Learning how to use DefiLlama is mostly about asking it the right questions. The free dashboard at defillama.com tracks thousands of DeFi protocols and chains, and nearly every screen answers one of five research questions: is this protocol growing, does it earn money, is the yield real, is the stablecoin healthy, and has it been hacked? This guide walks through each question with the specific DefiLlama page that answers it, then covers the settings toggles that can change a protocol’s TVL figure without anything happening on-chain.
Key takeaways
- DefiLlama is a free, open-source analytics site. A paid Pro tier and an API plan exist, but the core dashboards need no account.
- TVL shows how much is deposited; the Fees and Revenue views show whether anyone pays to use the protocol. Read them together.
- On the Yields page, split every pool’s APY into base and reward, and use the outlier and IL-risk flags before trusting a number.
- The Hacks database and each protocol’s audit links are a starting point for due diligence, not a safety rating.
- Settings toggles for staking, pool2, borrows, double counting and liquid staking change what TVL includes, so check them before comparing protocols.
How to use DefiLlama: what it is and isn’t
DefiLlama is an aggregator. Its numbers come from open-source “adapters”, small pieces of code that read balances and fees from each protocol’s smart contracts, and anyone can submit or correct one on GitHub. Prices are pulled from its own price service. That open approach is why the site is widely cited, and also why it has limits: an adapter can be wrong, late or missing a chain, and a protocol’s team often writes its own.
It is not a wallet tracker. If you want to see your own positions across protocols, that is a different category of tool, covered in our guide to crypto wallet trackers. It is also not a trading terminal or a rating agency. DefiLlama shows data; it does not tell you whether a protocol is safe or a token is undervalued.
As of October 2026, the main free sections include an overview of total DeFi TVL, chain rankings, protocol pages, Yields, Stablecoins, DEX and perps volumes, Fees and Revenue, Bridges, Unlocks, Raises and Hacks. A paid Pro subscription adds features such as custom dashboards and more access to LlamaAI, DefiLlama’s research assistant; pricing is listed on the site and has changed during 2026, so check it there rather than relying on a third-party figure.
Question 1: is this protocol growing? Reading TVL
Search for a protocol in the top search bar and open its page. The first chart is TVL (total value locked) over time, with a table of TVL by chain beneath it. To read it properly:
- Switch the chart from USD to the native token, if available. A TVL chart in dollars rises when ETH rises even if nobody deposits anything. Comparing against the token count, or against the asset’s price, separates real inflows from price moves.
- Zoom out to at least a year. Short windows hide incentive-driven spikes that later reverse.
- Check the chain breakdown. Growth that comes entirely from one new chain deployment with launch incentives is weaker evidence than broad growth.
- Look at the token and holder data on the same page if the protocol has a token, including upcoming unlocks.
For context on the whole market, DefiLlama’s chain-level data put total DeFi TVL at about $89 billion on 25 October 2026, using default settings. For what TVL does and doesn’t measure, read our explainer on what TVL in crypto means. This page sticks to the clicks.
Question 2: does it earn money? Fees and revenue
TVL tells you how much money is parked; DefiLlama fees and revenue tell you whether people pay to use it. On a protocol page, look for the Fees, Revenue and Holders Revenue figures (shown as charts or in the key metrics panel). DefiLlama’s methodology, published in its open-source adapter repository, defines them like this:
| Metric | DefiLlama definition (simplified) | Example for a lending market |
|---|---|---|
| Fees | Everything users pay, from all sources | All interest paid by borrowers |
| Supply-side revenue | The part paid out to liquidity providers, lenders or stakers | Interest passed to depositors |
| Revenue | Fees minus supply-side revenue: what the protocol keeps | The reserve-factor share kept by the protocol |
| Holders revenue | Value sent to token holders through buybacks, burns or distributions | Only if the protocol actually routes revenue to its token |
This split answers a question TVL can’t: does the token capture any value? A dated example: on 25 October 2026, DefiLlama showed Uniswap with roughly $93 million in fees over the previous 30 days, of which about $7.6 million counted as revenue, all of it classified as holders revenue. Most of the fees went to liquidity providers, which is how a DEX is supposed to work. A protocol with large fees but zero revenue may still be useful; it just means token holders aren’t currently paid from it.
Use the Fees and Revenue rankings pages to compare protocols in the same category. Comparing a DEX’s fees with a lending market’s fees tells you little, because their business models differ.
Question 3: is that yield real? The Yields page
DefiLlama Yields lists thousands of pools with their APY, TVL and chain. It’s the easiest place to see what’s on offer, and the easiest place to get misled if you sort by APY and pick the top row. Work through it this way:
- Split base from reward. Each pool reports a base APY (fees or interest) and a reward APY (token incentives). Rewards depend on a token’s price and an emissions schedule, so a pool that is 90% reward is fragile.
- Look at the 30-day average. A current APY far above the 30-day mean usually means a temporary spike.
- Filter by TVL. Tiny pools can show huge APYs that would collapse if you deposited. Set a minimum TVL that fits your size.
- Use the attribute filters for stablecoin-only pools, single exposure (one asset, no pair), and no IL risk if you want to rule out impermanent loss.
- Respect the outlier flag. DefiLlama marks pools whose APY is statistically abnormal; these are often short-lived reward farms or data errors.
- Read the prediction tag as a hint, not a forecast. Pools carry a machine-learning label such as “Stable/Up” or “Down” with a confidence score, estimating whether the current APY is likely to hold over the next few weeks.
For example, DefiLlama’s yields data listed Lido’s stETH on Ethereum at about 2.78% base APY with no reward APY on 25 October 2026, a 30-day mean of about 2.25%, single exposure, no IL risk, and a “Stable/Up” prediction. Those values change daily. The point is the pattern: base-only, large TVL, no outlier flag. Before depositing anywhere you find through the Yields page, run the checks in our guide on how to check if a DeFi protocol is safe, because DefiLlama lists pools; it doesn’t vet them.
Question 4: stablecoins and chains
The DefiLlama stablecoins dashboard shows the total market capitalisation of stablecoins, each coin’s supply over time and its distribution across chains. On 25 October 2026 it put dollar-pegged stablecoins at roughly $303 billion in circulation. Three ways to use it:
- Peg health. Open a stablecoin and check its price chart. A coin repeatedly trading below $1, or a sharp fall in supply as holders redeem, is a warning sign.
- Chain flows. Stablecoin supply on a chain is a decent proxy for real economic activity there. A chain whose TVL rises while stablecoin supply falls is often being inflated by its own token’s price.
- Concentration. If a protocol’s yield depends on a small stablecoin with thin supply, that’s an extra layer of risk.
The chains view ranks networks by TVL and can show DEX volume, fees and stablecoin supply side by side. When you are comparing ecosystems rather than single protocols, this is the screen to start on. For a curated list of established protocols to research this way, see our best DeFi projects guide.
Question 5: has it been hacked? Hacks and audits
DefiLlama keeps a Hacks database listing exploits with the date, amount lost, the technique used (for example, private key compromise, oracle manipulation or a logic bug) and whether funds were returned. Search it for the protocol and for any protocol whose code it forked; forks often inherit the same bug, as happened when the November 2025 Balancer v2 exploit also hit projects built on its code.
Protocol pages also show audit links where the team has supplied them. Open the reports and check the date and scope: an audit of version 1 says nothing about version 3. The absence of a hack is not proof of safety either. Some of 2026’s largest losses, such as the April 2026 Drift incident, came from compromised admin controls rather than code bugs, which no audit link would reveal.
DefiLlama settings that change the numbers
This is the most misunderstood part of the site. The settings menu lets you include or exclude categories of value from TVL, and the defaults matter:
| Toggle | What it adds when switched on | Why it’s off by default |
|---|---|---|
| Staking | Protocol tokens staked in the protocol’s own staking contracts (for example, governance-token locks) | It’s the protocol’s own token, not outside capital |
| Pool2 | Liquidity pools that require holding the protocol’s own token | Value depends on the protocol’s token price |
| Borrows (active loans) | The amount currently borrowed from lending markets | Borrowed funds leave the protocol; counting them inflates deposits |
| Double count | Receipt or LP tokens deposited into a second protocol | The same dollar would be counted twice |
| Liquid staking | Liquid-staking protocols in chain totals | Native staked assets aren’t counted for chains |
| Vesting | Team or investor tokens locked in vesting contracts | Not user deposits |
The borrows toggle shows how big the effect can be. On 25 October 2026, DefiLlama listed Aave V3 at about $16.7 billion TVL with about $11.7 billion more in active borrows that the default view excludes. If you see a figure elsewhere that is far higher than DefiLlama’s, the other source has probably switched some of these on. Always compare protocols with identical settings, and note them when you share a screenshot.
One last limitation: the data is only as current and complete as the adapters. New chains, unusual contract designs and off-chain components can lag. For more step-by-step DeFi research tools, browse the DeFi hub.
FAQ
Is DefiLlama free to use?
Yes. The main dashboards for TVL, yields, stablecoins, fees, hacks and chains are free and need no account, and the basic API is open. DefiLlama also sells a Pro subscription with extra features such as custom dashboards and more LlamaAI usage, plus a higher-limit API plan. Check current pricing on defillama.com, since it has changed during 2026.
What does DefiLlama TVL include?
By default, DefiLlama TVL counts assets deposited in a protocol’s contracts and valued at current prices. It excludes the protocol’s own staked governance token, pool2 liquidity, borrowed amounts, double-counted receipt tokens and vesting tokens. Each of these can be added through the settings menu, which is why figures from different sites rarely match exactly.
How accurate are DefiLlama yields?
DefiLlama yields are pulled from protocol data roughly hourly and are generally reliable as a snapshot, but they describe recent conditions, not future returns. Reward APYs depend on token prices, small pools can swing wildly, and some figures are flagged as outliers. Use the base and reward split, the 30-day average and the TVL filter before trusting any number.
Does DefiLlama track airdrops?
DefiLlama has offered airdrop-related tools, including lists of protocols without a token and an airdrop eligibility checker. Treat them as research leads only. Never connect your wallet to a site claiming to be a DefiLlama airdrop page unless you reached it from defillama.com itself, because fake claim pages are a common route for wallet drainers.
Crypto is volatile and risky; this is education, not financial advice. Do your own research.
