Solana protocols

Best for

Any token swap on Solana — Jupiter aggregates Raydium, Orca, Meteora, Phoenix, Lifinity and dozens more.

Integration

REST API for quotes + swap transactions. Most wallets and dapps call Jupiter under the hood.

Pros

• Best prices by definition (aggregates all underlying liquidity)
• Free public API, no key required
• Handles new tokens within minutes of liquidity appearing

Cons

• You don't earn fees — Jupiter routes through other DEXes
• Brand-new tokens still trading only on Pump.fun aren't routed yet

Best for

Liquidity provision in standard pools, memecoin trading post-Pump.fun graduation, concentrated liquidity (CLMM).

Integration

Direct SDK or via Jupiter aggregator routing. Pool creation is permissionless.

Pros

• Largest TVL among Solana AMMs
• Default destination for memecoin liquidity post-graduation
• Both standard pools and concentrated liquidity (CLMM)

Cons

• Direct integration is more complex than going through Jupiter
• CLMM less battle-tested than Orca's Whirlpools

Best for

LPing with capital efficiency, swapping mainstream tokens (SOL, USDC, ETH, BTC), concentrated liquidity strategies.

Integration

Whirlpools SDK for direct integration. Routed through Jupiter for swaps.

Pros

• Mature concentrated liquidity (Whirlpools)
• Excellent SDK and developer experience
• Strong focus on stability and audits

Cons

• Smaller TVL than Raydium
• Memecoin coverage is intentionally limited

Best for

LPs seeking capital efficiency, memecoin pool creators, yield-optimized stablecoin deposits.

Integration

SDK for DLMM and dynamic vaults. Pools are routed through Jupiter for swaps.

Pros

• DLMM has tighter bin granularity than Raydium/Orca CLMM
• Dynamic Vaults auto-route stables across lending markets for yield
• Major destination for Pump.fun graduations and memecoin LPs

Cons

• Newer than Raydium/Orca — less battle-tested with adversarial liquidity
• Bin model is less familiar to LPs coming from Uniswap V3

Best for

Leveraged perp trading, prediction markets, spot margin, JLP-style passive yield via Insurance Fund.

Integration

TypeScript SDK + Anchor program. Drift's docs are among the best of any Solana protocol.

Pros

• Most-used Solana perp DEX by volume
• Cross-margin, deep liquidity on majors (BTC, ETH, SOL)
• Insurance Fund + Liquidity Provider (DLP) products for passive yield

Cons

• Smaller selection of altcoin perps than centralized exchanges
• Has had multiple oracle/liquidation incidents during volatility (handled, but worth knowing)

Best for

Perp trading with cross-margin, options trading (a rarity on Solana).

Integration

TypeScript SDK + Anchor. Targets pro traders and market makers.

Pros

• On-chain options — almost no other Solana protocol does this
• Tight latency, market-maker friendly

Cons

• Lower volume / liquidity than Drift on perps
• Options market depth is thin outside SOL and BTC

Best for

Casual perp traders (one-click leverage on SOL/ETH/BTC), passive yield via JLP.

Integration

Trade through Jupiter UI. JLP token tradeable across Solana DeFi.

Pros

• Simplest perp UX on Solana — no order book, just market price
• JLP has been one of the higher-yielding stablecoin-adjacent products
• Trades inherit Jupiter's deep aggregated liquidity

Cons

• Pool-based design means traders trade against the pool — different risk profile from Drift
• Only majors supported (SOL, ETH, BTC)

Best for

Lending stables/SOL for yield, borrowing against SOL/JitoSOL collateral, automated CLMM LP positions ("Multiply").

Integration

TypeScript SDK + Anchor. Strong dev tooling.

Pros

• Largest lending TVL on Solana
• Best-in-class collateral mix — supports JitoSOL, mSOL, JLP as collateral
• Multiply product abstracts complex looping strategies

Cons

• Higher complexity than vanilla money markets — more parameters to track

Best for

Borrowing/lending with explicit per-asset risk parameters, leverage trading without a perp DEX.

Integration

TypeScript SDK + Anchor. Account model is "MarginFi account" abstraction.

Pros

• Cleaner mental model than mixed-collateral lenders
• Strong focus on risk parameters per asset

Cons

• Smaller TVL than Kamino
• Less complete collateral catalog

Best for

Lending stables, borrowing against collateral. Pool-based design is simple to reason about.

Integration

TypeScript SDK + Anchor. Older codebase, well-audited.

Pros

• Longest track record of any Solana lender
• Simpler model than Kamino — easier mental model for newcomers

Cons

• Lost market share to Kamino over 2024
• Has had governance/incident drama in the past

Best for

Stake SOL liquidly, earn standard yield + MEV share, use JitoSOL across DeFi.

Integration

JitoSOL is just an SPL token; no integration required. Webhooks for stake/unstake events available.

Pros

• Largest LST by TVL — best DeFi composability
• MEV revenue distinguishes it from other LSTs
• See our explainer

Cons

• Concentration risk — one LST dominating is bad for staking decentralization

Best for

Liquid staking with built-in validator decentralization (vs picking one yourself).

Integration

mSOL is an SPL token. SDK available for stake/unstake flows.

Pros

• Longest track record
• Distributes stake across hundreds of validators automatically
• Survived FTX-era de-peg without permanent damage

Cons

• TVL has been overtaken by Jito
• No MEV capture

Best for

Validators wanting to launch their own LST, users wanting validator-specific exposure, swapping between LSTs.

Integration

Sanctum router + Infinity pool. Most other LSTs route swaps through Sanctum for low slippage.

Pros

• Solves the "every LST has fragmented liquidity" problem
• Enables custom LSTs from any validator
• Infinity pool is the canonical place to swap between LSTs

Cons

• Newer than Jito/Marinade
• CLOUD tokenomics are still evolving

Best for

Smart contracts that need a price feed: lenders, perps, options, derivatives, anything liquidating positions.

Integration

Read price accounts directly on-chain. Free for consumers. Pyth's SDK is well-supported.

Pros

• First-party data: prices come from CEXes and MMs directly, not scraped from DEXes
• Wide asset coverage including stocks, FX, commodities, not just crypto
• Pull-based model — contracts pay only when they actually need the price

Cons

• Pull-based means contracts must remember to refresh — oracle staleness is an attack vector if mishandled
• Some venues report data with delay; understand publisher quality per feed

Best for

Oracle feeds for assets Pyth doesn't cover, custom data feeds, on-chain randomness for games and lotteries.

Integration

Read aggregator accounts on-chain. SDK and CLI for creating custom feeds.

Pros

• You can create a feed for anything queryable
• On-chain VRF (verifiable random function) for games

Cons

• Less liquidity / fewer publishers per feed than Pyth on majors
• Most production protocols still default to Pyth

Best for

Launching a memecoin in 30 seconds, trading newly-minted memes, watching mass speculation in real time.

Integration

Public API for token data and trades. Trades route through their proprietary curve, not standard DEX pools.

Pros

• By far the largest source of new Solana token activity
• Bonding curve mechanics are simple and transparent
• Pumpfun-graduated tokens migrate cleanly to Raydium for further trading

Cons

• ~98%+ of launched tokens go to zero
• Heavy bot activity in the first minutes of any launch
• Reputational risk for builders — most pump.fun activity is gambling

Best for

Memecoin launches that lean into the Bonk ecosystem and community.

Integration

Similar shape to Pump.fun. Trades through proprietary mechanics until graduation.

Pros

• Differentiated brand within the memecoin space
• Bonk ecosystem distribution

Cons

• Smaller volume than Pump.fun
• Same fundamental dynamic — most launches are gambling