Compute Units (CUs)

Compute units are a measure of the total computational resources your apps are using on Alchemy. You can think of this as how you would pay Amazon for compute usage on AWS. Some queries are lightweight and fast to run (e.g., eth_blockNumber) and others can be more intense (e.g., large eth_getLogs queries). Each method is assigned a quantity of compute units, derived from global average durations of each method.
We're obsessed with providing the most developer-friendly experience across our platform, and this doesn't stop at pricing. Pricing on compute units allows us to provide developers with the most fair and transparent pricing possible. No more over-paying for simple requests, you only pay for what you use, period.
Raw Method Costs
Method
CU
eth_uninstallFilter
10
eth_accounts
10
eth_blockNumber
10
eth_chainId
10
eth_protocolVersion
10
eth_syncing
10
net_listening
10
net_version
10
eth_subscribe
10
eth_unsubscribe
10
eth_feeHistory
10
eth_maxPriorityFeePerGas
10
eth_createAccessList
10
bor_getAuthor
10
bor_getCurrentProposer
10
bor_getCurrentValidators
10
bor_getRootHash
10
bor_getSignersAtHash
10
eth_getTransactionReceipt
15
eth_getUncleByBlockHashAndIndex
15
eth_getUncleByBlockNumberAndIndex
15
eth_getTransactionByBlockHashAndIndex
15
eth_getTransactionByBlockNumberAndIndex
15
eth_getUncleCountByBlockHash
15
eth_getUncleCountByBlockNumber
15
web3_clientVersion
15
web3_sha3
15
alchemy_getTokenMetadata
16
eth_getBlockByNumber
16
eth_getStorageAt
17
eth_getTransactionByHash
17
trace_get
17
alchemy_getTokenAllowance
19
eth_gasPrice
19
eth_getBalance
19
eth_getCode
19
eth_getFilterChanges
20
eth_newBlockFilter
20
eth_newFilter
20
eth_newPendingTransactionFilter
20
eth_getBlockTransactionCountByHash
20
eth_getBlockTransactionCountByNumber
20
eth_getProof
21
eth_getBlockByHash
21
trace_block
24
parity_getBlockReceipts
24
erigon_forks
24
erigon_getHeaderByHash
24
erigon_getHeaderByNumber
24
erigon_getLogsByHash
24
erigon_issuance
24
eth_getTransactionCount
26
eth_call
26
alchemy_getTokenBalances
26
trace_transaction
26
eth_getFilterLogs
75
eth_getLogs
75
trace_call
75
trace_callMany
75
trace_rawTransaction
75
trace_filter
75
eth_estimateGas
87
alchemy_getAssetTransfers
150
eth_sendRawTransaction
250
debug_traceTransaction
309
trace_replayTransaction
2983
trace_replayBlockTransactions
2983
WebSocket and Webhook Costs
Webhook and WebSocket subscriptions on Alchemy are priced based on bandwidth: the amount of data delivered as part of the subscription.
Each subscription type is priced identically, per byte:
Bandwidth
CU
1 byte
.04
On average, a typical webhook or WebSocket subscription event is about 1000 bytes, so would consume 40 compute units. Note that this can vary significantly based on the specific event delivered (alchemy_newFullPendingTransactions subscription type has a much higher compute unit cost than others).
On-Demand Compute (Growth Tier Only)
Turning on autoscale gives you instant access to on-demand compute at volume discounts. No more worrying about your node going down due to a spike in traffic, or even waiting days for new nodes to sync. Autoscale gives you infinite scalability at affordable prices.
Monthly Compute Units (CU)
Price Per Unit
0-150,000,000
$0.00
150,000,000-200,000,000
$0.0000032 ($3.20/1M CU)
200,000,000-300,000,000
$0.0000025 ($2.50/1M CU)
300,000,000-450,000,000
$0.0000020 ($2.00/1M CU)
450,000,000-1,025,000,000
$0.0000016 ($1.60/1M CU)
1,025,000,000+
$0.0000012 ($1.20/1M CU)
Rate Limits (CUPS)
​Rate Limits serve to protect users from malicious actors or runaway scripts. Each tier has prioritized rate limit allocations designed for ultimate reliability.
CUPS are a measure of the number of compute units used per second when making requests. Since each request is weighted differently, we base this on the total compute units used rather than the number of requests.
For example, if you send one eth_blockNumber (10 CUs), two eth_getLogs (75 CUs), and two eth_call (26 CUs) requests in the same second, you will have a total of 310 CUPS.
User
CUPS
Free
330
Growth
660
Enterprise
Custom
If you are experiencing rate limits, or want create a more robust and reliable experience for your users, we recommend implementing retries.

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Contents

Raw Method Costs

WebSocket and Webhook Costs

On-Demand Compute (Growth Tier Only)

Rate Limits (CUPS)