Arc RPC endpoints: free public URLs and private API-key providers by latency
HTTP round-trip latency for eth_getBlockByNumber against every free, no-key public Arc RPC endpoint (probed every 60 seconds from 3 regions) and, under the Access selector (Private), against the API-key endpoints of Alchemy, Chainstack, GetBlock and QuickNode (every 120 seconds from us-east and eu-west). The two cohorts are ranked separately, never against each other.
TL;DR. As of , dRPC has the lowest median latency of the 6 free public Arc RPC endpoints measured, 31 ms (p50, 24h, 3 regions). Source: OpenChainBench, https://openchainbench.com/benchmarks/arc-rpc. Chain ID 5042. 6 public endpoints, no key: arc.drpc.org, rpc.mainnet.arc.io, rpc.quicknode.mainnet.arc.io, arc-rpc.publicnode.com, rpc.blockdaemon.mainnet.arc.io, arc.gateway.tenderly.co. Full URLs with their 24h median are listed below; Alchemy, Chainstack, GetBlock, QuickNode, Dwellir (private, API key) are ranked apart under the Private tab.
Companion page
Comparing free RPC endpoints across every chain we measure? Open the cross-chain RPC matrix →
Arc is the EVM Layer 1 built by Circle with USDC as the native gas token, on mainnet since 2026-09-16 (chain ID 5042, about 0.5 s blocks). Provider support is new and uneven, which is exactly when an independent latency measurement is most useful. This page measures both sides with one probe, `eth_getBlockByNumber` with a rotating request id, every 60 seconds on the 6 endpoints that answer without a key, every row of the table in the chain's own docs included, from us-east, eu-west and Singapore, and every 120 seconds on the keyed endpoints of Alchemy, Chainstack, GetBlock and QuickNode, from us-east and eu-west: GetBlock does not offer Arc in Singapore, and averaging a two-region row against three-region rows would compare different populations, so the keyed cohort is measured from the two regions the chain is served from. The Access selector switches between the two cohorts, which are never ranked against each other.
Methodology
Arc: 6 free public RPC endpoints answering `eth_getBlockByNumber` every 60 seconds from us-east, eu-west and Singapore, ranked by 24h median. dRPC leads at 31 ms; the Circle-operated endpoint measures 46 ms. The same page carries the private cohort (API key), Alchemy, Chainstack, GetBlock and QuickNode on their keyed Arc endpoints every 120 seconds from us-east and eu-west: switch the Access selector; Chainstack leads it at 5 ms. We measure the round-trip latency of a single, identical RPC call (`eth_getBlockByNumber`) against every no-key public Arc endpoint that sustains continuous probing, 6 providers, every 60 seconds, from us-east, eu-west and Singapore, and against the keyed endpoints of Alchemy, Chainstack, GetBlock and QuickNode every 120 seconds from us-east and eu-west, the two regions the chain is served from. The harness classifies every response (ok / http_err / jsonrpc_err / stale / timeout) so the leaderboard rewards sustained, honest availability rather than a fast error message. Arc produces blocks in well under a second; the stale check tolerates 40 blocks (20 s) on the public cohort and 20 on the keyed one.
Results: 6 free public Arc RPC endpoints ranked by p50 latency (24h, 3 regions)
| â„– | Providers | p50 | p90 | p99 | Success |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | dRPC | 31 ms | 50 ms | 106 ms | 99.93% |
| 2 | Arc | 46 ms | 75 ms | 301 ms | 100.00% |
| 3 | QuickNode (Arc endpoint) | 50 ms | 78 ms | 142 ms | 100.00% |
| 4 | PublicNode | 77 ms | 95 ms | 294 ms | 100.00% |
| 5 | Blockdaemon | 82 ms | 88 ms | 264 ms | 100.00% |
| 6 | Tenderly Gateway | 105 ms | 115 ms | 151 ms | 100.00% |
Public Arc RPC endpoints measured
Chain ID 5042, currency USDC. The 6 no-key endpoints answering our probes today, with their current 24h median. Paste one into a wallet or a client as is: no signup, no key. Alchemy, Chainstack, GetBlock, QuickNode and Dwellir, private endpoints that need an API key, are ranked separately under the Private tab; keyed URLs are never listed.
dRPChttps://arc.drpc.org31 ms99.9%
Archttps://rpc.mainnet.arc.io46 ms100.0%
QuickNode (Arc endpoint)https://rpc.quicknode.mainnet.arc.io50 ms100.0%
PublicNodehttps://arc-rpc.publicnode.com77 ms100.0%
Blockdaemonhttps://rpc.blockdaemon.mainnet.arc.io82 ms100.0%
Tenderly Gatewayhttps://arc.gateway.tenderly.co105 ms100.0%
Median round-trip and success rate over the last 24 hours across the probe regions; the ranked table above carries p90, p99 and the per-region split.
Not listed on Arc
- Ankr: returns 403 without an API key on Arc
- Blockdaemon: requires an API key
- Lava: Arc endpoint discontinued
Frequently asked
Which Arc RPCs work without an API key?
6 endpoints are probed on this chain; each is listed with its URL, 24h median and success rate in the endpoints table on this page, and the list changes as providers come and go. Every (provider, chain) pair was live-verified no-key before inclusion; anything that key-gates, region-blocks or rate-limits below the 60-second cadence is excluded rather than listed with an asterisk.
Which Arc RPC provider is fastest with an API key?
Per the live data: Chainstack at 5 ms (eth_getBlockByNumber p50 over 24h, averaged across us-east and eu-west); Alchemy measures 14 ms, Chainstack 5 ms and QuickNode 7 ms; GetBlock measures 13 ms. The keyed cohort is measured from those two regions only, because GetBlock does not offer Arc in Singapore and averaging a two-region row against three-region rows would compare different populations; no keyed row exists for the Singapore tab, which is a coverage fact rather than a failed measurement. On the free cohort dRPC leads at 31 ms, measured on the same call from 3 regions; the two cohorts are never ranked in one table (shared gateways at 60 s against metered endpoints at 120 s). Switch the Access selector to Private for the region tabs and the p99 column; plan tiers are disclosed in the methodology.
What is Arc?
Arc (chain ID 5042) is Circle's EVM Layer 1 for stablecoin finance: USDC is the gas token, consensus is Malachite BFT with sub-second deterministic finality, and the validator set is permissioned (BlackRock, DTCC, Visa, Mastercard and ICE among the founding validators). Mainnet opened on 2026-09-16; it supports standard EVM tooling and eth_ JSON-RPC methods.
Source code github.com/ChainBench/OpenChainBench/tree/main/harnesses/rpc-capabilities