Optimism (OP Mainnet) is an Optimistic Rollup EVM Layer 2 on Ethereum and the hub of the OP Stack Superchain (chain ID 10). Several RPC providers serve OP Mainnet and OP Sepolia (chain ID 11155420), 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 2, 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 Optimism, we write "not listed" instead of guessing.
What to look for in an Optimism RPC provider
Optimism docs publish a keyless public endpoint at https://mainnet.optimism.io (OP Sepolia: https://sepolia.optimism.io). Those are a reasonable place to start testing. Official public RPCs do not support WebSocket connections for standard eth_subscribe (a separate Subblocks websocket exists and is rate-limited — different product), so apps that need subscriptions 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 OP Sepolia (chain ID 11155420), 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.
Optimism RPC providers compared
| Provider | OP Mainnet | OP Sepolia | Archive on OP | WSS on OP | 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 (Optimism = 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 Optimism 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 | $9,499 |
| 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.
- 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 Optimism call (same band as Ethereum/Base/Arbitrum on the Nov 2, 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+ Tier 3 $2,999 (7B) plus 13B at $0.50/M = $9,499.
- 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 OP Sepolia with the same provider: BlockReq, Alchemy, QuickNode, dRPC, Chainstack and Dwellir all list OP Sepolia.
- Streams, webhooks, MEV protection and a broad Optimism 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 Optimism: BlockReq.
- Geo-balanced global nodes billed in request units: Chainstack.
Why BlockReq for Optimism
BlockReq counts one HTTP or WSS call as one Request, with no method multipliers. Our Optimism endpoint serves archive data and WebSocket, and you can pay by credit card or crypto. OP Sepolia is listed on the same public networks.json. BlockReq does not advertise proofDebugTrace on Optimism — do not expect debug/trace methods here.
- 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, account-abstraction tooling, or Optimism debug/trace, Alchemy, QuickNode or Dwellir may fit better.
How to connect to Optimism with BlockReq
The public endpoint needs no key. For production, swap public for your API key.
| Use | Endpoint |
|---|---|
| HTTPS (public) | https://optimism-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/public |
| WSS (public) | wss://optimism-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/public |
| HTTPS (keyed) | https://optimism-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/{API_KEY} |
| WSS (keyed) | wss://optimism-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/{API_KEY} |
curl -s -X POST https://optimism-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":"0xa"} -> 10, OP Mainnetimport { createPublicClient, http } from "viem";
import { optimism } from "viem/chains";
const client = createPublicClient({
chain: optimism, // chain id 10
transport: http("https://optimism-rpc.blockreq.com/v1/rpc/public"),
});
console.log(await client.getBlockNumber());Docs: Supported networks · Pricing
FAQ
What is the cheapest Optimism 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 2, 2026, with Dwellir second. For log-heavy or trace-heavy workloads, price your own method mix.
What is Optimism's chain ID?
OP Mainnet is 10 (0xa). OP Sepolia is 11155420 (0xaa37dc). Gas is paid in ETH.
Is Optimism's public RPC endpoint enough for production?
https://mainnet.optimism.io is free and keyless, which works well for testing. Official public RPCs do not support WebSocket for standard subscriptions, so production apps that need eth_subscribe, published rate limits or archive access usually want a provider.
Which providers support OP Sepolia?
BlockReq, Alchemy, QuickNode, dRPC, Chainstack and Dwellir all list OP Sepolia on their own pages. Optimism also runs a public Sepolia endpoint at https://sepolia.optimism.io.
Can I switch Optimism RPC providers without code changes?
For standard JSON-RPC, yes. Optimism 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 Optimism with 3M free Requests every 30 days: blockreq.com