Aztec vs Ethereum

Aztec3.8/5

VS

Ethereum4.3/5

Feature	AztecVisit	EthereumVisit
Ratings
Our score	3.8/5	4.3/5
User rating	No reviews yet	No reviews yet
Performance	3.5	3.0
Fees	4.0	3.5
Ecosystem	3.5	5.0
Decentralization	4.5	5.0
Developer experience	3.0	4.5
Specs
Layer	Layer 2	Layer 1
Consensus / design	ZK rollup	Proof of Stake
Native token	AZTEC	ETH
EVM compatible	No	Yes
Smart contract languages	Noir	Solidity, Vyper
Block time	Not disclosed	12 seconds
Typical transaction fee	Not disclosed	0.15 to 0.5 gwei
Finality	Not disclosed	12.8 minutes
Validators / sequencer	3,400+ active sequencers across 185+ operators	Not disclosed
Mainnet since	2,025	2,015
Sequencer	Decentralized	Not applicable
Data availability	Ethereum	EIP-4844 blobs and calldata
Gas paid in	Not disclosed	ETH
Company
Founded	2017	2015
Headquarters	United Kingdom	Switzerland
Investors	Paradigm, Ethereal Ventures, Libertus Capital, a_capital	Public crowdsale participants
Strengths and weaknesses
Pros	Protects transaction data by generating zero-knowledge proofs directly on the user device Decentralized sequencing model launched with over 3,400 active sequencers Composes private UTXO states with public account balances within single transactions Settles cryptographic validity proofs on Ethereum Layer 1	Uninterrupted 100% network uptime since its July 2015 launch Nearly $50B in total value locked in October 2026 Hosts approximately $180B of stablecoins on mainnet as of July 2026 Open client ecosystem with no single point of corporate failure
Cons	Not EVM compatible, requiring developers to learn the Noir programming language Proving system vulnerability identified in V5 Alpha exposed contract state to risk Native protocol staking demands a high threshold of 200,000 AZTEC tokens Relies on bridge infrastructure to transfer assets from Ethereum Layer 1	Base-layer transaction fees spike significantly during periods of heavy congestion Layer-1 execution throughput remains limited to under 30 transactions per second Complex smart contract interactions can become costly during peak network demand
Best for	Developers building confidential smart contracts, Traders requiring shielded execution from mempools, DeFi teams needing client-side data privacy	DeFi liquidity providers and traders, Smart contract developers using Solidity, Layer-2 rollup deployment teams

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