EIP-7907 now only meters large contracts; the 64KB limit moves to EIP-7954
Serguey Asael Shinder1 min readAn update merged into the EIPs repository on 29 September splits EIP-7907 in two. Until now the proposal did two things: it raised Ethereum's contract code size limit from the 24KB set by EIP-170 to 64KB, and it added gas metering for loading code above 24KB. After the change, EIP-7907 keeps only the metering, and the size increase belongs to EIP-7954.
The new title reflects that: "Meter Contract Code Size" instead of "Meter Contract Code Size And Increase Limit". Its abstract now says the EIP introduces a cost of 2 gas per 32-byte word for contract code beyond 24KB (24,576 bytes), building on EIP-7954, which raises the code size limit to 64KB (65,536 bytes) and the initcode size limit from 48KB to 128KB (131,072 bytes), "without changing either limit". EIP-7907's dependencies change accordingly: it now requires EIP-7954 instead of EIP-3860, the initcode rule whose limit it previously raised itself. Ben Adams joins the author list, and the status remains Draft.
The reasoning behind both parts is unchanged. EIP-170's limit exists because large contracts impose costs that gas does not directly pay for: disk reads, VM preprocessing and larger Merkle proofs grow with code size. Raising the limit lets legitimate large contracts deploy without being split up; metering the excess makes callers pay for the extra loading work.
Why it matters
Splitting the proposal lets client teams and the upgrade process treat the two changes separately: a limit increase is a simple parameter, while metering touches how every call that loads code is priced. Contract developers who have been splitting systems to stay under 24KB should now follow EIP-7954 for the limit and EIP-7907 for what large contracts will cost to call.