Web3 projects need to balance the performance, cost and user experience. Out of the available options to achieve this, rollups stand out the most. But it’s not ideal to keep managing all the aspects of the rollup all the time.
This is where RaaS or Rollup-as-a-Service platforms come into play. RaaS providers specialise in the deployment, maintenance, and addition of features in Rollups, often in low-code or no-code environments. You can outsource this functionality to quickly build a rollup of your own. As these are specialised services, you get a great deal of features and security checks in the quickest way possible.
There are quite a few prominent players in the RaaS space. Some specialise in optimistic rollups, some focus on ZK rollups, and some offer more choices for integrations. So, how do you decide which one is the best platform for your project? Let’s take a look at the top 5 RaaS providers to get an idea.
But before you proceed with any of these, you should understand what to look for in an ideal RaaS partner.
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Project requirements
Although many of these providers offer scaling-as-you-go, it’s still better to know the basic needs of the project and see if the RaaS service can offer that now or in the future.
Security audits and compliance
It’s wise to double-check the security and compliance standards followed by the RaaS service of your choice before deploying it in the production environment.
Customer support
Even experienced people often need expert advice and troubleshooting support. So, choosing the right provider with responsive and helpful customer support goes a long way toward maintaining a healthy relationship.
Tech stack and integrations
A good RaaS provider will help you choose the stack, or if you’ve decided on the stack already, it will reduce the friction of building as much as possible. Also, there is more to RaaS than the base stack. Things like wallets, account abstraction, data availability and more need integrations with different providers. The provider that has good options in these and is working to improve on that can be the one you may benefit from in the future.
Availability of testnets and sandbox
It’s important to have a hands-on experience before finalising and deploying your rollup. So, a provider that gives you the option to do this with testnets and sandbox would be preferable over the competition.
Now that you know the basics and ready to choose the RaaS provider, here is the list of Top 5 to choose from.
Zeeve
Zeeve is the all-in-one RaaS platform that offers enterprise-grade infrastructure and security, a plethora of options to choose from for Optimistic and zk Rollup chains, a user-friendly interface and a great number of integrations for all of them. Try your permutations and combinations and build whatever you want with a 99.99% uptime guarantee with an SLA.
The additional tooling and features include data indexing, cross-chain bridges, white-label block explorers, staking infrastructure, testnets and sandboxes and much more. It also offers a demo net for you to get a hands-on experience with readily deployed networks and choose the one you like. With Zeeve, you can build with OPStack, zkStack, Polygon SDK, and Arbitrum Orbit, and the list is constantly growing.
Conduit
Conduit simplifies the process of deployment of production-ready Optimistic rollups to the point that you can deploy your own rollup within a few minutes. You don’t need to be a genius coder or make a sales call to do that. The no-code interface handles everything pretty well in this self-serve RaaS platform.
Conduit offers customisable configuration in Native Gas Token, Decentralized Sequencing, Custom Precompilers and more. It also has multiple RaaS integrations with different providers. So, account abstraction, interoperability/bridging, payments, onboarding, privacy and other things have been taken care of.
But it’s not all flowers. Conduit only builds on top of OPStack and Arbitrum Nitro. So, if you want a Zk-SNARK-enabled provider, this ain’t it.
Altlayer
To fulfil your Zero-Knowledge needs, we have Altlayer. This uses something called Restaking that increases the network security while ensuring decentralisation at the same time. Altlayer adds support for zkStack by zkSync and Polygon CDK on top of OPStack & Arbitrum Nitro. Giving you the option to choose between an Optimistic or a Zero-knowledge solution.
The addition of more options means more scope for integrations. Hence, you get plenty of options in the form of integrations that can streamline Gaming, Account Abstraction, DeFi, Sequencing, Data Availability, Indexing and much more.
Ankr
Providing end-to-end engineering, customization, and maintenance Ankr is our next pick. Ankr also introduces the idea of AnkrETH. Developers can opt for this or ETH as a native token for gas fees and other costs on the network. You can also choose between Optimistic or zkRollups with Ankr, as it allows you to build on OPStack, Polygon CDK, Fluent and zkStack by zkSync.
Ankr offers standard bridging, block explorers, testnet faucets, RPC service, liquid staking and some basic customisation options.
Gelato
Gelato comes with a fantastic array of options to choose from when you’re thinking of deploying your own rollup. The key features of Gelato are 24/7 monitoring, automatic alerts, a production grade environment, auto scalable RPC nodes, an option to create revenue with sequencers and customizable data availability layers.
OPStack, Polygon CDK, zkSync, Arbitrum Nitro and Arbitrum Anytrust are the stacks supported by Gelato. Giving you plenty of options and you can customise your rollup further with their other integrations.
Conclusion:
All in all, choosing a RaaS provider is the crucial step towards the future of your project and should in no way be taken for granted. The list of the top RaaS providers we gave you here can be the initiation point for you to get familiar with them and go ahead with the one that best aligns with your objectives. To conclude, if you are not sure of anything about Rollups, you will go with the one with the highest number of options, Zeeve or Gelato. If you want a specific functionality, you can choose the RaaS provider accordingly.
Raksha, a seasoned journalist, specializes in crafting insightful narratives on blockchain and AI developments. With a keen eye for innovation, she distills complex topics into accessible stories, providing readers with a clear understanding of the dynamic intersection between these transformative technologies.
