Ethereum and EVM compatible chains are at least 4 years ahead in terms of smart contract activity. Cardano just enabled smart contracts in September of last year, and there's been very little success in terms of usability so far; network scaling upgrades are slated to roll out over the next few years, and the dapps that have deployed don't really work without them. For context, Sundaeswap, a long-awaited DEX just deployed roughly 1 week ago, but people trying to make swaps may have to wait days for their swap to execute, which isn't very ergonomic.

The increased activity from people trying to make transactions with Sundaeswap has resulted in sluggishness all-around on the chain as well, because Cardano doesn't have the concept of gas bidding for priority