Compute Unit Costs

A breakdown of Alchemy's compute unit costs per method, chain, and product.

What are Compute Units
NFT API
Transfers API
Token API
Transact
Debug API
Trace API
EVM API
Polygon PoS API
Polygon zkEVM API
Gas Manager & Bundler APIs
Embedded Account APIs
Starknet JSON-RPC APIs
Solana API
Notify & Subscription APIs
Error Codes

What are Compute Units?

Compute units (CUs) are the measure of the total computational resources your apps use on our platform. Different methods consume different amounts of CUs based on their complexity. For example, a lightweight query like eth_blockNumber uses fewer CUs than a more intensive query like eth_getLogs. For more details, please check out the Compute Units page.

NFT API

We want builders to be able to use as much of the NFT API as they need without worrying about throughput. Because of that, we have discounted how NFT API requests count towards your applications’ guaranteed throughput by 6-10x. This means you can make more concurrent NFT API requests, and use the “Throughput CU” below to calculate how much you can use!

Method	CU	Throughput CU
getNFTMetadata	100	10
getContractMetadata	250	10
getCollectionMetadata	250	10
getNFTs / getNFTsForOwner	600	100
getContractsForOwner	350	100
getCollectionsForOwner	350	100
getNFTsForCollection	600	50
getOwnersForNFT	100	10
getOwnersForCollection	600	20
getFloorPrice	100	10
getNFTSales	180	10
computeRarity	100	10
summarizeNFTAttributes	100	10
isHolderOfCollection	100	10
searchContractMetadata	500	50
getNFTMetadataBatch	600	100
getContractMetadataBatch	600	100
getSpamContracts	600	10
isSpamContract	100	10
isAirdrop	100	10
invalidateContract	100	500

Transfers API

Method	CU
alchemy_getAssetTransfers	150

Token API

Method	CU
alchemy_getTokenBalances	26
alchemy_getTokenMetadata	16
alchemy_getTokenAllowance	19

Prices API

Method	CU
tokens/by-symbol	40
tokens/by-address	40

Transact

Method	CU
alchemy_sendGasOptimizedTransaction	2500
alchemy_getGasOptimizedTransactionStatus	25
eth_sendPrivateTransaction	250
eth_cancelPrivateTransaction	250
alchemy_simulateAssetChanges	2500
alchemy_simulateExecution	2500
Reinforced Transactions	$999/month

requires Reinforced Transactions enabled on app

Debug API

Method	CU
debug_traceTransaction	170
debug_traceCall	170
debug_traceBlockByHash	170
debug_traceBlockByNumber	170

Trace API

Method	CU
trace_get	17
trace_block	24
trace_transaction	26
trace_call	75
trace_rawTransaction	75
trace_filter	75
trace_replayTransaction	2983
trace_replayBlockTransactions	2983

Standard EVM JSON-RPC Methods (Ethereum, Polygon PoS, Polygon zkEVM, Optimism, Arbitrum, zkSync, Base, Astar)

Method	CU
net_version	0
eth_chainId	0
eth_syncing	0
eth_protocolVersion	0
net_listening	0
eth_uninstallFilter	10
eth_accounts	10
eth_blockNumber	10
eth_subscribe	10
eth_unsubscribe	10
eth_feeHistory	10
eth_maxPriorityFeePerGas	10
eth_createAccessList	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
eth_getBlockByNumber	16
eth_getStorageAt	17
eth_getTransactionByHash	17
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
erigon_forks	24
erigon_getHeaderByHash	24
erigon_getHeaderByNumber	24
erigon_getLogsByHash	24
erigon_issuance	24
eth_getTransactionCount	26
eth_call	26
eth_getFilterLogs	75
eth_getLogs	75
eth_estimateGas	87
alchemy_getTransactionReceipts	250
eth_sendRawTransaction	250
eth_getBlockReceipts	500
batch	CU of method # of times the method is called

To view the batch request breakdown in the dashboard, click on "raw request"

Polygon PoS Specific Methods

Method	CU
bor_getAuthor	10
bor_getCurrentProposer	10
bor_getCurrentValidators	10
bor_getRootHash	10
bor_getSignersAtHash	10

Polygon zkEVM Specific Methods

Method	CU
zkevm_batchNumber	10
zkevm_batchNumberByBlockNumber	10
zkevm_consolidatedBlockNumber	10
zkevm_getBatchByNumber	10
zkevm_getBroadcastURI	10
zkevm_isBlockConsolidated	10
zkevm_isBlockVirtualized	10
zkevm_verifiedBatchNumber	10
zkevm_virtualBatchNumber	10

zkSync Era Specific Methods

All zkSync Era specific methods cost 10 CUs, this includes the methods listed below:

Gas Manager & Bundler APIs

Similar to the NFT API, the Gas Manager & Bundler APIs implement "Throughput CU" to count separately toward your applications' throughput!

Method	CU	Throughput CU
eth_sendUserOperation	1000	100
eth_estimateUserOperationGas	500	50
eth_getUserOperationByHash	17	17
eth_getUserOperationReceipt	15	15
eth_supportedEntryPoints	5	5
rundler_maxPriorityFeePerGas	10	10
alchemy_simulateUserOperationAssetChanges	2500	2500
alchemy_requestPaymasterAndData	1000	100
alchemy_requestGasAndPaymasterAndData	1250	125

Embedded Account APIs

Similar to the NFT API, the Embedded Account APIs implement "Throughput CU" to count separately toward your applications' throughput!

Method	CU	Throughput CU
/signer/auth	100	50
/signer/lookup	100	50
/signer/signup	1000	300
/signer/sign-payload	6000	300
/signer/whoami	100	20

Standard Starknet JSON-RPC Methods

Method	CU
starknet_getBlockWithTxHashes	16
starknet_getBlockWithTxs	16
starknet_getStateUpdate	21
starknet_getStorageAt	17
starknet_getTransactionByHash	17
starknet_getTransactionByBlockIdAndIndex	15
starknet_getTransactionReceipt	15
starknet_getClass	19
starknet_getClassHashAt	19
starknet_getClassAt	19
starknet_getBlockTransactionCount	20
starknet_call	26
starknet_blockNumber	10
starknet_blockHashAndNumber	10
starknet_chainId	0
starknet_pendingTransactions	50
starknet_syncing	0
starknet_getNonce	26
starknet_getEvents	75
starknet_estimateFee	87
starknet_addInvokeTransaction	250
starknet_addDeclareTransaction	250
starknet_addDeployAccountTransaction	250
starknet_estimateMessageFee	87

Standard Solana JSON-RPC Methods

Method	CU
getLeaderSchedule	5
requestAirdrop	5
getVoteAccounts	5
getBlockCommitment	5
getBlocksWithLimit	5
getHealth	5
getIdentity	5
getLatestBlockhash	7
getSlot	7
getInflationRate	8
getMaxRetransmitSlot	8
getRecentPerformanceSamples	8
getEpochInfo	9
getTokenAccountBalance	9
getBlockTime	9
getHighestSnapshotSlot	9
sendTransaction	10
getEpochSchedule	10
getStakeActivation	10
getMaxShredInsertSlot	10
getVersion	10
isBlockhashValid	10
getAccountInfo	10
getFeeForMessage	10
getFees	10
getConfirmedBlocks	10
getTokenLargestAccounts	10
getTokenOwnersByDelegate	10
getInflationGovernor	10
getSlotLeader	11
getMultipleAccounts	11
minimumLedgerSlot	11
getBlockHeight	11
simulateTransaction	11
getFeeCalculatorForBlockhash	11
getSignatureStatuses	11
getRecentBlockhash	12
getBlocks	12
getTokenAccountsByOwner	12
getMinimumBalanceForRentExemption	12
getBalance	12
getGenesisHash	13
getBlockProduction	13
getTokenSupply	14
getTransactionCount	16
getSlotLeaders	16
getClusterNodes	23
getSignaturesForAddress	28
getFirstAvailableBlock	33
getConfirmedSignaturesForAddress2	35
getConfirmedTransaction	38
getTransaction	59
getBlock	66
getProgramAccounts	117
getConfirmedBlock	151
getInflationReward	341
getSupply	822
getLargestAccounts	3000
batch*	CU of method # of times the method is called

To view the batch request breakdown in the dashboard, click on "raw request"

Notify and Subscription APIs

Webhook (Notify API) and WebSocket 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 it would consume 40 compute units. Note that this can vary significantly based on the specific event delivered Subscription API Quickstart

Compute unit cost for error codes

Error	Compute Units
Non-existing methods	0
`429`	0
Other `4xx` or `5xx`	CU value of specific endpoint
`32600: IP Address not on whitelist`	0
`32600: App is inactive`	0
`32600: Unspecified origin not on whitelist`	0