diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1bff6c915c..08c3c62ae2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ and this project adheres to
 - @cosmjs/stargate, @cosmjs/cosmwasm-stargate: Change default multiplier for gas
   simulation from 1.3 to 1.4 to avoid out of case cases starting with Cosmos SDK
   0.47.
+- @cosmjs/cosmwasm-stargate: Reduce default gas multiplier for
+  `SigningCosmWasmClient.upload` to 1.1. ([#1360])
+
+[#1360]: https://github.com/cosmos/cosmjs/issues/1360
 
 ## [0.31.0] - 2023-06-22
 
diff --git a/packages/cosmwasm-stargate/src/signingcosmwasmclient.ts b/packages/cosmwasm-stargate/src/signingcosmwasmclient.ts
index 14aeff24ee..a5d8ca3772 100644
--- a/packages/cosmwasm-stargate/src/signingcosmwasmclient.ts
+++ b/packages/cosmwasm-stargate/src/signingcosmwasmclient.ts
@@ -297,7 +297,11 @@ export class SigningCosmWasmClient extends CosmWasmClient {
       }),
     };
 
-    const result = await this.signAndBroadcast(senderAddress, [storeCodeMsg], fee, memo);
+    // When uploading a contract, the simulation is only 1-2% away from the actual gas usage.
+    // So we have a smaller default gas multiplier than signAndBroadcast.
+    const usedFee = fee == "auto" ? 1.1 : fee;
+
+    const result = await this.signAndBroadcast(senderAddress, [storeCodeMsg], usedFee, memo);
     if (isDeliverTxFailure(result)) {
       throw new Error(createDeliverTxResponseErrorMessage(result));
     }