The trading in the cryptocurrency market is very volatile, with trades happening 24/7. High-frequency trading (HFT) on ecosystems such as Solana is typically fierce, and profitability is largely determined by low latency, robust infrastructure, and speed. Jito streams has emerged among various platforms as a platform offering solutions such as ShredStream: a service that delivers low-latency shreds on the Solana network for real-time data delivery. However, Jito has a lot of limitations; it provides raw but unprocessed low-latency transaction feed. As a result of this, developers still have to parse and decode raw shreds, as well as filter trade data themselves.
In this guide, we will explore the top alternatives to Jito Streams that address its limitations. We will analyze their unique offerings, performance metrics, architecture, and how they are suitable for various HFT applications.
Bitquery is a blockchain data platform that provides access to historical and real-time blockchain data via various interfaces. It is an important tool for developers, analysts, traders, and businesses who need reliable access to on-chain data across multiple blockchain networks.
How Bitquery Provides Solana Shreds via Kafka
In Solana’s architecture, “shreds” are fragments of data used in the Solana blockchain to represent parts of transactions before they are coupled into a full block. Having access to these shreds provides a latency advantage for applications that need early access to transaction data.
Bitquery provides access to Solana shreds through a high-performance Kafka streaming infrastructure, which offers the following advantages;
Lower Latency Data Pipeline
It provides lower latency due to a shorter data pipeline. By eliminating the additional processing layers required for query formatting and filtering, raw data reaches consumers without delay, which is crucial for applications that require real-time data.
For Solana specifically, this translates to:
Access to Solana transaction data before block closing messages appear on validator nodes.
- Minimal transformation delay (typically 100–1000ms) per data event.
- More reliable data delivery compared to traditional WebSocket interfaces.
- Ability to consume all messages without gaps using proper Kafka offset configuration.
This is important for:
- High-frequency trading (HFT).
- MEV bots that rely on pre-block transaction visibility.
- Real-time analytics platforms that track live network activity.
Specific Topics for Different Data Points
Bitquery provides specialized Kafka streams for Solana, including:
- solana.dextrades: Real-time decentralized exchange (DEX) trading events.
- solana.instructions: Detailed instruction-level data with associated accounts.
- solana.instruction_balance_updates: Account balance changes at instruction level.
- solana.transactions: Full transaction data, including smart contract calls and events.
- Both broadcasted (mempool) and confirmed transaction streams are available.
Bitquery has video tutorials on its Kafka Streams here.
Enhanced Connection Reliability
The Kafka protocol is optimized for persistent connections and high-throughput data streaming, offering better reliability than WebSocket-based interfaces. This is particularly important for applications that cannot afford to miss any data due to connection interruptions.
Bitquery’s Kafka streams ensure:
- There are stable and long-lived connections resistant to network fluctuations.
- High-volume throughput, which is capable of handling Solana’s peak transaction speeds (thousands of shreds per second) with zero data loss.
Message Persistence and Recovery
A major advantage of Bitquery’s Kafka streaming is its ability to read messages from the latest offset, allowing consumers to retrieve all messages without gaps even after a connection interruption. This ensures 100% message delivery, which is very important for applications that require complete data integrity.
Scalability for Enterprise Workloads
Bitquery’s Kafka infrastructure delivers enterprise-grade scalability through:
- Distributed Processing Architecture: Multiple consumer instances can process the same data stream with automatic load balancing, which allows organizations to scale as demand increases.
- Advanced Partitioning Strategies: It supports custom topic partitioning based on business-specific criteria
These features make Bitquery’s Kafka solution well-suited for high-volume trading systems, institutional-grade monitoring solutions, and data-intensive blockchain applications.
While Jito provides valuable specialized services for MEV and Solana-specific applications, Bitquery’s Kafka streams offer a more comprehensive, scalable, and reliable solution for general blockchain data consumption needs, particularly for applications requiring high throughput and low latency across multiple chains.
BloXroute is a blockchain company that provides infrastructure solutions for various blockchains to improve performance, scalability, and security.
BloXroute is powered by its high-speed Blockchain Distribution Network (BDN), which accelerates transaction and block propagation with reduced latency and improved efficiency across multiple chains.
BloXroute Solana Trader API provides traders with over 40 unique endpoints.It is a fast, high performance API for Solana transactions that is designed to improve trading capabilities and also improve the efficiency of Solana transactions. This is useful for Defi traders and other analysts who engage in high frequency trading.
Key Features and Benefits:
- Faster Transaction Execution: This API allows for fast transaction execution on Solana.
- Improved Latency: BloXroute Solana Trader API reduces network propagation delays compared to standard RPCs.
- Enhanced Reliability: It helps improve the reliability of transaction processing.
- Aggregates Multiple DEXs: BloXroute Solana Trader API aggregates data from multiple Solana DEXs.
- Supports High-Frequency Trading: BloXroute Solana Trader API is designed for high-frequency and algorithmic trading needs.
Helius is an enterprise-grade Solana development platform that offers developers a suite of tools such as Remote Procedure Call (RPC) nodes, APIs, and data streaming services to aid them build and optimize applications on the Solana blockchain.
For enhanced RPC performance and data streaming, Helius offers two key technologies:
Staked connections
Helius provides staked connections as their default transaction infrastructure, which offers protection and performance benefits:
Key Features:
- Highest transaction landing rates – Optimized for speed and reliability
- Default protection – All transactions through mainnet.helius-rpc.com automatically use staked connections.
ShredStream
Helius provides shred-related functionality through RPC methods like getMaxShredInsertSlot(), which allows users to:
- Fetch the maximum slot for which shreds have been inserted by the connected node.
- Monitor shred insertion progress on the network
However, for advanced data streaming, Helius offers LaserStream, which provides:
- Historical replay to catch up on missed data
- Enhanced stability through multi-node aggregation
- Multiple protocol options (gRPC, Enhanced WebSockets)
- Higher throughput and lower latency
Helius also provides comprehensive real-time data streaming through:
- Standard and enhanced WebSockets
- gRPC Streaming
These solutions are designed for applications requiring up-to-the-second blockchain data with reliability and low latency.
QuickNode is a blockchain platform that aims to simplify the building of Web3 applications by providing APIs and tools for interacting with various blockchain networks. It offers services like access to a network of RPC endpoints, APIs, and developer tools to streamline development.
Quicknode provides users with the Yellowstone gRPC, a high-performance Solana Geyser plugin that allows for real-time blockchain data streaming through gRPC interfaces. It also serves as a tool for developers who need to:
- Stream blockchain data in real-time
- Monitor on-chain activities (token mints, program interactions, state changes)
- Query account states efficiently
- Track transactions with minimal latency
Key Features include:
- Shredstream Integration: Direct access to data from Solana’s nodes with minimal propagation delays.
- gRPC Efficiency
- Multi-Data Streams: Tracks slots, blocks, account updates, and transactions.
Use Cases for Shred-Centric Workloads include MEV bots,validators and DEXs.
This is a modular system integrated into validator nodes to stream real-time blockchain data to external systems without overloading RPC services
Key Features include:
- Low-Latency Data Streaming:The Geyser plugin gives users direct access to on-chain updates with little or no delay.
- Data Filters: Plugins allow users to selectively stream data.
- Multi-Destination Support: It allows data to be routed to databases, message queues (Kafka), or APIs.
- Validator Load Reduction: The plugin offloads intensive RPC requests to external systems
- Real-Time + Historical: It combines live streaming with historical queries through Old Faithful to fully cover the chain’s events.
