Kusama & Polkadot coretime: Comparison

1. Summary table

Now: 2026-10-25
MetricKusamaPolkadot

2. Capacity and use

Kusama: capacity and use
Capacity and use, one network at a time. Drag to zoom, drag the y-axis to rescale, shift-drag to pan, ctrl-wheel to zoom time, double-click to reset. 02040608010012014020222023202420252026Kusama Spammening: 2024-11-18 19:39 - 2024-12-10 11:39 UTCSpammeningKusama Spammening (rerun): 2025-03-06 10:23 - 2025-03-07 07:13 UTCSpammening (rerun)Kusama: the first coretime sale, 2024-04-18 14:55 UTC. Leases migrate to coretime cores.coretime sales beginKusama: the last migrated lease ends, 2025-02-23 16:55 UTCleases fully migrated (Feb 2025)
Capacity (stacked)
Production
Bulk market
Parachains
Definitions (17)
Provisioned
Cores available to coretime, set at each sale.
Unassigned
Provisioned cores neither assigned nor in the on-demand pool.
On-demand pool
Cores in the on-demand pool in Broker.Workload. Offered cores left unsold join it.
Assigned
Cores assigned to parachains in Broker.Workload, system chains included. Before coretime, one core per leased parachain.
Migrated legacy leases
Slot-auction leases carried onto coretime cores, part of assigned. The last ended in Feb 2025 on Kusama and Aug 2026 on Polkadot.
System cores
Cores reserved for system chains at each sale.
Producing
Cores with at least one parachain block included in an 80-minute window. Peaks marked with and without the load tests.
28-day mean
Producing averaged over one sale region.
On-demand load
Blocks on on-demand pool cores per relay block. When shown, it is added to producing and its mean.
Cores included per relay block
Parachain blocks per relay block, a daily or hourly mean. A 12-second chain counts 0.5 here and 1 in producing.
Sold
Cores bought in each 28-day sale, renewals included, shown over the region sold.
Offered
Cores each sale put on the market.
+ system cores
Adds each sale's reserved system cores to sold and offered.
Parachains with a core
Parachains holding at least one core: Paras.Parachains before coretime, Broker.Workload after.
Old Paras.Parachains list
Leased parachains still listed after moving to coretime, a storage leftover.
Validators
Kusama only: 5 validators per core, the current backing-group size.
Minimal
Turns off all but assigned, sold, provisioned and the Production series.

3. Coretime by chain: producing and unused

Definitions (6)
Producing by chain
Task core-equivalents a chain held in the 80-minute window on the cores it produced on, each weighted by the share of the window it held that core and by its parts of the core; daily, then monthly means. Equal to its producing cores above unless the Workload changed inside the window, a core is split between holders, or the chain produced on a core it did not hold.
Unused by holder
Task core-equivalents a holder held in the window on cores where it had no included candidate, weighted the same: holdings that never produce and the surplus cores of chains producing on fewer cores than they hold.
Idle share
A holder's unused over its held core-time; 100%: idle in every sampled window.
(reserved)
System chains: cores allocated by governance, not bought.
Not counted
Pool, on-demand and unsold cores (not Task holdings), and regions bought but not assigned to a para.
Assigned (monthly mean)
Assigned in force (section 2's line), monthly mean of daily means. Bars are sampled; the line follows every Workload change from coretime on: they differ by at most 0.04 cores except in the month coretime started, where lease-era samples count leased parachains. Before coretime the line interpolates monthly lease counts (up to 0.50 cores off).

3.1 Kusama

Kusama: producing cores per chain, monthly mean
Kusama: cores per chain, producing or unused, monthly mean. Switch the view above; hover a bar for the month's values; drag to zoom months and y-max, drag the y-axis to rescale y, shift-drag to pan, ctrl-wheel to zoom time, double-click to reset. 02040608010012020222023202420252026
System chains1000 Asset Hub1001 Encointer Network1002 Bridge Hub1004 People1005 Coretime
Parachains (68)
2281 Kreivo - By Virto3392 YAP test para*2090 Basilisk2000 Karura2007 Shiden2001 Bifrost2023 Moonriver2092 Kintsugi BTC2048 Robonomics2012 Crust Shadow2088 Altair2095 QUARTZ by UNIQUE2105 Darwinia Crab*2113 Kabocha2015 Integritee Network*2124 Amplitude2004 Khala Network2222 DAO IPCI2084 Calamari2087 Picasso2085 Parallel Heiko2239 Acurast Canary2096 Pioneer2110 Mangata*2241 Krest2114 Turing Network3339 Curio2011 SORA2119 Bajun Network2024 Genshiro2121 Imbue Network2106 Litmus*2125 InvArch Tinkernet2236 ZERO Canary2274 Quantum Portal Network2123 GM3344 Xode2100 SubsocialX2101 Zeitgeist*2086 KILT Spiritnet*2107 KICO2016 Sakura2116 Tanganika2115 Dora Factory2102 Pichiu3336 K-Laos*2118 Listen Network2129 SNOW Network3338 Ikura*3343 t1rn*3422 RegionX3350 Memecoin Chain*33472223 Integritee Network*2270 Picasso*3340 Hyperbridge (Messier)2267 Integritee Network*33513390 test para*2108 KILT*2122 Calamari*3334 t1rn3413 test para*2284 Moonriver*2225 Crust Shadow 22262 Bifrost*2229 Darwinia Crab*2245 Bittensor*
Spammening test parachains (27 ids, 3359-3388)TotalsUnused (all holders)Assigned (monthly mean)
Share of producing core-time: all time from 2021-05-17, 2026, and the last 28 days (2026-09-28 to 2026-10-25); peaks are the highest monthly and calendar-year mean producing cores
ChainShare of all producing core-timePeak month (mean producing cores)Peak year (mean producing cores)
all time2026last 28 days
System chains
1000 Asset Hub4.1%7.8%12.0%2026-03 (3.0)2026 (2.8)
1001 Encointer Network2.8%2.8%4.0%2022-02 (1.0)2025 (1.0)
1002 Bridge Hub2.2%2.8%4.0%2023-02 (1.0)2024 (1.0)
1004 People1.4%2.8%4.0%2024-06 (1.0)2026 (1.0)
1005 Coretime1.5%2.8%4.0%2024-05 (1.0)2026 (1.0)
Spammening test parachains (27 ids, 3359-3388)0.3%--2024-12 (4.5)2024 (0.5)
All chains100.0%100.0%100.0%2024-06 (43.6)2024 (40.4)

Unused (all holders): 34.4% of held core-time all time, 18.6% in 2026, 13.2% in the last 28 days.

3.2 Polkadot

Polkadot: producing cores per chain, monthly mean
Polkadot: cores per chain, producing or unused, monthly mean. Switch the view above; hover a bar for the month's values; drag to zoom months and y-max, drag the y-axis to rescale y, shift-drag to pan, ctrl-wheel to zoom time, double-click to reset. 02040608020222023202420252026
System chains1000 Asset Hub1001 Collectives1002 Bridge Hub1004 People1005 Coretime1010 Bulletin
Parachains (61)
3428 YAP test para*2034 Hydration2000 Acala2006 Astar2004 Moonbeam2013 Heima2037 Unique Network2032 Interlay2030 Bifrost2031 Centrifuge2043 NeuroWeb2046 Darwinia2056 Aventus2051 Ajuna Network2019 Composable Finance2091 Frequency2026 Nodle2094 Pendulum2008 Crust2002 Clover2035 Phala Network2104 Manta2086 KILT Spiritnet2012 Parallel2092 Zeitgeist3345 Energy Web X3338 peaq2039 Integritee Network2040 Polkadex3369 Mythos3367 Hyperbridge (Nexus)2101 Subsocial3370 Laos3388 Robonomics2025 SORA3397 JAMTON2048 Bitgreen2093 Hashed Network3344 Polimec*2011 Equilibrium3366 Mandala Chain*3333 t3rn3340 InvArch3354 Logion2007 Kapex3346 Continuum2058 Watr Network2052 Kylin2021 Efinity3417 Xode3377 Mosaic Chain*3396 Acurast3413 Xcavate3334 Moonsama3415 Mummai*3426 QF Network*3425 Moonbeam*3421 Mummai*3408 Mummai*3419 YAP test para*3442
TotalsUnused (all holders)Assigned (monthly mean)
Share of producing core-time: all time from 2021-11-09, 2026, and the last 28 days (2026-09-28 to 2026-10-25); peaks are the highest monthly and calendar-year mean producing cores
ChainShare of all producing core-timePeak month (mean producing cores)Peak year (mean producing cores)
all time2026last 28 days
System chains
1000 Asset Hub3.7%6.6%6.9%2026-02 (3.8)2026 (2.9)
1001 Collectives2.2%2.3%2.3%2022-12 (1.0)2023 (1.0)
1002 Bridge Hub2.0%2.3%2.3%2023-06 (1.0)2024 (1.0)
1004 People1.8%4.9%6.9%2026-06 (3.0)2026 (2.2)
1005 Coretime1.2%2.3%2.3%2024-10 (1.0)2025 (1.0)
1010 Bulletin0.3%1.3%2.3%2026-06 (1.0)2026 (0.6)
All chains100.0%100.0%100.0%2026-06 (49.8)2026 (43.9)

Unused (all holders): 22.3% of held core-time all time, 23.4% in 2026, 6.5% in the last 28 days.

4. Aside: Comparison with Parity Dotlake

Kusama: Dotlake corrected daily load average vs. the 80-minute window series, (2026 only)
Kusama: Dotlake corrected daily load average vs. the 80-minute window series, (2026 only). Drag to zoom, shift-drag to pan, ctrl-wheel to zoom x, double-click to reset. 0204060Feb 2026MarAprMayJunJulAugSepOct
Dotlake cores used
Daily load average (Dotlake): included candidates per relay block, all parachains including on-demand. A 12-second chain counts 0.5. Corrected for inferred double-counting.
Producing + on-demand, 80-min window
Reserved cores with at least one included block in the window, plus on-demand load. Higher than the load average because a core counts in full whatever its block rate: a 12-second chain is 1 here and 0.5 for Dotlake.
Candidates per relay block, 80-min window
The same load average measured over the 80-minute window; typically within a core of Dotlake on clean days.
Polkadot: Dotlake corrected daily load average vs. the 80-minute window series, (2026 only)
Polkadot: Dotlake corrected daily load average vs. the 80-minute window series, (2026 only). Drag to zoom, shift-drag to pan, ctrl-wheel to zoom x, double-click to reset. 0204060Feb 2026MarAprMayJunJulAugSepOct

5. Aside: Sampling coverage

Days from the first to the last production sample: Kusama 2021-05-17 to 2026-10-25; Polkadot 2021-11-09 to 2026-10-25.
MetricKusamaPolkadot
Days by sampling kind (a day counts in each kind it holds)
back-to-back (tiles)19881812
hourly366
four-hourly19029
daily noon window18241790
at snapshot rows (fortnightly Workload / monthly lease)7372
no window00
Days where several sampling kinds coexist18251791
Relay time observed by producing windows
All time99.8%99.8%
202699.8%99.9%
Longest uncovered gap between windows1.6 h 2022-12-10 23:04 to 2022-12-11 00:37 UTC1.3 h 2026-03-12 23:22 to 2026-03-13 00:41 UTC
Per-minute gap-free stretches
Stretches1 (35,368 tiles)1 (32,436 tiles)
Stretch list2021-05-17..2026-10-252021-11-04..2026-10-25

5.1 Kusama

Kusama: producing cores per window over the time it observed, and the share of each UTC day inside a window, by sampling kind; the other datasets' extents below
Windows by kind
Producing lines
Lanes
Kusama: producing cores per window. Drag to zoom (x and y), drag the y-axis to rescale, double-click to reset. 0102030405060708090 producing cores Kusama: producing cores per window over the time it observed, and the share of each UTC day inside a window, by sampling kind; the other datasets' extents below. Hover a day for its values; drag to zoom, double-click to reset. 0%20%40%60%80%100%20222023202420252026 gap days (no window)gap-free scans (per minute)heads estimate10-min sweep (1 block in 100)block-fullness instants

5.2 Polkadot

Polkadot: producing cores per window over the time it observed, and the share of each UTC day inside a window, by sampling kind; the other datasets' extents below
Windows by kind
Producing lines
Lanes
Polkadot: producing cores per window. Drag to zoom (x and y), drag the y-axis to rescale, double-click to reset. 0102030405060 producing cores Polkadot: producing cores per window over the time it observed, and the share of each UTC day inside a window, by sampling kind; the other datasets' extents below. Hover a day for its values; drag to zoom, double-click to reset. 0%20%40%60%80%100%20222023202420252026 gap days (no window)gap-free scans (per minute)heads estimate10-min sweep (1 block in 100)block-fullness instants