let the world know about it. The following points can help you if you’re wondering how to reach NFT collectors.
Create a Community
Community plays a significant role in any online business. As an artist or creator, building a community where you can talk to your followers, connect with them and introduce them to your projects is essential.
Continuous engagement in the community can help your NFT price increase, and your asset will be worth building upon. When you plan to create an NFT, let the people in your community know about it. Your NFT should be the only thing discussed within your community. You can get help from various community managers, who can do this work for you for a fee.
Promote Your NFTs
Promoting your digital art is not a one-day task. You must create hype around your NFTs within your community (and crypto nerds) to get traffic on your marketplace and help the artwork reach a higher price. NFT promotion can be done within the community and across available social media platforms to engage multiple users toward your artwork. Using tools like NFT Calendar, you can launch your NFT on a large scale.
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NFT Calendar
As an aspiring NFT creator, your first step toward promoting your NFT should be NFT Calendar, which you can use to build hype around your NFT drops. NFT calendar allows you to list events for free, and to set up your calendar for the date you release your NFTs. Fill in all the required details about your artwork and submit it. Your event will show on the upcoming NFT drops sections in NFT Calendar.
Use Social Media
Social media is undoubtedly the most effective tool for marketing your NFT. It doesn't matter if you have a large enough promotion budget; you can still gain popularity on social media with the right marketing skills. Platforms like Medium, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter (most used), Discord and TikTok can be immensely helpful when promoting NFTs online.
Collaborate With Influencers Regarding Your Artwork
This decade is undoubtedly the period of influencers and collaborations that can help your artwork reach more people and create awareness about your product. Tech influencers on different platforms can help you promote your NFT in their community, and can kick-start your project’s journey. Their promotions will definitely contribute to substantial traffic on your landing page.
Conclusion
If you’re a digital art creator, explore NFTs and mint one for free to see if this interests you. If you find this space as exciting as your artwork, you can also try out other NFT marketplaces that charge gas fees — but which also provide a good amount of return. Who knows, you may very well be the next Pak or Beeple.
