What Is Skip Rate in Solana?
Skip rate is the percentage of assigned leader slots in which a validator failed to produce a block. A skipped slot means no block was created and no transactions were processed during that slot.
Causes
A validator skips a slot when it is offline, too slow to produce the block in time, or unable to receive enough votes from the cluster. Common reasons include hardware issues, network connectivity problems, software bugs, or falling behind on block processing.
Impact
High skip rate reduces the validator’s rewards and signals poor reliability to delegators. Stake pools and delegation services track skip rates when deciding where to delegate. The cluster-wide average skip rate is typically 2–5%, though it varies with network conditions.
Checking skip rate
Skip rate is not available directly via a single RPC call. It can be calculated from getBlockProduction, which returns the number of leader slots assigned and blocks produced per validator for a given slot range.
skip_rate = (assigned_slots - produced_blocks) / assigned_slots × 100%FAQ
What is a good skip rate? Below the cluster average (typically under 5%). Top validators maintain skip rates under 2%.
Does skip rate affect staking rewards? Yes. A validator earns block rewards only for blocks it produces. Skipped slots produce no blocks and no rewards.
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