Guide

How to send SOL with Backpack

Backpack is a Solana wallet used by traders and NFT collectors on desktop and mobile. Sending SOL is a simple transfer: pick a recipient address, enter an amount, and confirm. This guide walks through the flow on mainnet, then shows a 0.001 SOL micropayment you can try on Garden Dice — a low-risk way to practice wallet sends.

Practice with 0.001 SOL — connect Backpack on Garden Dice, send a micropayment, get a provably fair roll you can verify on-chain.

Free demo first Send 0.001 SOL — roll

Ready to roll? Read the how-to-play tutorial for the full demo-to-pay flow on Garden Dice.

How to play Connect Backpack first

Before you send

  • Double-check the address. Solana addresses are long base58 strings. One wrong character sends funds to the wrong place — there is no undo.
  • Keep a little SOL for fees. Network fees are tiny (often under 0.00001 SOL) but you need a sliver left after your transfer.
  • Start small. For your first send to a new site, try the minimum — Garden Dice accepts rolls from 0.001 SOL.
  • Confirm mainnet. Backpack must be on Mainnet Beta before you send real SOL. See our Backpack setup guide if you are unsure.

Send SOL in Backpack (desktop extension)

  1. Open Backpack in your browser toolbar and unlock the wallet.
  2. Click Send from the home screen or the send icon. Backpack shows your SOL balance at the top.
  3. Paste the recipient address — the base58 pubkey you are paying. Backpack warns if the address format looks invalid.
  4. Enter the amount in SOL — e.g. 0.001 for a one-millisecond micropayment test. Backpack may also show a USD equivalent if price data is available.
  5. Review and confirm. Check recipient and amount one more time, then approve. Backpack submits the transaction to Solana mainnet.
  6. Copy the signature from Backpack's activity or history view. You can paste it into our tx lookup tool or Solscan to confirm it finalized.

On mobile, the steps are the same inside the Backpack app: Send, address, amount, confirm. If a website offers Solana Pay QR instead of in-browser connect, see our Solana Pay guide — you scan from the phone you already use for Backpack.

What does a transfer cost?

Solana transaction fees are paid in SOL and are typically a fraction of a cent. A simple SOL transfer costs about 5,000 lamports (0.000005 SOL) — use our SOL to lamports converter if you think in lamports. Fees do not scale with the amount you send; sending 0.001 SOL and sending 10 SOL cost roughly the same network fee.

If Backpack shows "insufficient funds," you may be trying to send your entire balance without leaving room for the fee. Lower the amount slightly or add more SOL to the wallet. See our insufficient SOL guide for the same math (applies to any wallet).

Try a micropayment on Garden Dice

Reading about sends is not the same as doing one. Garden Dice is a live pay-per-roll demo: connect Backpack on the Wallet tab, send 0.001 SOL to the treasury, and receive a provably fair die roll. The commit hash is shown before you pay so you can verify fairness afterward.

Not ready to pay? The challenge page opens with a free demo roll — no wallet required. When you are comfortable, scroll to pay or use the wallet tab.

Accept challenge — 0.001 SOL How provably fair works

Verify your payment landed

After Backpack confirms, wait a few seconds and look up the transaction signature. Our verify payment guide explains what to check (recipient balance change, finalization status). Garden Dice also detects recent treasury payments automatically when you tap I've paid — detect & roll on the Solana Pay tab.

Further reading