Solana vs Polygon: Comparing scalability, costs and UX

Why compare Solana and Polygon for scalability?

Scalability is essential for blockchain projects, but achieving it without sacrificing decentralization or security remains challenging. The blockchain ‘trilemma’ suggests developers often trade one of these qualities to optimize the other two.

Developers have introduced several innovations to overcome scalability limits – including Proof of History (PoH), Layer-2 (L2) chains and sidechains.

Solana (SOL) pioneered PoH, using Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs) to generate cryptographic timestamps locally. This allows nodes to order events without relying on global consensus, reducing broadcast overhead and making Solana one of the fastest blockchains.

Polygon (POL), by contrast, was created as an Ethereum (ETH) scaling solution. It improves Ethereum’s throughput and cost efficiency by using Layer-2 blockchains and sidechains that offload transaction processing from the mainchain. Sidechains are independent blockchains linked via bridges, while L2 chains are extensions that use Ethereum’s security model.

Let’s explore these two scalability-focused projects to understand their benefits and differences.

Key differences between SOL and POL

Solana overview

Solana is a blockchain protocol focused on maximizing scalability without compromising decentralization or security. Software engineer Anatoly Yakovenko published a white paper in November 2017 describing PoH – a time-sequencing method that creates a verifiable record proving when events occurred.

Yakovenko and colleagues launched Solana in February 2018. The network consistently processes thousands of transactions per second and supports diverse decentralized applications (dApps), including NFT marketplaces, play-to-earn games and DeFi platforms.

Though Solana has experienced periodic outages, each incident prompted technical upgrades that strengthened network reliability.

SOL is used for transaction fees, staking and within dApps. Solana also hosts a large collection of meme coins – including TRUMP and MELANIA – that trade against SOL.

Polygon overview

Polygon is a decentralized Ethereum scaling platform enabling developers to build efficient, low-cost dApps. Its suite of solutions includes Polygon CDK (Chain Development Kit) for launching L2 blockchains with full Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility and Polygon zkEVM, an open-source Zero-Knowledge rollup offering EVM equivalence.

Founded by Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, Anurag Arjun and Mihailo Bjelic in 2017 under the name Matic Network, Polygon rebranded in 2021 but continued using the MATIC token until 4 September 2024, when POL replaced it.

Polygon has expanded through key acquisitions:

• Hermez Network (2021) – a $250 million merger marking the first between blockchain networks.
• Mir Protocol (2021) – a $400 million deal to integrate advanced ZK technology.

POL powers gas fees, staking and governance across the Polygon ecosystem.

Ecosystem comparison: SOL and POL

Solana and Polygon’s consensus mechanisms

Solana’s consensus mechanism combines its signature PoH with Proof of Stake (PoS). PoH uses Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs) to allow nodes to generate local timestamps through SHA-256 computations. This acts as a cryptographic clock within the blockchain and allows validators to process transactions more efficiently.

Under PoS, these validators are responsible for processing incoming transactions, adding new blocks to the blockchain and voting on the network’s current state. Votes are weighted by stake – how much SOL is allotted to them by SOL holders, who act as delegators by staking tokens to one or more of the network’s 1,400-plus validators. This increases their influence in exchange for a share of any earned staking rewards.

Polygon also utilizes a PoS consensus mechanism. Delegators choose from 105 validators with variable commission rates, meaning some validators offer more incentives than others. Polygon’s network doesn’t have as many validators as Solana’s, representing a potential security risk.

Solana and Polygon’s scalability

Solana’s rapid processing times produce median transaction fees as low as $0.00064, making it one of the most scalable blockchains. Polygon can theoretically achieve high transaction speeds, but real-world performance ranges from 35–45 tps, lower than Solana. However, Polygon is considerably faster than Ethereum and some of the competing Ethereum scaling solutions.

Tokenomics comparison

Solana use cases

SOL is the native token on Solana’s ecosystem for gas fees, staking and dApps. Solana hosts an extensive collection of memecoins – including TRUMP and MELANIA – all of which a trader can purchase using SOL. Holders of SOL can also exchange it for other crypto tokens or fiat currencies and trustworthy platforms like Crypto.com help facilitate these exchanges.

Polygon use cases

POL is Polygon’s native cryptocurrency for staking, gas fees and dApps. It is also a digital value store that holders can swap for fiat or other cryptocurrencies on exchanges like Crypto.com.

Key pricing moments

Cryptocurrencies are a volatile asset class and both SOL and POL have seen significant price swings in both directions. A quick timeline for each token is provided below.

Solana: Key price events

Polygon: Key price events

Performance and market metrics

Solana has a market capitalization of around $107 billion as of this writing. SOL has no max supply and a circulating supply of about 487 million. Solana is also an inflationary token with a planned long-term fixed annual rate of 1.5%. However, the Solana ecosystem of dApps, altcoins and DeFi applications creates enough activities to support its growth.

Polygon has a market cap of around $2 billion as of this writing. POL has a max supply of 10.35 billion tokens, of which over 8.55 billion are in circulation. POL is an inflationary token with a large float, limiting its per-token value compared to coins with lower supplies, like SOL.

Developments and roadmaps: SOL and POL

Solana’s roadmap

The Solana Foundation is an organization that endorses projects, offers documentation to developers and provides a roadmap for Solana. One of the expected developments in 2025 is Firedancer: a high-performance validator client developed by Jump Crypto to increase Solana’s transaction processing capabilities through sharding. Solana Labs is also developing network upgrades, including Runtime v2, a concurrent transaction processor designed to expedite throughput.

Solana’s community

Solana has 3.2 million X followers and 381,000 Reddit followers as of this writing. Its developer community is growing rapidly, as well, attracting 7,625 new developers to lead the crypto industry in 2024.

Polygon’s roadmap

Polygon Labs manages Polygon and participates in its development and growth. Polygon’s roadmap includes the ongoing implementation of AggLayer, a decentralized protocol entailing a common bridge and ZK mechanisms to combine the benefits of monolithic and modular blockchain networks. Scheduled for staggered release, features of AggLayer began showing up in February 2024 and will extend for the foreseeable future.

Polygon’s community

Polygon has two million X followers and 63,000 Reddit followers as of this writing. Its website boasts of more than 28,000 contract creators developing with its technology and an active community grants program.

Ready to get started?

1. Create or log into your Crypto.com account 
2. Deposit funds using bank transfer (free*), card, Apple Pay or Google Pay 
3. Navigate to the Trade tab and search for SOL or POL
4. Buy your crypto coins

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