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DocumentationComparing Solana Kit Frameworks

Comparing Solana Kit Frameworks

How Kite compares to other high-level libraries for Solana Kit and web3.js.

Developer Experience Comparison

We compared different Solana TypeScript libraries by implementing the same simple task: creating a wallet on devnet, airdropping 1 SOL to it, and sending a memo transaction. This example was originally taken from the Gill documentation  and adapted for comparison.

Code complexity is measured by counting programming tokens (keywords, identifiers, operators, literals, punctuation) using the TypeScript Compiler API, while excluding comments and whitespace.

View the full comparison code on GitHub 

Results

Kite                   79 tokens
Framework Kit          99 tokens (25% more code)
web3.js v1            145 tokens (84% more code)
Gill                  157 tokens (99% more code)
Umi                   182 tokens (130% more code)
Raw @solana/kit       251 tokens (218% more code)

Kite requires the least code of any Solana TypeScript library for common tasks.

Why Kite is Better

Less Code

Kite requires half the code of most other frameworks. Less code means:

  • Faster development
  • Fewer bugs
  • Easier maintenance
  • Better readability

Smaller Package

Kite is 10X smaller than Gill:

  • Kite: 310KB unpacked (~100KB compressed)
  • Gill: 2.3MB unpacked

Both Kite and Gill support tree shaking, but Kite starts 10X smaller. Even with aggressive tree shaking, a Gill bundle will typically be larger than a comparable Kite implementation. For advanced users looking to optimize further, see our tree shaking guide.

More Example Projects, Videos, and Hand-Written Documentation than any other Solana Framework

Kite has the most amount of video tutorials and working example projects than any other Solana TypeScript framework, including real-world usage with Anchor, React, Arcium encryption, and TukTuk task scheduling. Kite also has hand-written editor-friendly documentation right inside VSCode, Cursor or whatever else.

Standard Packages

Kite uses standard @solana-program/* packages, while some frameworks bundle their own versions. This means:

  • More flexibility
  • Better compatibility
  • Smaller bundle size
  • Access to the full ecosystem

Proven Track Record

Built on @solana/helpers, the most popular high-level library for web3.js v1, which has been battle-tested since 2023. Kite brings that same reliability to Solana Kit.

Ready to ship faster?

Check out the Getting Started guide.

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