Blast

Introduction to Blast

Introducing Blast: The Most Affordable Purpose-Built RPC for Historical Blockchain Data

Blast is Alchemy’s dedicated, high-throughput Core RPC API optimized for read-only access to historical blockchain data. It is designed to power use cases such as indexing, backfilling, and historical analytics—eliminating the cost and complexity of real-time infrastructure you don’t need.

Unlike general-purpose RPC providers, Blast removes real-time transaction capabilities and live-chain features to deliver affordable, reliable access to past blockchain states. It supports 100+ networks via a single API key and offers enterprise-grade scale with 99.9% uptime across geographies.

Who Should Use Blast?

Blast is purpose-built for teams that require large-scale historical reads, such as:

  • Marketplaces & Indexers
    Reconstruct complete transaction histories across multiple chains to populate user profiles, asset listings, and analytics dashboards.

  • Oracles & Data Providers
    Backfill datasets or verify past on-chain states without needing access to latest mempool or chain-tip data.

  • Data Aggregators & Explorers
    Process millions of block calls for research or auditability without incurring the high costs of real-time RPC services.

Limitations of Blast

Blast is intentionally scoped to meet specific historical data needs:

  • Read-Only, Historical Access Only
    No writes or real-time reads. ETH_CALLs are restricted to blocks 25+ blocks behind tip

  • No WebSockets, Mempool, or Event Subscriptions
    Real-time functionality like eth_subscribe or pending tx monitoring is excluded to keep performance and costs optimized for historical work

  • Limited Developer Tooling
    Features like usage charts or response logs are minimal. For richer debugging or monitoring, Supernode may be more appropriate.

  • Slightly Lower Uptime
    Blast offers 99.9% reliability vs. Supernode’s 99.99%. For use cases that can tolerate minor delays and handle retries, this offers substantial savings.

Read more about the limitations here.

How to Get Blast

Blast is currently available to enterprise customers only.

  • If you’re already an Alchemy enterprise customer, please reach out to your Alchemy Sales POC for access.
  • New to Alchemy? Contact us to discuss your historical data requirements and determine if Blast is a fit for your needs.

Once approved, setup is as simple as creating a new Blast app, copying your API key from the Blast dashboard, and pasting it into your existing Alchemy request configuration.