Most DAOs use one of two voting models, and many combine them. The choice determines who you have to trust after a vote ends.
Off-chain voting with Snapshot
Snapshot records votes as signed messages. Voting power is computed by strategies — rules that read balances, staked positions or delegations at a chosen block. Its strengths are obvious:
- No gas costs, so small holders can participate.
- Flexible voting systems: single choice, approval, ranked choice, quadratic and weighted.
- Multi-chain strategies that count tokens across networks.
The catch: a Snapshot result does nothing on its own. Someone has to execute it — usually a multisig whose signers promise to follow the vote. That is a social guarantee, not a technical one.
On-chain voting with governor contracts
On-chain governors store proposals and votes in smart contracts. When a proposal passes, its encoded transactions can be executed by anyone after a timelock. There is no intermediary to trust.
The costs are real, though: every vote is a transaction, parameters are harder to change, and a poorly configured governor can be captured by anyone who accumulates enough tokens.
Side by side
| Snapshot | On-chain governor | |
|---|---|---|
| Voter cost | None | Gas per vote |
| Binding? | Socially | Technically |
| Main risk | Executors ignore or alter the result | Parameter or contract flaws |
| Best for | Signalling, grants, cross-chain DAOs | Protocol upgrades, treasury control |
Hybrid approaches
Several tools narrow the gap. Optimistic execution modules such as UMA's oSnap let a Snapshot result be proposed on-chain and executed automatically unless someone disputes it during a challenge window. Layer-2 networks also make on-chain voting far cheaper than on Ethereum mainnet.
How to choose
A useful rule of thumb: the more value a decision controls, the fewer trust assumptions it should carry. Many DAOs use Snapshot for discussion-stage signalling and grants, and reserve on-chain votes for upgrades and large treasury movements.
This article is for educational purposes only and is not financial or legal advice. Quorum Lens is an independent publication and is not affiliated with any project mentioned.