Moralis excels at providing a comprehensive, all-in-one backend for new projects due to its generous bundled limits. Its free tier includes 1 million monthly requests, 500GB of bandwidth, and access to its full suite of APIs—including NFT, Token, and Wallet APIs—without requiring a credit card. This makes it ideal for rapid prototyping and MVPs where developers need to test multiple features without immediate cost concerns.
LABS
Comparisons
Moralis vs Alchemy: Free Tier Limits
A technical analysis comparing the freemium strategies of Moralis and Alchemy, focusing on daily request caps, chain access, advanced APIs, and the developer experience for CTOs and engineering leads.
Chainscore © 2026
introduction
THE ANALYSIS
Introduction
A data-driven breakdown of Moralis and Alchemy's free tiers, focusing on their distinct approaches to developer onboarding and long-term scalability.
Alchemy takes a different approach by offering a usage-based free tier with higher performance ceilings but stricter rate limits on specific services. It provides 300 million Compute Units (CUs) per month, which translates to significant raw RPC capacity, but its enhanced APIs (like alchemy_getTokenBalances) have lower call limits. This strategy prioritizes high-throughput applications that rely heavily on core JSON-RPC calls over bundled specialty features.
The key trade-off: If your priority is feature-rich experimentation and rapid MVP development with a wide array of pre-built tools, choose Moralis. If you prioritize high-volume, production-ready RPC reliability and are building a dApp with predictable, core blockchain queries, choose Alchemy for its robust infrastructure and seamless scaling path.
tldr-summary
Moralis vs Alchemy: Free Tier Limits
TL;DR: Key Differentiators at a Glance
A data-driven breakdown of the free tier offerings, highlighting the core trade-offs for developers choosing a Web3 backend provider.
01
Moralis: Superior Daily Request Volume
Specific advantage: 1,000,000+ daily compute units (CUs) on the free tier, which translates to significantly more API calls for typical operations like getNativeBalance or getWalletNFTs. This matters for prototyping high-frequency dApps or supporting a larger initial user base without immediate cost concerns.
1M+
Daily CUs
02
Moralis: Built-in Cross-Chain Abstraction
Specific advantage: Native support for EVM, Solana, and Aptos via a single, unified API (e.g., Moralis.EvmApi.nft.getWalletNFTs()). This matters for teams building multi-chain applications who want to avoid managing separate RPC providers and SDKs for each chain, reducing initial integration complexity.
03
Alchemy: Unmatched Reliability & Performance
Specific advantage: Industry-leading 99.9%+ SLA and sub-100ms p95 latency for core JSON-RPC methods on the free tier. This matters for production-ready applications where consistent uptime and speed for transactions and state queries are non-negotiable, even during development.
99.9%
Uptime SLA
<100ms
p95 Latency
04
Alchemy: Advanced Developer Tooling Suite
Specific advantage: Free access to proprietary tools like Alchemy's Enhanced APIs (Transfers, Token, NFT) and the Debug API for transaction simulation. This matters for developers needing deep insights into mempool activity, gas optimization, and complex contract interactions that standard nodes don't provide.
HEAD-TO-HEAD COMPARISON
Free Tier Feature Comparison: Moralis vs Alchemy
Direct comparison of key limits and features for developers evaluating free-tier blockchain APIs.
| Metric / Feature | Moralis | Alchemy |
|---|---|---|
Daily Compute Units (CUs) | 3,000,000 | 300 |
Free Tier Requests per Month | Unlimited | 300 million |
Historical Data Access | ||
WebSocket Connections | ||
Enhanced APIs (NFTs, Balances) | ||
Supported Chains | 10+ (EVM) | 15+ (EVM & Solana) |
Rate Limiting (req/sec) | ~50 | ~330 |
pros-cons-a
PROS AND CONS
Moralis vs Alchemy: Free Tier Limits
A data-driven breakdown of the free offerings from the two leading Web3 infrastructure providers. Compare core limits to match your project's needs.
01
Moralis Pro: All-in-One Simplicity
Integrated API suite: Get a unified API for NFTs, balances, and transactions, plus native Web3 Auth and Streams. This eliminates the need to stitch together multiple services, which matters for rapid prototyping and hackathon projects where developer velocity is critical.
5+ APIs
Included
02
Moralis Con: Lower Request Throughput
Strict rate limits: The free tier offers significantly lower compute units (CUs) compared to Alchemy's equivalent. This matters for applications expecting consistent user traffic or back-end services that require high reliability, as you may hit limits during peak usage.
~3.9M
Monthly CUs
03
Alchemy Pro: Higher Raw Performance
Generous compute allowance: Alchemy's free tier provides more Compute Units (CUs), translating to higher request throughput and reliability. This matters for production-ready dApps and high-frequency trading bots that cannot afford rate limit interruptions.
~300M
Monthly CUs
04
Alchemy Con: Core RPC Focus
Specialized, not bundled: Primarily offers enhanced Ethereum JSON-RPC with superior reliability. You'll need to integrate separate services for features like NFT indexing (SimpleHash) or notifications (Gelato). This matters for teams that prefer best-of-breed tools but requires more integration work.
1 Core API
Enhanced RPC
pros-cons-b
Moralis vs Alchemy: Free Tier Limits
Alchemy Free Tier: Pros and Cons
Key strengths and trade-offs at a glance for developers choosing a free-tier Web3 API provider.
01
Alchemy Pro: Superior Request Volume
Generous compute units: 300 million per month. This translates to ~1.5x more raw API calls than Moralis's 200k request cap. This matters for high-throughput applications like NFT marketplaces or high-frequency data dashboards where request volume is the primary constraint.
02
Alchemy Pro: Advanced Developer Tooling
Full API suite access: Includes WebSockets, Enhanced APIs (NFTs, Transfers), and the debug/trace suite. This matters for building complex dApps that require real-time notifications, deep transaction inspection, or specialized data indexing without an immediate upgrade.
03
Alchemy Con: No Free Shared Node
Dedicated tier required for production: The free tier uses shared, rate-limited nodes. For mainnet reliability, you must upgrade to a paid dedicated tier ($49+). This matters for protocols requiring guaranteed uptime SLAs (99.9%) and no rate-limiting, such as DeFi lending platforms or high-value bridges.
04
Alchemy Con: Complex Pricing Model
Compute Unit (CU) abstraction: Costs are based on abstracted CUs, not simple requests, making usage and cost prediction harder than Moralis's per-request model. This matters for CTOs managing tight infrastructure budgets who need predictable, transparent billing from day one.
05
Moralis Pro: Simpler Free Tier Structure
Clear per-request limit: 200,000 API requests per month with a dedicated node. This matters for solo developers and small teams prototyping MVPs who need straightforward, predictable limits without navigating a complex compute unit system.
06
Moralis Pro: Built-in Cross-Chain Support
Unified APIs across 10+ chains: Includes Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Chain, and Solana in the free tier. This matters for projects building multi-chain applications or exploring deployment on alternative L2s/EVM chains without managing multiple provider accounts.
CHOOSE YOUR PRIORITY
When to Choose Moralis vs Alchemy (By Use Case)
Moralis for DeFi
Verdict: Best for rapid prototyping and wallet integrations, but lacks deep on-chain data tooling. Strengths:
- Unified Wallet API: Single endpoint for balances, NFTs, and token prices across chains like Ethereum, Polygon, and BNB Chain.
- Speed to MVP: Pre-built authentication (
Moralis.Auth) and Web3 UI kits accelerate frontend development for DEXs or dashboards. - Cross-Chain Simplicity: Abstracts RPC node management, letting you focus on contract logic. Limitations: Lacks native support for specialized DeFi data like Uniswap v3 liquidity positions or complex event filtering at Alchemy's depth.
Alchemy for DeFi
Verdict: The industrial-grade choice for data-intensive, high-throughput applications. Strengths:
- Superior Data APIs:
alchemy_getAssetTransfersand Enhanced APIs provide parsed, historical DeFi data (e.g., all USDC transfers to Aave). - WebSockets & Mempool: Real-time event tracking and transaction simulation critical for arbitrage bots and liquidation engines.
- Proven Reliability: Powers top protocols like Aave and 0x; higher rate limits and dedicated nodes ensure uptime during network congestion. Trade-off: Requires more setup and deeper blockchain knowledge versus Moralis' abstraction.
verdict
THE ANALYSIS
Final Verdict and Decision Framework
Choosing between Moralis and Alchemy's free tiers requires mapping their specific limits to your project's growth trajectory and technical needs.
Moralis excels at providing a holistic, beginner-friendly development suite with generous daily request limits. Its free tier offers 25,000 daily requests and includes access to its unified API, which bundles blockchain data, real-time alerts, and native wallet authentication. This integrated approach reduces the need for multiple service integrations, making it ideal for rapid prototyping and early-stage projects. For example, a team building a simple NFT gallery can leverage Moralis' getNFTs endpoint and Web3 authentication without hitting limits prematurely.
Alchemy takes a different approach by offering a more granular, performance-optimized free tier focused on core RPC and data services. While its 300 million compute units per month is generous, the key differentiator is its 99.9% uptime SLA and superior node reliability, even on the free plan. This results in a trade-off: you get enterprise-grade infrastructure stability but must manage services like notifications and authentication separately. Alchemy's free tier is a direct pipeline to its paid Enhanced APIs, which are the industry standard for high-throughput DeFi and NFT applications.
The key trade-off: If your priority is speed of development and an all-in-one toolkit for a consumer dApp, choose Moralis. Its bundled features and straightforward limits simplify the initial build. If you prioritize infrastructure reliability, high-throughput data needs, and a clear path to scaling a protocol or financial application, choose Alchemy. Its robust core services and proven track record with protocols like OpenSea and Aave make it the safer long-term bet for serious projects.
ENQUIRY
Get In Touch
today.
Our experts will offer a free quote and a 30min call to discuss your project.
NDA Protected
Confidentiality24h Response
Time to ValueDirectly to Engineering Team
No Sales Fluff10+
Protocols Shipped
$20M+
TVL Overall