Ethereum (ETH) vs Solana (SOL): comparison
Side-by-side comparison of Ethereum and Solana: how their prices moved, how they differ technically and what each is used for.
ETH and SOL: key specs
| Ethereum (ETH) | Solana (SOL) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2,570.75 | $102.01 |
| Ticker | ETH | SOL |
| Type | native blockchain coin | native blockchain coin |
| Launched | 2015 | 2020 |
| Created by | Vitalik Buterin | Anatoly Yakovenko |
| Consensus | Proof of Stake | Proof of Stake + Proof of History |
| Block time | ~12 sec | — |
| Max supply | no cap | no cap |
| Transaction privacy | public transactions | public transactions |
| Circulating supply | 122.04 M ETH | 586.54 M SOL |
| Market cap | $313.62 B | $59.83 B |
| Market cap rank | #2 | #7 |
CoinGecko data as of Sep 11, 2026, 19:03. How we calculate the data
Price change: ETH vs SOL
Both prices are set to 100 at the start of the period, so the chart shows which coin grew or fell more, not the prices themselves.
| Period | ETH | SOL |
|---|---|---|
| 7 days | −1.28% | −4.07% |
| 30 days | +31.65% | +30.85% |
| 90 days | +47.33% | +44.78% |
The correlation of their daily price changes over the last 90 days is 0.79 (strong).
ETH or SOL: what each is used for
- Smart contracts and appsEthereum and Solana
How Ethereum and Solana work
How Ethereum works
Since September 2022 Ethereum has used Proof of Stake: validators lock ETH to propose and confirm blocks, with a new slot every 12 seconds. Smart contracts run in the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Part of every transaction fee is burned, so the net supply depends on network activity.
What Ethereum is used for
ETH is used to pay gas fees, as collateral in DeFi, for staking and as a settlement asset across the ecosystem. Layer-2 networks such as Arbitrum and Optimism also use ETH for fees, which makes it the working currency of a large part of the crypto economy.
How Solana works
Solana combines Proof of Stake with Proof of History, a cryptographic clock that helps order transactions. Slots last about 400 milliseconds and transactions are processed in parallel. Tokens on Solana follow the SPL standard.
What Solana is used for
SOL pays network fees and is staked to secure the network. Solana hosts decentralized exchanges, payment apps, NFT marketplaces and many popular tokens.