What Is the MetaMask “Nonce Too Low” Error and How Do You Reset It?

23 October 2026

The "nonce too low" error in MetaMask means the wallet is trying to submit a transaction with a transaction number (nonce) that the network has already used or expects to be higher. You fix it by resetting your MetaMask account activity, which clears the stuck transactions and lets you start again from the correct nonce.

What Is a Nonce and Why Does It Go Wrong?

Every transaction you send from an Ethereum address has a sequential index called a nonce. It starts at 0 for the first transaction, then 1, 2, and so on. The network expects transactions to arrive in nonce order. If you send a transaction with nonce 5, the network will not process a transaction with nonce 3 that arrives later - it sits in the mempool waiting for the missing nonces to be filled first.

The "nonce too low" error typically happens because:

• A previous transaction got stuck because gas was set too low or the network was congested. Your wallet keeps trying that nonce, but you also submitted new transactions with higher nonces that went through. Now the stuck transaction’s nonce is lower than what the network already processed.
• You restored a wallet from a seed phrase on a new device or MetaMask instance, but the network already has transactions from that address. The new wallet starts counting from nonce 0, but the network expects a higher nonce.
• You manually changed the nonce to a value lower than the last one the network accepted.
• Multiple MetaMask instances or accounts are sending transactions from the same address using the wrong nonce sequence.

How to check your current nonce

Before resetting, confirm what nonce the network expects. Use a block explorer like Etherscan:

1. Open Etherscan and paste your wallet address.
2. Look for a row labeled "Nonce" on the account overview page. It shows the next expected nonce (the last used nonce plus one).
3. In MetaMask, open the advanced gas controls for any pending transaction and check what nonce it is trying to send. If that nonce is lower than the network’s expected nonce, you have the problem.

Step-by-Step reset: clear the account activity

Resetting your account activity clears MetaMask’s local record of all pending and queued transactions. It does not delete your account, your seed phrase, your tokens, or your transaction history from the blockchain. It only clears the local cache of what MetaMask thinks is pending.

Before you reset: - Make sure you have your seed phrase backed up. You should not need it for this fix, but if something goes wrong during the reset, you will want it. - Close any dapps or websites connected to MetaMask. - If you use a hardware wallet (Ledger or Trezor), disconnect and reconnect it after the reset.

Reset procedure:

1. Open MetaMask and unlock the wallet that shows the error.
2. Click the three-dot menu in the top-right corner, then select "Settings."
3. Go to "Advanced" in the left sidebar.
4. Scroll down to the "Clear activity and nonce data" section.
5. Click the "Clear activity and nonce data" button. MetaMask will disconnect all connected sites and clear the pending transaction queue.
6. Confirm the action when prompted. The wallet will briefly appear empty as it reloads.
7. Wait about 30 seconds, then refresh any dapp you were using.

After the reset, MetaMask recalculates the correct nonce from the blockchain. Your next transaction should use the expected nonce and go through normally.

What if the error persists?

If the error returns immediately after resetting:

• Check for stuck transactions on Etherscan. You may have a pending transaction from before the reset that never got mined. You need to speed it up or cancel it. Speed it up by sending the same nonce with higher gas - MetaMask offers a "Speed Up" button for pending transactions. Cancel by sending a 0-value transaction to yourself with the same nonce and a higher gas price.
• Ensure you are on the correct network. The nonce is specific to each network. If you reset on Ethereum mainnet but had the stuck transaction on Arbitrum, the reset does not help that network. Switch to the correct network and reset there.
• Check for duplicate MetaMask extensions. If you have more than one MetaMask extension in your browser, they can conflict and cause nonce mismatches. Disable all but one.

Prevent it from happening again

• Always set gas fees appropriately. If you use MetaMask’s default gas settings, they usually work. But if you manually set a very low gas price, be prepared to speed up or cancel that transaction later.
• Avoid sending new transactions while a previous one is stuck. Wait for the stuck one to resolve or cancel it first.
• Only restore a seed phrase on a device that has never used that address before, and reset the account activity immediately afterward.
• Use a single MetaMask extension per browser profile. If you need multiple wallets, consider separate browser profiles or a wallet like Rabby that handles multiple addresses differently.

The reset clears the local confusion. If the issue is actually on the blockchain (a stuck transaction that never drops), the reset alone will not fix it - you must manually override that stuck nonce. But in most cases, a clean activity reset is the first and only step you need.

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