Base vs Ethereum

Base4.0/5

VS

Ethereum4.3/5

Feature	BaseVisit	EthereumVisit
Ratings
Our score	4.0/5	4.3/5
User rating	No reviews yet	No reviews yet
Performance	4.5	3.0
Fees	4.5	3.5
Ecosystem	5.0	5.0
Decentralization	2.5	5.0
Developer experience	4.5	4.5
Specs
Layer	Layer 2	Layer 1
Consensus / design	Optimistic rollup	Proof of Stake
Native token	ETH	ETH
EVM compatible	Yes	Yes
Smart contract languages	Solidity	Solidity, Vyper
Block time	Not disclosed	12 seconds
Typical transaction fee	$0.01 - $0.05	0.15 to 0.5 gwei
Finality	7 days (L1 dispute window)	12.8 minutes
Validators / sequencer	1 sequencer	Not disclosed
Mainnet since	2,023	2,015
Throughput (TPS)	107.6	Not disclosed
Sequencer	Centralized	Not applicable
Data availability	Ethereum	EIP-4844 blobs and calldata
Gas paid in	ETH	ETH
Company
Founded	2023	2015
Headquarters	—	Switzerland
Investors	Not disclosed	Public crowdsale participants
Strengths and weaknesses
Pros	Typical transaction costs range between $0.01 and $0.05 Uses ETH for gas without requiring a volatile network token Over $6.1B in TVL backed by deep onchain liquidity Coinbase distribution channels	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	Sequencing remains centralized under Coinbase operation Native bridge withdrawals to Ethereum require a 7-day challenge period Public RPC endpoints have restricted namespaces and tighter rate limits Tokenized equity features are restricted to eligible non-US residents	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	Ethereum developers seeking low fees, Active DeFi traders using ETH, Institutional tokenized asset issuers	DeFi liquidity providers and traders, Smart contract developers using Solidity, Layer-2 rollup deployment teams

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