What is the difference between a full and an archive node?

A full node serves current state; an archive node also answers for state at any past block. Bodies, logs and receipts are there in both cases — what a pruned node cannot do is compute a balance or a contract call as of a block from last year.

Why does analytics need historical data at all?

Because every metric with a time axis is a backfill. Last March's number cannot be derived from current state: it has to be read from the blocks, logs and contract state as they were then.

Can this back an indexer?

Yes, and that is the usual case. The node side is ours; retries, backfill and reorg handling stay on yours — no API removes the need for an idempotent writer.

What should be monitored?

Block lag, error rate on heavy methods, response time on the read path and gaps in the block sequence. The pipeline section above pairs each stage with its number.

What happens to indexed rows after a reorg?

The chain rewrites its own history, so the pipeline has to as well: rows keyed by block hash rather than height, and a rollback path for the blocks that lost. Nothing on our side can decide that for you — but the events that tell you a reorg happened do arrive.

When does this need a dedicated node?

When the calculator above shows days rather than hours, or when the heavy methods start colliding with the shared rate limit. Isolated capacity buys a rate limit of your own and archive depth without a queue — the table above compares both.

For Web3 analytics

Full and archive nodes
for Web3 analytics

Indexers, dashboards and investigations need the chain as it is now and as it was. Archive answers on the same URL and the same key — including the history a pruned node no longer holds.

Start for free Read the docs

4: Networks in production
genesis: Archive starts at
48 ms: Archive log query
25.9M: Blocks of Ethereum history

History behind each network

archive from block 0

Bitcoingetblock · verbosity 2965,167chain head
Ethereumeth_getLogs · full range25,889,765chain head
SolanagetSignaturesForAddress302,847,119chain head
Trongettransactioninfobyid85,894,134chain head

One address for both: the archive method goes to the same endpoint and the same key as a plain read.

Full and archive

The whole difference is that sliver on the right

Both keep every block body, every log and every receipt. State is where they part: a full node computes it for the newest blocks only, an archive node for any block ever mined.

block 0 · genesishead · 25,889,765

FullBodies, logs, receipts — all of it. State — the newest blocks only.

ArchiveThe same, plus state at any block in history.

That window is 128 blocks — about 26 min of chain, or 0.0005% of Ethereum's history. Everything an analytics product asks about lies outside it.

→ eth_call · block 23,889,765

Full: error −32000 · missing trie node
Archive: 0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003635c9adc5dea00000

archive
Transfers and events
archive: eth_getLogs
48 ms
archive
Internal calls
trace_block
62 ms
full node
Token holders
/v1/tokens/holders
31 ms
full node
Price series
/v1/market/ohlcv
17 ms

Backfill

What history costs before it becomes a dashboard

An indexer starts by reading the past. Pick a network and a depth — the numbers are ours: block time and height from the network profiles, request ceilings from the price list.

2.6M: Blocks to read
26.3K: Requests
100: Blocks per request
48 ms: Archive read, p50

Start15 rps29 min26% of the monthly limit
Basic200 rps2 min0.7% of the monthly limit
Advanced300 rps88 s0.1% of the monthly limit

On Start that is 29 min of reading, and the chain moves on by 146 blocks meanwhile — the same indexer picks them up once it reaches the head.

Backfills like that run on isolated capacity: your own rate limit, archive from genesis and a region pinned to where the pipeline lives. Dedicated nodes

Pipeline

Four stages, and each one fails in its own way

Nodes, indexer, analytics — the same stages as before, each with the number that tells you it was this one that stopped.

01Chain head
A subscription keeps the indexer on the newest block, instead of a worker asking the node the same question all day.
ws · newHeads
Block lag — how far behind the head you run
02Archive reads
Logs, receipts and historical state, read in ranges wherever the network accepts ranges.
archive: eth_getLogs
Error rate on heavy methods
03Indexing
Traces and transfers turn into rows. A reorg rewrites what was already written, so the writer has to be idempotent.
trace_block
Gaps in the block sequence
04Serving
Dashboards and your API read the built tables, not the chain — that is the whole point of the pipeline.
/v1/tokens/holders
Response time on the read path

Shared or dedicated

The shared endpoint stays right there — it is the easy place to start and to test.

Both run on the same API and the same key, so you can keep part of the traffic on the shared pool and move only the critical part to your own node.

Criterion	Shared RPC	Dedicated nodes
Capacity	Shared pool, scaled by us	Reserved node, yours alone
Noisy neighbours	Fair queue per key	None — single tenant
Rate limits	Per plan, burst-friendly	Whatever the node can serve
Archive	Included	Included, custom retention
Placement	Nearest healthy region	Pinned to your region
Setup	Instant	Provisioned within a day
Best for	Wallets, apps, bursty traffic	Exchanges, indexers, steady load

Capacity

Shared RPC: Shared pool, scaled by us
Dedicated nodes: Reserved node, yours alone

Noisy neighbours

Shared RPC: Fair queue per key
Dedicated nodes: None — single tenant

Rate limits

Shared RPC: Per plan, burst-friendly
Dedicated nodes: Whatever the node can serve

Placement

Shared RPC: Nearest healthy region
Dedicated nodes: Pinned to your region

Setup

Shared RPC: Instant
Dedicated nodes: Provisioned within a day

Best for

Shared RPC: Wallets, apps, bursty traffic
Dedicated nodes: Exchanges, indexers, steady load

See plans Shared RPC endpoints

Questions

What analytics teams ask

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Full and archive nodesfor Web3 analytics