What a Solana mixer costs to use

About ten cents a note, and almost all of it goes to the chain rather than to anyone running this.

There is no percentage cut on TornadoSol. You pay Solana, and you pay a small relayer margin if you use one. Here is the whole bill, measured from the lamport deltas of a real deposit and withdrawal rather than estimated.

itemSOLwhat it is
deposit transaction0.000005ordinary network fee
nullifier record0.001002permanent on-chain rent
withdrawal transaction0.000005ordinary network fee
relayer margin0.000015at the floor
total per note0.001027—

Why one line dominates

Roughly 97% of the total is the nullifier record — the entry proving a note has been spent. It has to outlive the note permanently, or the note becomes spendable a second time, so the chain charges rent for it once and forever. It is not a fee anyone chose to levy and no operator receives it.

The cost is flat, so the denomination decides

The same ~0.001 SOL covers a 0.1 SOL mix and a 10 SOL mix. That is about 1% of the first and 0.01% of the second. If cost matters to you, the answer is a larger denomination, not a different mixer.

Timing is free and matters more

Waiting costs nothing and buys more privacy than any fee optimisation. A withdrawal in the same block window as its deposit is paired by timing regardless of the proof. Leave a real gap, and let deposits accumulate behind yours.

Also worth reading: the step-by-step guide and why an exchange is not a substitute.