zkSync Era vs Arbitrum One

Which is more decentralized — zkSync Era or Arbitrum One? A side-by-side on consensus, nodes, clients and governance.

	zkSync Era	Arbitrum One
Grade	C-	C+
Type	L2 · ZK rollup	L2 · Optimistic rollup
Nakamoto / stage	Stage 0	Stage 1
Node / validator set	Inherits Ethereum security (Stage 0)	Inherits Ethereum security
Clients / sequencer	Single sequencer (Matter Labs)	Single sequencer (Offchain Labs)
Governance	Token + Matter Labs	Arbitrum DAO + Security Council
Key risk	Operator-dependent (Stage 0)	Centralized sequencer

zkSync Era C-

Validity (ZK) proofs
Native account abstraction
Large ecosystem & ZK tech

L2BEAT Stage 0 (operator-dependent exits)
Centralized sequencer & prover

Arbitrum One C+

L2BEAT Stage 1
Permissionless exits + 7-day upgrade timelock
Active Arbitrum DAO

Centralized sequencer
Security Council can fast-track upgrades

Bottom line

Good cryptography, but still Stage 0 — the weakest exit guarantees among major L2s here. Among the most decentralized L2s — sequencer decentralization is the remaining step.