Dec 13, 20254 min readComparisons & MatricesIntermediate

Ergo vs Ethereum: Same Power, Less Pain

Smart contracts and DeFi without account-model headaches and MEV wars.

Ergo

Ethereum

eUTXO

EVM

smart contracts

DeFi

MEV

gas fees

PoW vs PoS

state model

Infographic titled “Ergo vs Ethereum: Same Power, Less Pain”. Two balanced scales compare Ergo and Ethereum programmability, then another scale tilts under Ethereum’s heavy MEV risks, with four panels below for state model & safety, fees & MEV, consensus & power structure, and privacy.

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About This Infographic

This infographic compares Ergo and Ethereum across four dimensions: state model and safety, fees and MEV, consensus and power structure, and privacy.

On the Ergo side, the eUTXO model, ErgoScript, L1 Sigma privacy and PoW Autolykos aim to provide strong programmability with local state, predictable execution and minimal MEV surface.

On the Ethereum side, the global account model, EVM, L2 scaling and PoS validators deliver powerful programmability but introduce shared mutable state, gas auctions, MEV markets and a more capital-based validator structure.

State Model & Safety

Ergo: eUTXO with local state, no reentrancy and more predictable execution.
Ethereum: Global account model with shared mutable state and reentrancy risks.
State-model choice defines many of the downstream safety and UX trade-offs in DeFi.

Fees, MEV and Power Structure

Ergo: Predictable fees and an eUTXO design that reduces MEV, gas auctions and complex fee markets.
Ethereum: Gas auctions, MEV, priority fees and capital-based validator power shape user and builder experience.
Ergo uses PoW Autolykos with GPU-friendly mining, while Ethereum uses PoS with large validator sets and stake-driven control.

Privacy and Developer Experience

Ergo: L1 Sigma-based privacy for contracts and flows, integrated directly into the main chain.
Ethereum: Privacy is mainly provided through L2s, specialized protocols and complex add-ons.
Developers must weigh direct L1 privacy against the composability and tooling ecosystem around EVM and its extensions.

Key Points

Both Ergo and Ethereum offer powerful smart-contract programmability, but with different state models and risk profiles.

Ergo’s eUTXO model provides local state, no reentrancy and more predictable execution paths.

Ethereum’s global account model enables rich composability but brings reentrancy and shared mutable-state risks.

Ergo targets predictable fees and an eUTXO design that reduces MEV and gas-auction dynamics.

Ethereum faces gas auctions, MEV, priority fees and complex fee markets, concentrating power around capital-rich actors.

Ergo is secured by PoW Autolykos with GPU-friendly, miner-driven consensus, while Ethereum uses PoS with large validator sets and capital-based power.

Ergo offers L1 Sigma-based privacy for contracts and flows; Ethereum relies more on L2s and complex add-ons for privacy.

How to Read This Infographic

01.

Begin with the central scales to see that Ergo and Ethereum can both deliver programmability, then follow the arrow to the second scale that contrasts risk profiles.

02.

Read the four panels along the bottom—state model & safety, fees & MEV, consensus & power structure, and privacy—to understand how each design impacts developers and users.

03.

Use these comparisons to evaluate whether you prefer eUTXO-style local state and reduced MEV exposure or the global account model with its composability and complexity.

Usage Guidelines

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• Please keep the attribution link to ergoblockchain.org
• For custom branding or editable files, contact the Ergo community

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