Top Rollup Solutions for Enterprise Blockchain Applications in 2026

Written by Max Crawford

Published on January 22, 20267 min read

---

Building blockchain-based applications often meant that enterprises also inherited the complexity and unpredictability that comes with operating onchain. Unpredictable transaction fees. Unpredictable transaction times. Network outages. These issues were often dealbreakers.

But now, with rollups available in neatly packaged services, enterprises can deploy entire chains that solely cater to their ecosystem or application and remove that complexity and unpredictability entirely.

What Are Rollups?

Rollups are a kind of blockchain scaling solution. They run on top of layer-1 blockchains, inheriting their security, while processing transactions off-chain and settling them in batches back to the L1. This is better than building on an L1 chain because the rollup design lets businesses move far more transactions at lower and predictable costs, avoid congestion on the base chain, and still rely on L1 security. Essentially, rollups make blockchain usable for real-world scale instead of niche on-chain activity.

At a high level, a rollup follows this flow:

1. Users submit transactions on the rollup chain.

2. The rollup executes those transactions in its own environment.

3. Transaction data or proofs are posted in batches to the L1 base layer.

4. The base layer enforces correctness and finality.

Essentially, the L1 base chain acts as the court of record. It does not run every computation, but it verifies that whatever happened off-chain followed the rules.

Also Read: What Are Rollups-as-a-Service and Appchains?

For businesses, the value proposition comes from the fact that rollups give enterprises control without sacrificing trust. With dedicated blockchain environments, enterprises can tailor performance, fees, upgrade paths, and permissions to their product’s needs while inheriting Ethereum’s security and credibility, instead of competing on a shared L1 with unpredictable costs and constraints.

There are two primary categories of rollup technologies today:

1. Optimistic rollups assume transactions are valid by default and use fraud proofs to catch any invalid transactions after the fact.

2. Zero-Knowledge (ZK) rollups generate cryptographic validity proofs for each batch, ensuring only correct state updates are accepted on-chain.

What Should an Enterprise Look for in a Rollup Solution?

Many businesses spend a large chunk of their treasury on building a chain only to realize they never needed it in the first place. So, first, ask yourself, “Do I actually need my own chain?” If the answer is a resounding “Yes!” then here’s a small list of things to consider when choosing a rollup.

1. Transaction volume and cost economics

Rollups only make economic sense at scale. You must assess whether your projected transaction volume justifies the infrastructure overhead versus using an existing L2.

If it's just a handful of transactions per day, then a blockchain is probably unnecessary overhead. If you're processing millions of transactions monthly with predictable growth, the unit economics can work. If you're speculating on future volume, you're likely better off building on established infrastructure first.

2. Data availability and custody requirements

This is really a question of ownership and long-term control, so you need to think harder. Who controls the data? Where does it live? Validiums offer cheaper DA by moving data off-chain, but that introduces trust assumptions that may conflict with regulatory requirements or internal compliance frameworks.

For enterprises handling sensitive financial data, the tradeoff between cost savings and data sovereignty is non-trivial.

3. Operational complexity and talent

Running a rollup means owning sequencer uptime, managing upgrades, handling bridge security, and maintaining the entire stack indefinitely. Most enterprises underestimate the ongoing operational burden. The question isn't just "can we launch this?" but "do we want to be in the infrastructure business, or do we want to focus on our core product?"

A managed rollup service, like Alchemy Rollups, can significantly help with this. What might take 6-12 months can be done in a few weeks. You wouldn’t have to hire a large pool of new talent.

However, while Alchemy Rollups lets you hand off most tradeoffs, you are still in the driving seat. ​​So, you still need to understand what you're building on top of. You can't outsource the strategic decisions, like which security model makes sense for your use case, what your withdrawal time requirements are, how you'll handle compliance, whether your economics work at scale.

Five Rollup Solutions for Enterprises in 2026

If you do decide that a rollup is the right business decision for you, there are a handful of popular rollup tech stacks to choose from.

1. OP Stack

OP Stack is an open-source optimistic rollup framework by OP Labs for building Ethereum L2 chains. It is modular, which means it separates various functions like execution, sequencing, and settlement for better customizability, manageability, and upgradeability.

For enterprises that have very specific requirements, OP Stack offers granular configurability. You can choose the data availability layer (Ethereum or external DA networks), customize the sequencer, and even define a custom gas token.

While the OP Stack is designed for Optimism’s Superchain vision, governance is flexible, and teams can still choose to run it as a sovereign rollup.

If you want EVM compatibility, proven patterns, and a clean path to production without inventing everything from scratch, OP Stack is definitely one to consider.

A successful example of a rollup built with OP Stack is Base by Coinbase, which, at its peak, saw a $6 billion+ TVL.

2. Arbitrum

Arbitrum Stack is Offchain Labs’ framework for launching custom optimistic rollup chains. You can create new layer-2 or layer-3 chains that make use of Arbitrum’s core software and Ethereum compatibility.

Unlike OP Stack, which aims for standardization as part of its Superchain vision, Arbitrum Stack’s goal is to offer maximum flexibility to enterprises. Arbitrum Stack chains can be deployed as L2s (settling on Ethereum) or as L3s that settle on Arbitrum One or Nova, Arbitrum’s existing networks.

Deploying without an external DA (by posting directly to the Ethereum mainnet) can drive the cost up very quickly. By using AnyTrust, enterprises can significantly reduce data availability costs by relying on a Data Availability Committee, while still retaining an on-chain fallback if the committee fails or becomes unavailable.

Xai is a popular example of a layer-3 chain deployed using Arbitrum Orbit. It primarily serves the gaming use case, which requires faster and lower-cost performance.

3. ZK Stack

ZK Stack from Matter Labs is a modular zero-knowledge rollup framework that you can use to launch custom ZK rollups. It’s an open-source stack designed for a “Hyperchain” ecosystem where many sovereign chains use ZK proofs but are interoperable with each other.

ZK Stack’s goal is to achieve hyperscalability via layer-3s. The idea is that one can deploy an L3 rollup on top of zkSync to isolate workloads or achieve even more scale.

The stack is also highly customizable to the extent that you can create non-EVM rollups in a custom environment and still generate validity proofs that connect to Ethereum.

You can also choose between different data availability (DA) layers, such as standard ZK Rollup (on-chain data) or Validium (off-chain data).

zkSync Era is the most well-known rollup built with ZK Stack.

4. Agglayer CDK Rollups

Agglayer CDK (formerly Polygon CDK) is a modular kit for launching ZK-based L2s with multiple configurations, including zk-rollup, Validium, and sovereign styles. It generalizes the technology of Polygon zkEVM (Polygon’s ZK-rollup that went live in 2023) into a kit that any developer or enterprise can use to spin up their own Layer-2 or appchain.

Polygon has a track record of working with enterprises ( e.g., Adobe, Starbucks, Nike). So, the CDK comes from a team experienced in what enterprises need, think compliance support, predictable upgrades, and clear documentation.

The CDK is a strong fit for organizations that want a chain with Ethereum-grade security and enterprise-grade support. For example, a network of banks could use CDK to launch a shared L2 where they control the validators (for compliance), use a permissioned sequencer with KYC on transactions, yet still have every transaction proven on Ethereum for auditability.

Immutable zkEVM is a very successful example of a rollup build using Polygon CDK. Manta Pacific is another popular example - originally built on another stack, the team later migrated to Polygon CDK.

5. StarkEx

StarkEx is a STARK-based, application-specific layer-2 framework offered by StarkWare, the team behind StarkNet. It is a permissioned scaling engine rather than a general-purpose rollup network.

The framework’s goal is to achieve maximum scalability and flexibility without being bound to legacy EVM constraints.

StarkEx allows an enterprise to deploy a custom rollup/Validium instance with tailor-made settings (choice of L1, choice of data on/off-chain, specific business logic like custom asset support).

Many early enterprise or large-scale projects used StarkEx. For example, Immutable X (an NFT marketplace) runs on a StarkEx Validium, and Sorare (fantasy sports) uses a StarkEx rollup.

Enterprises that want a bespoke chain with flexibility might prefer StarkEx as they can decide exactly how their system operates, choose Validium if they want data privacy, and not share resources with others.

ApeX Protocol, a decentralized, non-custodial derivatives exchange uses StarkEx for high-speed, low-fee perpetual futures trading.

What is Rollup-as-a-Service (RaaS)?

While rollups offer better UX in a number of ways (more consistent block space availability, lower fees for users), it comes with significant operational overhead. Running your own rollup isn't trivial: you need to handle running a transaction sequencer, handling data availability (and how the L1 and possibly the general public can verify transactions). That's a lot of work that can bog down your technical team.

Rollups-as-a-Service (RaaS) is an emerging model where third parties handle all of the operational burden of a rollup for you, including the infrastructure, deployment, and ongoing operations.

Simply put, RaaS is to rollups what AWS is to data centers.

With RaaS, businesses can easily launch application-specific chains, scale at will, and maintain greater control of their UX, all while inheriting security from a public chain and outsourcing the technical overhead of running the rollup itself. In other words, RaaS providers let builders focus on their product and customers, not on their infrastructure.

Top 4 RaaS Providers in 2026

Alchemy Rollups

Alchemy is the dominant infrastructure provider for blockchain applications, powering the backend for projects like World (formerly Worldcoin) and Gensyn. Alchemy Rollups extends this foundation into a fully managed rollup product—deploy and operate a dedicated chain through a single dashboard.

The core advantage: if you're already building on Alchemy's stack (RPCs, indexers, subgraphs), adding a rollup is a one-click integration. Your existing monitoring, alerting, and developer tooling carry over automatically. No vendor fragmentation, no stitching together multiple providers.

Learn more about our supported frameworks

Conduit

Conduit built its reputation on production-grade reliability and now powers major chains including Codex, Plume, and Katana. The platform is purpose-built for teams that know they're going to mainnet and want battle-tested infrastructure.

Caldera

Caldera takes a white-glove approach: no self-serve tiers. Every deployment is fully managed with hands-on support from their team. They power chains like Manta Pacific and Treasure. Their standout feature is Metalayer, a cross-stack bridging solution that connects rollups across different tech stacks, e.g., OP Stack to ZK chains. 

Gelato

Gelato is an infrastructure platform that is best known for its automation and backend services that complement its RaaS offering. Gelato RaaS lets teams deploy and run a custom rollup while also bundling many application-level primitives that teams usually integrate separately, like gasless transactions. Gelato powers Kraken’s rollup Ink.

Conclusion

Now you know what rollups are and how RaaS providers can help you make the best of rollups without the managerial overhead. The right rollup provider will allow your team to focus more on the product and less on troubleshooting the appchain.

If you’re testing the waters, start with our free plan. If you’re interested in our rollup service, learn more about how we can help you scale