Solana's token launchpad scene has exploded. What started as Pump.fun dominating with a near-monopoly on memecoin launches turned into an all-out war between five serious platforms — though as of September 2026 one of the five, auto.fun, has since shut down (more on that below), leaving four active platforms with different mechanics, fees, audiences, and graduation paths. If you're launching a token — or trading newly launched ones — choosing the right platform matters more than ever.
This guide breaks down every major Solana launchpad, compares them head-to-head, and tells you exactly which one to use based on your goals.
The Quick Comparison
| Feature | Pump.fun | Raydium LaunchLab | Believe | Moonshot | auto.fun |
|---|
| Launch cost | 0.02 SOL | Free | Free (via X post) | 0.02 SOL | — (shut down) |
| Trading fee | 1.25% (dynamic by MC) | 0.25% | 1-2% (anti-snipe decay) | ~2% | — (shut down) |
| Graduation MC | ~85 SOL raised (USD floats) | ~$120K (85 SOL) | $100K | ~$63-73K | — (shut down) |
| Post-grad DEX | PumpSwap | Raydium AMM | Meteora | Raydium | — (shut down) |
| Graduation rate | ~0.7-0.8% | ~0.5% | ~1-2% | ~0.14% | — (shut down) |
| Daily new tokens | 20,000+ | 2,000-5,000 | 500-2,000 | 100-500 | 0 (shut down) |
| Bonding curve | Exponential | Linear/Exp/Log | Dynamic (anti-snipe) | Exponential | — (shut down) |
| Creator fees | Dynamic, 0.05-0.95% (MC-tiered) | Up to 10% of LP fees (new launches pooled with platform's share since Aug 2026) | 50-70% of trading fees | None | — (shut down) |
| Best for | Memecoins | Serious token launches | Social/creator tokens | DexScreener visibility | Shut down in 2026 — see note below |
Now let's dig into each one.
Pump.fun — The Undisputed King
Pump.fun is the platform that started the Solana launchpad revolution. Since its launch, it has facilitated the creation of over 8 million tokens and still commands roughly 60-70% of Solana's new token launches. It's the default. When people say "I launched a coin," they usually mean on Pump.fun.
How It Works
- Create a token for 0.02 SOL — pick a name, ticker, upload an image, write a description. Takes 30 seconds.
- Bonding curve trading begins immediately. 800 million of the 1 billion total supply sits on an exponential bonding curve. Price increases as more SOL flows in.
- Graduation happens when ~85 SOL accumulates in the bonding curve (the threshold is SOL-denominated, so the USD market cap floats with SOL price). The remaining supply and liquidity migrate to PumpSwap, Pump.fun's own AMM.
- Post-graduation, the token keeps trading on PumpSwap, but the fee is no longer flat — see below.
Fee Structure
Pump.fun's fee model is dynamic and tied to market cap, not to "traders voting on narratives." Bonding-curve trades carry a flat 1.25% total fee (0.95% protocol / 0.30% creator). Project Ascend (rolled out in late 2025) made the post-graduation fee on PumpSwap scale down as a token's market cap grows: roughly 1.25% total just after graduation, stepping down through several tiers to as low as 0.30% total (0.05% protocol / 0.05% creator / 0.20% LP) once a token's PumpSwap market cap passes about 98,000 SOL. So PumpSwap fees are not a flat 0.25% — they range from 1.25% down to 0.30% depending on how far a token has run. Separately, in January 2026 Pump.fun added Creator Fee Sharing, letting teams split their creator-fee cut across up to 10 wallets.
The PUMP Token
Pump.fun launched its own token ($PUMP) with a revenue-sharing model that distributes approximately $45M monthly to holders. This was a game-changer — it aligned the platform's success with token holders and created a flywheel where PUMP holders promote the platform.
Strengths
- Massive liquidity and attention. More eyeballs on Pump.fun than any other launchpad. If your token graduates, it gets seen.
- PumpSwap integration. Post-graduation liquidity stays in the Pump.fun ecosystem, making it easier for the platform to capture continued trading fees and maintain deep markets.
- Battle-tested. Over 8 million tokens launched. The smart contracts are as audited-by-usage as any protocol in crypto.
- Creator fee sharing. The dynamic model lets successful creators earn meaningful revenue.
Weaknesses
- Extremely low graduation rate. Only 0.7-0.8% of tokens ever reach graduation. The vast majority die on the bonding curve.
- Saturated market. With 20,000+ new tokens per day, getting attention is brutal. Your token competes with thousands of others for the same pool of degens.
- Reputation. Pump.fun is synonymous with rugs, scams, and ephemeral memecoins. If you're launching something meant to be taken seriously, the Pump.fun association can hurt credibility.
- PumpSwap lock-in. Graduated tokens land on PumpSwap rather than Raydium, which some traders consider less liquid for long-tail tokens.
Best For
Pure memecoins. If you're launching a joke token, a narrative play, or testing if a community forms organically around a concept, Pump.fun is the default. The audience expects memes, and the infrastructure supports high-volume, low-effort launches.
Raydium LaunchLab — The Serious Contender
Raydium launched LaunchLab as a direct response to Pump.fun migrating away from Raydium's AMM to its own PumpSwap. It's Raydium's bet that creators want more control, better tokenomics, and the credibility of launching on Solana's most established DEX.
How It Works
LaunchLab offers two modes:
JustSendit Mode — The simple path. Similar to Pump.fun: set a name, ticker, image, and launch. The bonding curve targets 85 SOL (~$120K MC at current prices), and graduation sends liquidity to Raydium's CPMM pool.
LaunchLab Mode — The customizable path. Creators can:
- Choose bonding curve type (linear, exponential, or logarithmic)
- Set the SOL graduation target (minimum 30 SOL)
- Use different quote tokens (SOL, jitoSOL, USDT, USDC)
- Configure creator fee percentages
Graduation Mechanics
When the bonding curve goal is reached:
- SOL and token liquidity migrate to a Raydium CPMM pool
- LP tokens are partially burned and partially locked
- A Fee Key NFT is minted representing the right to claim a share of LP trading fees generated by the pool
⚠️ Updated August 2026: Raydium shipped a protocol-level LaunchLab upgrade on August 17, 2026 that changed this. CPMM pools are now mandatory for all newly-initialized launches, and the creator's LP share is consolidated with the platform's share into a single Fee Key NFT held by Raydium's own platform wallet — new launches no longer mint a separate, creator-owned Fee Key NFT with an independent perpetual claim. The description below (independent creator NFT, sellable, forever) reflects how LaunchLab worked before that date; tokens that graduated earlier keep whatever Fee Key NFT they were already issued.
Before the change, this Fee Key NFT was genuinely innovative: it gave creators a perpetual revenue stream tied to their token's trading activity, and the NFT itself could be sold or transferred to monetize those creator rights.
Fee Structure
- Bonding curve phase: 0.25% static trading fee
- Post-graduation: Standard Raydium CPMM fees (0.25%); creator LP/fee-key economics changed in the August 2026 upgrade above — check Raydium's own docs for a token's specific graduation terms
- No launch fee — creating a token is free
Strengths
- Raydium ecosystem. Graduated tokens land on Raydium, which has deeper liquidity infrastructure and is indexed by every major aggregator (Jupiter, DexScreener, Birdeye).
- Customizable bonding curves. Logarithmic curves favor early buyers less aggressively. Linear curves provide more predictable pricing. This flexibility matters for different token types.
- Fee Key NFT (pre-Aug 2026 launches). Perpetual creator revenue was a powerful incentive for creators who planned to build long-term projects — though as noted above, new launches since the August 2026 upgrade no longer get an independent creator-owned Fee Key NFT.
- Multi-quote token support. Launching against USDC or jitoSOL opens different market dynamics.
- Lower trading fees. 0.25% vs Pump.fun's 1.25% on the bonding curve. This matters for traders.
Weaknesses
- Less attention. LaunchLab processes 2,000-5,000 new tokens per day — significant, but a fraction of Pump.fun's volume. Less volume means less organic discovery.
- Higher graduation threshold. 85 SOL (~$120K) in JustSendit mode is harder to reach than Pump.fun's ~80 SOL, and the graduation rate reflects this.
- Third-party platform strategy. Raydium is pushing LetsBonk.fun and other third-party frontends built on LaunchLab, which fragments the user experience.
- Less memecoin culture. Raydium's branding is more "serious DeFi" than "degen playground," which means the highest-energy memecoin launches still happen on Pump.fun.
Best For
Tokens that want Raydium's liquidity infrastructure and customizable launch parameters. If you're launching something with longer-term ambitions than a 15-minute pump, LaunchLab's flexibility beats Pump.fun's — just confirm current creator-fee terms before you launch, since the August 2026 upgrade changed how much of the post-graduation LP a creator actually keeps.
Believe — The Social Launchpad
Believe (formerly Clout) took a completely different approach. Instead of a standalone launchpad website, Believe lets you launch tokens directly from X (Twitter) posts. Reply to the @believeapp account with your token idea, and it creates a token on Solana tied to your X identity. It's SocialFi meets token launches.
How It Works
- Launch via X. Post a reply to @believeapp with your token concept. The platform creates a token with a dynamic bonding curve.
- Anti-snipe protection. Early buys face a high fee (starts around 20-30%) that decays down to 2% as liquidity builds. This prevents bots from frontrunning launches.
- Graduation at $100K MC. When the token's market cap crosses $100,000, it graduates from the bonding curve and liquidity migrates to Meteora.
- Creator fees. Creators earn 50-70% of trading fees (reports vary between a 50/50 and 70/30 split with the platform). Fees are distributed in SOL after linking your X account.
What Makes It Different
Believe's core insight is that attention on crypto Twitter is the primary driver of token success. By integrating directly with X, it reduces the friction between "seeing a token idea" and "buying that token" to near zero. The anti-snipe mechanism is also genuinely useful — it gives organic buyers a fair window before bots can pile in cheaply.
The Meteora graduation path is interesting too. Meteora's DLMM pools offer concentrated liquidity that can be more capital-efficient than standard AMM pools, potentially leading to tighter spreads post-graduation.
Fee Structure
- Anti-snipe fee: Starts high (~20-30%), decays to 2% over the first minutes of trading
- Standard trading fee: 1-2% on bonding curve trades
- Creator share: 50-70% of trading fees
- Believe share: 30-50% of trading fees
- No launch cost
Strengths
- Social integration. Launching from X means your token is immediately visible to your followers. No need to drive traffic to a separate launchpad site.
- Anti-snipe protection. The decaying fee mechanism genuinely helps organic buyers get in before bots.
- Creator-friendly economics. 50-70% fee share is among the best in the launchpad space.
- Meteora graduation. Concentrated liquidity post-graduation can provide better trading conditions.
- Higher graduation rate. ~1-2%, roughly double Pump.fun's rate, likely because the social proof filter means tokens launch with existing audiences.
Weaknesses
- X dependency. Your token's discoverability is entirely tied to X's algorithm and your follower count. No followers? No attention.
- Higher trading fees. The 1-2% fee (plus anti-snipe premium for early trades) makes Believe more expensive than LaunchLab or PumpSwap post-graduation.
- Creator token stigma. "Creator coins" and "social tokens" have a checkered history (remember BitClout?). Some traders avoid Believe tokens on principle.
- Less DeFi integration. Believe tokens on Meteora don't get the same aggregator routing as Raydium-listed tokens initially.
Best For
Creators, influencers, and KOLs with existing X audiences. If you have 10K+ followers and want to monetize your influence through a token launch, Believe's social integration and anti-snipe mechanics make it the best choice. Also good for narrative-driven tokens that rely on social momentum.
