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Solidity is used on Ethereum and EVM-compatible chains — moderate learning curve, largest developer pool ($90,000–$380,000/year), mature tooling (Hardhat, Foundry), and OpenZeppelin security library. Rust (Anchor) is used on Solana — steep learning curve, smaller developer pool ($130,000–$420,000/year), no OpenZeppelin equivalent. Default to Solidity/Ethereum unless you specifically need Solana's throughput or sub-cent costs.
Solidity
- Used for: Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Avalanche C-Chain, BNB Chain (all EVM-compatible chains).
- Learning curve: Moderate. JavaScript-like syntax. Most blockchain developers learn Solidity first.
- Tooling: Hardhat, Foundry, Remix. Mature. Large tutorial base.
- Security library: OpenZeppelin Contracts (industry standard). Largest auditor pool in blockchain.
- Developer availability: Largest pool of any smart contract language. $90,000–$380,000/year depending on level.
- Best for: DeFi protocols, NFT collections, DAO governance, tokenization, any EVM-chain application.
Rust (Anchor Framework for Solana)
- Used for: Solana programs. Also used for NEAR (near-sdk-rs) and Polkadot (ink!).
- Learning curve: Steep. Rust's ownership and borrowing system is complex. The Solana account model requires additional learning beyond Rust itself.
- Tooling: Anchor framework (standard), Solana CLI, Solana Playground.
- Security library: No equivalent to OpenZeppelin — developers must implement more from scratch. Smaller auditor pool.
- Developer availability: Smaller than Solidity. $130,000–$420,000/year.
- Best for: High-throughput Solana applications (gaming, trading, NFT at scale), NEAR dApps.
The Recommendation
Default to Solidity/Ethereum unless: Your application specifically requires Solana's throughput (~50,000+ TPS) or sub-cent per-transaction costs, OR your target user base is already Solana-native (Magic Eden users, Solana DeFi ecosystem).
Reasons: larger developer pool (more candidates for hire, more auditors), more mature tooling, largest DeFi ecosystem, more auditor availability, better documented attack patterns.