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The Graph vs Subsquid (SQD)

How The Graph and Subsquid (SQD) differ on type, speed, chains and developer experience.

The GraphSubsquid (SQD)
TypeDecentralized protocolDecentralized protocol
How it worksDefine a subgraph (schema + mappings); independent indexers stake GRT to index it and serve GraphQL queries. The hosted service was fully deprecated in 2026 — everything now runs on the decentralized network.An open SDK plus a decentralized data lake (the SQD Network): batch-fetch on-chain data fast, transform in TypeScript, and serve. Covers EVM and non-EVM in one framework.
Chains55+100+ (EVM + non-EVM)
SpeedBaselineVery fast
CodingAssemblyScriptTypeScript
Best forDecentralized, censorship-resistant dataFast multichain incl. non-EVM

The Graph

  • Most battle-tested & widely adopted
  • Decentralized + censorship-resistant
  • Huge subgraph ecosystem
  • Slowest in sync benchmarks
  • Hosted service deprecated (migration needed)

Subsquid (SQD)

  • Very fast (2nd in benchmarks)
  • 100+ chains incl. non-EVM
  • Modular SDK + decentralized network
  • More moving parts to learn
  • Smaller than The Graph

Bottom line

Pick The Graph for decentralized, censorship-resistant data; pick Subsquid (SQD) for fast multichain incl. non-evm.