Best data availability layers in 2026
Data Availability Layers evaluated across verifiable published cost per MB, what actually secures the data, sampling live + how long data stays retrievable, and blast radius if it halts + documented uptime.
#1 of 7 · published ranking
Ethereum Blobs (EIP-4844 / PeerDAS)82ChainChoice Score
Why it leads
Best in the pool on published cost per mb and das and retention
Cost
Not priced · No comparable price is published
7 compared Ranking-blind · 392 modules checked 2026-09-18Evidence read 2026-08-05Scored under methodology v2026.09.15 (2026-09-16)28 receipts quoted
7data availability layers · sorted by chainchoice score
ranked before any payout data is seen#ProviderScoreEvidenceKey strengths
2−11
What actually secures the dataBlast radius if it halts + documented uptime
3−1
Verifiable published cost per MBBlast radius if it halts + documented uptime
4−19
What actually secures the dataSampling live + how long data stays retrievable
5−5
Verifiable published cost per MBWhat actually secures the data
6−5
Sampling live + how long data stays retrievableWhat actually secures the data
Same score, not joint · ordered by weighted total (32.90 against 32.40)
7=
Blast radius if it halts + documented uptimeWhat actually secures the data
Ranking-blind — order computed before any payout data is joined
Below the table
How this ranking works
Everything the table draws on continues here: how firm the #1 is, the per-criterion arithmetic behind each score, who pays ChainChoice, and the full guide to choosing.
Direct answer
What is the best data availability layers in 2026?
Ethereum Blobs (EIP-4844 / PeerDAS) ranks #1 overall for data availability layers on ChainChoice. Native L1 blobspace, sampled since Fusaka, pruned after about 18 days. It holds that rank under an affiliate-blind methodology scored across 4 published, weighted criteria — the code that ranks providers physically cannot read affiliate payouts (CI-enforced), so a payout can't move a rank. The verdict re-computes on every fee change, incident, or regulatory action; full reasoning and the audit receipt are below.
Why this score4 published criteria · leads 2 of 4
Published criterionWtScore, and the best hereGap/10Pts
Verifiable published cost per MB7.2·98.6
What actually secures the data7.2−198.6
Sampling live + how long data stays retrievable6·86.4
Blast radius if it halts + documented uptime3.6−194.3
Σ methodology points28.0/32
Each bar is the score on that criterion’s own 0–10 scale, never rescaled to the pool. The dark line is the best any product here reached on that axis. Wt is the most the criterion can add to the 86-point weighted total. Pts is weight × score × 32; the sum is the methodology score, and each weighted point behind the leader costs 2.6 on the displayed score. how these are weighted
Why it ranks first
Why Ethereum Blobs (EIP-4844 / PeerDAS) leads this category right now
Native L1 blobspace, sampled since Fusaka, pruned after about 18 days. Strongest on published cost per mb (verifiable, not negotiated) (9/10): The most machine-readable price in this pool, a protocol parameter with no vendor in the loop: over blocks 25,982,517-25,983,541 on 2026-09-15 the blob base fee had a median of 5,748,814 wei per blob gas = $0.0145/MiB, and each block's value is reproducible from its excessBlobGas (block 25,983,538: 210,133,829, giving 64,599,554 wei = $0.163/MiB during a fee spike). No account, no deposit, no negotiation. Weakest on sampling live + how long data stays retrievable (8/10): PeerDAS went live with Fusaka on 3 December 2025, with 'each full node holding only 1/8th of the data'; blob capacity now target 14 / max 21 per block after BPO2 on 7 January 2026. Retention is capped: MIN_EPOCHS_FOR_BLOB_SIDECARS_REQUESTS = 4096, 'which is around 18 days'.
Best for
Verifiable published cost per MB — 9/10
Main tradeoff
'As safe as Ethereum' is true for the attestation and false for the archive: consensus clients are only required to serve blob sidecars for 4096 epochs, about 18 days. After that the data is gone from the protocol and you need your own archive or a third-party blob indexer. Also, the price you see is a spot price on a volatile fee market — the $0.0145/MiB measured here is the median of blocks 25,982,517-25,983,541 on 15 September 2026 (5,748,814 wei per blob gas, ETH at $2,402.28); within that window block 25,983,538 reached $0.163/MiB, and the later blocks 25,983,956-25,984,979 had a median of $0.0321/MiB.
Verify before signup
EIP-4844 (Final, fetched 2026-09-15): GAS_PER_BLOB 2**17 (131,072); MIN_BASE_FEE_PER_BLOB_GAS 1; the blob base fee rule 'is intended to approximate the formula base_fee_per_blob_gas = MIN_BASE_FEE_PER_BLOB_GAS * e**(excess_blob_gas / BLOB_BASE_FEE_UPDATE_FRACTION)'. Live mainnet, 2026-09-15: eth_config (ethereum-rpc.publicnode.com) current blobSchedule {"target":14,"max":21,"baseFeeUpdateFraction":11684671}. Block 25,983,538 (14:43:59 UTC) had excessBlobGas 0xc866345 = 210,133,829, which fake_exponential(1, 210,133,829, 11,684,671) turns into 64,599,554 wei per blob gas; Blobscan's API reports the same blobGasPrice for that block. eth_feeHistory (eth.drpc.org) over blocks 25,982,517-25,983,541 gives a blob base fee of min 2,681,061 / median 5,748,814 / max 64,599,554 wei; it first exceeded 20,000,000 wei at block 25,983,244. DERIVED at ETH $2,402.28 (CoinGecko 2026-09-15): at the median, 131,072 x 5,748,814 wei = $0.00181 per 128 KiB blob = $0.0145/MiB raw, $0.0149/MiB on the 126,976 usable bytes. At block 25,983,538 it is $0.0203 per blob = $0.163/MiB raw, 11x the window median. Fees stayed elevated later that day: blocks 25,983,956-25,984,979 have a median of 12,748,326 wei ($0.0321/MiB raw) and a max of 355,396,641 wei. This is a spot price on a fee market, not a fixed rate.
Recommendation summary
What should decide this category
Can you read a real price per MB off a public page or on-chain parameter today, or does it require a sales conversation?
How many days is your data guaranteed retrievable before you depend on archival nodes or your own snapshots?
If the layer halts, does sequencing stop and can the L1 bridge still verify the attestation?
Quick picks
Strong options in this category
Start with the lead choice first, then use the shortlist only if you still need a challenger or stronger fit for a specific setup.
Best overall
Ethereum Blobs (EIP-4844 / PeerDAS)
Native L1 blobspace, sampled since Fusaka, pruned after about 18 days
Native L1 blobspace, sampled since Fusaka, pruned after about 18 days. Strongest on published cost per mb (verifiable, not negotiated) (9/10): The most machine-readable price in this pool, a protocol parameter with no vendor in the loop: over blocks 25,982,517-25,983,541 on 2026-09-15 the blob base fee had a median of 5,748,814 wei per blob gas = $0.0145/MiB, and each block's value is reproducible from its excessBlobGas (block 25,983,538: 210,133,829, giving 64,599,554 wei = $0.163/MiB during a fee spike). No account, no deposit, no negotiation. Weakest on sampling live + how long data stays retrievable (8/10): PeerDAS went live with Fusaka on 3 December 2025, with 'each full node holding only 1/8th of the data'; blob capacity now target 14 / max 21 per block after BPO2 on 7 January 2026. Retention is capped: MIN_EPOCHS_FOR_BLOB_SIDECARS_REQUESTS = 4096, 'which is around 18 days'.
Best for: Verifiable published cost per MB — 9/10
Verifiable published cost per MB · 30%
9/10
What actually secures the data · 30%
9/10
Sampling live + how long data stays retrievable · 25%
8/10
Blast radius if it halts + documented uptime · 15%
9/10
Quick pick
Ethereum L1 Calldata
The security ceiling: longest retention here, sampled by nobody, 267x blob cost
The security ceiling: longest retention here, sampled by nobody, 267x blob cost. Strongest on what actually secures the data (10/10): Calldata is part of the execution payload itself. There is no separate validator set, no restaking quorum, no bridge, no attestation to verify and no disperser — the data is in the block that settles the rollup, and any contract can read it directly rather than going through the KZG point-evaluation precompile. Weakest on published cost per mb (verifiable, not negotiated) (3/10): Perfectly transparent and brutally expensive: 16 gas per non-zero byte at the median base fee of 95,945,072 wei over blocks 25,982,517-25,983,541 on 2026-09-15 works out to $3.87/MiB, versus $0.0145/MiB for blobs over the same blocks and $0.0118/MiB for Celestia read the same day. Scored on the number, not the transparency.
Best for: What actually secures the data — 10/10
Verifiable published cost per MB · 30%
3/10
What actually secures the data · 30%
10/10
Sampling live + how long data stays retrievable · 25%
6/10
Blast radius if it halts + documented uptime · 15%
10/10
Quick pick
Celestia
Sovereign DA chain with light-client sampling and its own validator set
Sovereign DA chain with light-client sampling and its own validator set. Strongest on published cost per mb (verifiable, not negotiated) (8/10): Cheapest verified layer in this set at $0.0118/MiB derived from fetched params (8 gas/byte, 512-byte shares, 65,000 fixed) x live Celenium median 0.004000 utia x TIA $0.3285, 0.81x Ethereum blobs at their median over blocks 25,982,517-25,983,541 — but no Celestia page states a price per MB, and the fee docs misstate the minimum ('100 times the minimum gas price (0.2 TIA)') and contradict the spec's minfee.NetworkMinGasPrice ('there is no protocol enforced minimum fee'). Weakest on sampling live + how long data stays retrievable (6/10): DAS is live in production — light nodes sample a 2k x 2k share matrix and gossip verified shares. But retrievability shrank: 'As of version v6 of celestia-app, celestia-node has implemented a light node sampling window of 7 days, as specified in CIP-36 ... Light nodes now only sample blocks within a 7-day window instead of sampling all blocks from genesis.'
Best for: Verifiable published cost per MB — 8/10
Verifiable published cost per MB · 30%
8/10
What actually secures the data · 30%
6/10
Sampling live + how long data stays retrievable · 25%
6/10
Blast radius if it halts + documented uptime · 15%
7/10
Quick pick
Avail DA
Substrate NPoS DA chain with KZG light-client sampling, price unpublished
Substrate NPoS DA chain with KZG light-client sampling, price unpublished. Strongest on sampling live + how long data stays retrievable (5/10): DAS is genuinely live and light-client-side: clients sample cells against per-row KZG commitments and compute 'a confidence score — the probability that the full block data is available', and sampling clients 're-share them on the peer-to-peer network'. No retention or pruning window is published in the fetched docs. Weakest on published cost per mb (verifiable, not negotiated) (2/10): No cost per MB exists on any Avail page. The pricing doc publishes a formula whose dominant term is multiplied by submitDataFeeModifier, a governance-mutable value the docs decline to state and tell you to read out of chainstate. Turbo DA, the paid product, sells 'credits', measured in KBs/MBs, but publishes no price for a credit.
Best for: What actually secures the data — 5/10
Verifiable published cost per MB · 30%
2/10
What actually secures the data · 30%
5/10
Sampling live + how long data stays retrievable · 25%
5/10
Blast radius if it halts + documented uptime · 15%
3/10
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How this ranking is built
Reviewed on published cost per MB, what actually secures the data, sampling and retention, and blast radius if the layer halts.
Data checked Sep 2026 · Independent rankings · We show our work
Not financial advice · For informational purposes only · Always do your own research