Data Availability Comparison: Cost Per MB Posted for Ethereum Blobs Versus Celestia SuperBlobs

Historically, rollups solved the data availability (DA) problem by publishing batches of transaction data directly to Ethereum using the calldata function. However, limited space meant rollups had to publish batches frequently, racking up gas fees, causing blockchain congestion, and rendering many data-intensive rollup use cases economically infeasible. The introduction of blobs on Ethereum with EIP-4844 allowed rollups to publish bigger data batches, but many still ran into cost issues as they scaled. 

Modular DA layers like Celestia have emerged to address the problem further with dedicated blockchains purpose-built for rollups to publish batches of transaction data, allowing them to post to Ethereum mainnet less frequently. In May, Conduit teamed up with Celestia to create SuperBlobs, which allow Conduit rollups to post batches with up to 1.8 MB worth of data — more than 2.5x the maximum of Ethereum blobs.

But how much more efficient do SuperBlobs actually make rollups in practice? We’re going to tell you below, in the first ever comparison of cost per unit of data settled for data availability solutions. Specifically, we’ll compare settlement costs for real-world rollups using blobs on Ethereum, Celestia, and Celestia SuperBlobs.

Celestia vs. Ethereum Blobs

We’ll start by comparing cost per megabyte (MB) settled on Ethereum blobs versus Celestia. Our dataset is made up of a selection of seven Conduit rollups who used Celestia both before and after the implementation of SuperBlobs, and 25 of the top rollups for Ethereum blobs usage. Our data covers the entire time period each rollup has used the DA solution in question. For Ethereum blobs, the data goes back to March 13, 2024, when blobs were first introduced, and for Celestia, the data goes back to January 16, the earliest date a Conduit rollup began using Celestia.

First, Ethereum blobs. The data is straightforward: We simply pull the total amount of data each rollup posted with blobs during the time period studied, the total transaction fees paid by each rollup on those blobs transactions, sum it all up, and divide fees by data (with data expressed in MB).

Total MB, fees, and cost per MB by rollup and in total for Ethereum blobs, 3/13/24 - 10/17/24 (7 months)

Data source: Hildobby on Dune

Overall, rollups have paid $20.56 per MB of transaction data posted with blobs. But some rollups pay much more than that. Lumio and Metal, for instance, pay $1,535.55 and $3,398.38 respectively per MB of data. The reason for this is that they frequently leave most of their blobspace empty — on average, both of them post less than 1% of the maximum data they could per blob. In other words, they’re paying for blobspace they aren’t using. This likely isn’t an error on their part though. Many chains need fast transaction finality on Ethereum for their specific use case, and therefore the chains must post blobs quickly even if the blobs aren’t full, despite this being less DA-efficient. Other chains, like Arbitrum and Base, average close to 100% blobspace usage.

Now, let’s look at DA costs for the rollups using Celestia. The calculations here are a bit more complicated, as there are two separate DA fees paid on different blockchains for each Celestia blob posted. The first fee goes to Celestia and is paid on Celestia’s blockchain in the native TIA currency. The second fee is paid on Ethereum in ETH, just like with a standard Ethereum blob, or on the L2 the rollup is built on in the case of L3s — the two L3s we look at here post to Base. 

We can see all of this on the chart below. Please note that the chart displays data for all rollups using Celestia blobs from their first day on Celestia, which varies from rollup to rollup, with the first rollup starting on January 15, 2024.

Total MB, fees, and cost per MB by rollup and in total for Celestia blobs, 1/15/24 - 10/18/24 (9 months)

Data source for Celestia costs: Celenium

The data shows that Celestia is 64% cheaper than Ethereum blobs for the full time period these rollups have used Celestia, at $7.31 per MB versus $20.56. It’s also interesting to note that the vast majority of settlement costs for Celestia rollups come from settling on Ethereum. 

SuperBlobs from Celestia and Conduit make DA even cheaper

Impressive as it is, the data above doesn’t capture how much more efficient Celestia can be for rollups. In May 2024, Conduit and Celestia teamed up to create a mechanism for posting even bigger, more efficient blobs: SuperBlobs. All seven of the Celestia rollups analyzed above have adopted SuperBlobs. Let’s see how much cheaper settlement is when we measure DA costs for just the time period following the implementation of SuperBlobs.

Total MB, fees, and cost per MB by rollup and in total for Ethereum blobs, 5/20/24 - 10/13/24 (4 months, 3 weeks)

With SuperBlobs, the cost to settle 1 MB of transaction data falls to just $0.81, compared to $20.56 with Ethereum blobs — a 96% reduction. The savings are driven entirely by a drop in settlement costs on Ethereum, as Celestia charges a consistent fee per MB settled. Bigger blobs mean that rollups can post far fewer blobs to process the same amount of data, meaning they don’t need to settle to Ethereum as often and can save enormously on gas fees. Or, alternatively, they can ramp up their data usage for the same DA costs they paid previously. We saw this happen for Orderly Network earlier this year following their adoption of SuperBlobs. This is a big deal, as DA is typically the most expensive part of running a rollup. Savings of this magnitude significantly improve the rollup’s economic outlook. 

In summary, we find cost per data settled breaks down like this for the DA solutions we looked at:

Total DA cost per MB posted, Ethereum Blobs vs. Celestia vs. Celestia SuperBlobs

Bigger blobs fundamentally change what rollups can do

SuperBlobs and more efficient DA isn’t just about reducing expenses. It opens up new possibilities for the rollup business model. For instance, rollups with ultra low DA costs can more easily implement a custom gas token — this is much harder when DA is expensive, as rollups will constantly have to sell off their gas earnings for ETH to pay their DA bill. Cheaper DA also means rollups can increase their gas limit and process more activity. This enables more users and higher TPS, and also allows rollups to pursue more data-intensive, high-compute use cases. 

If you’d like to implement SuperBlobs for your rollup, contact us here.