Comparing Top RPC Providers for Blockchain Development

Find out how OnFinality, a multi-chain infrastructure provider, compares alongside some of the top RPC providers in web3!

Comparing Top RPC Providers for Blockchain Development

OnFinality is a blockchain infrastructure platform that saves web3 builders time and makes their lives easier. We deliver easy-to-use, reliable and scalable API endpoints for the biggest blockchain networks and empower developers to automatically test, deploy, scale and monitor their own blockchain nodes in minutes.

Importance of Web3 RPC providers

Web3 RPC (Remote Procedure Calls) providers play a crucial role in enabling Decentralised Applications (DApps) to interact with blockchain networks. By providing a standardised interface for accessing blockchain data and functionality, RPC providers simplify the development process and make it easier for developers to integrate with multiple blockchains on a single platform.

Not all RPC providers were created equal, some might be more suitable for your Decentralised Application (DApp) than others, and choosing the right provider can have a significant impact on your DApp’s performance, reliability and security.

Today we will be comparing some of the most popular Web3 RPC providers based on their pricing model and the features they offer, to help you make an informed decision on the RPC provider that may best suit your development needs.

RPC Providers in this article:

  • OnFinality
  • Pocket Network
  • Infura
  • Alchemy
  • Blockdaemon
  • Ankr
  • Quicknode
  • Chainstack
  • Blast API
  • GetBlock

1. What is OnFinality?

OnFinality is a multi-chain infrastructure provider that delivers easy-to-use, reliable and scalable API endpoints for the biggest blockchain networks and empower developers to automatically test, deploy, scale and monitor their own blockchain nodes in minutes.

Types of API: Enhanced API, Trace API, NFT API

Chains supported: 60 networks across the Avalanche, BNB Chain, Cosmos, Ethereum and Polkadot ecosystems

Uptime Target: 99.99%

Customer Support: Public Support Centre, Telegram, Slack

Does OnFinality offer a free plan?

Yes

How much does it cost to use OnFinality?

OnFinality offers a completely automated service with no management fees. It provides 3 plans to support you at every stage of your development journey.

  • Free — Inclusive of 500,000 daily API requests
  • Growth plan — $49/ month with 20M API response units and no daily response limit (Pay-As-You-Go for more requests!)
  • Ultimate — Customised to your needs. Crypto payment option available!
  • Multi-chain deployment
  • Largest Polkadot RPC provider
  • High availability

2. What is Pocket Network?

Pocket Network is a decentralised RPC service that connects dApps with more than 40 supported blockchains. The Pocket DAO plays a key part in evolving the protocol and growing the Pocket Network ecosystem.

Types of API: RPC API, Trace endpoints

Chains supported: Over 40 RPC blockchains including Arbitrum One, AVAX, Binance Smart Chain, Celo Mainnet, DFKchain Subnet, Dogechain Mainnet, Ethereum Mainnet, Evmos Mainnet, Fantom Mainnet and more.

Support: Developer documentation, GitHub

Does Pocket Network offer a free plan?

Yes

Does Pocket Network provide public endpoints?

Yes

How much does it cost to use Pocket Network?

Pocket Network has two usage tiers:

  • Always Free — Up to 250,000 relays per day
  • Pay As You Go — A nominal fee for relays beyond 250,000 per day (currently $0.000007456/ per-relay billed once per month)
  • Range of chains
  • Simple Pay-As-You-Go model
  • Decentralised Network

3. What is Infura?

Infura provides the tools and infrastructure that allow developers to easily take their blockchain application from testing to scaled deployment — with simple, reliable access to Ethereum and IPFS.

Successful projects built with Infura include Uniswap, MetaMask and MakerDAO.

Types of API: NFT API + SDK, Trace API

Chains supported: Layer 1s and 2s including Ethereum, Linea, Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, Near, Aurora, StarkNet, Avalanche C-Chain, Celo and Palm

Uptime Target: 99.9%

Customer Support: 24/7

Does Infura offer a free plan?

Yes

How much does it cost to use Infura?

Infura offers 5 different plans tailored to meet your needs at different stages of your app development with optional add-ons such as Request Packs (+ 1M Total Requests/ Day) and Layer 2 network (Polygon, Optimism Ethereum and Arbitrum) add-ons to help improve your apps’ speed.

  • Free — 100,000 Total Requests/Day and up to 25,000 Archive Requests/Day
  • Developer — $50/ month with 200,000 Total Requests/Day and up to 100,000 Archive Requests/Day
  • Team — $225/ month with 1M Total Requests/Day and up to 1M Archive Requests/Day
  • Growth — $1,000/ month with 5M Total Requests/Day and up to 5M Archive Requests/Day
  • Enterprise — Custom price. Unlimited Requests with Auto-scaling.
  • Ethereum deployments
  • Modular pricing add-ons
  • 24/7 Support

4. Alchemy

Alchemy is a blockchain node provider known for offering extremely high reliability compared to competitors, and a proven track record of data accuracy. In addition to providing blockchain nodes for developers, Alchemy also offers a suite of development tools such as APIs, and a web3 SDK.

Current customers of Alchemy include Opensea, 0x, Aave, Meta, Adobe, Yearn, Maker, and more.

Types of API: NFT API, Notify API, Trace API, Transfers API, Subscription API (Websockets), Token API, Transaction Receipts API and Debug API

Chains supported: Ethereum, Polygon PoS, Polygon zkEVM, Starknet, Arbitrum, Optimism, Solana, and Astar

Uptime Target: 99.9%

Customer Support: 24/7 support via support tickets, Discord and Telegram chats for enterprise customers

Does Alchemy offer a free plan?

Yes

How much does it cost to use Alchemy?

Alchemy offers 3 flexible plans for you to jump on and start building easily.

  • Free — Up to 300,000,000 compute units/ month
  • Growth — $49/ month for up to 400,000,000 compute units
  • Enterprise — Custom compute units, unlimited apps and crypto payment option!
  • 100% Data correctness with Supernode
  • Bootstrap a dapp in 4 minutes with Web3 Dapp
  • 24/7 Support

5. What is Blockdaemon?

Blockdaemon is the largest independent blockchain infrastructure platform connecting institutions and developers to leading networks.

It has served over 300 institutional customers including MetaMask Institutional, Goldman Sachs, Open Sea, and Microsoft.

Types of API: Universal API, RPC API, NFT API, Staking API

Chains supported: Over 40 protocols including Aptos, Base, Cardano, Celo, Cosmos, Ethereum, Flow, NEAR, Optimism, Polkadot, Polygon, Solana and more.

Uptime Target: 99.9%

Customer Support: 24/7

Does Blockdaemon offer a free plan?

Yes

How much does it cost to use Blockdaemon?

Pricing is publicly unavailable. However, Blockdaemon offers three price tiers:

  • Free — 15 Million Compute Units. Access to 20+ Protocols. 25 Requests per Second.
  • Growth — Limited Monthly Calls. 200 Requests per Second. 99% Uptime SLA.
  • Enterprise — Custom Monthly Calls. 200+ Requests per Second. Custom SLAs. Priority Support: <24 Hour Response in Slack Channel.
  • Institutional clients
  • Transactions and staking, all-in-one wallet service
  • 24/7 Customer Support

6. What is Ankr?

Ankr Network is a decentralised network of nodes built for Web3 developers to provide flexible and cost-efficient connections to major blockchains and DeFi protocols.

Types of API: RPC API, NFT API, Query API, Token API

Chains supported: 37 chains including Polygon, BSC, Ethereum, Fantom, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism, Celo, Gnosis, IoTeX, Solana, Filecoin, Tron, Harmony, Moonbeam and more.

Uptime Target: 99.994%

Customer Support: Community support, support portal, engineering team support

Does Ankr offer a free plan?

Yes

How much does it cost to use Ankr?

Ankr offers 3 simple plans based on a variety of chains and regions.

  • Free — 30 requests per second to 23 chains and 10 regions
  • Premium — $10 per 100M credits with 1500 requests per second to 30 chains and 40 regions
  • Enterprise — From $1000 with 15000 requests per second, custom chains and regions
  • 30+ global regions served
  • Decentralised Web3 Infrastructure
  • One-click staking nodes

7. What is Quicknode?

QuickNode gives Web3 developers instant access to Enterprise-grade infrastructure — the same used by Coinbase, Adobe, Twitter, Dune, Chainlink, 1inch, and many more!

Types of API: Core API, Token API, NFT API, Graph API

Chains supported: 22 chains including Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Avalanche, Stacks, Polygon, Solana, Fantom, Arbitrum and more

Uptime Target: 99.99%

Customer Support: Within 8 hours — 12 hours or 24 hours depending on pricing plan

Does Quicknode offer a free plan?

Yes

How much does it cost to use Quicknode?

Web3 builders get access to the entire QuickNode platform — all chains, recent and historical data, NFT API’s, trace, debug & more — and only pay for what they use.

  • Discover — Free inclusive of 10 Million API credits with 25 Requests/ sec, 1 Endpoint, Single region, with Community Support
  • Build — $49/ month for 20 Million API credits with 100 Requests/ sec, 10 Endpoints and 24 Hours Support response time
  • Scale — $299/ month for 120 Million API credits with 300 Requests/ sec, 20 Endpoints, global regions, 8–12 hours Support response time
  • Enterprise — Customised
  • 2.4x latency improvement against popular infrastructure providers, Alchemy and Infura.
  • Boot your node in seconds
  • 24/7 Access to support team

8. What is Chainstack?

From startups to large enterprises, thousands of businesses of all sizes use Chainstack’s software and APIs to build, run, and scale blockchain applications.

Types of API: Platform API, NFT API, Blockchain node API, Debug and Trace API

Chains supported: 25 chains including Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Smart Chain, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Optimism, Oasis Sapphire, NEAR, Aurora, Solana, Aptos, Gnosis Chain, Cronos and more.

Uptime Target: 99.9%+

Customer Support: Email, Help Centre, Documentation, 24/7 Online Community

Does Chainstack offer a free plan?

Yes

How much does it cost to use Chainstack?

Chainstack offers 4 plans based on a monthly subscription model and 16% off when you subscribe to an annual plan!

  • Developer — Free with unlimited users and projects inclusive of 3 million full node requests per month
  • Growth — $40/ month with 20 million elastic full node requests per month
  • Business — $290/ month with 140 million elastic full node requests per month
  • Enterprise — $825/ month with 400 million elastic full node requests per month
  • Unique pricing model enables savings of up to 10x
  • Wide range of cloud including native Chainstack Cloud
  • Clients who wish to pay with crypto

9. What is Blast API?

Blast API, powered by Bware Labs, is a multi-chain, subscription based platform that partners with Node Providers to deliver fast and reliable decentralised blockchain APIs.

Types of API: Public APIs, Dedicated Endpoints

Chains supported: 44 Networks including Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Avalanche, Moonbeam, Moonriver, Moonbase alpha, Shiden, Polygon, Fantom, MultiversX and more.

Uptime Target: 99.99%

Customer Support: 24/7 Discord Support

Does Blast API offer a free plan?

Yes

How much does it cost to use Blast API?

Blast’s pricing plans are designed to accommodate a broad range of budgets and business sizes. They also offer discounts for 6 and 12 month plans.

  • Free — 12,000,000 API Calls/ month, 1 project
  • Developer — $50/ month with 20,000,000 API Calls/ month, 3 projects
  • Startup — $250/ month with 80,000,000 API Calls/ month, 10 projects
  • Enterprise — Custom API Limits, unlimited projects
  • Decentralised web3 infrastructure
  • Bulk plan discounts
  • 24/7 Engineering Support

10. What is GetBlock?

GetBlock is a service that provides instant API connection to full nodes from many leading blockchain platforms. It aims to ensure cost-effective tools and infrastructure for enterprises and individual developers to build high-quality decentralised applications faster.

Types of API: JSON-RPC, REST and WebSockets APIs

Chains supported: 40 blockchains on mainnet and testnet

Uptime Target: 99.99%

Customer Support: 24 Hour Support by their highly-skilled team of experts

Does GetBlock offer a free plan?

Yes

How much does it cost to use GetBlock?

GetBlock offers pricing packages scaled to fit a wide range of budgets and company sizes.

  • Free — 40K requests per day
  • Launch — $29/ 5M requests no expiration date
  • Build — $49/ 10M requests no expiration date
  • Scale — $199/ 50M requests no expiration date
  • Unlimited — $499/ month, for unlimited requests
  • Instant API connection to full nodes
  • Unique pricing plan with no expiration date
  • 24 hour support

Conclusion

There is no one size fits all RPC provider, but hopefully by understanding the range of available options in the market, you will be able to find one that aligns with your specific needs, budget, and usage requirements.

Each provider has its own strengths, catering to different user groups. Some are ideal for beginners due to their cost-effectiveness, while others excel in providing enterprise packages for bulk usage or long-term plans.

OnFinality strives to provide a comprehensive service at every stage of your development process, and grow with you as your project scales.

At 99.99% uptime target, we strive to offer the highest standard in terms of availability. We pride ourselves on the extensive range of chains we offer across multiple ecosystems, and customers appreciate the value-added features such as API Insights and API Security features.

Our nodes are hosted on world-class cloud infrastructure, and distributed across multiple regions globally to ensure that you receive the fastest response and lowest latency possible.

Additionally, there is no limit to the number of apps you can create. In fact, our Multi-Apps feature helps you manage all your apps on a single dashboard!

There is no limit to what you can do with OnFinality.

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Our mission is to support all blockchain teams in the world by providing critical infrastructure so they can focus on their core business. By leveraging OnFinality’s expertise in infrastructure, web3 builders can now focus on scaling for a global audience.

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About OnFinality

OnFinality is a blockchain infrastructure platform that saves web3 builders time and makes their lives easier. OnFinality delivers scalable API endpoints for the biggest blockchain networks and empowers developers to automatically test, deploy, scale and monitor their own blockchain nodes in minutes. To date, OnFinality has served over hundreds of billions of RPC requests across over 80 networks including Avalanche, BNB Chain, Cosmos, Polkadot, Ethereum, and Polygon, and is continuously expanding these mission-critical services so developers can build the decentralised future, faster!

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