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Head-to-head · Bridges

Relay vs zkSync Bridge Relay leads by 36 points.

Relay scores 36 points above zkSync Bridge, led by route coverage, route clarity, and transfer speed. Relay ranks #1 and zkSync Bridge #13 of 18 published bridges. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.

Relay86
zkSync Bridge50
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #1 and #13 of 18
Methodology v2026.10.18Ranking snapshot 4 published criteria5 score dimensions Receipt #cc-VS-RELAY-VS-ZKSYNC-BRIDGE-cba081f3
Published verdictRanking snapshot 3 November 2026

Relay leads by 36 points

Relay scores 36 points above zkSync Bridge, led by route coverage, route clarity, and transfer speed.

Relay #1 of 1886
zkSync Bridge #13 of 1850
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termRelay leads on 3 of 4 published criteria; zkSync Bridge on 1. The terms sum to the gap.
TermRelayzkSync BridgeWeightPoints
Route coverage8/101/106.7+12.2for Relay+6.3 of 32
Trust5/108/106.2−4.9for zkSync Bridge−2.5 of 32
Route clarity7/106/105.8+1.5for Relay+0.8 of 32
Transfer speed9/105/105.3+5.5for Relay+2.8 of 32
AvailabilityScore dimension201420+15.6for Relay
Trust recordScore dimension5.63.28+6.2for Relay
Net of the terms+36.2
Criteria roundingThe criteria block is rounded to whole points before it is spread−0.1
Reproduced gap+36.1
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below8650+36.0

Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.

Quick facts

At a glance

FactRelayzkSync Bridge
Bridge feeSnapshotRelay docs, "Cost & Fee Structure" (docs.relay.link/references/api/api_core_concepts/fees, fetched 30 September 2026): four components - Execution Cost ("$0.02 flat fee - always included" plus a destination fill-gas estimate), Swap Cost (payments to liquidity providers, DEX fees and solver rebalancing; no rate published), Platform Fees, and integrator App Fees. The Platform Fee table reads "Token Bridge & Same-Chain Wrap/Unwrap Stablecoin Swap Major Swap Minor Swap Platform Fees charged to end users 0.00% 0.01% 0.06% 0.15%", so a same-token bridge carries a 0.00% platform fee. "For regular (non-gasless) transactions, the user pays origin gas directly from their own wallet to the network".ZKsync docs, "Bridging assets" (docs.zksync.io/zksync-protocol/rollup/bridging-assets, fetched 30 September 2026): no bridge fee is stated on that page; withdrawals carry a time cost - "To provide additional security, withdrawals in ZKsync Chains are delayed for 3 hours" - and the finality page (docs.zksync.io/zksync-protocol/rollup/finality) adds that proof generation "typically takes about an hour". The ZKsync Bridge front end (portal.zksync.io/bridge, titled "ZKsync Bridge | Transfer funds between ZKsync and Ethereum") renders client-side, so no live quote was read.
Asset coverageEditorialLower-friction cross-chain token movement across supported routesETH and registered ERC-20s
Region fitSnapshotus, europe, globalglobal
From the published criteria

Which should you pick?

Relay

86#1 of 18
Leads
Pick it when
Pick Relay if route coverage matters most — it scores 8/10 to zkSync Bridge's 1/10 there (weight 28).
Strength
Speed — 9/10
Tradeoff
Relay's chain list on 2026-09-30 had no Sui, Stellar or Cosmos chains; Squid's chain data covers all three

zkSync Bridge

50#13 of 18
Pick it when
Pick zkSync Bridge if trust matters most — it scores 8/10 to Relay's 5/10 there (weight 26).
Strength
Trust — 8/10
Tradeoff
Smaller dapp ecosystem than the largest L2s
Self-identify in 10 seconds

Which one is actually for you?

RelayLeads

Choose Relay if route coverage matters most

  • Route coverage: 8/10 against 1/10 for zkSync Bridge (weight 28)
  • Route clarity: 7/10 against 6/10 for zkSync Bridge (weight 24)
  • Transfer speed: 9/10 against 5/10 for zkSync Bridge (weight 22)
zkSync Bridge

Choose zkSync Bridge if trust matters most

  • Trust: 8/10 against 5/10 for Relay (weight 26)
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

Route coverage

by 7 of 10weight 6.7 of 86Relay leads
Relay8 out of 10
zkSync Bridge1 out of 10

Route clarity

by 1 of 10weight 5.8 of 86Relay leads
Relay7 out of 10
zkSync Bridge6 out of 10

Transfer speed

by 4 of 10weight 5.3 of 86Relay leads
Relay9 out of 10
zkSync Bridge5 out of 10

Trust

by 3 of 10weight 6.2 of 86zkSync Bridge leads
Relay5 out of 10
zkSync Bridge8 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
Relay20/20zkSync Bridge14/20
Relay leads
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
Relay17.3/30zkSync Bridge11.8/30
Relay leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
Relay2.7/10zkSync Bridge2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86
Relay5.6/8zkSync Bridge3.2/8
Relay leads
Measured dataweight 18 of 86
Relay12.5/18zkSync Bridge12.5/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order

Choose Relay unless the term zkSync Bridge leads on is the one you are buying.

Pick zkSync Bridge if trust matters most — it scores 8/10 to Relay's 5/10 there (weight 26).

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

Other matchups worth comparing

How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
  • Verification failure: an invalid state or transfer is accepted.
    Scored by Trust posture · 26% (Relay 5/10, zkSync Bridge 8/10)
Not assessed by this ranking: Contract failure, Control failure, Liveness failure, Custody 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: Route coverage (28%), Route clarity (24%), Execution speed (22%).
Questions

Frequently asked questions

Relay scores 36 points above zkSync Bridge, led by route coverage, route clarity, and transfer speed. Published scores, out of 100: Relay 86 (rank 1 of 18 bridges), zkSync Bridge 50 (rank 13 of 18).

Related pages

Go deeper

Reviewed Next review by Methodology v2026.10.18
How this page is reviewed

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.

Accountable for this review: Mathias Siemonsmeier, Founder.

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