Side-by-side comparison of two perpetual futures exchanges — updated in real time.
Hyperliquid and Drift are both established perp DEXes with their own tokens, but they differ in chain, architecture, and scope. Hyperliquid focuses purely on perps with a native L1 orderbook, while Drift offers a full DeFi suite on Solana.
Hyperliquid's custom L1 delivers a pure perpetual trading experience with 190 markets, 50x leverage, and sub-second finality. Drift operates on Solana with a hybrid DLOB (Decentralized Limit Order Book) model, supporting perps alongside spot trading and borrow-lend — a full DeFi suite. Drift lists 53 markets with up to 20x leverage, notably lower than Hyperliquid's cap. On fees, Drift offers maker rebates of 0.0025%, making it attractive for market makers, while Hyperliquid charges a 0.015% maker fee. Taker fees are comparable: 0.035% on Drift versus 0.045% on Hyperliquid. Drift accepts both USDC and SOL as collateral. Launched in November 2021, Drift is one of the oldest Solana perp protocols and has built a loyal user base. Both platforms have live tokens — DRIFT (53% community) and HYPE (76.2% community). Drift's Insurance Fund vault and monthly Trader Rewards add yield-generating options beyond pure trading.
Choose Hyperliquid for deeper liquidity, more markets (190 vs 53), and higher leverage. Choose Drift if you want an all-in-one Solana DeFi platform combining perps, spot, and lending, or if maker rebates are important to your trading style.
