On April 10, 2025, Helius Labs dropped a game-changing update for Solana developers: they’ve reduced latency on key account-based RPC calls by up to 95%. This announcement, shared by mert | helius.dev (@0xMert_), has sparked excitement in the Solana community, and for good reason. Let’s break down what this means, why it matters, and how it can impact developers building on Solana.

What’s the Big News?

Helius Labs, a leading provider of Solana infrastructure, has significantly improved the performance of several Remote Procedure Call (RPC) methods. RPC calls are how developers interact with the Solana blockchain—think of them as the requests you send to get data, like account balances or program details. The faster these calls execute, the smoother and more responsive your app becomes.

Here’s a quick look at the improvements Helius shared:

• getProgramAccounts: Now 95% faster at the 95th percentile (p95). This method is used to fetch all accounts tied to a specific program, a common task for decentralized apps (dApps).
• getAccountInfo, getMultipleAccounts, getBalance, getSlot: These are 60% faster. They’re essential for retrieving account details, balances, or the current slot (a measure of time on Solana).
• getTokenAccountsByOwner: 50% faster, making it quicker to look up token accounts for a specific wallet.

These numbers are huge. For context, a 95% reduction in latency means a task that used to take 100 milliseconds might now take just 5 milliseconds. That’s a massive leap for performance, especially for dApps that need to handle thousands of requests in real time.

Why Does This Matter for Solana Developers?

Solana is known for its high throughput, thanks to its parallel processing runtime called Sealevel, which can handle tens of thousands of smart contracts simultaneously. But even with this speed, RPC calls like getProgramAccounts can be a bottleneck. As noted in a guide by gsnode.io, getProgramAccounts often returns large datasets since it doesn’t natively support pagination. Developers have to use filters or manual pagination to manage the load, which can still be slow if the underlying RPC infrastructure isn’t optimized.

Helius’ update directly tackles this pain point. Faster RPC calls mean:

• Smoother User Experiences: dApps can fetch data quicker, reducing wait times for users.
• Scalability: Apps can handle more users and transactions without slowing down.
• Cost Efficiency: Less time waiting for responses can lower operational costs for developers relying on paid RPC services.

One user, @TrustlessMike, praised Helius’ devnet RPC, saying it’s been a “lifesaver” for testing. Another, @duball97, was impressed by the generous free plan, showing how Helius is making these improvements accessible to a wide range of developers.

How to Take Advantage of the Update

The best part? If you’re already using a shared or paid Helius subscription (not dedicated nodes), you don’t need to do anything to benefit from these improvements. As mert explained in a follow-up post, the upgrade is automatically applied. For those not yet on board, you can sign up at helius.dev and get started.

Helius is already a trusted name in the Solana ecosystem, with thousands of companies relying on their RPCs for low latency and high reliability. This update further cements their position as a go-to infrastructure provider.

A Related Issue: Signatures by Address

The thread also touched on a related topic raised by @Eliascm17, who asked why they couldn’t get signatures by address starting from a specific slot. This refers to a Solana feature for retrieving transaction signatures tied to an address, often used for tracking transaction history. Mert responded that the issue, jokingly blamed on “@trentdotsol hating America,” is being worked on and should be fixed by the end of May 2025. While not directly tied to the latency improvements, it shows Helius’ commitment to addressing developer pain points across the board.

Community Reactions

The Solana community on X was quick to celebrate the news. @solgangsol called the update “amazing,” while @redrumrick shared a meme to express their excitement:

The enthusiasm is clear—developers are eager to leverage these performance gains to build faster, more efficient apps on Solana.

What’s Next for Solana Development?

This update from Helius is a big win for the Solana ecosystem, which continues to prioritize speed and scalability. With tools like Helius’ RPCs becoming faster and more reliable, developers have more room to innovate, whether they’re building DeFi platforms, NFT marketplaces, or gaming dApps. As Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko has noted, Helius streamlines app development by removing complexity, and this latency reduction is a perfect example of that mission in action.

If you’re a developer, now’s a great time to explore how these improvements can enhance your projects. And if you’re new to Solana, Helius’ free plan makes it easy to dive in and start building. What do you think about this update? Let us know in the comments!