Solana is one of the most cost-effective chains for NFTs. Minting is cheap, and with compressed NFTs even collections of millions of items are affordable. Most of the ecosystem is built on Metaplex, a set of standard programs for NFTs on Solana. SemBricks builds NFT collections, mints and tooling on top of it.
Choosing the Right NFT Standard
- Metaplex Core: the newer, lightweight standard. One account per NFT, lower costs, and plugins for royalties, freezing and other behaviour. The default choice for new collections.
- Token Metadata: the original standard, built on SPL tokens. Widely supported, and needed when NFTs must behave like SPL tokens in other programs.
- Compressed NFTs (Bubblegum): NFT data is stored in a Merkle tree, with only a fingerprint on-chain. Minting a million NFTs costs a fraction of a regular mint. Ideal for loyalty programmes, tickets, game items and large airdrops, with the trade-off that reading and transferring them requires an indexer through the DAS API.
What We Build
- Mints: Candy Machine setups or custom mint pages with allowlists, phases, payment in SOL or tokens and bot protection.
- Collections and metadata: generating, validating and uploading metadata and media, and verifying items in a collection.
- Royalties: configuring royalties and, where needed, enforcement through Core plugins or programmable NFTs.
- Marketplace integration: listing automation and integration with major Solana marketplaces.
- Utility: token-gated access, staking of NFTs, and on-chain checks in your own programs.
Frequently Asked Questions about Solana NFT Development
Should we use regular or compressed NFTs?
For art and high-value collections of thousands of items, regular Core NFTs are simpler and supported everywhere. For very large collections or NFTs given away for free, compressed NFTs reduce minting costs dramatically.
Can royalties be enforced on Solana?
Partly. With Metaplex Core plugins or programmable NFTs, royalties can be enforced at transfer level. Whether a marketplace honours them otherwise depends on the marketplace.
Do you build NFT marketplaces on Solana too?
Yes. For EVM chains, see NFT marketplace development; the same principles apply on Solana with Solana-specific programs and indexing.
Who owns the code?
Ownership of the source code is set out in the contract, and the code can be fully yours, including documentation and tests.
Fungible tokens too? See Solana token development.
Part of our Solana development services.
Launch Your Solana Collection
Tell us about your collection, its size and how people will get their NFTs. We will recommend the right standard and build the mint.