Base, Coinbase's OP Stack Layer 2 on Ethereum, is one of the most-used EVM networks for consumer apps and onchain payments (chain ID 8453). Several RPC providers serve Base mainnet and Base Sepolia, 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 19, 2026 against each provider's own pages. Every source is linked at the end. Where a provider doesn't publish a fact for Base, we write "not listed" instead of guessing.
What to look for in a Base RPC provider
Base's own docs publish a keyless public endpoint at https://mainnet.base.org (Base Sepolia: https://sepolia.base.org). That's a reasonable place to start testing. 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 Base Sepolia (chain ID 84532), 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.
Base RPC providers compared
| Provider | Base mainnet | Base Sepolia | Archive on Base | WSS on Base | 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 (Base = 20 per call) |
| dRPC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 210M CU / month, public nodes only | Flat $6 per 1M requests (Growth) |
| 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 Base 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 | $120 | $600 | $6,000 |
| QuickNode | $247 | $999 | $9,499 |
| 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). 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.
- 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: $6 per 1M requests on Growth.
- QuickNode: 20 credits per Base call. At 20M: Build $49 (80M credits) plus 320M credits at $0.62/M ≈ $247. At 100M: Business $999 (2B credits). At 1B: Business+ Tier 3 $2,999 (7B) plus 13B credits at $0.50/M.
- 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 Base Sepolia with the same provider: All six providers compared list Base Sepolia.
- Streams, webhooks and a broad Base tooling surface: QuickNode.
- Account abstraction, gas sponsorship and data APIs: Alchemy.
- Flat per-call billing across methods on Growth: dRPC.
- Prepaid packs instead of a monthly subscription, with archive, WSS and debug/trace on Base: BlockReq.
- Geo-balanced global nodes billed in request units: Chainstack.
Why BlockReq for Base
BlockReq counts one HTTP or WSS call as one Request, with no method multipliers. Our Base endpoint serves archive data, WebSocket, and debug/trace methods, and you can pay by credit card or crypto. Base Sepolia is listed alongside mainnet.
- 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 Base with BlockReq
The public endpoint needs no key. For production, swap public for your API key.
| Use | Endpoint |
|---|---|
| HTTPS (public) | https://base-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/public |
| WSS (public) | wss://base-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/public |
| HTTPS (keyed) | https://base-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/{API_KEY} |
| WSS (keyed) | wss://base-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/{API_KEY} |
Base Sepolia uses the same pattern on base-sepolia-rpc.blockreq.com.
curl -s -X POST https://base-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":"0x2105"} -> 8453, Base mainnetimport { createPublicClient, http } from "viem";
import { base } from "viem/chains";
const client = createPublicClient({
chain: base, // chain id 8453
transport: http("https://base-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/public"),
});
console.log(await client.getBlockNumber());Docs: Supported networks · Pricing
FAQ
What is the cheapest Base 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 19, 2026, with Dwellir second. For log-heavy or trace-heavy workloads, price your own method mix.
What is Base's chain ID?
Base mainnet is 8453 (0x2105). Base Sepolia is 84532 (0x14a34). Gas is paid in ETH.
Is Base's public RPC endpoint enough for production?
https://mainnet.base.org is free and keyless, which works well for testing. Production apps usually want a provider with published rate limits, WebSocket and archive access.
Which providers support Base Sepolia?
BlockReq, Alchemy, QuickNode, dRPC, Chainstack and Dwellir all list Base Sepolia on their own pages. Base also runs a public Sepolia endpoint at https://sepolia.base.org.
Can I switch Base RPC providers without code changes?
For standard JSON-RPC, yes. Base is EVM-equivalent, 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 Base with 3M free Requests every 30 days: blockreq.com