Hands-on reviews of the top Solana RPC providers — Helius, QuickNode, Alchemy, Triton — on pricing, speed, free tiers, gRPC streaming, DAS API, webhooks, plus private/dedicated and archival RPC. Written by a team that runs Solana RPC + gRPC at production scale. For the live side-by-side feature table, see our RPC comparison page.
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you sign up through them, MadeOnSol may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This never affects our rankings, ratings, or reviews.
If you've built anything on Solana — a trading bot, a dApp, an NFT minting site, or even a simple wallet tracker — you've hit the same wall: the default public RPC endpoints are slow, rate-limited, and unreliable during high-traffic periods. When Solana network activity spikes, public endpoints return errors, drop transactions, and add seconds of latency.
That's where dedicated RPC providers come in. They give you fast, reliable access to the Solana blockchain with higher rate limits, priority transaction routing, and specialized APIs. But with a dozen providers competing for your attention, choosing the right one isn't straightforward.
We've tested the three most popular providers — Helius, QuickNode, and Alchemy — along with several alternatives, to help you pick the right RPC for your specific needs.
This post is the in-depth review: what each provider is actually like in production. If you just want the numbers side by side — uptime, pricing, feature matrix, live health checks — the RPC comparison page is the faster tool; come back here for the judgment calls.
Before comparing providers, here's why the free public endpoints (api.mainnet-beta.solana.com) aren't enough for anything beyond casual use:
A dedicated RPC provider gives you reserved capacity, better uptime, and access to Solana-specific features that public endpoints simply don't offer.
Helius has established itself as the Solana-native RPC provider. Founded by former Solana Labs engineers, it's built exclusively for the Solana ecosystem with features you won't find elsewhere.
| Plan | Price | Rate Limit | Credits/Month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 10 req/sec | 100K |
Tools mentioned
Live health scores, average ratings, and direct links on MadeOnSol.
Low-latency Solana RPC + data streaming for high-scale dApps, HFT, DeFi, and on-chain analytics.
The developer platform for building on Solana
Real-time blockchain data streams
Official QuickNode MCP server for AI-powered blockchain interactions
Interact with Solana via natural language through ERPC's RPC MCP server
Build with MadeOnSol API
KOL tracking, deployer intelligence, DEX streaming, and webhooks. Free API key — 200 requests/day.
New customers try Pro free for 5 days — card, cancel anytime.
import { MadeOnSol } from "madeonsol";
// Get a free API key at madeonsol.com/pricing
const client = new MadeOnSol({ apiKey: "msk_your_key" });
const { trades } = await client.kol.feed({ limit: 10 });
const { alerts } = await client.deployer.alerts({ limit: 5 });
const { tools } = await client.tools.search({ q: "trading" });Keep reading
Developer Tools
Should you use a managed Solana API or run your own node? We break down the real costs of Helius, QuickNode, Triton, Alchemy, and Chainstack versus self-hosting a bare-metal Solana validator with Geyser plugins — including hardware, bandwidth, maintenance, and hidden expenses.
Developer Tools
Compare the top Solana API providers for building dApps. We break down Helius, Shyft, Ironforge, Triton, and CoinStats on features, pricing, and DX.
Developer Tools
Understand what Solana APIs are, what types exist, and how developers use them to build trading bots, portfolio trackers, and analytics dashboards. Covers RPC, enhanced APIs, data APIs, and when to use each.
Developer Tools
A deep dive into the dual-region Yellowstone gRPC pipeline, pg_notify event bus, and sub-2-second alert delivery that powers MadeOnSol's KOL tracking and deployer intelligence.
Developer Tools
Learn how to set up Solana webhooks for real-time blockchain alerts. Compare Helius, QuickNode, Shyft, and Triton webhook providers, with TypeScript code examples for wallet monitoring, NFT sales alerts, and payment confirmation.
Developer Tools
Helius is Solana's leading developer infrastructure platform. This guide covers how to use Helius RPC for your dApp, set up webhooks for real-time on-chain alerts, use the DAS API for NFT data, and parse Solana transactions — with code examples.
Enjoyed this article?
Real-time KOL trades, Pump.fun deployer intel, and 1,200+ ranked Solana tools — free to explore.
Open the KOL Tracker| Starter |
| $49/mo |
| 50 req/sec |
| 5M |
| Business | $499/mo | 200 req/sec | 100M |
| Professional | $999/mo | 500 req/sec | 500M |
Digital Asset Standard (DAS) API: Helius pioneered the DAS API for compressed NFTs and token metadata. If you're building anything involving NFTs or need rich token data, Helius's DAS endpoints save you from stitching together data from multiple sources.
Enhanced Transactions API: Returns parsed, human-readable transaction data instead of raw byte arrays. Instead of decoding instruction data yourself, you get structured swap data, transfer details, and NFT operations in a clean JSON format.
Webhooks: Set up event-driven notifications for wallet activity, token transfers, or program interactions. Useful for building alerting systems or reactive bots without constant polling.
Priority Fee API: Get real-time priority fee estimates to optimize your transaction landing rate. Critical for trading bots and time-sensitive operations.
Staked Connections: Helius offers staked validator connections that improve transaction landing rates. Transactions submitted through staked connections get preferential treatment from validators.
Solana-native builders who need rich transaction parsing, NFT/token metadata APIs, and don't need multi-chain support. Particularly strong for NFT platforms, wallet apps, and analytics tools.
QuickNode is the multi-chain veteran. Supporting 30+ blockchains, it offers Solana as one of many chains on a mature, battle-tested infrastructure.
| Plan | Price | Rate Limit | Credits/Month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 15 req/sec | 50 req/sec burst |
| Starter | $49/mo | 25 req/sec | Per-method pricing |
| Growth | $299/mo | 75 req/sec | Higher limits |
| Business | $599/mo | 200 req/sec | Custom |
Multi-Chain Support: One account, one dashboard, 30+ chains. If you're building across Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Arbitrum, and others, QuickNode lets you manage all your RPC endpoints in one place.
Marketplace Add-Ons: QuickNode has a marketplace of installable add-ons — token metadata lookups, Jupiter price feeds, NFT data, and more. You can extend your endpoint's capabilities without switching providers.
Streams & Functions: QuickNode Streams let you filter and transform blockchain data in real-time. Functions allow you to run serverless code triggered by on-chain events. Think of it as a lightweight data pipeline.
Global Edge Network: With endpoints distributed globally, QuickNode routes your requests to the nearest node. This matters for latency-sensitive applications like trading bots.
Solana-Specific: Despite being multi-chain, QuickNode has solid Solana support including DAS API access, Yellowstone gRPC streaming, and priority fee estimation.
Teams building across multiple blockchains who want a single provider. Also strong for projects that need the Marketplace add-on ecosystem or real-time data streaming.
Alchemy entered the Solana market after dominating Ethereum infrastructure for years. It brings enterprise-grade reliability and developer tooling to Solana.
| Plan | Price | Rate Limit | Compute Units/Month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 15 req/sec | 300M CU |
| Growth | $49/mo | 50 req/sec | 1.2B CU |
| Scale | $199/mo | 100 req/sec | 4B CU |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Compute Unit Model: Alchemy uses compute units (CU) instead of simple request counts. Lightweight calls (like getBalance) cost fewer CUs than heavy calls (like getParsedTransactions). This can be more cost-effective if most of your calls are simple.
Enhanced APIs: Alchemy offers token balance lookups, NFT metadata, and transaction history APIs for Solana. These are similar to Helius's enhanced APIs but follow Alchemy's standardized patterns across chains.
Developer Dashboard: The monitoring dashboard shows request volumes, error rates, latency percentiles, and usage patterns. Useful for debugging production issues and optimizing your RPC usage.
Reliability Track Record: Alchemy's Ethereum infrastructure serves major platforms like OpenSea, Aave, and Dapper Labs. That operational experience carries over to their Solana infrastructure.
Generous Free Tier: 300M compute units on the free tier is relatively generous, especially for read-heavy applications.
Teams already using Alchemy for Ethereum who want to add Solana. Also good for projects that need enterprise SLAs, detailed monitoring, and a compute-unit pricing model that rewards efficient API usage.
| Feature | Helius | QuickNode | Alchemy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | 100K credits | 50 req/sec burst | 300M CU |
| Solana Focus | Solana-only | 30+ chains | Multi-chain |
| DAS API | Native, best-in-class | Supported | Supported |
| Enhanced Txs | Yes (parsed) | Via add-ons | Yes |
| Webhooks | Built-in | Via Streams | Via webhooks |
| Staked Connections | Yes | Limited | Limited |
| gRPC Streaming | Yes | Yes (Yellowstone) | No |
| Priority Fee API | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Token Metadata | Built-in | Marketplace add-on | Enhanced API |
| WebSocket | Stable | Stable | Stable |
| Cheapest Paid | $49/mo | $49/mo | $49/mo |
| **Best Rate Limit/$ ** | Business ($499) | Growth ($299) | Scale ($199) |
Triton is a Solana-focused provider known for its Yellowstone gRPC implementation. If you need real-time streaming of Solana data (program account updates, transaction notifications), Triton's gRPC endpoints are among the most reliable. Pricing starts at $99/month for dedicated endpoints.
Syndica offers Solana RPC with a focus on reliability and a clean developer experience. Their free tier includes 100M requests per month, which is more generous than most competitors. Worth trying if you're evaluating options.
Chainstack provides Solana nodes alongside 25+ other chains. Their elastic node pricing means you pay based on actual usage rather than a fixed plan. Good for projects with variable traffic patterns.
Shyft combines RPC access with pre-built Solana APIs for tokens, NFTs, and DeFi. If you want a higher-level API abstraction rather than raw RPC calls, Shyft's approach can save development time.
Go with Helius. Staked connections for better transaction landing, priority fee API for optimal fee estimation, and enhanced transaction parsing for monitoring your trades. The Business tier ($499/mo) gives you 200 req/sec with staked connections. If you need the lowest latency possible, pair Helius with Jito bundles for MEV-protected execution. Once you've picked a provider, our Solana Telegram bot developer tutorial shows how to wire that RPC endpoint into a working bot.
Go with QuickNode or Alchemy. One provider for all your chains simplifies infrastructure management. QuickNode if you want marketplace add-ons and streaming; Alchemy if you want enterprise monitoring and compute-unit efficiency.
Start with Helius Free or Alchemy Free. Both offer enough for development and small-scale applications. Helius's free tier gives you access to enhanced APIs; Alchemy's free tier is generous on compute units. For hobby projects that don't need specialized APIs, even the public RPC endpoint works — just expect rate limits during peak traffic.
Go with Helius or Triton. Both offer production-grade Yellowstone gRPC endpoints for real-time Solana data streaming. Triton is the original gRPC specialist; Helius integrates it into a broader feature set. gRPC streaming is essential for applications that need instant notifications of on-chain events — like deployer tracking or real-time price feeds.
Go with Helius. The DAS API is purpose-built for NFT and compressed NFT operations. No other provider matches Helius's depth of NFT infrastructure. Low latency matters especially during mints and high-demand drops.
Go with Alchemy or Helius. Alchemy brings enterprise SLA experience from Ethereum. Helius offers Solana-specific optimizations that matter at scale. Both can negotiate custom enterprise plans with dedicated node infrastructure.
Regardless of which provider you choose, these practices will improve your RPC performance:
getParsedTransactions with multiple signatures instead of fetching one at a timegetBalance is cheaper than getAccountInfo. getSignaturesForAddress is cheaper than fetching full transactions. Only request the data you actually needTwo intents that send people to the wrong plan:
Private / dedicated RPC. Shared endpoints (even paid ones) put you in a pool — during a memecoin frenzy you're competing with every other customer for the same nodes. A dedicated (private) node reserves capacity to you alone, with a fixed location you can pin for latency. It costs more (typically a few hundred dollars a month and up), and it's worth it only when consistent latency under load is the requirement — trading bots, snipers, anything time-sensitive. For read-heavy analytics, a shared plan with caching is usually the better value. Helius, QuickNode, Triton, and Chainstack all offer dedicated nodes; ask for the region closest to your workload.
Archival RPC. Solana validators prune aggressively, so older transactions and account states aren't on a standard node. If your queries reach back more than a couple of days — backtests, historical PnL, "what did this wallet do last month" — you need an archival endpoint (a premium add-on at most providers) or, more cost-effectively, an analytics layer like Flipside/Dune/BigQuery. We cover the full menu in our Solana historical data access guide. Don't pay for archival RPC to do what a SQL warehouse does for free.
The third thing buyers get wrong: paying for RPC to solve a data problem. Raw RPC returns byte arrays and account states. Building a portfolio tracker, wallet explorer, or tax tool means parsing all of that. You decode transactions, resolve token metadata, price every asset, and detect DeFi positions. That work sits above the RPC layer, and data APIs have already done it.
CoinStats Solana API is one example of this category. You pass a Solana address and get parsed SPL balances back. The same endpoints return transaction history and detected DeFi positions. CoinStats API also covers prices for 100,000+ coins and data from 200+ exchanges. The same key works across 120+ chains if you later add Ethereum or Bitcoin. There is an MCP server for agent-based setups, and a free tier with credit-based pricing.
The tradeoff is control. A data API decides how transactions get parsed and which protocols get detected. If you need raw account data or custom decoding, RPC is still the right layer. If your app sends transactions or needs slot-level latency, you need RPC. If it mostly reads balances, history, and prices, a data API covers it with less code. Some stacks use both: RPC for sending, a data API for display data.
For context, MadeOnSol runs Solana RPC and gRPC in production behind a real-time data product, and the biggest lesson is counter-intuitive: the highest-leverage decision isn't which provider — it's not hammering RPC in the first place.
We process the entire DEX trade firehose and 1,000+ tracked wallets, yet our actual RPC request rate sits around 1–2 calls/second. The reason is a stream-first architecture: real-time data comes off a gRPC firehose (which costs zero RPC calls), and plain RPC is the safety net, not the default path. We also keep a public endpoint as a fallback, because even a premium node can lag mainnet by a slot or two — for something like payment verification you want a second source of truth. Our Wallet X-Ray analyzer (up to 1,000 parsed transactions per scan) and Deployer Hunter (gRPC-based real-time deploy detection) are built on exactly this split.
The takeaway for your stack: before you upgrade to a $499 tier to survive your call volume, ask whether half those calls should be a subscription instead of a poll. Pick the provider that matches your workload, use multiple for different jobs, and if even the top tiers feel steep, our API vs. self-hosting a node cost comparison shows when running your own node starts to pay off.
Helius and Alchemy both offer strong free tiers. Helius gives 100K credits/month with access to all enhanced APIs (DAS, transaction parsing, webhooks). Alchemy offers 300M compute units/month, which is more generous for simple read-heavy calls. For hobby projects, either works well — Helius is better if you need Solana-specific features like DAS or parsed transactions.
Yes, for any serious trading bot. Public RPCs rate-limit you at roughly 40 req/sec and offer no priority transaction routing. A paid RPC like Helius ($49-$499/month) gives you staked connections for better transaction landing, priority fee APIs, and the reliability needed for time-sensitive trades. Most active bot operators use the Helius Business tier or higher.
Helius is Solana-only with deeper Solana-specific features: DAS API, enhanced transaction parsing, staked connections, and webhooks built-in. QuickNode supports 30+ blockchains and offers a marketplace of add-ons. Choose Helius for pure Solana development; choose QuickNode if you need multi-chain support from a single provider.
gRPC streaming (via Yellowstone) provides real-time Solana data — account updates, transactions, and program events — pushed to your application as they happen. Helius and Triton both offer production-grade gRPC endpoints. It's essential for applications that need instant on-chain event detection, like deployer trackers or real-time price feeds.
Entry-level paid plans start at $49/month across all major providers (Helius, QuickNode, Alchemy). Mid-tier plans with higher rate limits range from $199-$499/month. Enterprise plans with dedicated nodes and custom SLAs are available from all three providers at negotiated pricing. The right tier depends on your request volume and latency requirements.
A shared RPC plan — even a paid one — puts your requests through a pool of nodes serving many customers, so performance degrades when network activity spikes. A dedicated (private) node reserves capacity exclusively for you and lets you pin a region for predictable latency, typically from a few hundred dollars a month. Choose dedicated when consistent latency under load is critical (trading bots, snipers); for read-heavy analytics, a shared plan plus caching is usually better value.
"Fastest" depends on your location and whether the node is dedicated — pin a private node in your region and pair it with Jito bundles for time-sensitive sends. Separately, if your queries reach back more than a day or two you need an archival endpoint (a premium add-on), because standard Solana nodes prune old data. For most historical work an analytics warehouse (Flipside, Dune, BigQuery) is cheaper than archival RPC — see our historical data access guide.
Usually not. A portfolio tracker reads balances, transaction history, and prices. A data API such as CoinStats returns all three parsed and priced in one call. You only need RPC if the app also sends transactions or streams slot-level events.
An RPC node gives raw chain access: account states, unparsed transactions, and transaction submission. A data API sits one layer above. It returns parsed balances, priced holdings, transaction history, and DeFi positions. RPC providers like Helius suit bots and dApps that write onchain. Data APIs like CoinStats suit trackers, tax tools, and dashboards that mostly read.
Disclaimer: Pricing and features are current as of June 2026. Providers frequently update their plans. Visit each provider's website for the latest pricing. MadeOnSol is a Solana data product, not an RPC provider, and is not affiliated with any RPC provider mentioned in this article.
Explore more: Best RPC Providers ranked by the community | All Solana RPC tools | Best Solana Developer Tools