Wei / Gwei / ETH Converter
Convert between all Ethereum denomination units instantly. Enter any amount in Wei, Gwei, Ether, or any other unit and see every conversion at once — plus the USD equivalent.
How Wei / Gwei / ETH Converter Works
Convert between Wei, Gwei, and ETH instantly. Ethereum unit converter with USD value — runs privately in your browser. Select your input and output formats, enter your value, and the tool converts it instantly in your browser with no server calls.
Understanding Ethereum Denominations
Ethereum uses a system of denominations similar to how traditional currencies have sub-units (cents, pence). The smallest unit is Wei, and the most commonly used unit is Ether (ETH). Between them sit several intermediate units, each named after influential cryptographers and computer scientists who contributed to the foundations of digital currency and cryptography.
The full denomination ladder spans 18 orders of magnitude. One Ether equals exactly 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 Wei (1018). This extreme precision is intentional — smart contracts on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) perform all arithmetic in Wei using integer math, completely avoiding the floating-point rounding errors that plague traditional financial software.
The Seven Ethereum Units
Wei (100) — named after Wei Dai, creator of b-money — is the atomic unit. Every balance and transfer on-chain is stored in Wei. Kwei (103), also called Babbage after Charles Babbage, and Mwei (106), also called Lovelace after Ada Lovelace, are rarely used in practice but exist for completeness.
Gwei (109), also known as Shannon after Claude Shannon, is the most important intermediate unit. It is the standard denomination for gas prices. When a wallet displays "base fee: 25 Gwei," it means each unit of gas costs 25 billion Wei. This keeps numbers human-readable — saying "25 Gwei" is far easier than "25,000,000,000 Wei."
Microether (1012), called Szabo after Nick Szabo (who conceptualized smart contracts), and Milliether (1015), called Finney after Hal Finney (Bitcoin's first recipient), bridge the gap to Ether (1018). These units occasionally appear in documentation and developer tools.
Example
Converting 21,000 Gwei (a basic transfer gas cost)
- Wei: 21,000,000,000,000 (2.1 x 1013)
- Gwei: 21,000
- Ether: 0.000021 ETH
- At $2,500/ETH: $0.0525 USD
Who Uses Which Unit?
Smart contract developers work in Wei because Solidity and the EVM handle only integers. Users and wallets display balances in Ether. Gas trackers and fee estimators report in Gwei. Understanding all three is essential for anyone interacting with the Ethereum ecosystem, whether you are sending a transaction, deploying a contract, or analyzing on-chain data.
This converter handles the full 18-decimal-place precision using string-based arithmetic, so you will never encounter rounding errors — even with very large Wei values or very small Ether fractions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Wei?
Wei is the smallest denomination of Ether (ETH). 1 ETH = 10^18 Wei. It is named after Wei Dai, the cryptographer who created b-money. Smart contracts operate in Wei to avoid floating-point errors.
What is Gwei?
Gwei (gigawei) equals 1 billion Wei or 10^9 Wei. It is the standard unit for Ethereum gas prices. When you see gas at "30 Gwei", that means 30 billion Wei per unit of gas.
Why does Ethereum have so many units?
Different units serve different purposes. Wei is used in smart contracts for precision, Gwei is used for gas fees to keep numbers readable, and Ether is used for transactions and balances. It is similar to how currencies have cents and dollars.
How many Wei are in 1 ETH?
1 ETH = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 Wei (10^18). This gives Ethereum 18 decimal places of precision, far more than most currencies.
When do I use Gwei?
Gwei is primarily used when setting gas prices for Ethereum transactions. Wallet apps and gas trackers report prices in Gwei because the numbers are human-readable (e.g., 20-100 Gwei) rather than billions of Wei.
What is a Shannon?
Shannon is an older name for Gwei (10^9 Wei), named after Claude Shannon, the father of information theory. The Ethereum community now uses "Gwei" almost exclusively, but you may see "Shannon" in older documentation.