Smart Contract Costs & Constraints

This page covers the costs and constraints specific to smart contract development on Algorand. For a complete list of all protocol parameters including transaction fees, minimum balances, and other network-wide settings, see the main protocol parameters page.

Protocol Parameters Complete list of all Algorand protocol parameters including transaction fees, minimum balances, and network-wide constants

Program Constraints

Program Size Limits

Type	Constraint
Logic Signatures	Max size: 1000 bytes for logic signatures (consensus parameter LogicSigMaxSize). Components: The bytecode plus the length of all arguments
Smart Contracts	Max size: 2048*(1+ExtraProgramPages) bytes Components: ApprovalProgram + ClearStateProgram

Note

ExtraProgramPages or Extra App Pages specifies the number of additional pages for each of the application’s approval and clear state programs. An ExtraProgramPages of 1 means 2048 more total bytes, or 1024 for each program. This effectively allows the size limit to be increased from 2KB to 8KB. This parameter allows up to 3 additional pages to be requested. However, requesting additional pages will increase the minimum balance requirement for creating the application.

Application Call Arguments

Parameter	Constraint
Number of Arguments	Maximum 16 arguments can be passed to an application call. This limit is defined by the consensus parameter MaxAppArgs
Combined Size of Arguments	The maximum combined size of arguments is 2048 bytes. This limit is defined by the consensus parameter MaxAppTotalArgLen
Max Size of Compiled TEAL Code	The maximum size of compiled TEAL code combined with arguments is 1000 bytes. This limit is defined by the consensus parameter LogicSigMaxSize
Max Cost of TEAL Code	The maximum cost of TEAL code is 20000 for logic signatures and 700 for smart contracts. These limits are defined by the consensus parameters LogicSigMaxCost and MaxAppProgramCost respectively
Argument Types	The arguments to pass to the ABI call can be one of the following types: boolean, number, bigint, string, Uint8Array, an array of one of the above types, algosdk.TransactionWithSigner, TransactionToSign, algosdk.Transaction, Promise<SendTransactionResult>. These types are used when specifying the ABIAppCallArgs for an application call

Note

These limits are part of the Algorand protocol’s consensus parameters which are designed to manage the computational and storage resources of the Algorand network, ensuring that application calls do not consume excessive resources, which could negatively impact the performance and scalability of the network

Opcode Constraints

In Algorand, the opcode budget measures the computational cost of executing a smart contract or logic signature. Each opcode (operation code) in the Algorand Virtual Machine (AVM) has an associated cost deducted from the opcode budget during execution.

Parameter	Constraint
Cost of Opcodes	Most opcodes have a computational cost of 1. Some operations (e.g., SHA256, keccak256, sha512_256, ed25519verify) have larger costs.
Budget Constraints	Max opcode budget: Smart signatures: 20,000 units Smart contracts invoked by a single application transaction: 700 units. If invoked via a group: 700 * number of application transactions.
Clear State Programs	Initial pooled budget must be >= 700 units or higher. Execution limit: 700 units.

Note: Algorand Python provides a helper method for increasing the available opcode budget, see algopy.ensure_budget.

Stack

In Algorand’s Algorand Virtual Machine (AVM), the stack is a key component of the execution environment.

Parameter	Constraint
Maximum Stack Depth	1000. If the stack depth is exceeded, the program fails.
Item Size Limits	The stack can contain values of either uint64 or byte-arrays. Byte-arrays may not exceed 4096 bytes in length.
Type Limitation	Every element of the stack is restricted to the types uint64 and bytes.
Item Size Limit	Maximum size for byte arrays is 4096 bytes. Maximum value uint64 is 18446744073709551615.
Operation Failure	Fails if an opcode accesses a position in the stack that does not exist.

Resources

In Algorand, the access and usage of resources such as account balance/state, application state, etc., by applications are subject to certain constraints and costs:

Resource Access Limit

Aspect	Constraint
Access Restrictions	Limited access to resources like account balance and application state to ensure efficient block evaluation.
Specification Requirement	Resources must be specified within the transaction for nodes to pre-fetch data.

Access Constraints

Access Type	Constraint
Block Information	Programs cannot access information from previous blocks.
Transaction Information	Cannot access other transactions in the current block unless part of the same atomic transaction group.

Logic Signatures

Parameter	Constraint
Transaction Commitment	Cannot determine the exact round or time of transaction commitment.
Stateless Programs	Cannot query account balances or asset holdings. Transactions must comply with standard accounting rules and may fail if rules are violated.

AVM Environment

Parameter	Constraint
Indirect Jumps	Not supported; all jumps must reference specific addresses.

Storage Constraints

Storage Structure	Key Length	Value Length	Unique Key Requirement	Additional Details	Safety from Unexpected Deletion
Local State Storage	Up to 64 bytes	Key + value ≤ 128 bytes	Yes	Larger datasets require partitioning	Not Safe — Can be cleared by users at any time using ClearState transactions
Box Storage	1 to 64 bytes	Up to 32KB (32,768 bytes)	Yes	Key does not contribute to box size and values > 1,024 bytes need additional references	Boxes persist after app deletion but lock the minimum balance if not deleted beforehand
Global State Storage	Up to 64 bytes	Key + value ≤ 128 bytes	Yes	Larger datasets require partitioning	Safe — Deleted only with the application; otherwise, data is safe from unexpected deletion