{"slug":"rpc-keyed-latency","title":"Fastest free-tier keyed RPC. Alchemy, Infura, Chainstack, Ankr, Helius","subtitle":"HTTP round-trip latency for eth_getBlockByNumber against the signup-gated free tiers of Alchemy, Infura, Chainstack, Ankr and Helius, probed every 60 seconds from 3 regions.","category":"RPCs","metric":"RPC latency","unit":"ms","status":"live","higherIsBetter":false,"value":2.83333,"leader":{"name":"QuickNode","slug":"quicknode","value":2.83333},"rankings":[{"name":"QuickNode","slug":"quicknode","ms":{"p50":2.83333,"p90":3.33333,"p99":6.66667,"mean":2.99863},"successRate":100,"sampleSize":7505.35},{"name":"Alchemy","slug":"alchemy","ms":{"p50":6.71429,"p90":8.95238,"p99":20.1443,"mean":7.32181},"successRate":99.9693,"sampleSize":29328.1},{"name":"Helius","slug":"helius","ms":{"p50":40,"p90":59.3333,"p99":109.127,"mean":44.7174},"successRate":100,"sampleSize":3858.67},{"name":"Ankr","slug":"ankr","ms":{"p50":51.4,"p90":147.733,"p99":313.253,"mean":71.9729},"successRate":99.9896,"sampleSize":19314.4},{"name":"Chainstack","slug":"chainstack","ms":{"p50":54.9048,"p90":87.0905,"p99":573.73,"mean":74.8503},"successRate":99.6893,"sampleSize":32836},{"name":"Infura","slug":"infura","ms":{"p50":163.111,"p90":183.794,"p99":407.876,"mean":174.684},"successRate":99.9224,"sampleSize":23187}],"sparkline":[13.5175,8.23818,6.1686,3.43151,2.93333,2.91944,2.91944,2.90556,2.93819,2.95278,2.96389,2.98681,3.01597,3.03056,3.04653,3.05625,3.06667,3.025,2.98472,2.93056,2.90903,2.90139,2.92778,2.93056,2.93889,2.98611,3.09444,3.12222,3.075,2.96111,2.90556,2.87778,2.93889,2.96944,2.97222,2.93542,2.91944,2.925,2.91458,2.94444,2.92778,2.93194,2.93333,2.96944,2.98472,2.96944,2.97222,2.96944,2.96667,2.95,2.95278,2.97153,3.01111,3.03361,2.9951,2.94118,2.92148,2.9466,3.25052,2.62804,2.02289,1.2046,1.19678],"sampleSize":116029.52,"asOf":"2026-07-08T13:36:38.404Z","headline":"QuickNode leads rpc latency at 3 ms (p50, 24h) on Fastest free-tier keyed RPC. Alchemy, Infura, Chainstack, Ankr, Helius.","quote":"QuickNode leads rpc latency at 3 ms (p50, 24h) on Fastest free-tier keyed RPC. Alchemy, Infura, Chainstack, Ankr, Helius. Source: OpenChainBench (https://openchainbench.com/benchmarks/rpc-keyed-latency).","cite":{"plain":"OpenChainBench. \"Fastest free-tier keyed RPC. Alchemy, Infura, Chainstack, Ankr, Helius\". Retrieved 2026-07-08. https://openchainbench.com/benchmarks/rpc-keyed-latency","bibtex":"@misc{ocb_rpc_keyed_latency,\n  author = {OpenChainBench},\n  title  = {Fastest free-tier keyed RPC. Alchemy, Infura, Chainstack, Ankr, Helius},\n  year   = {2026},\n  url    = {https://openchainbench.com/benchmarks/rpc-keyed-latency},\n  note   = {Retrieved 2026-07-08}\n}","apa":"OpenChainBench. (2026). Fastest free-tier keyed RPC. Alchemy, Infura, Chainstack, Ankr, Helius. Retrieved July 8, 2026, from https://openchainbench.com/benchmarks/rpc-keyed-latency"},"pageUrl":"https://openchainbench.com/benchmarks/rpc-keyed-latency","ogImage":"https://openchainbench.com/api/og/rpc-keyed-latency","source":"https://github.com/ChainBench/OpenChainBench/tree/main/harnesses/rpc-keyed-latency","methodology":["Cadence: every 60 seconds per (provider, chain) pair, from each of 3 probe regions (us-east, eu-west, sgp), 4× slower than the no-key bench because keyed free tiers meter monthly quotas. Headline p50/p90/p99 aggregate across regions via Prometheus `avg(quantile_over_time(...))`.","Payload: identical to the no-key bench. EVM: `{\"jsonrpc\":\"2.0\",\"id\":<rotating>,\"method\":\"eth_getBlockByNumber\",\"params\":[\"latest\",false]}`. Solana: `getSlot` at processed commitment. Non-cacheable by design: the rotating id defeats body-keyed edge caches.","Authentication: each provider's standard free-tier key, obtained via normal signup, no credit card, no sales contact. Keys live in env vars on the probe services and never in the repo. Endpoint shapes: key-in-path (Alchemy `/v2/<key>`, Infura `/v3/<key>`, Chainstack, Ankr) or query param (Helius `?api-key=`).","Quota guard: each region gets 1/3 of a provider's audited monthly free quota; probing pauses at 90% of that budget until calendar-month rollover (`rpc_keyed_quota_used_ratio`, `rpc_call_total{result=\"quota_paused\"}`). Budgets target ≤2/3 of the real quota, so the bench can never exhaust a key.","Call-result classification: `ok` (HTTP 200 + usable result), `http_err`, `jsonrpc_err` (HTTP 200 carrying an error body), `stale` (more than 20 blocks / 300 slots behind the cross-provider tip), `timeout`. Latency is recorded only for `ok` responses.","Cohort: Alchemy (6 EVM + Solana), Infura / MetaMask Developer (6 EVM), Ankr (5 EVM; Optimism pending chain enablement on the key), Chainstack (6 EVM + Solana via Global Nodes, see plan disclosure below), Helius (Solana only), QuickNode (BNB + Optimism, see plan disclosure below). Free-tier scope differences are disclosed, not hidden: a provider missing from a chain tab means its free tier does not cover that chain (or caps the node count), which is itself a finding.","Excluded by design: Tenderly (Node RPC excluded from the free plan), GetBlock (50k CU/day cannot sustain even one chain at probe cadence), Moralis (free plan capped at 2 node endpoints), Blast API (shut down Oct 2025). Each exclusion is quota math or plan scope, never editorial.","Plan disclosure: Alchemy, QuickNode and Chainstack are measured through standard shared endpoints of paid accounts. Alchemy and QuickNode route free and paid keys to the same shared fleets; Chainstack Global Nodes are the identical anycast product the free plan provides. The paid difference is quota and node count (free Chainstack caps at one node), not the serving infrastructure, so the latency read is representative of both plans.","Fair-play note: free tiers do not necessarily run on the provider's paid-tier infrastructure (e.g. dRPC routes free traffic to a separate provider pool; several providers serve free keys from shared clusters). This page measures exactly what a free signup gets, read it as the free-tier experience, not the provider's ceiling."],"license":"CC-BY-4.0"}