Arbitrum One is an Optimistic Rollup EVM Layer 2 on Ethereum, widely used for DeFi, gaming and consumer apps (chain ID 42161). Several RPC providers serve Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Sepolia (chain ID 421614), and they differ on billing units, archive data, WebSocket support and free-tier limits. This guide compares them using only what each provider publishes on its own pricing and docs pages.
Pricing and features were checked on October 26, 2026 against each provider's own pages. Every source is linked at the end. Where a provider doesn't publish a fact for Arbitrum, we write "not listed" instead of guessing.
What to look for in an Arbitrum RPC provider
Arbitrum docs publish a keyless public endpoint at https://arb1.arbitrum.io/rpc (Arbitrum Sepolia: https://sepolia-rollup.arbitrum.io/rpc). Those are a reasonable place to start testing. Official public RPCs do not provide WebSocket (the sequencer feed is a different product), so apps that need eth_subscribe usually need a provider. Once you have real traffic, compare providers on:
- Billing unit. Some charge per request, others in compute units or credits weighted by method. A $0.50-per-million credit can cost more than a $5-per-million request.
- Mainnet and testnet. If you test on Arbitrum Sepolia (chain ID 421614), check that the provider serves it.
- Archive data. Needed for historical state reads, backfills and reconciliation.
- WebSocket (WSS). Needed for
eth_subscribeon new heads and logs. - Rate limits and free tier. Requests per second matter as much as monthly volume.
Arbitrum RPC providers compared
| Provider | Arb One | Arb Sepolia | Archive on Arb | WSS on Arb | Free tier (account-wide) | Billing unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BlockReq | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3M requests / 30 days, 10 req/s | 1 request = 1 Request |
| Alchemy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 30M CU / month, 15 req/s | Compute units (eth_call = 26 CU) |
| QuickNode | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Free trial: 10M credits, 1 month | API credits (Arb = 10 per call) |
| dRPC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 210M CU / month, public nodes only | $6 per 1M Multi-Chain overage |
| Chainstack | Yes | Yes | Yes (Growth+) | Yes | 3M RU / month, 25 req/s | Request units (full node 1 RU, archive 2 RU) |
| Dwellir | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 100,000 responses / day, 20 req/s | 1 credit per response |
What Arbitrum RPC costs per month
Assumes standard reads (eth_call) and each provider's cheapest published combination of plan plus overage. Excludes annual discounts, throughput add-ons and enterprise deals.
| Provider | 20M requests | 100M requests | 1B requests |
|---|---|---|---|
| BlockReq | $39 | $149 | $1,346 |
| Dwellir | $42 | $255 | $1,825 |
| Chainstack | $49 | $449 | $3,990 |
| dRPC | $109 | $517 | $5,917 |
| QuickNode | $123 | $526 | $4,499 |
| Alchemy | $273 | $1,365 | $13,650 |
How each row is built:
- BlockReq: BlockReq sells one-time Request Packs, not subscriptions. 20M uses one Growth Pack ($39, 25M Requests, valid 60 days). 100M uses one Professional Pack ($149, 100M Requests, valid 90 days). 1B uses three Business Packs and one Professional Pack ($1,346 for 1.0B). Above 500M a month, BlockReq quotes contract pricing. Unused requests stay usable until the pack expires.
- Dwellir: Developer $42 (25M), Growth $255 (150M), Scale $825 (500M) from the pricing-page cards. At 1B: Scale plus 500M at $2.00/M. Overage rates from the pricing-page calculator: Developer $5/M, Growth $3/M, Scale $2/M. (Network-page calculator may still show Growth $299 — treat as stale; prefer pricing cards.)
- Chainstack: Growth $49 (20M RU). At 100M: Pro $199 (80M) plus 20M at $12.50/M = $449. At 1B: Enterprise from $990 (400M RU) plus 600M at $5/M. Full-node calls; archive calls cost 2 RU.
- dRPC: Pro $49 (~10M Multi-Chain included) with $6/1M overage; Scale $199 (~47M Multi-Chain) with $6/1M overage. At 20M: $49 + 10M × $6 = $109. At 100M: $199 + 53M × $6 = $517. At 1B: $199 + 953M × $6 = $5,917.
- QuickNode: 10 credits per Arbitrum call (same band as Ethereum/Base). At 20M → 200M credits: Build $49 (80M) plus overage at $0.62/M ≈ $123. At 100M → 1B credits: Scale $499 (950M) plus overage at $0.53/M ≈ $526. At 1B → 10B credits: Business+ Tier 3 $2,999 (7B) plus 3B at $0.50/M = $4,499.
- Alchemy: Pay as You Go at $0.525 per 1M CU, 26 CU per
eth_call. Capacity above 300 req/s costs extra.
On standard reads, BlockReq has the lowest price of the providers compared at all three volumes we checked, with Dwellir second. Log-heavy and trace-heavy apps should redo the math, because most providers weight those methods more than plain reads.
Where each provider fits
- Lowest list price on plain reads among the providers compared: BlockReq, then Dwellir.
- Flat per-response billing with no method multipliers, including debug/trace: Dwellir.
- Testing on Arbitrum Sepolia with the same provider: BlockReq, Alchemy, QuickNode, dRPC, Chainstack and Dwellir all list Arbitrum Sepolia.
- Streams, webhooks, MEV protection and a broad Arbitrum tooling surface: QuickNode.
- Account abstraction, gas sponsorship and data APIs: Alchemy.
- Multi-chain Pro/Scale packs with flat $6/1M overage: dRPC.
- Prepaid packs instead of a monthly subscription, with archive, WSS and debug/trace on Arbitrum: BlockReq.
- Geo-balanced global nodes billed in request units: Chainstack.
Why BlockReq for Arbitrum
BlockReq counts one HTTP or WSS call as one Request, with no method multipliers. Our Arbitrum One endpoint serves archive data, WebSocket, and debug/trace methods, and you can pay by credit card or crypto. Arbitrum Sepolia is listed on the same public networks.json.
- Free: 3M Requests every 30 days, 10 req/s sustained (30 burst), 2 WSS connections.
- Packs: Starter $9 (5M), Growth $39 (25M), Professional $149 (100M), Business $399 (300M).
- PAYG: $3.90 per 1M Requests after prepaid packs, with no minimum top-up.
What we don't claim here: we don't publish independent uptime or latency benchmarks in this article. If you need streams, webhooks, gas sponsorship or account-abstraction tooling, Alchemy and QuickNode may fit better.
How to connect to Arbitrum with BlockReq
The public endpoint needs no key. For production, swap public for your API key.
| Use | Endpoint |
|---|---|
| HTTPS (public) | https://arbitrum-one-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/public |
| WSS (public) | wss://arbitrum-one-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/public |
| HTTPS (keyed) | https://arbitrum-one-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/{API_KEY} |
| WSS (keyed) | wss://arbitrum-one-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/{API_KEY} |
curl -s -X POST https://arbitrum-one-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/public \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"eth_chainId","params":[]}'
# {"id":1,"jsonrpc":"2.0","result":"0xa4b1"} -> 42161, Arbitrum Oneimport { createPublicClient, http } from "viem";
import { arbitrum } from "viem/chains";
const client = createPublicClient({
chain: arbitrum, // chain id 42161
transport: http("https://arbitrum-one-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/public"),
});
console.log(await client.getBlockNumber());Docs: Supported networks · Pricing
FAQ
What is the cheapest Arbitrum RPC provider?
On standard eth_call traffic at 20M, 100M and 1B requests a month, BlockReq had the lowest published price of the providers compared on October 26, 2026, with Dwellir second. For log-heavy or trace-heavy workloads, price your own method mix.
What is Arbitrum One's chain ID?
Arbitrum One mainnet is 42161 (0xa4b1). Arbitrum Sepolia is 421614. Gas is paid in ETH.
Is Arbitrum's public RPC endpoint enough for production?
https://arb1.arbitrum.io/rpc is free and keyless, which works well for testing. Official public RPCs do not provide WebSocket, so production apps that need subscriptions, published rate limits or archive access usually want a provider.
Which providers support Arbitrum Sepolia?
BlockReq, Alchemy, QuickNode, dRPC, Chainstack and Dwellir all list Arbitrum Sepolia on their own pages. Arbitrum also runs a public Sepolia endpoint at https://sepolia-rollup.arbitrum.io/rpc.
Can I switch Arbitrum RPC providers without code changes?
For standard JSON-RPC, yes. Arbitrum is EVM-compatible, so switching usually means changing the endpoint URL. Provider-specific APIs, such as streams, bundlers and custom namespaces, need extra work.
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Start on Arbitrum with 3M free Requests every 30 days: blockreq.com