Guides / Airdrop tokens to holders
How to airdrop tokens to Solana token holders
How to reward the current holders of a Solana token: take a snapshot, clean the list, and send in batches — plus what it really costs.
Updated October 29, 2026
1. Take a snapshot
A snapshot is the list of wallets holding a token at one moment, with balances. Take it as close to the airdrop as possible and announce the snapshot time in advance so nobody is surprised. See how to get a holders list for the technical details.
2. Clean the list
- Remove pool and exchange addresses. Tokens sent to a liquidity pool vault or an exchange hot wallet do not reach a person.
- Remove burn addresses, your own wallets and team wallets unless they are meant to receive.
- Set a minimum balance to skip dust wallets — each new recipient costs rent (below).
- Decide the split: the same amount for everyone, or proportional to balance.
3. Send in batches
Solana transactions have a size limit of 1,232 bytes, so a multisender splits the list into batches. On SolKit, SOL transfers go 18 per transaction and token transfers 6 per transaction (each token transfer may also need to create the recipient's token account). You approve all batches at once and each is confirmed with its own explorer link. Send a small test first.
What it costs
For a token airdrop, the biggest cost is usually rent for new token accounts, not tool fees. A recipient who has never held your token needs an associated token account, which currently requires a deposit of about 0.00149 SOL, paid by the sender. Example for 600 new recipients on SolKit:
| Batches | 600 ÷ 6 = 100 |
| SolKit fee | 100 × 0.005 = 0.5 SOL |
| Token account rent | 600 × 0.00149 ≈ 0.893 SOL |
| Network fees | well under 0.01 SOL |
Recipients who already hold the token need no new account, so airdropping to existing holders is cheaper than to fresh wallets. Rent values are being reduced in steps by SIMD-0437; the tool always uses the live value.
Very large lists
For tens of thousands of recipients, a claim-based design (a Merkle distributor where users claim and pay their own account rent) can be cheaper than pushing tokens to everyone.