What Is Rollup-as-a-Service: A Guide To RaaS Tech Stacks And Top 5 RaaS Providers
Appchains are arguably one of the most successful outcomes of blockchain modularity. Optimistic and ZK rollups have become the go-to L1 scaling solutions.
However, there are inherent complexities in building and maintaining custom rollup solutions that are deterring developers. Rollup-as-a-Service (RaaS) is a viable solution to fast-track building rollups many fold — from months to minutes.
RaaS providers, like Gelato, help developers do away with the conventional method of spinning up rollups (requiring deep expertise in cryptography and smart contract development) and replace it with a quick one-click deployment approach.
To make an informed decision on which rollup and RaaS provider to choose, developers must understand the intricacies of RaaS tech stacks.
This article will explore Rollups-as-a-Service architecture so that developers can choose the best EVM rollup framework for their projects.
Rollups-as-a-Service (RaaS) Overview
RaaS, short for Rollup-as-a-Service, is an off-the-rack offering by providers, like Gelato, for deploying rollups at the click of a button through a low-code interface.
Different Rollup-as-a-Service providers offer varying options in terms of supported frameworks, and customizability.
Before RaaS was a thing, developers had to manually set up and manage node infrastructure, write intricate smart contracts, and manage deployment and debugging processes.
Today, RaaS platforms abstract away the complexities associated with reinventing the wheel (in this case, building the rollup from scratch) and provide a fully managed infrastructure aligned with modular smart contract templates and pre-built bridges.
Popular RaaS Providers
Presently, there are multiple RaaS providers for developers to choose from.
Below is a list of five popular RaaS providers:
- Gelato
- Alchemy
- AltLayer
- Conduit
- Caldera
1. Gelato
Gelato is a decentralized backend-as-a-service platform that simplifies blockchain automation and infrastructure, making it a natural fit for Rollups-as-a-Service. Gelato’s RaaS offering focuses on flexibility and customization, enabling developers to launch scalable, application-specific rollups with ease.
Gelato's RaaS platform offers a no-code interface for deploying rollups while ensuring high uptime and compatibility with multiple data availability solutions. It integrates with existing Gelato services like auto-scaling RPC nodes, allowing for a fully managed infrastructure that adapts to fluctuating network demands.
Frameworks supported:
- ABC
- Arbitrum Orbit
- OP Stack
2. Alchemy
Alchemy is one of the world’s largest web3 development platforms and infrastructure. Rollups are a recent addition to the Alchemy suite of products in accordance with Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap and to enable faster product development.
Alchemy’s Rollup-as-a-Service (RaaS) platform comes with settlement and data availability layers, a high-performance sequencer with 99.999% uptime, automatic rollup health monitoring, and more.
Frameworks supported:
- Arbitrum Orbit
- OP Stack
3. AltLayer
AltLayer is a dynamically scalable RaaS platform that enables developers to launch customizable Layer 2 and Layer 3 blockchains. Its goal is to provide a flexible and easy-to-use infrastructure for deploying application-specific execution environments.
AltLayer introduces “restaked rollups” via three vertically integrated Actively Validated Services (AVSes) that enable decentralized sequencing, verification, and fast finality.
Frameworks supported:
- OP Stack
- Arbitrum Orbit
- Polygon CDK
- zkSync ZK Stack
4. Conduit
Conduit offers a three-step no-code rollup deployment experience. Developers can also choose different settlement layers and data availability layers (other than Ethereum).
Frameworks supported:
- OP Stack
- Arbitrum Orbit
5. Caldera
Caldera’s RaaS platform specializes in building high-performance and customizable rollup chains called “Caldera Chains”.
Caldera Chains can integrate with over 40 leading Web3 infrastructure providers, making it easier for developers to access required tools and services.
Frameworks supported:
- Arbitrum Nitro
- Optimism Bedrock
- ZK Stack
Core Components of RaaS Tech Stacks
Rollup-as-a-Service (RaaS) providers offer varying degrees of customizability when deploying a rollup — and that is for a reason. Every product has unique requirements, and what’s best for one might not be the optimal choice for the other.
Therefore, you, as a developer, must carefully evaluate the nuanced differences between the myriad customization options that the providers present to you to accommodate the present and future roadmaps of your project. That starts with familiarizing the different components of RaaS.
Rollup Framework
A rollup framework implements capabilities for the execution and settlement of a rollup.
Your choice of a rollup framework when deploying rollups using a RaaS provider sets the stage for your dApp’s scalability, efficiency, and security. These frameworks will make up the foundation of your decentralized application.
There are two main rollups for developers to choose from:
- Optimistic rollups: These rollups assume transactions are valid and only execute a verification process (fraud proofs) if there is a challenge.
- ZK rollups: These rollups use zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs or zk-STARKs) to validate transactions off-chain, only submitting succinct proofs to the main chain.
Leading RaaS providers support a variety of rollup frameworks, such as Optimism's OP Stack, Arbitrum Orbit, Polygon CDK, and zkSync’s ZK Stack. Choosing the right framework depends on your specific requirements, such as the desired level of security, transaction throughput, and EVM compatibility.
Next, you’d have to choose how you’d like to implement these frameworks:
- Do you want to opt for vanilla implementation?
- Do you want to include custom ERCs to further tailor to your needs?
Data Availability Solutions
While rollups, too, store data, their primary function is to bundle transaction data off-chain and submit proofs to the main chain. They do not ensure data availability, which is necessary for validating and reconstructing the state of the rollup.
That’s where data availability layers come in.
Data availability layers have four primary functions:
- Storing data to ensure availability for validation and state reconstruction
- Distributing data across nodes to eliminate single point of failure
- Keep data accessible for independent verification
- Verify data to ensure state integrity
There are two ways of ensuring data availability:
- On-chain: Data is usually stored on layer 1 blockchains like Ethereum (CALLDATA or blobs), or stored on DA-specific chains like Celestia and EigenDA.
- Off-chain: Data is stored elsewhere like centralized servers, validium, volition (users choose where they want to keep their data), or distributed storage networks like IPFS.
Rollup RPC Node Infrastructure
Your dApp’s traffic is not going to be constant. Some days it is lower (like when there’s a market downturn) and some days it is off the charts (like when there’s a hyped-up token launch).
Using an RPC node that fails to accommodate traffic spikes would hurt business. Subscribing to a node that is far beyond your average requirement is capital inefficient.
So, what is the solution? An elastic RPC node infrastructure.
An elastic node refers to one that dynamically and automatically scales as per your traffic. Without autoscaling, you'd need to provision for the peak traffic level at all times, leading to wasted resources when demand is low. Autoscaling allows the RaaS platform to only use the resources necessary, saving you money.
When choosing an RPC node provider, check the following:
- Supported programming languages
- Level of customization
- Node’s rate limiting
- Support for WebSockets
- Provision for custom RPC methods
Sequencers
Sequencers can become a critical point of failure if not implemented correctly. Relying on a single sequencer can make the rollup vulnerable to downtime and/or censorship. Therefore, decentralizing sequencers is an important aspect of rollups.
Now, rollups are, by default, built to prove state commitments. So, the requirement for decentralization is solely to eliminate rollup failure, censorship, and MEV. Shared sequencing is a solution for that.
The idea of a shared sequencer is that, rather than having n sequencer sets for n decentralized rollups, there can be 1 decentralized sequencing architecture for n rollups.
Choosing the Right RaaS Implementation Partner
We’ve seen earlier how different RaaS providers have different offerings with a few commonalities.
While evaluating the core components of the RaaS tech stack should give you a fair direction for choosing the right RaaS implementation partner, here are a few additional considerations:
- Choose a provider with a history of success and a reputation for reliability. Don’t fall for marketing gimmicks and false claims.
- Assess the partner’s technical capabilities by diving deep into the system architecture. Is their solution novel or a jerry-rigged repackaged product?
- Prioritize partners who adhere to industry standards and regulations, such as SOC2 compliance. Staying compliant from the get-go pays off in the long run.
- Seek reliable and timely developer support. RaaS is usually a fully managed offering. Hence, your dev team should be able to connect and work with the provider, in some capacity, in case of any unforeseen issues.
- See whether the provider offers any vertical integration of ancillary services like auto-scaling node infrastructure, shared sequencers, monitoring capabilities, and analytics.
Use Transak On Gelato
The partnership between Transak and Gelato aims to integrate Transak's fiat-to-crypto onramp solutions into Gelato's ecosystem, specifically enhancing user onboarding for applications built on Gelato's infrastructure.
Transak is integrated into Gelato's marketplace so developers and users can easily convert fiat currency into cryptocurrencies directly within the Gelato environment. That way, appchains built using Gelato can readily access Transak to on-ramp users onto their rollup through familiar payment methods like bank transfer, cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay in over 160 countries.
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