Best Web3 Programming Languages in 2025

Written by Uttam Singh

Published on September 30, 20256 min read

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Web3 development isn’t just about writing code - it’s about choosing the right language for the right layer of the stack. In a space where decentralized networks introduce inefficiency (compared to the vertical nature of many Web2 apps) and where code is immutable (software bugs can lead to permanent loss for users), it’s more important than ever for devs to pick the right language for the right problem, whether that’s optimizing for processing efficiency, security, or any other trait your app needs.

The good news is you have lots of options to choose from, and in this post, we’ll give you a bird’s eye view of the web3 programming languages landscape, so you have a sense of what languages you should be considering for your onchain app.

What Is a Web3 Programming Language?

A web3 programming language is a term usually used to describe a language that is specific for developing blockchain apps, often in the context of smart contract development. However, unlike traditional software, where a single language can sometimes power backend, frontend, and even mobile, Web3 spans multiple environments:

1. Smart contracts/programs that run directly on blockchains.

2. Off-chain backends that handle indexing, APIs, automation, and infra.

3. Frontends that deliver wallets, dashboards, and dapps to end users.

4. Core blockchain clients that secure the network itself.

Each of these environments has several different languages to choose from, and each language comes with its own required skills and tools and offers a unique set of tradeoffs.

We’ll start by covering those smart contract programming languages, those commonly known as “web3 programming languages”, before taking a look at the rest of the stack, and some of the other languages you might use in your app.

Smart Contract Languages

Smart contracts are a critical part of any onchain app. They handle onchain logic and interact with onchain data, be it assets or users.

The choice of smart contract languages you have available to choose from is dictated by what blockchain network you build on. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular contract programming languages, broken out by ecosystem.

Ethereum and EVM Ecosystem

Ethereum and its Layer 2 networks (which include a number of popular chains like Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Scroll, and Polygon) remain the largest playground for smart contracts. 65% of code innovation in EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) ecosystems happens on Ethereum or its L2s, and the EVM ecosystem has more active developers than anywhere else in crypto. As a result, EVM is the backbone of onchain innovation, and most chains in crypto are EVM-compatible.

In the world of EVM, there are 3 popular smart contract languages:

• Solidity: Solidity is the undisputed champion of smart contract languages. It has the largest ecosystem, the most auditors, and the richest tooling. Whether it’s DeFi protocols like Uniswap, NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, or infrastructure like Chainlink, chances are it’s written in Solidity. Frameworks like Foundry and Hardhat make Solidity development, testing, and deployment seamless.

• Vyper: Vyper is ****a Python-inspired alternative that is intentionally minimalistic with fewer features. Unlike Solidity, Vyper is designed to reduce complexity and improve security. Some projects, like parts of Curve Finance, favor Vyper for its stricter semantics. It’s less popular than Solidity, but highly regarded in audit circles.

• Huff: Huff is a low-level, assembly-style language that gives developers granular control over the EVM. Huff is used by specialists when every single unit of gas matters. Think of it as the Formula 1 car of EVM languages—powerful, but only for experienced drivers.

Solana

Solana needs no introduction. It is the second most active ecosystem in terms of developers, and has become an industry darling in the past few years. At a fundamental level, Solana has taken a very different approach from Ethereum. Instead of the EVM, they built there own VM - the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM).

That comes with a departure from the EVM stack, and so Solana uses a different contract language, one from the Web2 world.

• Rust: Solana programs are written in Rust. Rust’s memory safety, performance, and concurrency make it ideal for Solana’s parallelized execution model. Anchor, a popular framework, removes boilerplate by handling account serialization, instruction validation, and program IDs.

If you’re building high-performance trading platforms, games, or payment apps on Solana, Rust is unavoidable. It’s powerful but comes with a steep learning curve.

Starknet

Starknet is built around zero-knowledge rollups, an emerging tech that hopes to increase the scalability of onchain applications while maintaining privacy. To achieve those ambitions, Starknet has its own contract programming language.

• Cairo: Cairo is designed for efficient zk proof generation, a necessity for any zk rollup’s actual market feasibility. Cairo isn’t a Solidity clone—it’s inspired by Rust and is purpose-built for a world where computation needs to be cryptographically proven.

You only need Cairo if you’re building on Starknet or working on zero-knowledge proof systems. Outside of that niche, this language is not widely used yet.

Aptos & Sui

Newer chain ecosystems, such as Aptos and Sui, have gone another direction entirely.

• Move: Move was originally developed at Meta for the Diem blockchain. It introduces resource-oriented programming, where digital assets are treated as first-class citizens that can’t be duplicated or accidentally destroyed.

If you’re building on Aptos or Sui, Move is mandatory. It’s elegant and well-suited for token logic, but the ecosystem is still small compared to Solidity or Rust. And smaller comes with its own challenges (less robust documentation and tooling, fewer devs to turn to for help, less open source production code to study and learn from).

Backend Languages (Off-Chain Infrastructure)

While smart contracts are a critical part of any onchain app, they are limited in scope. Smart contracts can’t index large datasets, handle complex computations, or interact with off-chain APIs.

That’s where backend services come in, and for those services, you have several popular languages to choose from.

• TypeScript / Node.js: TypeScript and Node.js are the default choice for most Web3 teams because of their speed of development and the strength of the ecosystem. Core libraries like ethers.js, viem, and @solana/web3.js make contract and wallet interactions straightforward. This ecosystem consistency makes TypeScript a natural fit for APIs, bots, monitoring services, and rapid prototyping.

• Rust: Not only useful for Solana smart contracts, Rust is also widely used for performance-critical backend services in Web3. Teams often build custom indexers, high-throughput data pipelines, and RPC middleware in Rust because of its safety guarantees and low-level control. It’s also a popular choice for ZK-related services where cryptographic performance is critical.

• Go: Go is a workhorse for Web3 infrastructure beyond core clients. It’s commonly used for API gateways, orchestration tools, and off-chain services that need concurrency at scale (like transaction relayers or monitoring agents). Its simplicity and strong concurrency model make it ideal for long-running backend services that need to stay reliable under heavy network load.

Most projects combine TypeScript for speed and Rust/Go for performance.

Frontend Languages and Frameworks

The frontend is how users experience Web3. A good app isn’t just about secure contracts—it’s about smooth onboarding, wallet integration, and clean UX. In other words a lot of the same things any app is about, whether it’s onchain or not.

For frontend work, the languages remain the same across the stack. Popular options include:

• React + Next.js: React and Next.js are the dominant frontend stack. Nearly every modern app, wallet, or dashboard uses React, often paired with Next.js for server-side rendering and performance.

• EVM frontends: To make an EVM app, developers layer in libraries that handle wallet connections, authentication, and contract calls. The most popular combination today is wagmi + viem, which provide typed hooks and utilities for interacting with EVM contracts. For wallet UX, kits like Alchemy Smart Wallets or RainbowKit simplify the flow of connecting apps to MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, or other smart contract wallets.

• Solana frontends: @solana/wallet-adapter handles multiple wallets, while Anchor-generated TypeScript clients ensure contract calls are type-safe.

Users judge your product by the frontend, not the contract. Even the most secure protocol fails if connecting a wallet is a nightmare, so you should be investing your development time here accordingly.

Core Blockchain Development Languages

Beyond contracts, backends, and frontends, there’s another layer of the Web3 tech stack that’s worth mentioning here: the clients and protocols that make blockchains run. Building at this level of the stack requires systems programming expertise, not just app development skills.

For that core protocol work, there are 2 popular languages:

• Golang: Go has long been a backbone for blockchain clients. Geth (short for Go-Ethereum) is the most widely used Ethereum client and is written in Go. Cosmos SDK chains are also heavily Go-based, making it a natural choice for protocol engineers and validator tooling.

• Rust: Rust is increasingly popular for client and protocol development because of its safety guarantees and performance. A prime example is Reth, a fast and modular Ethereum execution client written in Rust. Solana’s core is also Rust-based, as are many ZK proving libraries and next-gen consensus engines.

If you want to go beyond building apps and actually shape the underlying blockchain infrastructure, Go and Rust are the two languages you can’t avoid. They dominate core client development and are becoming the standard for high-performance consensus and networking code.

Which Web3 Programming Language Should You Learn?

There’s no single “best” Web3 programming language. Instead, each fills a specific role:

• Solidity is the king of the EVM world

• Rust powers Solana and much of Web3 infra

• TypeScript dominates frontend & backend services

In practice, most teams end up blending at least two or three of those languages into an app: one language for contracts, one for backend, and one for frontend.

If you’re starting fresh in 2025, learning Solidity, TypeScript, and Next will cover 80% of Web3 jobs. Adding Rust unlocks Solana and infra.

The Web3 stack is still evolving, but one truth is constant: the best developers are the ones who can move across different layers of the stack and understand how contracts, backends, and frontends connect to deliver seamless on-chain experiences.

If all this feels overwhelming, a great place to begin is Alchemy University. Alchemy provides the infrastructure and APIs that power many leading onchain apps, and Alchemy University offers free, structured courses on Solidity, Ethereum development, and Web3 fundamentals. It’s one of the fastest ways to go from beginner to building real projects, with an active community to support you along the way.