Solana Developers Count Increased In 2023
Solana recorded a steady 2500 - 3000 active monthly developers in 2023 as development activity on the network improved significantly.
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Solana recorded between 2500 and 3000 developers throughout 2023, according to the latest report from Solana Foundation. This highlights the increase in developer activity on the network, a positive sign for its performance.
According to the report, the data only accounts for developers contributing to the public repositories. This suggests that the report underestimates the number of active developers, as more might contribute to private repositories.
"Solana has sustained a monthly active developer count between 2500-3000 through 2023, showcasing the ecosystem's ability to attract & retain talent."
However, data from blockchain development tracker Developer Report paints a different picture. Per the report, Solana only had 946 developers as of October 1, 2023. The report relied on GitHub data and claimed that monthly active Solana developers have been in free fall since July 2023.
Despite the disparity in the numbers, one undisputed fact is that Solana now has the second-highest level of development activity after Ethereum. This underscores how Solana has become the closest competitor to Ethereum among smart contract networks.
Developer Retention on the Rise
Meanwhile, the Solana report noted that three-month developer retention increased from less than 31% to 50%. This implies that more developers are staying back on the network to build.
"Developers building on Solana now more likely to still be in the ecosystem, making it easier to onboard larger amounts of developers in the future."
As to what could be attracting the developers and making them stay, the answer is not far-fetched. The growth in network activity and the rise in the price of SOL are most likely the reasons. Solana saw its total value locked go from $400 million to over $1 billion within a month in 2023.
With more developers staying, the quality of projects on the network has improved. This is also likely because half of the developers on Solana have more than three years of experience. The network now enables building smart contract networks in several languages, such as Rust, C, Python, and Golang.
Solana-based Tokens Decline
However, prices have been on a decline in 2024. SOL has been down 11% since the start of the year, with the token dropping below $90 before recovering. Although it now trades at $97, its poor performance over the last few weeks has also affected other Solana-based tokens.
Memecoins such as BONK and WIF, who drove ecosystem activity in December, are now significantly down. BONK is down 14% year to date while losing more than 80% of its value from its December highs. WIF has seen more drops, down 35% this year and more than 100% from its peak price. Despite the recent price declines, the network still looks primed for growth if developer activity improves.
