Solana Playground vs Helius

Overview

Solana Playground Solana Playground (SolPG) is a browser-based integrated development environment (IDE) for writing, testing, and deploying Solana programs without any local setup required. It has become the go-to tool... Helius Helius is the premier developer platform for Solana, providing enterprise-grade RPC infrastructure, webhooks, enhanced APIs, and developer tools that power many of the ecosystem's most popular applica...

Community Ratings

Helius is rated higher by the MadeOnSol community with 4.0/5 stars across 1 review, compared to 0.0/5 for Solana Playground (0 reviews). That said, ratings only tell part of the story — what matters most is which tool fits your specific workflow.

Pricing & Value

Solana Playground uses a free model — Completely free and open-source., while Helius is freemium — Free tier: 30 RPS, 1M credits/day. Developer: $49/mo. Business: $499/mo. Enterprise: custom pricing.. Solana Playground has the edge for users who want a no-cost solution, though Helius's paid features may justify the investment for power users.

Key Features

Solana Playground offers 8 features including Browser-based Solana IDE with zero local setup required, Anchor framework and native Rust program support, One-click compile and deploy to devnet/testnet, and 5 more. Helius counters with 8 features including Enterprise-grade RPC nodes with optimized routing and low latency, Enhanced transaction API parsing raw data into human-readable formats, Digital Asset API (DAS) for comprehensive NFT and token metadata, and 5 more. The right choice depends on which specific features matter for your use case — check the individual review pages for full breakdowns.

Reliability & Health

We monitor both tools around the clock for uptime, SSL validity, and response times. Solana Playground currently has a healthy health status with 100.0% uptime over the last 30 days. Helius is rated healthy with 100.0% uptime. For tools you rely on daily — especially trading bots or wallets — uptime and speed are non-negotiable.

Strengths

Solana Playground's key strengths include zero setup — start writing solana programs immediately in any browser, perfect for learning, tutorials, and workshops with no installation friction, built-in wallet and devnet sol removes test token management hassle.