If you’ve ever used a web wallet or dabbled in DeFi, odds are you’ll have an inkling of what an RPC provider does. The term describes companies that provide the infrastructure required to connect to web3 protocols such as blockchain nodes that serve data concerning the network’s current state.
Despite the term being ubiquitous in DeFi, few people even know what RPC means, however, let alone how its infrastructure works. RPC stands for Remote Procedure Call and it describes a type of server that enables users to read onchain data and send transactions to various networks.
RPC providers are the backbone of web3, performing all the heavy lifting that results in a seamless user experience. Without them, you’d have to spin up your own node every time you wanted to connect to a web3 protocol. The complexity, time, and cost this entails render it impractical for desktop users – and virtually impossible for mobile ones.
For this reason, we rely on RPC providers to supply web3 connectivity on demand. When you connect to a smart contract network, odds are your data requests are being served by one of the following big five.
Alchemy
Alchemy is a web3 development platform that helps projects scale their decentralized applications. It connects developers and their users to seven blockchains including Ethereum, Solana, and Starknet. Supernode is the name of its web3 API that allows dApps to serve millions of requests and to connect to on- and off-chain data sources.
Alchemy promises 99.9% uptime and unlimited requests for blockchain archive data, including forking the entire chain from genesis. Its clients include Zerion and Collab.Land. Alchemy is one of the largest RPC providers in the industry and offers three packages including a free tier that can support up to five dApps.
Chainnodes
Chainnodes is an RPC provider with the lowest latency and highest reliability in the industry. On top of Ethereum Mainnet, Optimism, Arbitrum and Polygon, Growth plan customers can request dedicated nodes and custom network support. The free tier is generous and payments for higher tiers can be made with Crypto or Stripe.
Archival data is free, the pricing is unrivaled and all supported EVM networks have HTTPS and Websocket support.
All typical events plus mempool streaming are enabled through the Websocket connections.Chainnodes was one of the few RPC providers to stay up all the time during launch events like the Arbitrum Airdrop and big NFT mints.
Ankr
Ankr is one of the best known RPC providers within the DeFi industry. It boasts of having more than 39,000 developers who rely on Ankr for their blockchain infrastructure and data needs. A whopping 27 networks are supported by Ankr, including 18+ that are RPC connected, giving devs access to a vast swathe of the decentralized finance ecosystem. Over 8 billion API requests are served by Ankr every day.
Ankr clients include DeFi projects and web3 game developers, who require fast and reliable RPC infrastructure to minimize latency and optimize user experience. Ankr’s service is also ideal for multi-chain projects, for whom it is infeasible to self-host numerous full nodes. The RPC specialist offers a pay-as-you-go service enabling dApps to keep costs to a minimum while retaining the capacity to scale quickly. With its focus on high speed, low latency, and a highly decentralized and censorship-resistant infrastructure, it’s easy to see why Ankr has become DeFi’s RPC darling.
Infura
The world’s best known RPC provider is also its largest. Infura, owned by Ethereum titan Consensys, is the infrastructure provider for much of the ETH ecosystem, aided by its deep integration with MetaMask, the leading web wallet – and also owned by Consensys.
Infura is not without its critics on account of its higher degree of centralization than most of its peers and its tendency to enforce US-driven censorship. There are also questions around its data collection and retention policy (though the same charges can also be leveled against many other RPC providers it should be noted).
Infura’s reach and range of dev-friendly products make it the natural choice for many DeFi products, especially those whose teams are located in the US.
Blockdaemon
No top five RPC list would be complete without Blockdaemon. It provides infrastructure to more than 60 blockchain networks and is the node provider of choice for the CeFi and TradFi industries. The range of API options Blockdaemon provides is dizzying, including staking and NFT API services. Designed for serious players, Blockdaemon claims to “guarantee uptime and around-the-clock coverage for the most demanding blockchain related use cases.”
GetBlock
GetBlock is a top-tier blockchain RPC provider that offers API endpoints to 50+ blockchains, both L1s and L2s. Launched by a heavy-hitting team of blockchain enthusiasts in 2019, GetBlock fuels dApps with the access to shared and dedicated nodes of all mainstream smart contracts platforms including Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Tron, and so on.
GetBlock enabled authorization with crypto wallet: its clients don’t need to pass KYC checks and share credit card details. REST API, WebSockets, and JSON RPC interfaces are available with GetBlock; gRPC interface will be added soon. As of Q4, 2022, GetBlock was among the most cost-efficient providers in terms of a request price. Also, GetBlock released user-friendly explorers for Near Protocol, Harmony, and Flow blockchains.
