Block explorers evaluated across what works without paying, data completeness and indexing lag, contract verification support, and independence from the chain.
RO
#1 of 9 · published ranking
Routescan
84ChainChoice Score
4199
Why it leads
Best in the pool on data quality (8/10; next 5/10)
Cost
Not priced· No comparable price is published
No provider can pay for a position in this table. The code that computes this order cannot read which links earn us a commission, and every build proves it. Every score below rebuilds from the published criteria.Ranking 2026.08 · 4 criteria · 9 products · same inputs, same order
Personal comparison
Block Explorers ranked comparison
No comparable price is published; ranking still uses verified product evidence.
RankProviderBest fitScore
1
RORoutescanThe operator of snowtrace.io, with a ke...Top ranked
The operator of snowtrace.io, with a keyless API and a public uptime recordTrade-off: status.routescan.io measures availability, not index currency or completeness; it log...
Commission: This provider pays ChainChoice nothing for this link. Disclosure
Crypto products are high risk. Check the provider is authorised where you live before you deposit.
2
EtherscanEtherscanThe EVM incumbent — one V2 key across 6...
The EVM incumbent — one V2 key across 60+ chain IDs, on a free tier that now…Trade-off: The free tier is marketed as 90% coverage but excludes BNB Chain, Base, OP Mainnet an...
The self-hostable multichain challenger — except it stopped being open source…Trade-off: The headline differentiator versus Etherscan — 'open source, no lock-in' — stopped be...
Commission: This provider pays ChainChoice nothing for this link. Disclosure
Crypto products are high risk. Check the provider is authorised where you live before you deposit.
4
mempool.spacemempool.spaceBitcoin's default explorer — AGPL and g...
Bitcoin's default explorer — AGPL and genuinely self-hostable, now…Trade-off: Bitcoin, Lightning and Liquid only — no EVM, no smart contracts, no contract verifica...
Commission: This provider pays ChainChoice nothing for this link. Disclosure
Crypto products are high risk. Check the provider is authorised where you live before you deposit.
5
TETenderlyDebugger-grade EVM inspection — the pri...
Debugger-grade EVM inspection — the price list has been withdrawn and the…Trade-off: Paywalled automation plus fully withdrawn price transparency plus 89+ logged outages...
Commission: This provider pays ChainChoice nothing for this link. Disclosure
Crypto products are high risk. Check the provider is authorised where you live before you deposit.
6
SOSolscanSolana's default explorer — owned by Et...
Solana's default explorer — owned by Etherscan, a free API key limited to core endpoi...Trade-off: A free API key with a lower rate limit and core endpoints only, no refunds, a six-mon...
Ranked on 4 published criteria weighted 30/26/24/20, which set goal alignment — 30 of the 86 points. The rest: regional access 20, evidence depth 18, ease of use 10, institutional trust 8. Profile match is shown in breakdowns but carries no weight.
Audit
Infrastructure
Methodology
2026.09.15
published 2026-09-16
Providers tracked
980+
across 119 categories
Last verified
2026-09-14
newest dated pricing or sentiment read
Named on the roster
2 people
managing directors · 6 automated processes
Decision guide
What matters most before choosing in this category
Weighted on what works without paying (30), data completeness & indexing lag (26), contract verification support (24), and independence from the chain (20). The heaviest is what works without paying: Which core features survive the free tier and its rate limits once you genuinely depend on them.
What matters most before choosing in this category
Weighted on what works without paying (30), data completeness & indexing lag (26), contract verification support (24), and independence from the chain (20). The heaviest is what works without paying: Which core features survive the free tier and its rate limits once you genuinely depend on them.
Which chains do you query daily, and are they first-class on this explorer?
Will you depend on the free tier in production, and have you read its rate limits?
Do you need contract verification for your specific toolchain?
Current editor lead
Expert review and scoring weights
RO
RoutescanData checked Sep 2026
The operator of snowtrace.io, with a keyless API and a public uptime record at status.routescan.io.
MATERIAL CORRECTION to the prior draft, which asserted 'no public status page, no incident archive and no published SLA were found'. That is wrong. status.routescan.io is live and linked from the site footer, and on 2026-08-03 published component-level 90-day uptime: API 100%, Routescan (routescan.io) 99.998%, Explorer-as-a-Service 99.994%, EaaS Testnet 99.994%, Routescan Testnet 99.992% — with a retrievable incident log showing eight discrete events between 2026-06-22 and 2026-07-04, each lasting 1 to 5 minutes (EaaS 2 min on 06-22 and 4 min on 07-01; EaaS Testnet 5 min on 06-22 and 1 min on 06-25; routescan.io… The status page measures availability, not index currency or completeness, and it also logs a 2h30m maintenance window across all services in mid-August 2026. Per Avalanche builder documentation, the Etherscan-powered Snowtrace was discontinued on 30 November 2023 and snowtrace.io is now operated by Routescan; no page read on 2026-09-14 states whether Ava Labs commissions or pays Routescan.
Best forThe operator of snowtrace.io, with a keyless API and a public uptime record
Main tradeoffstatus.routescan.io measures availability, not index currency or completeness; it logs a 2h30m maintenance window across all services in mid-August 2026.
Verify before signupA keyless API call (no key, no account) returned data on 2026-09-14. The published rate limits for keyless and free-key access could not be read: routescan.io returned an access block (CloudFront 403) to the reading client.
Methodology
How this category is reviewed
Reviewed on what survives the free tier, data completeness and indexing lag, contract verification support, and independence from the chain's own foundation.
The order on this page is the published ranking for this category. Every criterion, weight and source behind it is on the methodology page.
Frequently asked
Questions people ask before choosing explorers
Are free explorer tiers actually usable?
That is precisely what is scored. Several free tiers have been narrowed since launch, and a lookup that works today may sit behind a paywall or a rate limit when a project starts depending on it.
Why does operator independence matter?
Because an explorer run by the chain's own foundation is presenting data about its sponsor. It is not disqualifying, but it is a fact worth weighting rather than ignoring.
Is a higher chain count better?
Not on its own. Breadth is worthless if the chain you need is the rate-limited one, so coverage is assessed against the chains a buyer actually uses.
Not financial advice · For informational purposes only · Always do your own research
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