Relay vs Subgraphs vs Hosted Hardhat
Build an ecosystem optimized for your goals while opening up new revenue streams.
Submit or update a toolComparison Summary
Relay, Subgraphs and Hosted Hardhat each address unique challenges in the web3 ecosystem, offering complementary strengths for builders. The fastest and cheapest way to bridge and transact across chains. The Graph is a decentralized indexing protocol that organizes blockchain data and makes it easily accessible via GraphQL. An Ethereum development environment for compiling, testing, debugging, and deploying smart contracts with advanced Solidity and TypeScript support. Together, these tools serve different but overlapping user needs, making them valuable components in a modern web3 development stack.
| At a Glance | |||
| Composability | |||
| Cross-Chain | |||
| Customizability | |||
| Developer Support | |||
| Ease of Integration | |||
| Performance | |||
| Key Features | |||
| Core Capabilities | Cross-chain transaction execution, Fee sponsorship and gas management, Compliance and security | Subgraphs, Substreams, Token API | Detailed Solidity stack traces and actionable error messages, Multi-chain support including Optimism OP Stack and Base simulation, Support for writing scripts to automate workflows and interact with contracts, Integration with popular Ethereum libraries like viem and ethers.js |
| Chain Support | — | +46 | +6 |
| Best For | Infrastructure Developers, Cross-chain/Bridge Developers | DeFi Developers, NFT Platform Developers | DeFi Developers, Infrastructure Developers |
| Pricing | |||
| Free Tier | Standard | Hosted Service | Open Source |
| Paid Features | — | 1 paid tiers | — |
| Custom Plans | — | — | — |
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