QuickNode vs Alchemy (2026)

What sets it apart Streams, a push-based data pipeline that pushes real-time and historical blockchain events to destinations like webhooks and S3 with built-in filtering, transformation, automatic reorg handling, and guaranteed delivery, layered on top of the standard RPC endpoints so teams avoid building their own ETL pipelines.

QuickNode operates managed blockchain infrastructure so teams can read from and write to networks without running their own nodes, spanning more than 80 chains across 130+ networks. Beyond standard RPC endpoints, it provides Streams, a push-based pipeline that delivers real-time and historical on-chain events with built-in filtering, reorg handling, and guaranteed delivery, alongside serverless Functions and a marketplace of add-on data and trading tools. Paid plans start at $49 per month and meter consumption in API credits, calculated as method responses multiplied by a per-method factor, above a no-cost entry tier and custom enterprise contracts. The intended users are Web3 developers, fintechs, and enterprises that want hosted node access rather than self-managed setups.

Sources QuickNode - Pricing · QuickNode - Homepage · Streams by QuickNode - Builders Guide

What sets it apart It goes beyond node RPC by bundling data/token APIs, event webhooks, and account-abstraction smart wallets, and meters all of it in a single compute-unit currency rather than charging per node or per request.

Alchemy is hosted blockchain infrastructure that gives developers JSON-RPC access to more than 100 networks, including Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, and Arbitrum, so they can read and write on-chain data without running their own nodes. What separates it from a plain RPC provider is the stack layered on top: data APIs for transaction history and token prices, webhooks for on-chain events, and account-abstraction tooling for embedded smart wallets that support gasless transactions. Usage is billed in compute units, with a free tier of 30 million per month and pay-as-you-go pricing of $0.45 per million CUs for the first 300 million and $0.40 beyond that. The range fits solo developers prototyping as well as fintech teams shipping consumer crypto features.

Sources Alchemy homepage - products, supported chains, and audience · Alchemy pricing page - tiers and rates · Chainstack - Alchemy RPC provider overview (2026)