Choosing the right data source depends on your latency requirements, technical capabilities, and use case. This guide compares the three main options for receiving Solana transaction data.
Latency
Fastest
Fast
Standard
Timing
Before confirmation
After slot processing
After confirmation
Data format
Raw shreds
Parsed transactions/accounts
Parsed transactions
Protocol
UDP
TCP/gRPC
HTTP/WebSocket
Delivery
Best-effort
Guaranteed
Guaranteed
Complexity
High
Medium
Low
Packet loss
Possible
None
None
Historical data
No
Limited
Yes
Setup effort
Significant
Moderate
Minimal
Absolute lowest latency
ShredStream
Latency-sensitive trading
Shred Stream or Geyser
Real-time parsed data
Geyser gRPC
Simple integration
RPC
Guaranteed delivery
Geyser or RPC
Historical data
RPC
Account state streaming
Geyser gRPC
MEV/HFT strategies
Shred Stream
Building an indexer
Geyser gRPC
Wallet/explorer
RPC
Public IP with open UDP port
Low-latency server (Frankfurt, NYC, Tokyo recommended)
50-100 Mbps bandwidth
Custom deshredding implementation
FEC decoding (optional, for packet loss recovery)
gRPC client library
Stable TCP connection
Protobuf parsing
Subscription management logic
HTTP client
JSON parsing
Basic error handling
ShredStream
High (dedicated server)
High (custom parsing)
Medium
Geyser gRPC
Medium
Medium
Medium
RPC
Low
Low
Low (may have rate limits)
Summary:
ShredStream is for teams who need every millisecond of advantage and have the technical capability to handle raw shreds. It's the fastest but most complex option.
Geyser gRPC is the sweet spot for most real-time applications. You get low latency with parsed data and reliable delivery.
RPC is the standard choice for applications where latency isn't critical. It's simple, reliable, and widely supported.
Choose based on your latency requirements and technical capabilities. When in doubt, start with Geyser or RPC and move to ShredStream only if you need the extra edge.
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