Subglow vs Shyft
Shyft is an API-first Solana data platform — REST + gRPC + parsed DeFi events, all in one. Subglow is gRPC-first and purpose-built for trading-bot latency. Both are legitimate for their target use cases; here's how to pick.
| Capability | Subglow | Shyft |
|---|---|---|
| Product focus | gRPC streaming for trading bots | Full-stack REST + gRPC + indexer |
| Yellowstone-compatible wire protocol | Yes | Yes |
| Published streaming latency SLA | 30–80ms on colocated routes | Not published |
| Pre-parsed JSON on the gRPC stream | Yes (core differentiator) | Raw protobuf + Borsh |
| REST API for NFTs, tokens, wallets | No | Yes (core offering) |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly ($99–$249) | Credit-based ($49+) |
| Jito bundle submission | Included | Via external integration |
| Server-side Pump.fun + Raydium filters | Yes, built-in | Available |
| Self-service signup | Yes | Yes |
| JSON-RPC bundled with plan | Yes — same API key as gRPC | Bundled with DAS credits |
| JSON-RPC billing | Flat daily cap per plan | Credit-priced per method |
| sendTransaction isolation | Dedicated daily bucket | Shares credit pool with reads |
When each wins
- • You're building a Solana trading or copy-trade bot
- • Streaming latency matters more than REST breadth
- • You want pre-parsed JSON out of the gRPC stream
- • You need flat, predictable pricing at scale
- • You need Jito bundle submission in-house
- • You need REST endpoints for NFTs, tokens, wallets
- • Your product is an analytics / explorer / wallet app
- • You want a single provider for REST + streaming
- • Credit-based pricing fits your usage profile
- • You need Shyft's parsed-event REST surface
Some teams run both: Subglow on the trading hot path, Shyft for metadata lookups and historical queries. The two products don't really overlap if you draw the line at "streaming-first vs REST-first".
FAQ
Is Shyft a Yellowstone gRPC provider?
Shyft offers gRPC streaming as part of their platform, alongside a broader REST API suite for Solana indexed data (NFTs, tokens, transactions). They're not Yellowstone-exclusive — their API surface is larger and their streaming product is one of several offerings. Subglow is gRPC-first: our entire platform exists to deliver Yellowstone streaming with filtering and pre-parsed JSON for trading-bot latency.
Which provider has lower streaming latency?
Subglow measures 30–80ms slot-confirmation-to-client on colocated routes (Amsterdam, Frankfurt). Shyft doesn't publish latency numbers for their gRPC product, and community benchmarks place them in a broader 100–300ms range depending on region — competitive for app-level use but not purpose-built for sub-100ms trading. For a memecoin sniper or copy-trade bot, the delta matters. For an analytics pipeline, it probably doesn't.
Does Shyft offer pre-parsed JSON like Subglow?
Shyft's REST API returns parsed JSON for Solana DeFi programs — this is their core strength. On the gRPC streaming side, the standard Yellowstone output is raw protobuf with Borsh-encoded instruction data. Subglow's gRPC stream delivers pre-parsed JSON in the streaming metadata, which is the part that matters for trading-bot hot paths.
What's the pricing comparison?
Shyft uses credit-based pricing across their REST + streaming APIs, with plans starting around $49/mo and scaling with usage. Subglow's flat monthly pricing is Sniper $99/mo, Pro $249/mo, and Dedicated custom — no credit metering, your bill is the same whether you stream 10k or 10M messages. For high-throughput bots, the flat model is almost always cheaper.
When is Shyft the better choice?
Shyft is a strong pick if your primary need is indexed REST API data — parsed NFT metadata, token ownership lookups, transaction history endpoints — and gRPC streaming is a secondary tool. They're an all-in-one Solana data platform. If your bot is streaming-first and you don't need the REST surface, Subglow's flat pricing and pre-parsed streaming output is a cleaner fit.
Can I use both providers together?
Yes. A common pattern: Subglow for the real-time gRPC stream powering the bot's hot path, Shyft for one-off REST queries (resolve a token metadata, look up historical transaction context, check NFT ownership). The providers solve different problems and their cost profiles complement each other.
Subglow ships JSON-RPC on the same key. No separate plan.
Every Subglow paid plan includes a flat-priced JSON-RPC endpoint on the same API key you use for gRPC. Reads on rpc.subglow.io, streams on grpc.subglow.io:443. sendTransaction has a dedicated daily bucket, so heavy read traffic never starves your submits.
Credit-priced DAS + gRPC. Archival lookups and sendTransaction draw from the same credit pool as reads.
Flat daily quota per plan, no per-method multipliers. sendTx in its own bucket. Same API key as gRPC.