Top 10 Blockchains by Developer Activity: Ethereum and BNB Chain Lead

Ethereum continues to lead the blockchain industry in developer activity, maintaining the highest level of code contributions over the past month despite a broader decline in development metrics across most major networks, according to data from Santiment.

The latest figures highlight the continued importance of developer engagement as a measure of a blockchain's long-term health, innovation capacity, and ecosystem sustainability. While activity has slowed across nearly all leading networks, Ethereum remains the most active platform, followed by BNB Chain and Polygon.

Other networks ranking among the most active include Arbitrum, Optimism, Solana, Cosmos, Avalanche, Harmony, and Cardano, underscoring the competitive race to attract and retain developers.

Ethereum Maintains a Wide Lead

Over the past 30 days, Ethereum recorded approximately 263,300 developer events, the highest among all tracked blockchains. Although this represented a 40.3% decline compared with the previous period, the network remained comfortably ahead of its competitors.

Ethereum also attracted around 1,100 contributors, even as contributor numbers fell 13.2% over the same period.

The figures reinforce Ethereum's position as the industry's largest developer ecosystem, despite softer development activity across the broader crypto market.

BNB Chain and Polygon Hold Their Positions

BNB Chain ranked second with approximately 121,800 developer events during the past month, reflecting a 40.7% decrease. The network recorded around 603 contributors, down 17.6% from the previous period.

Polygon followed in third place, registering roughly 100,400 developer events, a decline of 40.9%, while contributor numbers fell 16.1% to 452 developers.

Although both ecosystems experienced lower activity, they continue to rank among the most actively developed blockchain networks.

Layer-2 Networks Continue to Attract Developers

Ethereum Layer-2 networks also remained prominent in the rankings.

Arbitrum recorded approximately 79,000 developer events, representing a 45.2% decline, while contributor numbers dropped to 373, down 18%.

Optimism posted similar results, with roughly 78,400 developer events, a 45.3% decrease, alongside 355 contributors, down 18% over the same period.

Despite the slowdown, both networks continue to benefit from ongoing development linked to Ethereum's scaling ecosystem.

Solana Stands Out With Contributor Growth

Among the leading blockchain developer activity networks, Solana was one of the few to record an increase in developer participation.

The network generated approximately 77,400 developer events over the past month, down 32.1% from the previous period. However, unlike most competitors, the number of contributors rose 1.6% to 377 developers.

The increase suggests that Solana continues to attract new developers even as overall coding activity across the sector moderates.

Avalanche, Harmony and Cardano Complete the Top Rankings

Avalanche ranked eighth with approximately 73,400 developer events, a 43.9% decline, while contributor numbers fell 15.3% to 320 developers.

Harmony followed with around 62,900 developer events, down 39.5%, alongside 287 contributors, a decline of 10.9%.

Rounding out the top ten, Cardano recorded approximately 62,600 developer events, representing a 34.6% decrease, while contributor numbers declined 11.4%.

Developer Activity Remains a Key Indicator

Developer activity is widely regarded as one of the most important indicators of a blockchain network's long-term competitiveness. Unlike market capitalization or short-term user activity, sustained development often reflects continued investment in protocol improvements, ecosystem expansion, and application building.

While the latest Santiment data points to a broad slowdown in development across the sector, Ethereum's continued dominance and Solana's growth in contributor numbers illustrate differing strategies for maintaining developer engagement.