Best rpc & node services in 2026

RPC & Node Services evaluated across real cost per 1m identical calls, archive debug and trace access, published throughput and self-serve ceiling, and documented incident record and chain coverage.

BlockPI

#1 of 9 · published ranking

BlockPI

81ChainChoice Score

Why it leads

Best in the pool on real cost per million calls and throughput headroom

Cost

Not priced · No comparable price is published

9 compared Ranking-blind · 392 modules checked 2026-09-18Scored under methodology v2026.09.15 (2026-09-16)

Filter rpc & node services9 in the published ranking

Filters change eligibility, not methodology. A requirement can rule a provider out; nothing here changes the order the published criteria produce.

Your setup

Your location

Pick a country to see which rpc & node services serve it. Nothing is hidden — any that does not is listed with that reason.

Cost

Real cost per million calls

No requirement — nothing is ruled out on this.

Funding & access

Reliability and coverage

No requirement — nothing is ruled out on this.

Archive and trace access

No requirement — nothing is ruled out on this.

Trust & control

Throughput headroom

No requirement — nothing is ruled out on this.

Whatever misses a requirement is listed under Excluded with the reason — nothing is hidden.

9 results

9rpc & node services · sorted by chainchoice score

ranked before any payout data is seen

#1 overallcomputed before any payout data is seenOverall

BlockPI

Per-method request units, expiring prepaid RU packages, 70+ networks

Leads the pool on Real cost per 1M identical calls

81ChainChoice Score · first of 9

Catalog strengths

Real cost per 1M identical callsPublished throughput and self-serve ceiling

Why it leads

Best in the pool on real cost per million calls and throughput headroom
3 points ahead of Chainstack: +2.2 pts real cost per million calls, +1.2 pts archive and trace access
Provider states broad availability

Evidence

4/4

criteria scored · no receipt file

Margin

+3

over Chainstack, ranked #02

Rank stability

Firm

#1 holds when every published criterion is moved ±1

Tradeoff

−2

Documented incident record and chain coverage — behind this pool's best

Jurisdiction

Global

no restricted market on record

Score breakdowntick = pool best

Real cost per million calls10/10

Archive and trace access6/10

Throughput headroom9/10

Reliability and coverage5/10

Ranking-blind · a guided run tailors this to your size, custody & jurisdiction

#ProviderScoreEvidenceKey strengths

2−3

Chainstack

no receipt file

Real cost per 1M identical callsPublished throughput and self-serve ceiling

3−2

dRPC

no receipt file

Published throughput and self-serve ceilingDocumented incident record and chain coverage

4−10

Helius

no receipt file

Real cost per 1M identical callsPublished throughput and self-serve ceiling

5−1

Alchemy

no receipt file

Documented incident record and chain coveragePublished throughput and self-serve ceiling

Joint #5 · ordered by name, A to Z

QuickNode

no receipt file

Documented incident record and chain coverageArchive debug and trace access

7−6

Ankr

no receipt file

Archive debug and trace accessPublished throughput and self-serve ceiling

Joint #7 · ordered by name, A to Z

Infura (Consensys)

no receipt file

Real cost per 1M identical callsArchive debug and trace access

9−14

Tenderly Node

no receipt file

Documented incident record and chain coverageReal cost per 1M identical calls

Ranking-blind — order computed before any payout data is joined

Below the table

How this ranking works

Everything the table draws on continues here: how firm the #1 is, the per-criterion arithmetic behind each score, who pays ChainChoice, and the full guide to choosing.

Direct answer

What is the best rpc & node services in 2026?

BlockPI ranks #1 overall for rpc & node services on ChainChoice. Per-method request units, expiring prepaid RU packages, 70+ networks. It holds that rank under an affiliate-blind methodology scored across 4 published, weighted criteria — the code that ranks providers physically cannot read affiliate payouts (CI-enforced), so a payout can't move a rank. The verdict re-computes on every fee change, incident, or regulatory action; full reasoning and the audit receipt are below.

Best picks

Best rpc & node services in 2026

The best RPC provider depends on your call mix and your throughput ceiling — but headline plan prices in this category are not comparable at all. Every vendor bills in its own unit, and the same eth_call is 1 unit at one provider and 200 at another, so a plan that looks cheaper per month can be many times dearer for identical work. The scored figure is the cost of one fixed workload derived from each vendor's own published unit table, and incident history is weighted by blast radius rather than count.

Best overall

BlockPI

Per-method request units, expiring prepaid RU packages, 70+ networks

Data checked Sep 2026

Per-method request units, expiring prepaid RU packages, 70+ networks. Strongest on real cost per 1m identical calls (10/10): eth_call is 20 RU. Premium is $299 for 4,000M RU = $0.0747/1M RU, so 1M eth_call = 20M RU = $1.50. Elementary ($49 / 500M RU) = $1.96 per 1M eth_call. That is the cheapest normalized rate in this pool — roughly 13x below Ankr and 9x below Alchemy for identical work. Weakest on documented incident record and chain coverage (5/10): 76 network rows in the supported-networks table, comparable to Chainstack and QuickNode. Its status page (status.blockpi.io) records 'All rpc service is down' on 5 December 2025, 09:15-09:40 UTC — 'Due to a Cloudflare outage, all of our RPC servers are affected and currently down.' — plus frequent per-chain critical incidents, several lasting days to weeks. Published price: Free: $0, 50M RU, 32 days validity. Elementary: $49, 500M RU, 60 days. Premium: $299, 4,000M RU, 90 days. Pay As You Go: $0.01 per 50,000 RU. Enterprise: contact.

Best for: Real cost per 1M identical calls — 10/10

Why this score4 published criteria · leads 2 of 4

Published criterionWtScore, and the best hereGap/10Pts

Real cost per 1M identical calls8.4·1011.2

Archive debug and trace access4.8−163.8

Published throughput and self-serve ceiling4.8·95.8

Documented incident record and chain coverage6−254.0

Σ methodology points24.8/32

Each bar is the score on that criterion’s own 0–10 scale, never rescaled to the pool. The dark line is the best any product here reached on that axis. Wt is the most the criterion can add to the 86-point weighted total. Pts is weight × score × 32; the sum is the methodology score, and each weighted point behind the leader costs 2.6 on the displayed score. how these are weighted

Considered and not ranked

8 products we looked at and left out

A shortlist is only honest if it says who it turned away. Each of these was assessed against the same published criteria as the ranked table and excluded for a stated reason — not overlooked.

We assessed 12 products here and rank 4 — 33% of what we looked at. That share is of the products we assessed, not of the category: how many exist is not something we can count, so we do not claim a number for it.

Blockdaemon· Ranked elsewhereFigment (DataHub)· Ranked elsewhereThe Graph· Ranked elsewhereGrove (Grove Portal)Pocket Network (POKT)· No longer operatingBlast API (Bware Labs)· No longer operatingGoogle Cloud Blockchain Node Engine· No longer operatingLlamaNodes (LlamaRPC)

Why it ranks first

Why BlockPI leads this category right now

Best for

Real cost per 1M identical calls — 10/10

Main tradeoff

The RU packages EXPIRE — Free 50M RU in 32 days, Elementary 500M in 60 days, Premium 4,000M in 90 days. Unused units are forfeited, so the category's cheapest per-request price only holds if you burn the entire package inside the window; a quiet quarter means you paid $299 for whatever you happened to use. On top of that, Archive Mode adds 30% RU, eth_getLogs RU doubles 'for every additional 200 KB' above 200 KB of response data, any method doubles per extra 1 MB, and Polygon MEV-protected eth_sendRawTransaction is billed at 250,000 RU per request — 12,500x a normal eth_call.

Verify before signup

RU packages expire. Free $0, 50M RU, 32 days, 20 requests/sec / 400 RU/sec (gift package distributed on the 1st of every month). Elementary $49, 500M RU, 60 days, 1000 requests/sec / 40000 RU/sec. Premium $299, 4,000M RU, 90 days, 2500 requests/sec / 100000 RU/sec. Pay As You Go: $0.01 per 50,000 RU, 20 requests/sec / 1000 RU/sec. Enterprise: contact us. Public RPC 10 requests/sec / 200 RU/sec. EVM RU: eth_call 20, eth_getLogs 50, eth_getBalance 15, eth_blockNumber 10, trace_transaction 20, debug_traceTransaction 150, eth_sendRawTransaction 200. Archive Mode +30% RU. eth_getLogs +100% per additional 200 KB above 200 KB. Any method +100% per additional 1 MB. Polygon MEV eth_sendRawTransaction 250,000 RU.

Recommendation summary

What should decide this category

What is your realistic monthly call volume, and which methods dominate it?

Do you need archive state or debug and trace methods, and on which chains?

What request rate breaks you — and does the largest self-serve plan carry it without a sales call?

Quick picks

Strong options in this category

Start with the lead choice first, then use the shortlist only if you still need a challenger or stronger fit for a specific setup.

Best overall

BlockPI

Per-method request units, expiring prepaid RU packages, 70+ networks

Best for: Real cost per 1M identical calls — 10/10

Real cost per 1M identical calls · 35%

10/10

Archive debug and trace access · 20%

6/10

Published throughput and self-serve ceiling · 20%

9/10

Documented incident record and chain coverage · 25%

5/10

Quick pick

Chainstack

Managed nodes, one request unit per call, 70+ protocols

Managed nodes, one request unit per call, 70+ protocols. Strongest on real cost per 1m identical calls (9/10): 1 RU per full request means 1M eth_call = 1M RU. Growth $49/20M RU = $2.45; Pro $199/80M = $2.49; Business $499/200M = $2.50 per 1M eth_call — the rate barely moves across tiers, which is unusual and makes budgeting trivial. That is roughly 5x cheaper than Alchemy and 8x cheaper than Ankr for the same call. Weakest on archive debug and trace access (5/10): The pricing table marks 'Archive data' and 'Debug and Trace API' as not included on the free Developer tier — both start at Growth, $49/mo. And the flat 1 RU is not flat for history: the docs define any EVM request '127 or more blocks behind the tip' as archive at 2 RU, applying to 20 methods including eth_call… Published price: Developer $0/mo, 3,000,000 RU/mo included, $20 per 1M RU overage, 25 RPS, 1 project. Growth $49/mo ($40/mo annual), 20,000,000 RU/mo, $15 per 1M RU, 250 RPS. Pro $199/mo ($166 annual), 80,000,000 RU/mo, $12.5 per 1M RU, 400 RPS.

Best for: Real cost per 1M identical calls — 9/10

Real cost per 1M identical calls · 35%

9/10

Archive debug and trace access · 20%

5/10

Published throughput and self-serve ceiling · 20%

8/10

Documented incident record and chain coverage · 25%

6/10

Quick pick

dRPC

Routed multi-provider RPC, flat 20 compute units per request, 200+ networks

Routed multi-provider RPC, flat 20 compute units per request, 200+ networks. Strongest on published throughput and self-serve ceiling (8/10): The free plan is the most generous in the pool by a wide margin: 210M CU per 30 days at 20 CU/request = 10.5M free requests/month, against Alchemy's 30M CU (~1.15M eth_call) and Infura's 3M credits/day (~1.1M eth_call/month). Free throughput is ~2,100 CUPS = ~105 requests/sec, versus Alchemy's 25 rps and QuickNode's… Weakest on archive debug and trace access (6/10): The flat rate genuinely helps here — debug_traceTransaction costs the same 20 CU as eth_blockNumber, versus Infura's 1,000 credits (12.5x its own eth_call) and BlockPI's 150 RU. But the free plan explicitly disables trace, debug and filter methods entirely, so archive-style debugging is a paid-only capability with no… Published price: '20 CU per request – any method, any chain' and '$6 per 1,000,000 requests', 'Starting June 2, 2025'.

Best for: Published throughput and self-serve ceiling — 8/10

Real cost per 1M identical calls · 35%

7/10

Archive debug and trace access · 20%

6/10

Published throughput and self-serve ceiling · 20%

8/10

Documented incident record and chain coverage · 25%

7/10

Quick pick

Helius

Solana-only RPC, DAS API, webhooks, gRPC streaming, one credit per call

Solana-only RPC, DAS API, webhooks, gRPC streaming, one credit per call. Strongest on real cost per 1m identical calls (8/10): Standard Solana RPC calls are 1 credit. Developer $49/10M credits = $4.90 per 1M calls; Business $499/100M = $4.99. Overage is a published '$5/million', so the marginal and average rates converge — no cliff. Cheaper than dRPC ($6.00) and roughly a third of Alchemy's $13.65, though on a different chain. Weakest on archive debug and trace access (3/10): There is no EVM archive or trace concept here at all. Historical and indexed access runs through the DAS API at 10 credits per call (10x a standard RPC call) and Enhanced Transactions at 100 credits (100x). LaserStream gRPC — the actual production streaming path — is Devnet-only on the $49 Developer plan and requires… Published price: Free $0/month, 1M credits, 10 Requests/sec, 2/sec DAS, 1 sendTransaction/sec, 5/sec getProgramAccounts. Developer $49/month, 10M credits, 50 req/s. Business $499/month, 100M credits, 200 req/s. Professional $999/month, 200M credits, 500 req/s.

Best for: Real cost per 1M identical calls — 8/10

Real cost per 1M identical calls · 35%

8/10

Archive debug and trace access · 20%

3/10

Published throughput and self-serve ceiling · 20%

5/10

Documented incident record and chain coverage · 25%

4/10

Frequently asked

Questions people ask before choosing rpc nodes

Why can't I just compare monthly plan prices?

Because the unit behind the price differs per vendor. Compute units, credits and request units are all sized differently per method, so the only comparable number is the cost of one identical workload priced through each vendor's own table — which is what is scored here.

Is a free tier worth anything in production?

Only if its rate limit is. A generous monthly request allowance behind a low per-second ceiling breaks under real traffic, so throughput is scored separately from volume.

How much does an outage really matter?

It depends entirely on blast radius, which is why incidents are weighted that way rather than counted. An event that stops a chain-wide wallet from loading is not the same as a degraded regional endpoint.

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How this ranking is built

Reviewed on real cost per 1m identical calls, archive debug and trace access, published throughput and self-serve ceiling, and documented incident record and chain coverage.

Data checked Sep 2026 · Independent rankings · We show our work

Not financial advice · For informational purposes only · Always do your own research