SignLensSignLens compared with wallet previews, scam lists and explorers
Solana wallets already show you something before you sign: the balance changes a simulation estimates, and warnings for some known dangers. SignLens adds what a transaction is for, read from its instructions, and checks what it reads. It works alongside your wallet's own checks, not instead of them.
| Tool | When | What it shows | What it misses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wallet balance preview (Phantom, Backpack, Solflare, Jupiter Wallet) | When you sign | The balance changes a simulation estimates, and warnings for some known dangers | Often what a transaction is for; owner changes and approvals beyond the cases their warnings cover; little when the simulation fails |
| Scam lists (in wallets, and extensions such as Scam Sniffer) | When you browse or sign | Whether a site or address is already known to be malicious | What nobody has reported yet; legitimate dapps are sometimes flagged too |
| Explorers (Solana Explorer, Solscan) | Mostly after the transaction lands | Every instruction, decoded | Once it has landed it is too late, and inspecting one before means copying it out of the dapp |
| Hardware clear signing (Ledger) | On the device | Simple transfers and a few other cases, in words | On Solana, most DeFi transactions are signed blind |
| SignLens | When you sign, before your wallet asks | What each instruction does, in words, with findings and verified token and account names | Programs it has no reviewed description of, which it blocks; it runs on a computer, not on phones |
Why a balance preview is not enough
A preview simulates the transaction and shows how your balances would change. That says how much, not what for: a deposit, a liquidity position and a drain can show the same line. And the transactions that hand over control (an owner change, an unlimited approval, a signature that never expires) move nothing when you sign them. Wallets add warnings for some of these, and when the simulation fails their own help pages say the transaction may succeed anyway.
Why a scam list is not enough
A list catches what someone has already reported. A drainer site launched an hour ago is on no list, and a legitimate new dapp can be on one by mistake. SignLens does not judge the site: it reads what the transaction would do.
Try it: install SignLens for Chrome or Firefox.