Snapshot vs Tally: Off-Chain vs On-Chain Governance Platforms

Gasless, high-frequency voting: Proposals are signed off-chain, enabling participation without transaction fees. This matters for large, diverse DAOs like Uniswap and Aave, where voter turnout is prioritized over on-chain execution.

Requires separate on-chain execution: Votes are signals; a multisig or custom executor must manually enact results. This introduces trust and delay, creating a gap between consensus and action. This is a critical flaw for protocols requiring immediate, autonomous parameter updates.

Vote execution is automatic and immutable: Proposals interact directly with smart contracts via Governor standards (OpenZeppelin, Compound). This matters for protocols where vote outcome must equal state change, such as Compound or Nouns, ensuring sovereignty and removing executor risk.

Voters pay gas for every action: Creating proposals, voting, and executing all require on-chain transactions. This severely limits participation for large token holder bases and makes frequent, exploratory signaling cost-prohibitive. This is a major barrier for community-focused DAOs with many small holders.

Gasless, off-chain voting: Proposals and votes are signed messages, costing nothing. This enables participation for holders of any token value. Ideal for large, permissionless communities like Uniswap or Aave, where barrier to entry is critical.

Highly customizable voting strategies: Supports weighted voting, delegation (like erc20-balance-of), and multi-chain asset verification. New proposals can be created and voted on in minutes. Best for rapid iteration and complex governance models.

Execution is not automatic: Votes are signals; a separate, trusted party must execute the approved action on-chain. Introduces execution risk and delay. Not suitable for protocols requiring immediate, trust-minimized state changes.

Direct, autonomous execution: Proposals are smart contract calls. If a vote passes, the transaction executes automatically after the timelock. Provides full alignment between vote and outcome. Essential for treasury management or critical parameter updates.

Full on-chain audit trail: Every proposal, vote, and execution is immutably recorded on the underlying L1/L2. Leverages battle-tested Governor contracts (OpenZeppelin, Compound). The standard for high-value, security-first DAOs like MakerDAO.

Gas costs and complexity: Voting requires paying network fees, which can exclude small holders. Proposal creation is more technical. Best for smaller, funded, or technically adept communities where execution guarantees outweigh cost.

Off-chain voting: No transaction fees for voters, enabling participation regardless of network congestion or token price. This matters for large, permissionless communities like Uniswap (governs $6B+ treasury) or Aave, where voter turnout is critical.

Custom voting strategies: Integrate ERC-20, ERC-721, cross-chain balances, or even off-chain data via Snapshot X. This matters for complex DAOs like ENS or Gitcoin that need to weigh reputation, multi-asset holdings, or delegate voting power.

Off-chain signaling only: Votes are not binding on-chain, requiring a separate, trusted multisig or smart contract to execute proposals. This matters for high-value treasury actions where a manual execution step introduces delay and centralization risk.

Fully executable governance: Proposals that pass are executed automatically via smart contracts (e.g., Governor Bravo/OZ). This matters for protocols requiring high assurance like Compound or Fei Protocol, where code-is-law execution is non-negotiable.

Native smart contract dashboard: Real-time tracking of proposal state, quorum, and voting power directly from the blockchain. This matters for developers and core teams managing complex governance parameters, delegate tracking, and proposal lifecycle.

On-chain transaction required: Each vote costs gas, which can be prohibitive during high-fee periods. This matters for retail-heavy communities or on high-cost L1s, potentially skewing participation towards whales or sophisticated delegates.