Developer Activity Rankings Show Starknet Leading
Cryptocurrency analytics firm Santiment has released new data showing which Layer-2 networks saw the most developer activity over the past 30 days. The findings come from GitHub data tracking, which gives us a window into how much technical work is actually happening behind the scenes.
Starknet, the Ethereum scaling solution, maintained its top position with 117 points of developer activity. That’s a pretty solid lead, though not by much. What’s interesting is how close the competition really is.
Privacy-Focused Aztec Takes Second Place
Right behind Starknet came Aztec, the privacy-focused Layer-2 solution, with 116.27 points. That’s almost neck and neck. I think this shows privacy solutions are getting serious attention from developers, which makes sense given all the regulatory discussions happening lately.
Arbitrum kept its third-place spot with 73.37 points. There’s a noticeable gap between second and third place, which perhaps indicates the top two are really pushing hard on development.
Optimism moved up to fourth position compared to last month, while zkSync dropped to fifth. These shifts happen month to month, so I wouldn’t read too much into single-month changes. But the overall trend shows continued developer focus on scaling solutions.
What Developer Activity Means for Projects
Santiment’s approach looks at GitHub activity as a proxy for technical progress and ecosystem growth. It’s not a perfect measure—some projects might have more private repositories or different development workflows—but it gives us something tangible to look at.
Leadership in developer activity is often seen as a sign of fundamental strength over the long term. If developers are actively working on a project, that suggests there’s ongoing improvement and maintenance. Empty GitHub repositories, on the other hand, can be a red flag.
The top 10 list includes various Layer-2 solutions, though Santiment didn’t share the full ranking beyond the top five in this particular update. What strikes me is how competitive this space remains. Even with market fluctuations, development work continues.
Some people might wonder if high developer activity translates directly to price performance. I don’t think it’s that simple. Technical progress is important, but market factors often drive short-term price movements. Still, sustained development activity probably helps with long-term viability.
Looking at these numbers, it’s clear Ethereum scaling solutions are where a lot of developer energy is going. That makes sense given Ethereum’s dominance and the ongoing challenges with network congestion and fees. Layer-2 solutions offer practical improvements that users can actually feel.
The data covers just one month, so we should be cautious about drawing broad conclusions. Next month’s rankings might look different. But the consistency at the top—Starknet and Aztec maintaining their positions—suggests these projects have established development momentum.
It’s worth remembering that GitHub activity is just one metric. Real-world adoption, user experience, and security audits matter just as much, if not more. But for those tracking project health, developer activity provides a useful data point among many.
