Real-time Solana data: WebSocket subscriptions vs Yellowstone gRPC Geyser

Petar Stoykov

April 30, 2025 in Big Ideas, Industry, Tech

Building real-time dashboards or DeFi apps on Solana often starts with a simple question:

How do I get fresh data as soon as it happens?

For most developers, the journey begins with RPC polling using getProgramAccounts, then evolves into WebSocket subscriptions. But as projects scale, limitations surface—leading many to adopt next-generation solutions like Yellowstone gRPC Geyser.

In this article, we’ll break down:

What WebSocket subscriptions offer
What you gain (and lose) with Yellowstone
Practical use cases like tracking swaps on Raydium
Which approach fits your needs

Why not just use `getProgramAccounts`?

Solana’s getProgramAccounts is a powerful RPC method, often used to fetch all accounts tied to a program like Raydium or Serum. But it’s not real-time, and using it in production has serious drawbacks:

Requires constant polling
Fetches large datasets repeatedly
Difficult to detect small changes efficiently
Adds backend complexity (diffing, filtering, deduplication)

Result: High latency, unnecessary compute, and increased traffic.

Option 1: Solana WebSocket Subscriptions (Built-in RPC)

Solana’s JSON-RPC API supports WebSocket subscriptions to receive live updates about accounts, transactions, logs, and blocks.

Supported WebSocket Methods

Method	Purpose
`accountSubscribe`	Get updates when a specific account changes
`programSubscribe`	Get updates for any account in a given program
`logsSubscribe`	Listen for transaction logs (events) from specific programs
`signatureSubscribe`	Receive status updates for a specific transaction
`slotSubscribe`	Stream slot updates in real time

Pros

No need to poll
Easy to set up in small apps
Suitable for lightweight use cases (single wallet, DApp)

Cons

No parsing: Data is returned in base64, must be manually decoded
No history: Subscriptions only work from the moment they start
Limited filtering: You can’t say “only notify me about USDC changes”
Subscription caps: Most providers limit to ~100–200 subs per connection
Complex real-world logic: Requires stitching together data from logs, account states, and additional RPC calls like getTransaction or getParsedAccountInfo

Option 2: Yellowstone gRPC Geyser

Yellowstone is a high-performance Solana streaming service built on gRPC over HTTP/2, offering structured, low-latency updates with deep filtering.

Key features

gRPC binary protocol: Compact, fast, and persistent
Structured data: Account diffs, token balance changes, parsed logs
Custom filters: By program, account, transaction type
Multiple streams: Account, transaction, and block updates separately
Designed for production-scale DeFi dashboards

Benefits

Sub-second latency with no polling
Filtered streams reduce backend load
Direct frontend syncing—no spaghetti backend logic
Built-in support for Raydium, Orca, wallet activity, and more

Feature	WebSocket	Yellowstone
Real-time updates	✅	✅
Sub-second latency	⚠️ Sometimes	✅ Consistently
Auto-parsed data	❌ base64 only	✅ Structured fields
Event filtering	⚠️ Limited	✅ Fine-grained filters
Performance at scale	❌ Capped	✅ Horizontal scaling
SDK support	⚠️ Custom logic	✅ Auto-generated SDKs
Stream history	❌	⚠️ Partial (depending on use)