Solana’s largest DEX, Raydium announces Launchlab to rival Pump.fun

Raydium, Solana’s largest DEX and AMM, has officially launched Launchlab, a token launchpad with a similar design and functionality as Pump.fun, one of Solana’s most popular meme coin launch platforms. 

Some hours ago today, April 16, 2025, Raydium took to X, formerly Twitter, to announce Launchlab. It described it as an “all-in-one community-driven token launch platform” that enables users to launch tokens for free and access early-stage tokens through a bonding curve.

Raydium debuts Launchlabs 

Anyone can launch a token for free on Launchlabs, and users can choose between “JustSendit” mode for default settings or “LaunchLab” mode for customizable options when creating a token.

With JustSendIt mode, users can launch a token, wait till it hits 85 SOL, and then migrate the liquidity to Raydium’s AMM instantly. 

“No gatekeepers. JustSendIt™ energy,” Raydium’s post said, referring to documentation about the token creation process, where creators are not charged a migration fee. 

After migration, liquidity is locked or burned to ensure long-term integrity. 50% of trading fees go back to the community. Meanwhile, launch creators can earn trading fees from AMM liquidity.

Raydium also revealed that it will partner with trading apps like GMGN, Trojan, and Axiom.

Pump.fun decisions motivated Launchlabs’ creation

The development of Launchlab was reportedly accelerated following the revelation of Pump.fun’s AMM plans in February 2025 to handle token migrations internally and eliminate its dependence on Raydium. 

In the past, Raydium was focused on being an automated market maker and decentralized exchange on Solana. During that time, Pump.fun rapidly grew to become the most popular token launchpad on Solana.

When tokens crossed a certain market cap on Pump.fun, they would “graduate” to Raydium, which allowed them to be more freely and widely traded. 

That was the status quo until Pump.fun found its feet and started entertaining thoughts of independence, which ultimately led it to split off from Raydium, choosing instead to start graduating tokens to PumpSwap, its own decentralized exchange.

While the move was news to the general public, Tom, the pseudonymous team lead at Raydium, reportedly saw it coming. He claimed that he had a “gut feeling” Pump.fun was going to make such a move and had been preparing for it for “a couple of months” by creating a rival launchpad in Launchlab.

“The program that we have right now offers a lot of flexibility for token creators,” Tom told Decrypt last month. “The vast majority of asset issuance in the future is going to happen on Solana, and we want Raydium to play a central role in that.”

Since news of Launchlabs’s creation spread, X has been abuzz with comments from reputable figures comparing it to Pump.fun’s version. 

Some are calling it a competitor, while others believe the Raydium alternative is already a better option. According to OxINFRA, a Raydium team member, while LaunchLab’s PoC UI mimics Pump.fun’s for familiarity, it’s far more versatile. 

According to him, this is not about stealing Pump’s users but about enriching Solana. He also said Raydium’s Launchlab is not here to compete with already existing launchpads currently using Raydium but rather to make on-chain token launches easier for teams, offering a neutral, permissionless infra. 

The ultimate goal, according to him, is to “empower Solana’s ecosystem, not gatekeep it.”