How Do Gas Fees Compare between a Direct Transfer and an Approve() Transaction?
Both a direct transfer() and an approve() transaction are state-changing operations on the blockchain, so both consume gas and incur a fee. The exact cost varies based on network congestion and contract complexity.
Generally, they are comparable in cost as they involve a similar amount of computational work ▴ writing to a single storage slot on the blockchain. However, the two-step process of approve then transferFrom means a user pays gas twice to complete an interaction with a dApp for the first time.