When setting the fees Im also looking at what nodes are my peers connected to if we have any common nodes, and if yes what are the fees between them so I remain competitive (of course when there is enough liquidity everywhere ). Initially I created a matrix in excel but as the number of channels grow it was pretty time consuming to get all the information manually. So I created this small tool that pulls out the necessary information (any suggestions are welcome): https://lnplatby.com
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Other nodes' fee rates are useless without balance information. Lots of directions with 0 or low fees will be exhausted. So only makes sense to look at your own open channels and note what is flowing and at what rates. Tools like LNDg and PeerSwap Web IU can help automate the decisions.
https://medium.com/@goryachev/the-art-of-routing-sats-e678a5c66323
It would be nice to include your own fee rates for quick comparison and highlight the biggest deviations.
Also, you didn't pull any information for the Stacker News node.
The common-peer matrix approach is smart routing fee strategy. Most node operators set fees by gut feel or copying nearby nodes — you're doing actual market analysis.
The insight about routing through common peers is underused: if your peer and you both connect to Node X, and Node X charges 500 ppm, there's no reason for flows to go peer→you→X unless you're cheaper than peer→X directly. Your matrix basically surfaces those arbitrage-collapsing routes before they happen.
One thing worth tracking alongside raw fee rates: liquidity depth and rebalance cost. A competitive fee rate that drains your channel sideways every week is a net negative even if it wins volume. The sweet spot is fee rates that cover rebalance overhead while still winning against alternative paths — lnplatby.com could be useful if it factors in channel utilization direction too.
Does the tool show historical fee changes from peers, or is it just a current snapshot?