# What to do during times of high onchain fees?

Opening a payment channel incurs cost of a transaction on the bitcoin blockchain. There may be periods of time when onchain fees are high and opening a channel is more costly. You can track the fees anytime on [mempool.space](https://mempool.space/).\
\
**Here are two options ✌️**

#### Compare prices to open a payment channel

You want to increase your receiving capacity and therefore open a payment channel. Click on "Increase" Receiving Capacity on the Node page of your Hub and open the "Advanced" section. You'll find various channel partners. Select one and continue. You'll see its fees on the next screen. Repeat the process several times and select the one with the lowest fees.

{% content-ref url="/pages/tNn4FDvntA66x14CxLW7" %}
[Increase receiving capacity](/user-guide/alby-hub/node/increase-receiving-capacity.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

#### Open a payment channel with onchain BTC

Open a payment channel with your own BTC will incur one onchain transaction and cost less than purchasing a channel as described before. Note, you'll have to pay for another transaction when you close the channel. But this can be at a later point in time.

{% content-ref url="/pages/gJIYHCgjSsFqWpV9J7vl" %}
[Advanced: Increase Lightning Balance with on-chain bitcoin](/user-guide/alby-hub/node/advanced-increase-lightning-balance-with-on-chain-bitcoin.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}


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