Raydium scores 4 points above Aave, led by ecosystem and operating style. Raydium ranks #7 and Aave #8 of 10 published Web3 apps. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.
Raydium55
vs
AAAave51
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #7 and #8 of 10
Raydium scores 4 points above Aave, led by ecosystem and operating style.
Raydium #7 of 1055
AAAave #8 of 1051
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termRaydium leads on 2 of 4 published criteria; Aave on 2. The terms sum to the gap.
TermRaydiumAaveWeightPoints
Job fit6/109/107.2−5.6for Aave−2.9 of 32
Ecosystem9/108/105.8+1.5for Raydium+0.8 of 32
Confidence6/107/105.8−1.5for Aave−0.8 of 32
Operating style4/103/105.3+1.4for Raydium+0.7 of 32
AvailabilityScore dimension201420+15.6for Raydium
Trust recordScore dimension3.26.48−8.3for Aave
Net of the terms+3.0
Criteria roundingThe criteria block is rounded to whole points before it is spread+0.1
Reproduced gap+3.1
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below5551+4.0
Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.
Raydium's lead rests on lighter criteria: Aave is ahead on job fit, which carries more weight (30) than any criterion Raydium leads on (24).
RaydiumScore 55Solana-native swap app for users who want a more active ecosystem fitStrength: Ecosystem — 9/10Watch-out: Less broadly understandable than the clearest mainstream app defaultsAaveScore 51Onchain lending and borrowing — supply assets, borrow against themStrength: Job fit — 9/10Watch-out: Borrowing carries liquidation risk if collateral value falls; rates are variable
Quick facts
At a glance
1 of 3 rows read the same for both.
FactRaydiumAave
PricingSnapshotRaydium's FAQ (docs.raydium.io/getting-started/faq, fetched 30 September 2026): "Trading fee: 0.25% on most pools (some tiers offer 0.01%, 0.05%, or 1%). Split between LPs and protocol. Charged on every swap." and "Network fee: ~0.0005-0.002 SOL (a few cents) for the Solana transaction itself." Two add-ons can raise the total: a Token-2022 token with a transfer fee compounds on top of the pool fee, and a CPMM pool may charge a separate creator fee. Worked example from the CPMM fees page (same date): a 0.25% trade fee plus a 0.10% creator fee "charges a combined 0.35% of the input". Raydium's own router takes no fee; each hop pays its pool's fee.Aave's FAQ (aave.com/faq, fetched 30 September 2026): suppliers earn and borrowers pay variable, per-asset rates shown in the Markets tab of the V3 Interface or Aave Pro (V4). "Each borrowable reserve in an Aave market has a parameter called reserve factor, which is the percentage of borrow interest accumulated to the treasury and is determined on a per-asset basis by Aave Governance." Transactions "may incur gas fees", which are "typically highest on Ethereum, and significantly cheaper on all other networks". A liquidated borrower pays a penalty that "depends on the asset used as collateral". The FAQ lists no separate platform or access fee.
Asset coverageEditorialSolana-native swap assets and ecosystem DeFi executionSupplied and borrowed assets across supported money markets
Region fitSnapshotus, europe, globalus, europe, global
From the published criteria
Which should you pick?
Raydium
55#7 of 10
Leads
Pick it when
Pick Raydium if ecosystem matters most — it scores 9/10 to Aave's 8/10 there (weight 24).
Strength
Ecosystem — 9/10
Tradeoff
Less broadly understandable than the clearest mainstream app defaults
AA
Aave
51#8 of 10
Pick it when
Pick Aave if job fit matters most — it scores 9/10 to Raydium's 6/10 there (weight 30).
Strength
Job fit — 9/10
Tradeoff
Borrowing carries liquidation risk if collateral value falls; rates are variable
Self-identify in 10 seconds
Which one is actually for you?
RaydiumLeads
Choose Raydium if ecosystem matters most
Ecosystem: 9/10 against 8/10 for Aave (weight 24)
Operating style: 4/10 against 3/10 for Aave (weight 22)
RaydiumScore 55Solana-native swap app for users who want a more active ecosystem fitStrength: Ecosystem — 9/10Watch-out: Less broadly understandable than the clearest mainstream app defaults
AAAave
Choose Aave if job fit matters most
Job fit: 9/10 against 6/10 for Raydium (weight 30)
Confidence: 7/10 against 6/10 for Raydium (weight 24)
AaveScore 51Onchain lending and borrowing — supply assets, borrow against themStrength: Job fit — 9/10Watch-out: Borrowing carries liquidation risk if collateral value falls; rates are variable
Criterion by criterion
Scorecard
Published criteria · weight in points of 868 of 8 cells scored. Strength is read from the evidence file; the weight is the published one. Methodology
Job fit
by 3 of 10weight 7.2 of 86Aave leads
Raydium6/10 out of 10
Aave9/10 out of 10
Ecosystem
by 1 of 10weight 5.8 of 86Raydium leads
Raydium9/10 out of 10
Aave8/10 out of 10
Operating style
by 1 of 10weight 5.3 of 86Raydium leads
Raydium4/10 out of 10
Aave3/10 out of 10
Confidence
by 1 of 10weight 5.8 of 86Aave leads
Raydium6/10 out of 10
Aave7/10 out of 10
Score dimensions
weights sum to 86
The published score is five dimensions, each weighted for the category. "Published criteria" is the criteria block above; the other four are the engine's own terms — availability, friction, trust record, measured data. Each bar is one side's points out of that dimension's maximum; the weight beside the name is its points of the 86-point weighted total. The published criteria above can fill 24 of the block’s 30. A weight marked “constant here” belongs to a dimension every ranked product in the category holds at the same value: it still counts in the total, and it orders nothing here.
Availabilityweight 20 of 86
Raydium20/20Aave14/20
Raydium leads
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
Raydium15.1/30Aave16.7/30
Aave leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86
Raydium2.7/10Aave2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86
Raydium3.2/8Aave6.4/8
Aave leads
Measured dataweight 18 of 86 · constant here
Raydium6.9/18Aave6.9/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order
Choose Raydium unless the term Aave leads on is the one you are buying.
Pick Aave if job fit matters most — it scores 9/10 to Raydium's 6/10 there (weight 30).
The published order weighs every criterion the same way for everyone. To weigh them your way, run .
From the published order
Next best action
If this isn't your case
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How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
None of this ranking's criteria scores a way of losing money; the families that apply are listed below as not assessed.
Not assessed by this ranking: Contract failure, Control failure, Regulatory failure, Execution failure, Exit failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means.
Also scored, as cost, quality or a summary of several families: Use-case fit (30%), Ecosystem fit (24%), Operating style (22%), Confidence signal (24%).
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Raydium scores 4 points above Aave, led by ecosystem and operating style. Published scores, out of 100: Raydium 55 (rank 7 of 10 web3 apps), Aave 51 (rank 8 of 10).
Reviewed means both products compared here was read against its sources on or after that date; every ranked category is re-read at least every 45 days. Models research, extract and parse. A deterministic engine ranks. Every quote passes an adversarial refute pass.
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