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Best Layer 2 Protocols

Compare the Top Layer 2 Protocols as of October 2025

What are Layer 2 Protocols?

Layer 2 protocols are blockchain protocols that are built on top of an existing blockchain network. A layer 2 protocol is designed to improve the scaling problems and transaction speeds and fees that layer 1 blockchain networks and protocols face. Decentralized applications can be built on Layer 2 protocols, and layer 2 protocols interact with layer 1 protocols in order to improve efficiency and overall user experience. Compare and read user reviews of the best Layer 2 Protocols currently available using the table below. This list is updated regularly.

  • 1
    Polkadot

    Polkadot

    Polkadot

    Polkadot is a blockchain network being built to enable Web 3.0, a decentralized and fair internet where users control their own data and markets prosper from network efficiency and security. Polkadot was founded in 2016 by Gavin Wood, former Co-Founder and CTO of Ethereum. Polkadot’s technology addresses the major issues that have stymied blockchain adoption in recent years. Polkadot’s software development toolkit, Substrate, created by Parity Technologies, makes it easy for blockchain developers to build their own custom, fit-for-use blockchains. Polkadot also enables multiple blockchains to communicate between each other, allows for easy upgradeability, and introduces “shared security”, a plug-and-play network security model that allows developers to focus on the technology and avoid spending time and resources recruiting a set of operators to run a new blockchain.
  • 2
    Aztec

    Aztec

    Aztec

    The new internet of money is secured by openness, but at a high price, all your counterparties know your entire financial history. Aztec is the ultimate security shield for the internet of money, protecting user and business data on Web3.0. With cryptographic anonymity, sender and recipient identities are hidden. Transaction amounts are encrypted, making your crypto balances private. Network observers can’t even see which asset or service a transaction belongs to. Aztec is built on PLONK, the new superfast standard in universal SNARK technology, created by our world-class cryptography team. Private transactions are computed in seconds on all devices, and our rollup service saves gas and settles in minutes. Fund and manage your DeFi positions anonymously, and trade them inside the Aztec privacy shield. Program private money, escrow, money streaming, micropayments, your imagination is the limit.
  • 3
    Astar Network
    Astar Network is a scalable and interoperable infrastructure for Web3.0. Since Astar Network is built with Parity’s Substrate framework, it can be a future Polkadot parachain that also acts as a scalable smart contract platform. The Polkadot Relaychain, by design, does not support smart contracts. This allows Astar the opportunity to fill in this gap. Scalability is obviously one of the most crucial demands dApp developers have. Ideally, the developers can build whatever applications on Astar Network without having to consider its scalability. Astar Network is an open-source project. There are a lot of opportunities to get involved in our ecosystem. Astar Network is an open-source project anyone can join, develop, and modify. Astar Network's mission is to provide a scalable, interoperable, and decentralized application platform that defines and realizes the new form of the web, Web3.0.
  • 4
    Ava Protocol

    Ava Protocol

    Ava Protocol

    Ava Protocol is an event-driven EigenLayer Actively Validated Service (AVS) that enables seamless autonomous transactions for Ethereum and beyond. It empowers developers to enhance crypto transactions with intelligent automation, enhanced privacy, effortless composability, and significant cost savings. Key features include intelligent automation, where transactions execute autonomously based on predefined conditions, and enhanced privacy through advanced Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) protection mechanisms, safeguarding against front-running and privacy breaches. The protocol also offers composability, allowing developers to combine smart contract calls without writing code, and cost efficiency, achieving up to 90% savings on gas fees. Ava Protocol's modular technology stack comprises a customizable Studio for designing automated strategies, a robust SDK for integrating private transactions, and the EigenLayer AVS network powered by restaked ETH.
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