Helius Labs Launches LaserStream: Ultra-Fast Data Streaming for Solana Developers

Introduction

Helius Labs has introduced LaserStream, a high-performance streaming service designed to deliver Solana on-chain data—blocks, transactions, and account updates—with unprecedented speed and reliability. Launched on June 18, 2025, LaserStream utilizes gRPC for low-latency access, with WebSocket support forthcoming, and is optimized for developers building on Solana's ecosystem. LaserStream addresses the need for efficient data handling in a network that saw a greater than 15% transaction volume increase this year alone.

What Is LaserStream?

LaserStream is a next-generation streaming solution that taps directly into Solana leaders to receive shreds as they are produced, providing developers with real-time data on blocks, transactions, and accounts. It supports gRPC protocol for streaming, with features like optimized shredstream for early data reception, historical replay for backfilling missed slots (up to 3000, or about 20 minutes), and automatic reconnection with catch-up functionality. The service allows listening to up to 250,000 addresses per connection (with up to 100 simultaneous connections) and includes advanced filtering for accounts, transaction types, and commitment levels (processed, confirmed, finalized).

How It Works

LaserStream aggregates data from multiple redundant node clusters, ensuring extreme reliability and no single point of failure. It features load balancing, auto-scaling, and regional endpoints in locations like Tokyo, Frankfurt, Newark, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, Amsterdam, and Singapore to minimize latency. Developers can migrate from existing gRPC setups by updating their endpoint and API key, using the LaserStream SDK for enhanced features like automatic reconnection with backoff and subscription management. The service requires a Professional Helius plan and is accessible via the Helius dashboard.

Benefitting Users: Reliability and Efficiency

Developers benefit from ultra-low latency, fault tolerance, and historical replay, ensuring continuous data access even during disconnections. Compared to standard Solana WebSocket or Yellowstone gRPC, LaserStream offers multi-node failover, auto-reconnect, and shredstream-enabled performance, reducing latency dominated by speed-of-light delays. This enables building real-time applications like high-frequency trading or monitoring tools, with easy integration and scalable handling of large address sets.

Network Benefits: Scalability and Innovation

LaserStream enhances Solana's developer experience. By providing robust streaming, Solana could surpass traditional exchanges like NYSE and NASDAQ. The tool fosters innovation in Solana's ecosystem, and features 1,295 validators with a Nakamoto Coefficient of 20.

How to Get Started with LaserStream

Developers with a Professional Helius plan can access LaserStream via the dashboard at helius.dev, selecting a regional endpoint (e.g., https://laserstream-mainnet-ewr.helius-rpc.com) and using their API key. Install the SDK from GitHub (https://github.com/helius-labs/laserstream-sdk) for features like reconnection and replay. Start by specifying a starting slot for backfilling and filtering data as needed—no additional fees beyond the plan, with Solana's low costs (<$0.0025 per transaction) ensuring efficiency.

Maximizing the Upside

Use LaserStream for monitoring large address sets (up to 250,000) in apps like wallets or analytics tools, combining with Solana's compute unit limits (50 million, planned for 100 million+) for scalable performance. Test on devnet endpoints for development, and leverage regional options to reduce latency.

Conclusion

Helius Labs' LaserStream launch delivers the fastest, most reliable streaming of Solana data via gRPC, with historical replay, redundancy, and regional endpoints. For users, it offers low-latency efficiency; for Solana's $8.6 billion TVL ecosystem, it drives scalability and innovation. As Solana leads with 1,100 TPS and 7,600+ new developers in 2024, LaserStream could accelerate real-time applications, reinforcing its DeFi dominance.