Blockchain API Providers – Comparing Top Blockchain API Services

Today’s article will compare the industry’s top three blockchain API providers: Moralis, QuickNode, and Alchemy. For a brief overview, here’s a table summarizing the similarities and differences between each blockchain API service: 

Based on the data in the table above, Moralis stands out as the industry-leading blockchain API service. The Moralis Blockchain API boasts the most extensive range of services/resources, supports all major networks, and has a free plan. As such, Moralis provides everything the competition offers and much more, making it the obvious choice for anyone looking to build Web3 projects!

So, if you want to build faster, smarter, and more efficiently, consider signing up with Moralis. You can set up an account for free and immediately harness the full potential of blockchain technology to propel your projects to the next level!

Overview 

In today’s article, we’ll kick things off by diving straight into our list of the best blockchain API providers. In doing so, we’ll cover the following three alternatives: 

1. Moralis
2. QuickNode
3. Alchemy

From there, we’ll also compare each blockchain API provider and their respective services to highlight similarities and differences between them. Lastly, we’ll dive deeper into the Moralis Blockchain API, which stands out as the industry-leading interface for blockchain data. 

However, we have also dedicated a few sections towards the end of the article to explore the intricacies of blockchain APIs. In doing so, we explain what they are, cover what to think of when choosing the right provider, and explore some prominent use cases. As such, if you’re not familiar with blockchain APIs, consider starting in the ”What is a Blockchain API?” section.

Also, if you’re serious about building blockchain projects, we highly recommend you check out some additional Moralis Web3 data tools. For instance, if you’re into NFT development, you should definitely explore the NFT API. With this tool, you can effortlessly get all NFT tokens owned by a user address, fetch ERC-721 on-chain metadata, and much more with only single lines of code!

Nevertheless, without further ado, let’s dive straight into our list of the best blockchain API providers! 

Best Blockchain API Providers List 

There are multiple blockchain API providers for you to choose from, and the number of available services makes it hard to find the best one. As such, to make your choice easier, we’ve put together a list of the industry’s three most prominent alternatives: Moralis, QuickNode, and Alchemy!

In the sections to come, we’ll introduce you to each of the aforementioned API providers and cover their respective services for fetching blockchain data. After introducing each blockchain API provider, we’ll briefly compare them to highlight their strengths and weaknesses. 

So, to start, let’s look closer at our top pick for the industry’s best blockchain API provider: Moralis! 

Moralis 

At the top of our list, you’ll find the #1 blockchain API provider, Moralis. The Moralis Blockchain API is the industry’s most scalable, precise, and organized interface for raw and decoded blockchain data. When working with the Blockchain API, building decentralized applications (dapps) and other Web3 projects has never been easier! 

So, what does the Moralis Blockchain API do?

Here are some of this tool’s most prominent features: 

• Query Block Data: Query detailed information on specific blocks across ten+ EVM-compatible chains.
• Get Transactions: Access any wallet’s historical and real-time transactions, arranged chronologically by block number. 
• Fetch Internal Transactions: Fetch internal transaction data by block, wallet, or crypto address.
• Raw and Decoded Data: Access data in its rawest form directly from a blockchain network. Or, opt for decoded data based on contract ABIs. 
• Labels: Interpret transactions with enriched data labeling, including senders and receiver address labels. 
• Get Block Metrics: Get block metric summaries, including total transactions, mints, transfers, etc.
• Fetch Logs: Fetch events and logs for any contract across multiple blockchain networks with ease. 
• And much more!  

The Moralis Blockchain API is cross-chain compatible. This means you can seamlessly get blockchain data across multiple blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Smart Chain (BSC), Arbitrum, Avalanche, and many others!

QuickNode 

QuickNode is another prominent node and blockchain API provider. Their blockchain API is called the Core API, and it offers high reliability and scalability across multiple networks. The Core API gives you a variety of endpoints that can help you fetch and integrate blockchain data into your Web3 projects in a heartbeat. 

So, what does QuickNode’s Core API do? 

• Fetch Block Data: With the Core API, you can fetch block data, including gas used, miner addresses, the hash, etc. 
• Get Logs: Get logs by address for any smart contract across several blockchain networks. 
• Archive Data: Access all historical states of smart contract values along with balances of any Web3 wallet or account. 

Like the Moralis Blockchain API, QuickNode’s Core API also supports most major blockchain networks. Some prominent examples include Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Smart Chain, Arbitrum, Avalanche, and others! 

Alchemy 

The third blockchain API provider in our list is Alchemy. However, Alchemy does, unfortunately, not offer a dedicated blockchain API. Instead, the functionality is spread across several interfaces specialized for certain chains, including the Ethereum API, Polygon API, etc. Nevertheless, with these tools, you can both get and integrate blockchain data into your Web3 projects. 

So, what do Alchemy’s blockchain APIs do? 

• Query Block Data: With Alchemy’s API, you can query block data, including block numbers, block receipts, etc. 
• Get Transactions: Get transactions by hash, block number, address, and so on.
• Fetch Uncle Blocks: Fetch uncle blocks by hash and block number across multiple blockchain networks.

Alchemy blockchain APIs also support multiple blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, and others! 

Review and Comparison of Blockchain API Providers 

With a brief overview of the industry’s leading blockchain API providers, let’s take this section to compare them. In the table below, we have summarized some key similarities and differences between Moralis, QuickNode, and Alchemy: 

• Features: In terms of unique features, the Moralis Blockchain API clearly stands out as the industry’s premier option. While all three blockchain API providers enable the basic functionality to fetch data, Moralis also provides both raw and decoded data, adds address labels, allows you to fetch internal transactions, and more! 
• Supported Chains: Both Moralis and QuickNode support all major networks. Consequently, in terms of coverage, these are both valid options. Alchemy is also compatible with many chains; however, it’s missing support for some prominent networks, such as BNB Smart Chain. 
• Pricing: The industry’s top blockchain API providers have different pricing structures and tiers. However, one thing they all have in common is a free starter plan.

Overall, the blockchain API providers featured above are all prominent choices for someone looking to build Web3 projects. However, our comparison shows that Moralis stands out as the premier blockchain API service, as it provides the most features/resources, supports all major blockchains, and offers a free plan! 

As Moralis stands out as the best service among the top blockchain API providers, we’ll explore Moralis further in the following section! 

Exploring the Best Blockchain API Provider 

The Moralis Blockchain API is the ultimate service for blockchain data. With this industry-leading interface, you can effortlessly get blocks, transactions, internal transactions, logs, block metrics, and much more with only single lines of code! 

To highlight the capabilities and resources of the Blockchain API, we’ll now briefly cover three examples of prominent endpoints: 

• getBlock(): With the getBlock() endpoint, you can seamlessly get the contents of any block based on its hash or block number. All you have to do is specify the chain and blockNumberOrHash parameters to fit your request: 

const response = await Moralis.EvmApi.block.getBlock({
  "chain": "0x1",
  "blockNumberOrHash": "15863321"
});

The response from calling the endpoint above contains a bunch of information, including a timestamp, the miner address, gas used, and much more. Here’s an example of what it might look like: 

{
  "timestamp": "2021-05-07T11:08:35.000Z",
  "number": 12386788,
  "hash": "0x9b559aef7ea858608c2e554246fe4a24287e7aeeb976848df2b9a2531f4b9171",
  "parent_hash": "0x011d1fc45839de975cc55d758943f9f1d204f80a90eb631f3bf064b80d53e045",
  "nonce": "0xedeb2d8fd2b2bdec",
  "sha3_uncles": "0x1dcc4de8dec75d7aab85b567b6ccd41ad312451b948a7413f0a142fd40d49347",
  "logs_bloom": "0xdde5fc46c5d8bcbd58207bc9f267bf43298e23791a326ff02661e99790da9996b3e0dd912c//…,
  "transactions_root": "0xe4c7bf3aff7ad07f9e80d57f7189f0252592fee6321c2a9bd9b09b6ce0690d27",
  "state_root": "0x49e3bfe7b618e27fde8fa08884803a8458b502c6534af69873a3cc926a7c724b",
  "receipts_root": "0x7cf43d7e837284f036cf92c56973f5e27bdd253ca46168fa195a6b07fa719f23",
  "miner": "0xea674fdde714fd979de3edf0f56aa9716b898ec8",
  "difficulty": "7253857437305950",
  "total_difficulty": "24325637817906576196890",
  "size": "61271",
  "extra_data": "0x65746865726d696e652d6575726f70652d7765737433",
  "gas_limit": "14977947",
  "gas_used": "14964688",
  "transaction_count": "252",
   //...
}

• getTransactions(): The getTransactions() endpoint allows you to effortlessly get the contents of any transaction by its hash. You simply need to add chain and transactionHash parameters: 

const response = await Moralis.EvmApi.transaction.getTransaction({
  "chain": "0x1",
  "transactionHash": "0xdc85cb1b75fd09c2f6d001fea4aba83764193cbd7881a1fa8ccde350a5681109"
});

The response from calling the getTransactions() endpoint contains information about the “to” and “from” addresses (including labels), the value of the transaction, logs, and much more. This is an example of what the response might look like: 

{
  "hash": "0x1ed85b3757a6d31d01a4d6677fc52fd3911d649a0af21fe5ca3f886b153773ed",
  "nonce": "1848059",
  "transaction_index": "108",
  "from_address": "0x267be1c1d684f78cb4f6a176c4911b741e4ffdc0",
  "to_address": "0x003dde3494f30d861d063232c6a8c04394b686ff",
  "from_address_label": "Binance 1",
  "to_address_label": "Binance 2",
  "value": "115580000000000000",
  "gas": "30000",
  "gas_price": "52500000000",
  //...
}

• getContractLogs(): With the getContractLogs() endpoint, you can seamlessly get logs for any contract and event. All you need to do is configure the chain, address, and topic0 parameters to fit your query:

const response = await Moralis.EvmApi.events.getContractLogs({
  "chain": "0x1",
  "address": "0xb47e3cd837dDF8e4c57F05d70Ab865de6e193BBB",
  "topic0": "0xddf252ad1be2c89b69c2b068fc378daa952ba7f163c4a11628f55a4df523b3ef"
});

In return for calling the endpoint above, you’ll get all the contract logs based on the specified parameters. Note that you can change and add more topic parameters to configure your request even further. Nevertheless, here’s an example of what the response might look like: 

{
  "page_size": 100,
  "page": 1,
  "cursor": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJjaGFpbiI6ImV0aCIsImNoYWluX25hbWUiOiJtYWlubmV0Iiwic3ViZG9tYWluIjpudWxsL//...",
  "result": [
    {
      "transaction_hash": "0xd844f047fa36b3f5e82a57ff8178a2aaf1c449fe1e8e08e1234a82f5faab9b48",
      "address": "0xb47e3cd837ddf8e4c57f05d70ab865de6e193bbb",
      "block_timestamp": "2023-10-30T04:00:59.000Z",
      "block_number": "18460459",
      "block_hash": "0x56dcb9f4e1cb92933847d53dc0420eac5de664228eb726bd5d76c575a80af84f",
      "data": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001",
      "topic0": "0xddf252ad1be2c89b69c2b068fc378daa952ba7f163c4a11628f55a4df523b3ef",
      "topic1": "0x0000000000000000000000004793e0f93d853c988f63de4685f53a45810e17f5",
      "topic2": "0x00000000000000000000000096596d922cdc82df9b1b021ee02ec572bb494997",
      "topic3": null,
      "transaction_index": 143,
      "log_index": 430
    },
    //...
  ]

Learn more about this in our getLogs article. 

If you’d like to learn more about the Moralis Blockchain API and this tool’s various endpoints and resources, check out the official Blockchain API documentation! 

What is a Blockchain API? 

To answer the question, ”What is a blockchain API?”, let’s start by briefly breaking down what APIs entail in a Web3 context! 

A Web3 API (application programming interface) is a set of rules, protocols, and methods that allow you to seamlessly integrate Web3 functionality into your projects and interact with various networks. As such, an API essentially provides a structured way to access data and perform specific actions related to blockchain networks like Ethereum, Polygon, and BNB Smart Chain. 

So, what exactly is a blockchain API? 

A blockchain API is an interface specifically used for fetching blockchain-related data. This includes information on particular blocks, transactions, logs, events, etc. Moreover, the best blockchain APIs also typically perform other services, such as decoding the data, adding address labels, and so on.

But why do you need a blockchain API? 

Blockchain APIs make the process of querying data from blockchain networks more accessible. With these tools, you can typically leverage premade methods and protocols, meaning you don’t have to reinvent the wheel in your development endeavors. Consequently, using blockchain APIs saves you a lot of development time and resources, making them a valuable asset in your Web3 toolkit! 

What to Think of When Considering Blockchain API Services 

There are multiple things to consider when choosing a blockchain API service, and in this section, we’ll cover five essential factors: 

• Features and Services: Consider opting for a provider with a versatile blockchain API offering additional features, services, and resources beyond the basic functionality to fetch data. This will allow you to seamlessly integrate unique features into your Web3 projects, making them stand out compared to the competition. However, the most important thing is to find a blockchain API provider that caters to your specific needs. 
• Supported Chains: Find a provider offering blockchain API services stretching across multiple blockchain networks. Building projects on multiple platforms simultaneously can be a considerable advantage, allowing you to reach a much broader customer base. 
• Scalability: Plan for the future. Ensure that the blockchain API services you pick can scale in accordance with your projects. 
• Speed: Find a blockchain API provider that can handle your requests at a fast pace. Processing requests is essential, as it provides a more compelling user experience (UX) for your end users.
• Price: The price of blockchain API services can vary drastically between providers. Consequently, study the price structure of the providers you are looking at so you don’t get any unexpected surprises down the line. 

Now, with an overview of what to think of when considering blockchain API service, let’s look at some prominent use cases for when these tools come in handy! 

Blockchain API Use Cases 

No matter what Web3 project you’re building, you’ll likely want to leverage blockchain APIs to make your life as a developer easier. However, to give you a few scenarios when these software interfaces come in handy, we’ll look into five prominent use cases: 

• Web3 Wallets: Web3 wallets give users an overview of their entire transaction history and all assets. As such, when building a wallet, you need information such as on-chain transactions. This is precisely where blockchain APIs enter the equation.
• Asynchronous Triggers: If you’re building Web3 projects, you generally want your dapps to monitor relevant smart contract events. With a blockchain API, you can seamlessly get event logs for any contract, which you can use to set up asynchronous triggers.
• Debugging: You can use the data you get using a blockchain API for debugging smart contracts and dapps. For instance, if a smart contract isn’t working as it should, you can use these tools to get event logs, which can be used to identify the root of the problem.
• Analytics: Raw blockchain data can also be used for analytics. For instance, by studying smart contract data like transactions, you can analyze the volume of trades on a decentralized exchange (DEX) like PancakeSwap.

• Trading Platforms: Trading platforms need real-time transaction data to ensure accurate, up-to-date order book management and trade execution. And the easiest way to get this information is to leverage the resources of a blockchain API.

Summary: Best Blockchain API Providers

In today’s article, we compared the top three blockchain API providers and their respective services, features, and resources:

1. Moralis
2. QuickNode
3. Alchemy

Through our comparison, we learned that the Moralis Blockchain API stands out as the industry-leading service. The Moralis Blockchain API provides more resources and services compared to the competitors, supports all major chains, and offers a free plan, making it a no-brainer choice if you’re looking to build Web3 projects! 

If you liked this blockchain API providers tutorial, consider exploring more content here on our blog. For instance, explore top NFT API providers, learn about meta transactions, or check out our Goerli faucet guide! 

Also, don’t forget to sign up with Moralis. You can create an account for free, and you’ll gain immediate access to all our industry-leading Web3 development tools!