Head to head
Iteradian vs Alchemy
Iteradian and Alchemy both run managed RPC. Alchemy bills in compute units (CU); Iteradian bills a fixed monthly plan price in requests, at $39 per month for 25,000,000 requests, $169 per month for 80,000,000 requests, with overage capped per billing period. Iteradian has a free plan, Free RPC, across all 12 networks.
Iteradian
- Bills in
- Requests — one call is one request
- Entry paid plan
- Developer RPC: $39/month for 25,000,000 requests
- Free option
- Free
- Bittensor
- Native Subtensor JSON-RPC, every plan
Alchemy
- Bills in
- compute units (CU)
- Entry paid plan
- Pay as You Go — $0.525 per 1M CU, no monthly fee
- Free option
- Yes — 30,000,000 CU per month at 25 requests per second.
- Bittensor
- Not listed on its supported-chains page
Every Alchemy figure on this page was read from www.alchemy.com/pricing on . Providers change pricing without notice — check the source before deciding. Alchemy is a trademark of its owner; Iteradian is not affiliated with Alchemy.
Why teams pick Iteradian over Alchemy
Bittensor is on the menu
Subtensor mainnet over its native Substrate JSON-RPC, on the same key as your EVM chains. Alchemy does not list Bittensor.
A call is a call
Iteradian counts requests. A trace or a log range costs the same as a block number, so the bill tracks traffic, not your method mix.
A ceiling on the bill
A fixed monthly price, and overage that stops at a cap you can read on the pricing page. Past it the gateway answers 429 instead of invoicing more.
Side by side
| Feature | Iteradian | Alchemy |
|---|---|---|
| Billing unit | Requests — one call is one request | compute units (CU) |
| Heavy methods cost more? | No — every call counts as one request | Yes — cost depends on the method |
| Entry paid plan | Developer RPC: $39/month for 25,000,000 requests | Pay as You Go — $0.525 per 1M CU, no monthly fee · From 1,000 requests/second |
| Free option | Free | Yes — 30,000,000 CU per month at 25 requests per second. |
| Past the allowance | $0.005 per 1,000 requests, capped at $150 per period, then HTTP 429 | Not applicable — Pay as You Go is metered from the first CU. Throughput above the included 300 requests/second is sold in $160 blocks of 5,000 CU/s per month. You can set a usage limit to cap spend. |
| Bittensor | Native Subtensor JSON-RPC, every plan | Not listed on its supported-chains page |
| Networks | 12 in the catalogue, all on every plan | Alchemy states 100+ blockchains |
| Per-key controls | IP allowlist (up to 50), allowed networks, rate limit and expiry on every key | Allowlists are available |
| Failover | Health-checked; a failed read tries up to 3 nodes | Not stated on the pages we read |
How the bill is built
How Alchemy bills
Alchemy bills in compute units, not requests. Each method costs a different number of CU, so what a month costs depends on which methods you call as much as on how many calls you make.
How Iteradian bills
One JSON-RPC call is one request, whether it is eth_blockNumber or a heavy eth_getLogs range; a batch of N calls counts as N. Past the monthly allowance, requests keep being served and are billed per 1,000, up to a spend cap per billing period. Past the cap the gateway answers HTTP 429 and the bill stops — so the worst case is known before the traffic arrives.
Both price lists, unconverted
Units differ, so nothing here is converted into the other side’s currency. Compare against your own traffic.
Iteradian — live from the control plane
| Plan | Price | Included | Throughput |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free RPC | $0/mo | 3,000,000 requests/month | 25 requests/second |
| Developer RPC | $39/mo | 25,000,000 requests/month | 250 requests/second |
| Professional RPC | $169/mo | 80,000,000 requests/month | 500 requests/second |
| Dedicated RPC | Custom | — | — |
Alchemy
| Plan | Price | Included | Throughput |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 30M CU per month | 25 requests/second |
| Pay as You Go | $0.525 per 1M CU | Metered — no fixed allowance | From 300 requests/second |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | From 1,000 requests/second |
Where each one is strong
What Alchemy does well
- A permanent free tier of 30M compute units a month, no card needed.
- A broad product surface beyond RPC: NFT, token and price APIs, webhooks, and account-abstraction infrastructure.
- WebSockets on every plan, and more than 100 chains.
- Signed SLAs on Enterprise, and high throughput ceilings from 300 requests per second on Pay as You Go.
Where Iteradian differs
- Iteradian bills in requests, not compute units. One call is one request, whatever the method.
- Iteradian serves Bittensor through its native Subtensor RPC; Alchemy does not list Bittensor.
- Iteradian charges a fixed monthly plan price with overage capped per billing period, so the worst-case bill is known before the month starts.
- Iteradian is an RPC gateway. It does not ship NFT, token or price APIs, or account-abstraction infrastructure.
Choose Alchemy when…
You want 100+ chains, NFT/token/price APIs or account-abstraction infrastructure alongside RPC, or a signed SLA.
Choose Iteradian when…
You need Bittensor, you want a monthly bill in requests rather than compute units, or you want the worst-case bill fixed before the month starts.
Start the trialQuestions people ask
Is Iteradian cheaper than Alchemy?
It depends on your method mix, because the two meter differently. Alchemy bills in compute units (CU), while Iteradian bills a fixed monthly plan price in requests: $39 per month for 25,000,000 requests, $169 per month for 80,000,000 requests. Past the allowance, overage is capped per billing period, after which the gateway returns HTTP 429 — so the worst-case bill is known in advance. Compare against your own traffic before switching.
Does Alchemy have a free tier?
Yes — 30,000,000 CU per month at 25 requests per second.
Does Alchemy support Bittensor?
On the pages we read: Not listed on its supported-chains page. Iteradian serves Bittensor’s native Subtensor JSON-RPC on every plan, alongside the other networks in its 12-network catalogue.
When should I choose Alchemy over Iteradian?
You want 100+ chains, NFT/token/price APIs or account-abstraction infrastructure alongside RPC, or a signed SLA.