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Arbitrum vs Base vs Optimism (2026)

The three dominant Ethereum L2s compared in one place — TVL, governance, and strategic positioning.

Updated June 2026

CriteriaSummary
TVL leaderArbitrum
Retail onboardingBase
Governance tokenOptimism (OP)
Full analysisThree-way article
UpdatedMay 2026

Verdict

See our full three-way analysis for chain selection by use case.

Market data changes frequently. For live TVL and rates, see our DeFi tools.