Filecoin FVM Smart Contracts vs Arweave SmartWeave: Programmable Storage

High-Throughput, Stateful Applications: Executes transactions on-chain with ~5-10 second finality, enabling interactive dApps. This matters for building data DAOs (e.g., Ocean Protocol), dynamic NFT marketplaces, or compute-to-data workflows where smart contract logic needs to frequently update state based on storage deals or computations.

Massively Scalable, Lazy Evaluation: Uses a lazy-execution model where contract state is computed off-chain by users, enabling near-infinite theoretical scalability. This matters for content-heavy dApps (e.g., decentralized social media like Lens Protocol on Momoka), or scenarios with complex logic but infrequent state consensus, as it avoids global execution costs.

EVM-compatible execution: Supports Solidity/Vyper, enabling direct porting of dApps from Ethereum, Polygon, and Avalanche. This matters for teams needing fast time-to-market and access to a massive existing developer pool and toolchain (e.g., Foundry, Hardhat).

Native orchestration of storage deals. Smart contracts can programmatically manage data lifecycle—making deals, paying miners, and verifying proofs—all on-chain. This is critical for building autonomous data DAOs, compute-over-data platforms, and verifiable storage applications like Bacalhau or Saturn.

State execution requires gas fees for every computation, similar to L1 Ethereum. Storing large datasets or performing complex logic can become expensive. Finality is slower (~30 sec) compared to L2s. This is a trade-off for projects with high-frequency transactions or micro-payments.

Lazy-evaluation model. Contract state is computed off-chain by users, with on-chain consensus only on the transaction log. This enables extremely low, predictable costs and makes complex computations feasible. Ideal for data-rich dApps, permanent archives, and social graphs where execution cost is a primary constraint.

Smart contracts and their data are stored permanently on-chain via Arweave's endowment model. This creates a truly immutable and verifiable application state, crucial for archival systems, NFT provenance, and decentralized publishing where data persistence is non-negotiable (e.g., ArDrive, everPay).

Uses JavaScript/TypeScript and a unique execution model, which has a steeper learning curve versus the ubiquitous EVM. The ecosystem of tools and auditing services is smaller. This can increase development time and risk for teams unfamiliar with the paradigm, limiting the pool of available engineering talent.

EVM Compatibility: Leverages the Ethereum Virtual Machine, enabling immediate porting of Solidity smart contracts and use of tools like Hardhat, Foundry, and MetaMask. This matters for teams with existing Web3 expertise who need to integrate with DeFi protocols like Aave or Compound.

Active Storage Market: Contracts interact with a live, competitive storage marketplace (over 20 EiB capacity). This enables dynamic deal-making, verifiable proofs (PoRep/PoSt), and cost-optimization logic within smart contracts, crucial for applications like DataDAOs (e.g., Ocean Protocol) or compute-over-data.

Recurring Cost Model: Storage deals have finite terms (e.g., 1 year), requiring contract logic and capital for renewals. This introduces operational complexity and ongoing expense, a significant hurdle for applications requiring permanent data guarantees like archival records or foundational NFTs.

True Permanence with One-Time Fee: Data and contract state are stored forever on the permaweb via a single, upfront payment. This is ideal for long-tail dApps like Mirror.xyz (decentralized publishing) or ArDrive, where data must remain accessible indefinitely without maintenance.

Lazy-Evaluation Architecture: Contract state is computed off-chain by users, pushing execution cost to the client. This allows for massive scalability and complex logic (e.g., entire social graphs) without on-chain gas fees. Critical for data-heavy applications like everVision's everPay or Bundlr Network.

Non-Standard Development: Uses a custom JavaScript/TypeScript execution model, requiring learning new SDKs and patterns. Lacks the vast tooling and developer mindshare of the EVM ecosystem, increasing time-to-market for teams accustomed to Ethereum's standards (ERC-20, ERC-721).