Commission
Commission is the share of your staking rewards that a validator keeps as its fee. On Solana there can be two: the inflation commission, a cut of the new SOL the network pays out every epoch (about 1–2 days), and the MEV commission, a cut of MEV tips (extra income from ordering transactions). You receive what's left after both.
Why it matters to you
Commission comes straight out of your rewards. Say your stake earns 1 SOL in inflation rewards: at 5% commission the validator keeps 0.05 SOL and you get 0.95.
Lower isn't automatically better. A 0% commission can be a way to attract stake before a raise later, and any change applies to every delegator at once. A record of stable fees tells you more than the lowest number on a list.
At 100%, the validator keeps all inflation rewards and its delegators get none of them, the main part of staking income. Even then, your SOL stays yours: commission affects rewards, never the coins you staked.
Where you see it on this site
The fees card on each validator page, and the Fees column in the list, show both commissions as "rewards / MEV", for example 0% / 5%. Red flags mark a validator that raised its fees recently (Fees raised) or keeps 100% of inflation rewards (Keeps 100%, Score 0). Our Telegram alerts tell you if your validator changes its commission.
Questions
Look for a number that is low and has stayed the same over time. A validator that has held 5% for two years tells you more than one at 0% with a month of history. Fees count for 35 of the 100 points in our Score.