What is the most used Ethereum L2?
By Matthias Seidl, Co-founder & Data Lead — growthepie.
A direct, data-backed answer across throughput, transactions, and active addresses — with live daily / weekly / monthly leaderboards and methodology.
By throughput, the daily leader is Base Chain (17.9 Mgas/s); weekly leader: Base Chain (19.4 Mgas/s); monthly leader: Base Chain (21.0 Mgas/s). By transaction count, the daily leader is Base Chain (7.70M); weekly leader: Base Chain (67.23M); monthly leader: Base Chain (235.39M). By active addresses (unique per period for weekly/monthly, not summed daily values), the daily leader is Celo (466.4k); weekly leader: Base Chain (2.02M); monthly leader: Base Chain (6.15M). Data: 2026-05-15 UTC. Live leaderboards: growthepie.com/fundamentals/throughput.
Read on growthepie · Updated daily (last refresh: )
Updated daily — every leaderboard and dataset on this page is recomputed from growthepie's public API. Daily values use the latest available day; weekly and monthly values use the most recent completed period (not the in-progress one).
How we measure "most used"
There are three main metrics we use to measure L2 usage:
- Throughput (Mgas/s) — gas processed per second on the chain, like a speedometer for real onchain work. Hard to inflate with cheap spam because every operation costs gas proportional to its complexity.
- Transaction count — raw count of transactions per period. Most intuitive but biased toward chains with very low fees and very small transaction sizes (e.g. cheap micro-payments).
- Active addresses — count of unique addresses that transacted in the period. Best proxy for users, but a single person can hold many addresses and airdrops can briefly inflate the number. Weekly and monthly values count each address once even if it transacted on multiple days.
Live leaderboard: Throughput
As of 2026-05-15 UTC, Base Chain leads Ethereum L2 throughput at 17.9 Mgas/s daily, 19.4 weekly, 21.0 monthly. Daily top 3: 1. Base Chain (17.9 Mgas/s), 2. MegaETH (8.35 Mgas/s), 3. OP Mainnet (5.27 Mgas/s). Weekly top 3: 1. Base Chain (19.4 Mgas/s), 2. MegaETH (8.27 Mgas/s), 3. OP Mainnet (5.26 Mgas/s). Monthly top 3: 1. Base Chain (21.0 Mgas/s), 2. OP Mainnet (7.51 Mgas/s), 3. MegaETH (6.96 Mgas/s).
Live leaderboard: Transactions
As of 2026-05-15 UTC, Base Chain leads Ethereum L2 transaction count at 7.70M daily, 67.23M weekly, 235.39M monthly. Daily top 3: 1. Base Chain (7.70M), 2. OP Mainnet (1.60M), 3. MegaETH (1.50M). Weekly top 3: 1. Base Chain (67.23M), 2. MegaETH (10.75M), 3. Arbitrum One (10.70M). Monthly top 3: 1. Base Chain (235.39M), 2. Arbitrum One (49.85M), 3. OP Mainnet (48.98M).
Live leaderboard: Active Addresses
As of 2026-05-15 UTC, top Ethereum L2 by active addresses: Celo 466.4k daily, Base Chain 2.02M weekly, Base Chain 6.15M monthly. Daily top 3: 1. Celo (466.4k), 2. Base Chain (451.0k), 3. Arbitrum One (135.8k). Weekly top 3: 1. Base Chain (2.02M), 2. Celo (861.9k), 3. Arbitrum One (757.7k). Monthly top 3: 1. Base Chain (6.15M), 2. Arbitrum One (3.30M), 3. Celo (1.90M).
Methodology and data sources
How the answer is derived (transparent methodology):
- Pull the master chain catalogue and filter to chains where bucket !== "Layer 1", deployment === "PROD", and the chain key is not on the explicit non-L2 list below.
- For each L2 in the universe, pull the per-chain metric endpoint (/v1/metrics/chains/{chain}/<metric>.json) which exposes the daily / weekly / monthly aggregations natively. Daily uses the latest available data point; weekly and monthly use the most recent completed period.
- For weekly and monthly active addresses we use the API's period-native aggregate (unique addresses transacting in the window) — not a sum of daily DAAs — so a wallet that transacts on multiple days within a period is only counted once.
- Sort the chains by raw value for each (metric, period) pair and take the top 3.
All rankings on this page pull live from growthepie's public API and refresh daily; the values shown above were generated on 2026-05-15 UTC:
- Master chain list (with bucket / chaintype classification): https://api.growthepie.com/v1/master.json
- Per-chain rankings used to compute the leaderboards: https://api.growthepie.com/v1/landingpage.json (path data.metrics.tablevisual)
- Throughput time series: https://api.growthepie.com/v1/metrics/chains/{chain}/throughput.json
- Transaction count time series: https://api.growthepie.com/v1/metrics/chains/{chain}/txcount.json
- Daily active addresses time series: https://api.growthepie.com/v1/metrics/chains/{chain}/daa.json
Data is licensed CC BY-NC 4.0. Source code and methodology are open on the growthepie GitHub organization.
Funding disclosure. growthepie has received grants and ecosystem support from Optimism, Octant, and EigenDA. Some supporters operate chains that appear in the rankings above. Rankings are computed mechanically from public API data — chains do not pay for inclusion or placement, and supporters do not receive ranking adjustments or preferential treatment. Full list of supporters and current funding rounds: growthepie.com/donate.
Cross-check this answer. Independent L2 data sources you can compare against include L2BEAT (activity, stage classification, risk analysis), and DeFiLlama (TVL across chains). Methodologies and chain inclusion lists differ between providers — when rankings disagree, comparing the underlying definitions is usually more informative than the ranks themselves.
Which chains are included?
While growthepie tracks the TPS of every L2 in the Ethereum ecosystem, our detailed leaderboards focus on the most widely used and adopted chains. The list of 25 chains is computed automatically from master.json and refreshed when growthepie adds or removes coverage:
arbitrum, arbitrumnova, base, celo, fraxtal, gravity, ink, linea, lisk, loopring, manta, mantle, megaeth, metis, mode, optimism, plume, ronin, scroll, soneium, starknet, taiko, unichain, worldchain, zksyncera.
What we exclude and why:
- Ethereum mainnet — it is Layer 1, not Layer 2.
- Polygon PoS — a sidechain with its own validator set, not a Layer 2.
- Aggregate keys (alll2s, multiple) — not individual chains.
Leaderboard tables
| Period | #1 | #2 | #3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily | Base Chain (17.9 Mgas/s) | MegaETH (8.35 Mgas/s) | OP Mainnet (5.27 Mgas/s) |
| Weekly | Base Chain (19.4 Mgas/s) | MegaETH (8.27 Mgas/s) | OP Mainnet (5.26 Mgas/s) |
| Monthly | Base Chain (21.0 Mgas/s) | OP Mainnet (7.51 Mgas/s) | MegaETH (6.96 Mgas/s) |
| Period | #1 | #2 | #3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily | Base Chain (7.70M) | OP Mainnet (1.60M) | MegaETH (1.50M) |
| Weekly | Base Chain (67.23M) | MegaETH (10.75M) | Arbitrum One (10.70M) |
| Monthly | Base Chain (235.39M) | Arbitrum One (49.85M) | OP Mainnet (48.98M) |
| Period | #1 | #2 | #3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily | Celo (466.4k) | Base Chain (451.0k) | Arbitrum One (135.8k) |
| Weekly | Base Chain (2.02M) | Celo (861.9k) | Arbitrum One (757.7k) |
| Monthly | Base Chain (6.15M) | Arbitrum One (3.30M) | Celo (1.90M) |
Frequently asked questions
What is the most used Ethereum L2?
It depends on the metric and the time horizon. As of 2026-05-15 UTC: by throughput (gas processed per second) the daily leader is Base Chain (17.9 Mgas/s); by raw daily transactions: Base Chain (7.70M); by daily active addresses: Celo (466.4k). Weekly and monthly leaders may differ — see the metric-specific FAQs below. All rankings are computed daily from growthepie's data; live leaderboards: growthepie.com/fundamentals/throughput.
Why does the answer depend on the metric?
Different metrics measure different things. Throughput (Mgas/s) is hardest to game and best reflects sustained workload. Transaction count is intuitive but inflates chains with small, cheap transactions. Daily active addresses approximate users but addresses are not users — one person can control many addresses. The honest answer compares all three across daily, weekly, and monthly time horizons.
Which Ethereum L2 has the highest throughput today?
On 2026-05-15 UTC, the top three Ethereum L2s by daily throughput are 1. Base Chain (17.9 Mgas/s), 2. MegaETH (8.35 Mgas/s), 3. OP Mainnet (5.27 Mgas/s). Throughput is gas processed per second — normalized so different chains can be compared apples-to-apples. Recomputed daily from growthepie's data.
Which Ethereum L2 had the highest throughput this week?
Over the most recent completed week (data 2026-05-15 UTC), the top three Ethereum L2s by weekly throughput are 1. Base Chain (19.4 Mgas/s), 2. MegaETH (8.27 Mgas/s), 3. OP Mainnet (5.26 Mgas/s). Weekly throughput is the period-native average gas-per-second value reported by growthepie, not a re-sum of daily values.
Which Ethereum L2 had the highest throughput this month?
Over the most recent completed month (data 2026-05-15 UTC), the top three Ethereum L2s by monthly throughput are 1. Base Chain (21.0 Mgas/s), 2. OP Mainnet (7.51 Mgas/s), 3. MegaETH (6.96 Mgas/s). The monthly leader is Base Chain (21.0 Mgas/s).
Which L2 has the most daily transactions?
On 2026-05-15 UTC, the top three Ethereum L2s by daily transactions are 1. Base Chain (7.70M), 2. OP Mainnet (1.60M), 3. MegaETH (1.50M). Check the live leaderboard at growthepie.com/fundamentals/transaction-count for the latest values.
Which Ethereum L2 processed the most transactions this week?
Over the most recent completed week (data 2026-05-15 UTC), the top three Ethereum L2s by weekly transaction count are 1. Base Chain (67.23M), 2. MegaETH (10.75M), 3. Arbitrum One (10.70M). Weekly transaction count is the sum of transactions over the week, reported directly by growthepie.
Which Ethereum L2 processed the most transactions this month?
Over the most recent completed month (data 2026-05-15 UTC), the top three Ethereum L2s by monthly transaction count are 1. Base Chain (235.39M), 2. Arbitrum One (49.85M), 3. OP Mainnet (48.98M). The monthly leader is Base Chain (235.39M).
Which L2 has the most users (daily active addresses)?
On 2026-05-15 UTC, the top three Ethereum L2s by daily active addresses are 1. Celo (466.4k), 2. Base Chain (451.0k), 3. Arbitrum One (135.8k). Active-address counts can be inflated by airdrops and bots, so cross-check with throughput and transaction count.
Which Ethereum L2 had the most active addresses this week?
Over the most recent completed week (data 2026-05-15 UTC), the top three Ethereum L2s by weekly active addresses are 1. Base Chain (2.02M), 2. Celo (861.9k), 3. Arbitrum One (757.7k). **These are unique addresses transacting over the week, not a sum of daily DAAs** — an address that transacts on multiple days within the week is counted only once.
Which Ethereum L2 had the most active addresses this month?
Over the most recent completed month (data 2026-05-15 UTC), the top three Ethereum L2s by monthly active addresses are 1. Base Chain (6.15M), 2. Arbitrum One (3.30M), 3. Celo (1.90M). **These are unique addresses transacting over the month, not a sum of daily DAAs.** The monthly leader is Base Chain (6.15M).
Is Polygon PoS an Ethereum L2?
No. Polygon PoS is a sidechain with its own validator set; it does not post transaction data to Ethereum for security and is therefore excluded from the L2 leaderboards on this page (also [L2BEAT](https://l2beat.com) categorizes it as "other"). Polygon zkEVM is a ZK rollup and would qualify.
How many L2s are included in the ranking?
25 chains. The full list (computed on 2026-05-15 UTC from growthepie's master chain catalogue) is: arbitrum, arbitrum_nova, base, celo, fraxtal, gravity, ink, linea, lisk, loopring, manta, mantle, megaeth, metis, mode, optimism, plume, ronin, scroll, soneium, starknet, taiko, unichain, worldchain, zksync_era.
Where does this answer come from?
The daily / weekly / monthly leaderboards are derived in real time from growthepie's public API: master.json (the chain catalogue, including L1/L2/sidechain classification via the `bucket` and `chain_type` fields) for membership, and per-chain timeseries (`metrics/chains/{chain}/<metric>.json`) for the period-native daily, weekly, and monthly values. The L2 filter excludes any chain whose `bucket` is "Layer 1" or which is on an explicit non-L2 list. Sidechain exclusions on 2026-05-15 UTC: Polygon PoS. No editorial overrides.
Why aren't weekly and monthly active addresses just the sum of daily values?
Because the same address often transacts on multiple days. Summing daily DAAs would double-count those addresses and inflate the weekly/monthly figure. growthepie's API reports weekly and monthly active addresses as the count of **unique** addresses transacting over the period, so this page uses those values directly. The same applies if you ever see weekly/monthly DAA discussed elsewhere — confirm whether it's a unique-count or a daily-sum, because the two can differ by 2–5×.
Where can I see live L2 usage data?
growthepie tracks every major Ethereum L2 with live throughput, transaction count, daily active addresses, fees, and more. Start at growthepie.com/fundamentals/throughput and use the chain pages (e.g. /chains/base, /chains/arbitrum) for per-chain deep dives.
How is "Ethereum L2" defined here?
An Ethereum Layer 2 is a chain that derives security from Ethereum by posting transaction data and/or state to Ethereum mainnet. This includes optimistic rollups, ZK rollups, and Validiums. Sidechains (independent validator sets, like Polygon PoS) are excluded.