Web3 APIs are crucial when building on Web3, as these enable a smooth development experience. Did you know that Moralis supplies some of the industry’s most capable Web3 APIs? Furthermore, did you know that you can utilize these to connect any tech stack to blockchain networks? If you’d like to examine these further, follow along as we explore the top five blockchain APIs!
Prior to exploring the best Web3 APIs, we will initiate this guide by explaining the intricacies of APIs. Doing so will provide a brief overview of what APIs are and how they are helpful for developers. Following this, we will explore the top five Web3 APIs. Specifically, we will look closer at Moralis’ NFT, Authentication, Streams, Solana, and EVM APIs.
The APIs above significantly aid in several different Web3 development areas. As such, it is possible to integrate Moralis into any backend, making your tasks as a developer more straightforward. What’s more, Moralis bridges the gap between Web2 and Web3, allowing you to create powerful dapps (decentralized applications) with the accessibility of conventional Web2 development. Moreover, as Moralis is natively cross-chain compatible, the Web3 APIs feature support for several different networks. As a result, when working with Moralis, you will not limit yourself – or projects – to a particular network.
So, consider signing up with Moralis if you want to create a Web3 dapp, DeFi platforms, or other Web3 projects. As a Moralis member, you will receive immediate access to all APIs simplifying the integration of blockchain-related data into any project. What’s more, creating a Moralis account is free, so you have nothing to lose!
What are Web3 APIs?
Before exploring the top five blockchain APIs, we will dedicate this initial section to diving deeper into the intricacies of Web3 APIs. Accordingly, we will briefly answer the question, “what are Web3 APIs?”. However, if you are already familiar with Web3 APIs, we suggest skipping this part and jumping straight into the following section, where we explore the top five blockchain APIs.
API is an abbreviation for “application programming interface”. Furthermore, APIs are responsible for facilitating communication between software by translating instructions for correlative understanding. This further means that Web3 APIs are accountable for enabling reliable programming in secure and controlled development environments by – both reliably and consistently – supplying functions on request.
Moreover, it is possible to use an analogy to make the above explanation more comprehensible. In this case, we will use a restaurant as an example. The kitchen, in this metaphor, is the “system” or “software” that will handle your order. However, you generally do not directly communicate with the kitchen during restaurant visits. Instead, you use an intermediary such as a waitress or waiter. In our example, the waitress/waiter is the API as they facilitate the communication between you and the kitchen. The waitress/waiter delivers your order (request) and supplies you with a response from the kitchen (system), which is the food.
Whenever you browse the internet, you are in contact with APIs as your devices connect to the internet and send information to a database or server. Following this, the receiving end analyses the data, perform actions and sends back a response. Your device then interprets the information and presents it in a readable way. Similarly, Web3 APIs generally facilitate this complete process within the blockchain space. As such, Web3 APIs open up the power of Web3 development for developers worldwide!
Top 5 Blockchain APIs – Moralis’ Web3 APIs
With a more profound understanding of Web3 APIs, we will now discover the best alternatives. Moralis supplies the best blockchain APIs on the market, allowing you to easily develop dapps, DeFi platforms, and other exciting Web3 projects. If you are using Moralis, you can significantly boost your efficiency and beat the competition to market. In fact, Moralis is the fastest way to build a Web3 app!
Moralis offers a selection of outstanding APIs (e.g., Blockchain API) that can aid in all development processes. It does not matter if you are looking to build a Polygon dapp or build a Solana NFT explorer; you can still benefit from the tools that Moralis offers.
To better understand how Moralis makes Web3 development more accessible, we will explore the top five Web3 APIs in the following few sections. Moreover, these are the APIs we will dive deeper into:
- NFT API
- Authentication API
- Streams API
- Solana API
- EVM API
If these look interesting and you want to learn more about some of the most potent APIs within the industry, follow along as we explore the aforementioned Web3 APIs in further detail. So, without further ado, let’s delve deeper into the intricacies of Moralis’ NFT API to begin with!
NFT API
Moralis’ NFT API brings everything together that is needed to build sophisticated NFT-related dapps (decentralized applications). Furthermore, you can use Moralis’ NFT API to acquire NFT (non-fungible token) data with ease, and you can quickly acquire NFT metadata, transfer data, prices, ownership data, and much more!
Before Moralis’ NFT API, it was a relatively bothersome task to acquire NFT data. It generally required you to parse individual smart contracts, sort through irregular sets of data, query nodes for metadata, etc. However, you can now avoid these unnecessary tasks. Instead, all you require is a single call to retrieve NFT information across any blockchain that Moralis support!
Here are some of the main features of Moralis’ NFT API:
- Acquire NFT Metadata – With Moralis, you can avoid querying unreliable IPFS services or metadata servers and simply get metadata in just one API call. Moreover, the API is cross-chain compatible and features a search endpoint. This suggests you have the option to conduct searches within the data of particular NFTs.
- Get Ownership Data – Using the NFT API ensures you do not need any custom code to track tokens as they fly across a blockchain network. With Moralis, you can query the owner of an NFT or entire collection with just a single call.
- Fetch NFT Transfer Data – The NFT API further ensures that your projects stay updated with the most recent NFT transfer data. It does not matter if you want to query the transfer history of particular Web3 wallets, specific NFTs, or real-time transfers; Moralis takes care of the heavy lifting.
Authentication API
An essential part of Web3 development is to authenticate users. From a conventional perspective, this has been a bothersome task as it requires the setup of complex backend infrastructures. However, this is no longer an issue, thanks to Moralis’ Web3 Authentication API.
It does not matter if you create a new Web3 app, want to use authentication aggregators, or connect your existing Web2 user database with Web3 authentication mechanisms; Moralis has got you covered.
From a conventional standpoint, Web3 authentication generally requires you to understand Web3 authentication flows, redirect users to third-party interfaces, learn how wallets sign/verify messages, etc. However, you now have the option to use Moralis’ Authentication API instead. The interface provides a sophisticated SDK (software development kit), a unified API for all auth methods, and is compatible with authentication aggregators!
If you want to learn more about implementing different authentication mechanisms, we have some excellent guides here at Moralis. For example, learn how to add a sign in with RainbowKit or add Coinbase Wallet login functionality.
Streams API
Acquiring on-chain data is an essential part of most dapps and Web3 projects, and, with Moralis’ Web3 Streams API, you can stream blockchain data into the backend of your projects via webhooks!
Moreover, the Streams API features several blockchains and all testnets, including Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Chain, etc. What’s more, the team at Moralis is continuously adding support for additional networks.
The API allows you to receive webhooks from several networks and L2 solutions for a multitude of different scenarios. Here are three examples:
- When an address sends, stakes, receives, swaps, etc., an asset.
- Someone takes part in your token sale.
- A smart contract on-chain event triggers based on your own filters.
Furthermore, the Streams API eliminates unnecessary hassles such as connecting to buggy RPC nodes, building unnecessary abstractions, wasting time building complicated data pipelines, etc. Instead, you will find that the Streams API supplies a more compelling developer experience and contributes to the efficiency boost you achieve from working with Moralis.
Solana API
With the Solana API, you now have the option to create Solana-based projects with Moralis easily. The tool makes Solana programming significantly more accessible, enabling you to cut development time dramatically.
The API provides easy access to user and token data for you to utilize in your development endeavors. For example, the information you can easily query includes balances, token data such as prices, symbols, names, etc., and NFT-related data.
Moreover, the API supports both the Solana mainnet and devnet. As such, it is possible to use the Solana API during all parts of your development processes. Remember, the API is still in its infancy and is continuously expanding. So, if you are interested in developing projects for the Solana network, keep an eye out for new updates and features emerging.
EVM API
With Moralis’ EVM API, developing dapps for EVM networks has never been more accessible. The EVM API allows you to easily acquire information from EVM-compatible chains and send requests in an accessible way. As such, this is a tool aiding you significantly in, for example, Ethereum development, and you can save an abundance of time by becoming more efficient. Furthermore, the API additionally supports all testnets. Accordingly, you have the opportunity to use Moralis’ EVM API in all parts of your development journey.
In addition, the EVM API is a REST API, allowing you to call it in any programming language by default. Hence, it makes it easy for developers to send requests and acquire on-chain data through several platforms, apps, and dapps (decentralized applications)!
That is it for the top five Web3 APIs! To learn more about how to use these APIs, you can check out additional content here at Moralis’ Web3 blog. For instance, learn how to create an NFT gated website or pull data from Polygon blockchain.
You can also explore Moralis’ official documentation, where you can get an overview of each API. Also, additional tutorials demonstrate how to launch your first project, providing clear examples of how to use Moralis’ Web3 APIs in practice!
Top 5 Web3 APIs – Summary
Web3 APIs are responsible for facilitating communication between software by translating instructions for reciprocal understanding. By doing so, APIs are responsible for enabling programming in a secure development environment by consistently providing functions on queries. Further, Web3 APIs enable a more accessible blockchain development experience, allowing developers worldwide to save valuable resources and time. Moreover, in this article, we dove deep into the top five Web3 APIs. By doing so, we explored Moralis’ NFT, Authentication, Streams, Solana, and EVM APIs.
The aforementioned APIs provide a more compelling developer experience, which allows you to create Web3 projects more efficiently. What’s more, thanks to Moralis’ cross-chain capabilities, you have the option to use these APIs when developing projects for multiple different networks. Furthermore, if you want to learn more about Moralis’ capabilities, check out more content here at Moralis. For example, we recommend checking out our articles on the ultimate NodeJS SDK for Web3 or how to set up a self-hosted Parse Server.
Additionally, consider enrolling in Moralis Academy if you want to become more proficient in Web3 development. The academy features blockchain courses for both experienced and novice developers. For example, if you are new to the space, sign up for the “Blockchain & Bitcoin 101” course to learn the basics.
Nevertheless, if you want to use some of the most prominent Web3 APIs the market has to offer, sign up with Moralis immediately. Creating an account is free, and you receive access to the APIs mentioned in the article right away. As a member of Moralis, you will be able to save both resources and valuable development time. So, if you’re eager to get going with Moralis, make sure to check out its Blockchain API tutorial today!
