Why are gas fees higher?

Gas fees vary depending on the usage and congestion of a specific chain. There is limited space in each block that is produced and people compete with each other to get their transactions included on the blockchain. The higher fees you are prepared to pay, the higher the chances of getting your transaction prioritized by the block producers – therefore, when a lot of people want to send transactions, the costs grow as well.

Another reason why the gas fees might be higher is due to the higher computational requirements of a specific on-chain operation.