# Node Rewards
Running a node on Vola Network is economically rewarding, but understanding how rewards are calculated helps you make better decisions about your setup, your stake, and your storage commitment.
This page covers how rewards work for both Validation Nodes and Storage Nodes in detail.
### Validator Rewards
Validators earn from two sources:
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#### **Transaction Fees**
Every block a validator authors contains transactions. The fees paid for those transactions go to the validator who produced that block. The more activity on the network, the more fee revenue validators earn.
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#### **Staking Rewards**
In addition to transaction fees, validators earn staking rewards based on the total staked amount relative to the circulating supply.
Validator staking rewards formula is being finalized.
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For validators, staking rewards apply with a maximum stake cap, meaning staking beyond the cap of 100,000 $VOLA does not increase staking rewards further.
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### Vola Smart Node Rewards
Storage Nodes earn from three sources, all distributed per epoch (currently ≈ 5 days).\
The initial rewards are higher to incentivize early participation. Here's a brief overview of all rewards streams (detailed explanation in the next section):
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#### **Storage Fee Revenue**
**Storage network utilization is paid in $VOLA.**
Users who store files on Vola need to pay a storage fee proportional to file size and storage duration. 100% of the storage fee is paid to VSNs.
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#### **Staking Rewards**
Storage Nodes earn staking rewards based on the amount of $VOLA staked to the nodes.
Staking rewards account for \~50% of the community incentives allocation.
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#### **Revenue Multiplier**
During the network's early period, the chain adds a bonus on top of storage fee revenue.\
This is irrespective of staked amount and strictly depend on revenues from utilization.
Revenue multiplier accounts for \~50% of the community incentives allocation.
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#### Storage Fee Revenue Distribution
Revenue from storage utilization is not distributed equally, it's pooled and distributed based on the weighted contribution and performance of all VSNs.
This fee for the full duration of the file is locked at upload and released to the node's revenue pool once both the owner and provider commitments are confirmed on chain. The rewards from the fee pool is paid to node operators once every epoch, for the duration of the epoch.
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If a file is deleted prior to the original duration, the remainder of the storage fee (minus a penalty) is returned to the user.
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The reward allocation follows three steps:
**Utility Score**\
Each node's utility score is calculated as:
$$
Utility Score=U*D*R
$$
Where:
* **U** = node's storage utilization in percentage
* **D** = average DOP score for the epoch: how consistently the node submitted file proofs
* **R** = a performance multiplier ranging from 0 to 1 based on historic performance
**Node Weight**\
Each node's share of the reward pool is determined by its weight relative to all other nodes:
$$
Node Weight=(AS×US)/∑all(AS×US)
$$
Where:
* **AS** = a VSN's active storage
* **US** = a VSN's utilized storage
**Reward Calculation**
$$
RE=Node Weight\*RP (Epoch)
$$
Where
* **RE** = revenue earned
* **RP** = the total reward pool for that epoch
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#### **What this means in practice:**
A VSN with more active storage and a higher DOP score earns a proportionally larger share of the reward pool. Consistently submitting proofs and keeping your node well-utilized are the two most impactful things you can do to maximize rewards.
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#### Staking Rewards & Revenue Multiplier Formulas
> ***The Staking Rewards & Revenue Multiplier formulas are being finalized and will be published shortly. Stay tuned.***
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