It wasn’t too long ago that every blockchain developer built directly on top of RPC nodes. Unfortunately, many still take this path. As a result, they have to deal with the limitations of RPC nodes. However, excellent Web3 development platforms and their tools are available to make the development process a lot easier. One alternative you might be familiar with is the Alchemy API. Although Alchemy is a good node provider and its API might get you going, you might want to consider using Alchemy API alternatives that offer more functionalities. Fortunately, there are many different Alchemy API options available. As such, in this article, you’ll explore some Alchemy API alternatives and Web3 development platforms.
A great solution and excellent alternative to the Alchemy API is a complete Web3 SDK. As such, we’ve analyzed other reputable options that deserve to be on your radar. Moreover, aside from Alchemy’s API, we’ll look at alternatives such as the Infura API, QuickNode API, and Moralis API. While each of these alternatives has its own strengths and weaknesses, one clearly stands out. Thus, we’ll devote some extra attention to the best among Alchemy API alternatives – Moralis. As such, you’ll get a chance to learn what makes Moralis the ultimate Web3 development platform. In addition, this “Firebase for crypto” option is here to take care of all your blockchain-related backend needs. That way, you get to devote your maximum effort, attention, and resources to creating the best Web3 UI. Also, with Moralis, you get to save 87% on development time.
Web3 Development Platforms
Having a clear understanding of the current Web3 tech stack is crucial. It enables you to avoid wasting time on outdated development tools and methods. Using blockchain node providers and API providers is now basically a “must-do” if you want to be competitive. However, there is an even more advanced tool available – Web3 development platforms. With a proper backend Web3 platform, you can develop your dApps both quickly and easily. Hence, the Alchemy API and some of its alternatives may not necessarily be the right path for you. So, let us list some of the most popular Alchemy API alternatives:
- Moralis
- Covalent
- The Graph
- QuickNode
- Alchemy
- Bitquery
- Biconomy
- Infura
Furthermore, before we take a closer look at some of the above Alchemy API alternatives, let’s do a quick overview of the Web3 tech stack:
Looking at the image above at its bottom, you can see that we have various programmable blockchains (networks). While Ethereum may still be the most popular choice, there are other options with even lower fees. Moreover, you need a way to communicate and interact with the blockchain. This is where nodes come to play.
Setting up and running your own node is, however, not the way to go for many developers. Thus, node providers offer a far more practical solution. Nevertheless, communicating directly with nodes is still rather primitive and limiting. Instead, Web3 development platforms offer a more comprehensive and advanced solution for creating dApps. This is where Moralis comes into play. As the most popular and the most comprehensive Web3 development platform on the market, Moralis is one of the absolute best Alchemy API alternatives. The following graphic over total visits to some of the top Web3 platforms show just how popular Moralis is.
Alchemy API Alternatives
As mentioned above, Moralis’ Web3 API is one of the most popular alternatives to the Alchemy API. Moreover, Moralis’ NFT API gives users even more flexibility than Alchemy’s NFT API (we’ll do a quick comparison of the two options below). However, as listed previously, there are other Alchemy API alternatives that you deserve to know about. As such, we will go through the list and take a closer look at some of the mention-worthy API providers. However, if we talk about Alchemy API alternatives, we ought to ensure you know what Alchemy is.
What is Alchemy?
Alchemy is a well-known blockchain node provider and API provider. Alchemy’s full suite of products was launched to the public in 2020. According to the Alchemy team’s official motto, its blockchain development platform is on a mission to provide developers with the fundamental building blocks. Moreover, they seek to empower crypto devs to create the future of technology. They are offering access to highly scalable, consistent, and reliable nodes. Plus, their suite of developer tools for prototyping, debugging, and testing can be helpful. In addition, their platform also offers the “Monitor” product. The latter is all about offering comprehensive performance and user insight. As such, it can help improve application health and performance. Nonetheless, Alchemy also packs the “Notify” feature. As such, developers can instantly add notifications to their products.
Furthermore, Alchemy supports the Ethereum chain. That includes its mainnet and Ethereum testnets (Rinkeby, Ropsten, Kovan, and Görli). In addition, it also supports Optimism Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum Rollup, Flow, and Crypto.org networks.
Here are some key points that Alchemy stresses to attract Ethereum developers:
- High reliability – 99.9%.
- Easy testing on instant testnet.
- Enhanced APIs for simplified programming.
- Up to 25% faster product development.
- Satisfied customers (98% customer satisfaction score [CSAT]).
Alchemy API
For a detailed overview of the Alchemy API, you need to visit their documentation. However, here are the categories they cover:
- Enhanced APIs:
- NFT API (a quick comparison with Moralis below)
- Transfer API
- Parity API
- Notify API
- Debug API
- Trace API
- Unstoppable Domains APIs
- Chain APIs:
- Ethereum API
- Arbitrum API
- Polygon API
- Optimism API
The #1 Alchemy API Alternative – Moralis
Moralis is the ultimate Web3 development platform. As such, it is also the number one Alchemy API alternative. With Moralis, you only need JavaScript proficiency and the ability to use MetaMask to get going. Actually, you can start building in minutes. Just simply create your free Moralis account and get started today!
It’s important to note that Moralis’ SDK is quite extensive and offers a complete backend solution. This includes Moralis servers, Moralis dashboard (database), Moralis Speedy Nodes, the “Sync” feature, Web3 wallet integrations, Web3 authentication solutions, IPFS integration, real-time alerts, and the most extensive Web3 API, including the ultimate Ethereum API. With all these tools on your side, you get to cover Web3 login with ease. That includes Web3 social login and Web3 authentication via email, which helps you boost Web3 user onboarding. Moreover, you also get to sync and index smart contract events and index the blockchain easily. Also, you get to handle your users, store data in a decentralized manner, deploy dApps across multiple chains, and much more. With that said, let’s now do an overview of Moralis’ API.
The Moralis API
Moralis’ Web3 API can acquire all sorts of blockchain data. For special convenience, the Moralis Web3 API is divided into four main categories according to the main parameter for obtaining information:
- Native
- runContractFunction
- getBlock
- getDateToBlock
- getLogsByAddress
- getContractEvents
- getNFTTransfersByBlock
- getTransaction
- Account
- getTransactions
- getNativeBalance
- getTokenBalances
- getTokenTransfers
- getNFTs
- getNFTTransfers
- getNFTsForContract
- Token
- getTokenMetadata
- getTokenMetadataBySymbol
- getTokenAllowance
- getTokenPrice
- getAllTokenIds
- getNFTMetadata
- getNFTOwners
- searchNFTs
- getContractNFTTransfers
- getTokenIdMetadata
- getTokenIdOwners
- getWalletTokenIdTransfers
- getNFTTrades
- getNFTLowestPrice
- reSyncMetadata
- Resolve
- resolveDomain
- resolveAddress
Also, there are additional sections to cover a full spectrum of Web3 development with ease. These include:
- DeFi
- getPairAddress
- getPairReserves
- IPFS Storage
- uploadFolder
- Rest API
- NFT API
- Rate limit
Moralis’ experts are constantly updating the Moralis API, which means new API endpoints get added on a regular basis. Moreover, you should keep in mind that you can use some other reputable APIs with Moralis. For instance, by installing the Covalent Moralis plugin, you can use the Covalent API. Furthermore, by covering the overviews of the Alchemy API and Moralis’ API, you are ready to take a closer look at these two’s NFT API alternatives.
NFT API – Alchemy vs Moralis
The image below paints a clear picture:
As you can see, Moralis’ NFT API is incomparably more extensive. It supports more blockchains and offers several more endpoints. Hence, using the Alchemy API for your NFT development makes sense only if you are not interested in a more extensive pallet of options. Moreover, if you want to dive deeper into the comparison of the two NFT APIs, we recommend watching the video below. In it, you’ll have a chance to look over the shoulders of one of Moralis’ expert developers as he covers the above endpoints in more detail.
Other Alchemy API Alternatives
In case you want to explore other reliable Web3 API platforms, we recommend sticking to the list provided previously. However, since Moralis’ SDK also includes the Covalent API and serves as an impressive The Graph alternative, there are only Infura, QuickNode, Bitquery, and Biconomy left. Now, while we will do a brief overview of the first two herein, we leave it up to you to explore Bitquery and Biconomy.
The Infura API
Just like Alchemy, Infura is also a well-known node provider. Moreover, Infura is a ConsenSys company. As such, it is by default focused on supporting developers on Ethereum. Thus, this Alchemy alternative primarily bridges the challenge of connecting to Ethereum. Of course, since the latter is notoriously tricky and usually slow to sync, this is no small task.
In addition to making it easier to connect to the Ethereum blockchain, Infura provides higher speeds and better scalability. Also, Infura offers a storage solution. However, its IPFS API is currently still in beta. In our opinion, Infura really deserves to rank high as a node provider, but as an API provider, they can’t match the previous two options. For more details on Infura API, check their documentation.
The QuickNode API
Just like Infura and Alchemy, QuickNode’s primary focus is node providing. In that aspect, they are without a doubt one of the best choices. Furthermore, it supports more blockchains than Infura, including Solana, BSC (now BNB Chain), Bitcoin, Optimism, Gnosis, Celo, Polygon, Fantom, Terra, etc.
Though, it is important to mention that QuickNode currently does not offer free package options. Moreover, as far as the QuickNode API goes, it is mainly limited to Ethereum. For the latter, it is quite reputable, and it offers numerous endpoints. However, if you start considering other chains and cross-chain interoperability, Moralis is the only obvious choice. For more details about their endpoints, check out the documentation.
Alchemy API Alternatives – Web3 Development Platforms – Summary
At this point, you know quite a lot about Web3 development tools. With an understanding of what the current Web3 tech stack has to offer, you are able to see that node providers and API providers play an important role. Moreover, you’ve also learned that for most crypto projects, it makes the most sense to use a more holistic approach. The latter can only be offered by advanced platforms. Furthermore, perhaps the future will bring other alternatives that will be able to offer a full Web3 SDK. However, for now, Moralis remains the only one among Web3 API platforms that offer an all-in-one solution. As such, it is the best backend platform for Web3 development.
Once inside your admin area, you will get to create a Moralis server. Doing so will give you full access to various server features. In addition, this Alchemy API alternative will impress you with its cross-chain interoperability and speed introduced with Moralis Nitro. Moreover, in case you want to continue your free crypto education or want some inspiration, make sure to check out the Moralis blog and the Moralis YouTube channel. There’s a ton of valuable content there, including countless example projects, which you can easily follow along with. Some of our latest topics focus on cloning Coinbase wallet, how to create a Solana token, how to launch an NFT minting page, how to create a Metaverse dApp with Unity, Binance wallet setup, governance tokens, and much more.
Nonetheless, if you are serious about becoming a blockchain developer sooner rather than later, you may want to consider a more professional approach. In that case, you should enroll in Moralis Academy, which is probably the best choice you can make.
