Ethereum is the primary EVM Layer 1 (chain ID 1). Several RPC providers serve Ethereum Mainnet and Ethereum Sepolia (chain ID 11155111), 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 November 9, 2026 (Asia/Shanghai) against each provider's own pages. Every source is linked at the end. Where a provider doesn't publish a fact for Ethereum, we write "not listed" instead of guessing.
What to look for in an Ethereum RPC provider
ethereum.org documents Mainnet and Sepolia (Sepolia is the recommended default testnet for application development) and points builders to nodes-as-a-service. Unlike some L2s, it does not publish a single official keyless public HTTPS RPC. Independently operated public endpoints exist; they are best-effort, and we do not invent their rate limits here. 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 Ethereum Sepolia (chain ID 11155111), 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.
Ethereum RPC providers compared
| Provider | ETH Mainnet | ETH Sepolia | Archive on ETH | WSS on ETH | 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 (Ethereum = 20 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 Ethereum 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 | $247 | $999 | $9,999 |
| Alchemy | $270 | $1,352 | $13,520 |
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. PAYG after prepaid packs is $1.90 per 1M Requests, with no minimum top-up.
- 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. (The plan-comparison table on the same page may still show $49 / $299 / $999 — 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: 20 credits per Ethereum call (same band as Base/Arbitrum/Optimism on the Nov 9, 2026 api-credits page). At 20M → 400M credits: Build $49 (80M) plus 320M overage at $0.62/M ≈ $247. At 100M → 2B credits: Business $999 (2B included). At 1B → 20B credits: Business $999 (2B) plus 18B at $0.50/M = $9,999.
- Alchemy: Pay as You Go at $0.52 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 Ethereum Sepolia with the same provider: BlockReq, Alchemy, QuickNode, dRPC, Chainstack and Dwellir all list Sepolia.
- Streams, webhooks, MEV protection and a broad Ethereum 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 and WSS on Ethereum: BlockReq.
- Geo-balanced global nodes billed in request units: Chainstack.
Why BlockReq for Ethereum
BlockReq counts one HTTP or WSS call as one Request, with no method multipliers. Our Ethereum endpoint serves archive data and WebSocket, and you can pay by credit card or crypto. Ethereum Sepolia is listed on the same public networks.json. BlockReq advertises proofDebugTrace:true on Ethereum — debug/trace methods are listed as available via that flag (we do not invent a method list beyond it).
- 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: $1.90 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 or QuickNode may fit better. Dwellir bills debug/trace as one credit per response, with no method multipliers.
How to connect to Ethereum with BlockReq
The public endpoint needs no key. For production, swap public for your API key.
| Use | Endpoint |
|---|---|
| HTTPS (public) | https://ethereum-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/public |
| WSS (public) | wss://ethereum-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/public |
| HTTPS (keyed) | https://ethereum-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/{API_KEY} |
| WSS (keyed) | wss://ethereum-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/{API_KEY} |
curl -s -X POST https://ethereum-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":"0x1"} -> 1, Ethereum Mainnetimport { createPublicClient, http } from "viem";
import { mainnet } from "viem/chains";
const client = createPublicClient({
chain: mainnet, // chain id 1
transport: http("https://ethereum-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/public"),
});
console.log(await client.getBlockNumber());Docs: Supported networks · Pricing
FAQ
What is the cheapest Ethereum 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 November 9, 2026, with Dwellir second. For log-heavy or trace-heavy workloads, price your own method mix.
What is Ethereum's chain ID?
Ethereum Mainnet is 1 (0x1). Ethereum Sepolia is 11155111 (0xaa36a7). Gas is paid in ETH.
Is there an official public Ethereum RPC endpoint?
ethereum.org does not publish a single official keyless public HTTPS RPC. It documents Mainnet and Sepolia and lists nodes-as-a-service providers. Independently operated public endpoints exist and are fine for quick tests; they are best-effort, and we do not invent their rate limits. Production apps that need eth_subscribe, published rate limits or archive access usually want a provider.
Which providers support Ethereum Sepolia?
BlockReq, Alchemy, QuickNode, dRPC, Chainstack and Dwellir all list Ethereum Sepolia on their own pages.
Can I switch Ethereum RPC providers without code changes?
For standard JSON-RPC, yes. Ethereum is the EVM reference chain, 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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