Polygon vs XRP Ledger

Polygon4.1/5

VS

XRP Ledger3.9/5

Feature	PolygonVisit	XRP LedgerVisit
Ratings
Our score	4.1/5	3.9/5
User rating	No reviews yet	No reviews yet
Performance	4.5	4.5
Fees	4.5	5.0
Ecosystem	4.5	3.0
Decentralization	3.5	3.5
Developer experience	4.0	3.5
Specs
Layer	Sidechain	Layer 1
Consensus / design	Proof of Stake	Other
Native token	POL	XRP
EVM compatible	Yes	No
Smart contract languages	Solidity	Not disclosed
Block time	Not disclosed	3-5 seconds
Typical transaction fee	$0.002	0.000011 XRP
Finality	~1.8 seconds	3-5 seconds
Mainnet since	2,020	2,012
Throughput (TPS)	5,000	Not disclosed
Sequencer	Not applicable	Not applicable
Gas paid in	POL	XRP
Company
Founded	2020	2012
Headquarters	Cayman Islands	—
Investors	Peak XV Partners, Galaxy Digital, Republic Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 +4	Not disclosed
Strengths and weaknesses
Pros	Typical transaction fees average approximately $0.002 per transfer Settlement finality completes in roughly 1.8 seconds Full EVM execution environment supports standard Solidity tooling and libraries Processed over 8 billion transactions across more than $3.0 trillion in cumulative volume	Continuous mainnet operation since 2012 with over 14 years of uptime Fast settlement reaching finality in 3 to 5 seconds Predictable base transaction cost of 0.000011 XRP Native token issuance and order-book DEX built into base protocol
Cons	Relies on sidechain checkpoints rather than native Layer 2 zero-knowledge rollups Bridge smart contracts on Ethereum introduce third-party settlement and locking risks Past smart contract vulnerability resulted in the loss of 801,601 tokens in 2021 Separate Polygon zkEVM sequencer suffered an operational halt in July 2026	Not EVM compatible, preventing direct deployment of Solidity smart contracts Validator coordination relies heavily on curated Unique Node Lists
Best for	High-frequency stablecoin payment providers, Fintech developers seeking EVM compatibility, DeFi apps requiring sub-cent fees	Institutional cross-border payment providers, Real-world asset issuers, Fintech developers seeking simple payment APIs

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