Compare
Alchemy Compute Units vs BlazingNode direct Polygon RPC limits
Alchemy measures RPC usage and throughput through Compute Units. BlazingNode provides 500,000 requests (300 RPS, 0 traces) on a 72-hour mainnet trial, followed by direct monthly request and trace envelopes across all paid plans at a uniform 300 RPS baseline: Builder (20M req / 25K traces at 49 USDC), Operator (45M req / 50K traces at 99 USDC), Pro (90M req / 100K traces at 199 USDC), and Business (160M req / 250K traces at 349 USDC).
Disclosure: This is a BlazingNode comparison page. Pricing last checked: July 8, 2026. Pricing and feature details can change. Verify current provider pages before making a final buying decision.
Core distinction: Compute Unit multipliers vs dedicated Polygon RPC
Alchemy meters usage with Compute Units (CUs), where standard methods consume 20–80+ CUs and trace calls cost 300+ CUs. In contrast, BlazingNode provides Polygon-specialized managed infrastructure with zero CU math (1 call = 1 request), included trace calls, and sub-100ms p50 latency across North America (22.5ms East Canada, 29.5ms Virginia, 37.9ms Ohio) and Europe (90.3ms London, 94.5ms Paris). Even multi-chain teams isolate their Polygon workload on BlazingNode to eliminate unpredictable CU inflation.
Who this page is for
- Developers who like Alchemy but struggle forecasting costs
- Teams seeing CU usage grow on Polygon
- Users with heavy logs, traces, simulations, or method mix variance
What Compute Units mean
One request is not always one billing unit. Lightweight methods may cost fewer CUs, heavier methods more CUs, and throughput is expressed in CUPS as well as request rate.
Why CU pricing can surprise teams
Request count can stay stable while cost rises because method mix gets heavier. Logs, traces, simulations, webhooks, and richer data features can all change CU burn without changing the number of top-level requests very much.
| Topic | Alchemy | BlazingNode |
|---|---|---|
| Billing unit | Compute Units (Multipliers vary by method) | Direct monthly requests (1 call = 1 request) |
| Free or trial | 30M CU free, 25 RPS | 72-hour mainnet trial: 500K requests, 300 RPS peak burst |
| Throughput model | CUPS / RPS throttle model | 300 RPS Peak Burst Ceiling across all tiers |
| Trace and debug | PAYG or Enterprise, not Free | Included on all paid plans (25K, 50K, 100K, 250K) |
| Architecture | Shared multi-tenant cloud proxy | Straight bare-metal NVMe dedicated engines |
| Cost forecasting | Depends on complex method mix | Predictable fixed monthly envelope |
| Add-ons | Platform-specific usage expansion | 20M request packs, traces, 72h weekend spike passes |
Example: why 10M requests can mean different things
Ten million light calls at 10 CU each is 100M CUs. Ten million average calls at 27 CU each is 270M CUs. Heavier workloads can go far beyond that. This does not make CU pricing unfair. It means the buyer has to model method mix. BlazingNode counts monthly request volume directly, but it still has plan limits and is not trying to be every type of Web3 platform.
Where Alchemy is stronger
- Multi-chain platform breadth
- Developer tooling and broader APIs
- Established ecosystem and dashboards
- Advanced platform products beyond base RPC
Where BlazingNode is stronger
- Polygon-only focus
- Direct monthly request limits
- Included trace calls
- Extra 20M request packs for 39 USDC
- USDC billing
- Simpler price conversation for operators
- RPC Checker and 72-hour mainnet trial
Workload architecture breakdown
| High-throughput Polygon execution & bots | BlazingNode (Sub-37ms US/Canada p50, tip-of-chain freshness) |
| Predictable Polygon monthly cost budgeting | BlazingNode (Zero CU calculation; direct monthly request caps) |
| Trace and debug call volume | BlazingNode (Up to 250K traces included without 300+ CU charges) |
| USDC native settlement with zero lock-in | BlazingNode (Instant on-chain access, no credit card required) |
| Multi-chain application with high Polygon volume | Isolate Polygon on BlazingNode; keep secondary chains on generalist API |