The Graph vs Covalent: Data Indexing for AVS Analytics

Censorship-resistant data: Indexed data is served by a decentralized network of Indexers, secured by the GRT token. This aligns with the trust-minimized ethos of AVS ecosystems. Over 1,000 subgraphs are deployed, with ~$2B+ in GRT securing the network.

Your AVS has unique, complex event logic that requires custom indexing (e.g., parsing custom smart contract states). You prioritize decentralized infrastructure and are willing to invest engineering time in subgraph development and maintenance.

You need to rapidly prototype or build a dashboard that aggregates data across multiple blockchains. Your primary need is accessing rich, standardized historical data (transactions, balances) without managing any indexing infrastructure.

Protocol-native indexing: Developers deploy custom subgraphs (GraphQL APIs) for specific smart contracts like Lido or Aave. This matters for AVS builders who need deep, real-time querying of their own protocol's state changes and events, ensuring data sovereignty and censorship resistance.

Pay-per-query model using GRT. This matters for AVS analytics platforms with predictable, high-volume query patterns, allowing fine-tuned budgeting. However, costs can scale unpredictably with user growth, requiring active management of query pricing and indexing rewards.

Single endpoint for 225+ blockchains. Provides normalized data (balances, transactions, logs) without needing to deploy infrastructure. This matters for AVS analysts needing cross-chain portfolio tracking or comparing performance across ecosystems like Ethereum, Polygon, and Arbitrum in one request.

Primarily optimized for recent data. While offering extensive history, complex historical analysis spanning years may require batch data pipelines or their enterprise Warehouse product. This matters for AVS teams conducting long-tail, multi-year trend analysis who need seamless deep historical access.

Single API for 200+ chains: Covalent provides a single, unified API endpoint across 200+ supported blockchains, including Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Base. This matters for AVS operators who need to monitor cross-chain restaking positions, validator performance, and slashing events without managing separate indexers for each network.

Granular, decoded historical data: Offers full historical state data with no archival node requirement. This is critical for AVS analytics needing to backtest slashing conditions, analyze operator performance over time, or audit historical attestations without complex infrastructure setup.

Custom data schema definition: Developers define their own GraphQL schema and mapping logic via subgraphs. This matters for AVS-specific analytics like custom slashing condition triggers, unique reputation scoring algorithms, or complex event-driven dashboards that require bespoke data transformations.

Decentralized indexing & querying: Relies on a network of Indexers, Curators, and Delegators, aligning with crypto-native values. This matters for AVS projects prioritizing censorship resistance, data provenance, and avoiding single points of failure for critical security data feeds.

Rapid prototyping with no indexing lag: Since Covalent maintains the indexed data, teams can query it immediately. This is ideal for AVS teams needing to build and iterate on dashboards (e.g., for operator due diligence) or MVPs quickly without waiting for subgraphs to sync.

Query cost tied to compute, not volume: The Graph's billing is based on query complexity, not data volume returned. For AVS with complex, compute-heavy analytics (e.g., calculating time-weighted averages for rewards), this can be more predictable than Covalent's volume-based pricing for large result sets.