Quick answer: The best Ethereum RPC provider depends on whether you send transactions that bots could exploit, need old data or tracing, and require certifications. Chainstack, dRPC, Alchemy and Quicknode list MEV protection, and Chainstack and Quicknode hold both SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
Every wallet, exchange, and crypto app that works with Ethereum does it through an RPC provider: a service that reads data from the network and sends instructions to it, like a phone line into the blockchain. Ethereum is where much of the money sits. DefiLlama shows about $51.2 billion locked in decentralized finance (lending and trading apps that run without banks) on Ethereum, roughly 56% of the total across all blockchains. It also holds about $146.1 billion in stablecoins (tokens pegged to the dollar), almost half of the amount DefiLlama tracks (as of October 9, 2026). If your provider is slow or cuts you off, payments and trades stall.
Here is how six providers compare for Ethereum in 2026.
How we compared: each provider’s own documentation and pricing pages, checked October 8, 9 and 15, 2026, for free plan, dedicated nodes, MEV protection and pricing model.
Quick comparison
| Provider | Free plan | Dedicated nodes | MEV protection | Pricing model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chainstack | ✅ 3M RU/mo | ✅ | ✅ | 1 RU full, 2 RU archive and trace |
| GetBlock | ✅ 50K CU/day | ✅ | ✅ | CU, by method |
| Dwellir | ✅ 100K responses/day | ✅ | ❌ | Flat, 1 credit per call |
| dRPC | ✅ 210M CU/mo | ❌ | ✅ | CU, pay as you go |
| Alchemy | ✅ 30M CU/mo | ✅ | ✅ | CU, by method |
| Quicknode | 1-month trial | ✅ | ✅ | Credits, 20 per call |
❌ means not listed in the provider’s documentation. MEV protection means transactions can be sent privately, so trading bots cannot jump ahead of them. Information as of October 2026.
1. Chainstack
Chainstack runs Ethereum through Global Nodes (shared, auto-scaling), Dedicated Nodes (private servers), and Self-Hosted, which runs the same software on your own infrastructure. It offers archive nodes (full history back to the first block) and the debug and trace tools developers use to inspect transactions. MEV protection, which keeps your transactions out of the public queue where bots can see them, is included by default on new Ethereum nodes, free plan included, and can be disabled in the node settings. Pricing is 1 request unit per full-node call and 2 for archive, debug and trace calls. The $49 Growth plan includes 20 million request units. Chainstack holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications.
Where it falls short: archive and debug/trace start on the $49 plan, dedicated nodes on the $199 Pro plan, and its 70+ networks trail the 130+ that dRPC lists.
2. OnFinality
OnFinality runs Ethereum on shared and dedicated infrastructure across more than 70 networks. Archive data is included on every plan, and a Trace API (tools that replay a transaction step by step) comes with the $49 Growth plan. The free plan allows 400,000 response units a day at up to 40 units a second. Growth includes 20 million response units a month, with extra ones at $6 per million. The $249 Accelerate plan includes 100 million, with extra ones at $3.75 per million. Dedicated nodes are billed pay as you go, with no starting price listed.
Where it falls short: response units are weighted by request complexity and response size, and OnFinality does not publish a weight for each Ethereum method, so costs are harder to forecast than on a flat per-request rate. Trace is not on the free plan, and it lists no MEV protection, SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001.
3. Dwellir
Dwellir serves Ethereum mainnet and Sepolia over HTTPS and WebSocket, with archive data and, on paid plans, debug and trace tools. Pricing is flat: every call costs 1 credit, whatever the method. The free plan allows 100,000 calls a day, and the $49 Developer plan includes 25M calls, with extra ones at $5 per million. Private dedicated clusters list from $12,600 a month for Ethereum.
Where it falls short: it lists no MEV protection, and no SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001. Its Ethereum pages do not name node locations.
4. dRPC
dRPC routes your requests across a network of independent node operators. The free plan gives 210M compute units a month, and paid use is pay as you go, with no monthly cap and up to 5,000 requests per second. Debug and trace tools and MEV protection are listed for Ethereum. Archive and standard requests cost the same.
Where it falls short: the free tier runs on public nodes with batch and log limits, and no self-serve dedicated plan is listed.
5. Alchemy
Alchemy is a well-known name with a permanent free tier of 30M compute units a month, archive data included, and MEV protection built into its Ethereum endpoints. Its Dedicated Clusters give larger customers single-tenant servers, and it states SOC 2 Type II compliance.
Where it falls short: trace and debug are not on the free tier. Calls are weighted by method, so a typical eth_call costs 26 CUs, which makes costs harder to forecast than a flat per-request rate. ISO 27001 is not listed.
6. Quicknode
Quicknode covers Ethereum with archive data on every plan, debug and trace tools, and a built-in MEV Protection module that is on by default for new endpoints on its standard plans. Dedicated clusters are available on its Enterprise plan, and it holds both SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001.
Where it falls short: there is no permanent free plan, only a one-month trial. Each Ethereum call costs 20 credits, so the $49 Build plan’s 80M credits cover about 4 million calls, and debug and trace calls cost double.
Final thoughts
Three questions settle most choices. Do you send transactions that bots could exploit, which makes MEV protection worth having? Do you need old data, such as balances years back, or tracing tools, or is the latest state enough? And does your company require certifications and private servers, or will shared infrastructure do? Chainstack offers private servers, a self-hosted option, MEV protection by default, and both SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 under one roof.
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