Compare · Alchemy

Alchemy Bitcoin API alternative with address, ordinals and runes data

Alchemy's Bitcoin API is a Bitcoin Core JSON-RPC passthrough. Reading its documented method list on 1 September 2026 there are 36 methods, and not one of them accepts a Bitcoin address.

That single fact explains most of the frustration developers hit here: searches for a Bitcoin getBalance, an address history call, or an ordinals or runes endpoint come back empty because those methods are not in the set. It is not a flaw in Alchemy's product. Bitcoin Core itself keeps a UTXO set and no address index, so a node genuinely cannot answer "what does this address hold" without a separate index somebody has to build. Alchemy hands you a well-run node; BitcoinDatabase hands you the index. Informational on-chain data only, never financial or investment advice.

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REST API · SQL · dashboards · indexed since the 2009 genesis block

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informational on-chain data · not financial advice

REST API · SQL · dashboards, one indexed dataset. Querying the indexed Bitcoin blockchain ...

Alchemy leads on managed node access, transaction broadcasting and multi-chain breadth, while BitcoinDatabase leads on indexed Bitcoin data you can query by address, in SQL, or as ordinals and runes.

Side by side

Alchemy vs BitcoinDatabase, honestly

A fair look at what each does well. Both are capable tools. Here is where they differ.

What matters	BitcoinDatabase	Alchemy
API shape	Indexed REST API, SQL and dashboards	Bitcoin Core JSON-RPC passthrough to a managed node
Documented Bitcoin methods	REST resources for addresses, transactions, UTXOs, metrics and ordinals	36 Core RPC methods, none of which takes an address
Balance by address	One call returns the confirmed balance to the satoshi	Not available: no documented method accepts an address
Full address history	One query returns every transaction back to 2009	Requires building and maintaining your own address index
UTXOs for an address	Returned as a list for any address or xpub	gettxout needs a txid and vout you cannot derive from an address
Ordinals, runes and BRC-20	Ordinals and runes data available as indexed resources	No ordinals, runes or BRC-20 method in the documented list
Custom SQL	Yes, POST to the SQL endpoint on Growth and above	No SQL layer over the chain
Broadcast a transaction	No, we are read-only and do not broadcast	Yes: sendrawtransaction, testmempoolaccept and submitpackage
Mempool inspection	Mempool API for pending transactions	Yes: getrawmempool, getmempoolinfo, ancestors and descendants
Mining templates	No	Yes: getblocktemplate and submitblock
Chain coverage	Bitcoin only, indexed deeply	Bitcoin plus a large set of EVM and non-EVM chains
Entry pricing	Usage-based paid plans, no free tier	Free tier of 30M compute units a month at 25 requests per second

Comparison reflects general, publicly understood positioning. Capabilities change, so check each product for the latest.

Why teams pick BitcoinDatabase

The fully indexed Bitcoin blockchain, queryable by REST, SQL and dashboards

The 36 documented methods, in full

Transactions: createrawtransaction, decoderawtransaction, decodescript, sendrawtransaction, getrawtransaction, testmempoolaccept. Blocks: getbestblockhash, getblock, getblockcount, getblockhash, getblockheader, getblockstats, getblocktemplate, getblockfilter, getchaintips, getchaintxstats, submitblock, submitheader, submitpackage. Network: getblockchaininfo, getconnectioncount, getdifficulty, getindexinfo, getmemoryinfo, getnetworkhashps, getnetworkinfo. Mempool: getrawmempool, getmempoolinfo, getmempoolancestors, getmempooldescendants. UTXO: gettxout, gettxoutproof, gettxoutsetinfo. Utilities: estimatesmartfee, validateaddress, verifymessage. No ordinals, runes or BRC-20 method appears anywhere in the list.

A Bitcoin node has no address index

Bitcoin Core stores unspent outputs keyed by transaction, not by address, so there is nothing to look up when you pass it an address. Every provider that answers address questions has built an index on top. Alchemy gives you the node; the index is the part you would otherwise write, run and reconcile yourself.

The endpoints people search for do not exist there

Searches for an Alchemy Bitcoin getBalance or an Alchemy ordinals or runes endpoint return nothing useful because those methods are not in the documented Bitcoin surface. Rather than send you round the docs again, the table above states plainly which calls exist and which do not, as read on 1 September 2026.

Where Alchemy is the right call

If your job is to sign and broadcast transactions, watch your own mempool, pull a block template, or run one account across Bitcoin and a dozen EVM chains, Alchemy is the better fit and we would rather say so. We are read-only. We never broadcast, and we do not pretend to replace node infrastructure.

Good questions

Alchemy vs BitcoinDatabase, answered

No. Reading the documented Bitcoin method list on 1 September 2026, there is no getBalance and no other method that accepts a Bitcoin address. The closest call is gettxout, which requires a transaction id and an output index, neither of which you can derive from an address without a separate index.

Not in the documented Bitcoin JSON-RPC method list read on 1 September 2026. There is no ordinals method, no runes method and no BRC-20 method. Ordinals and runes are indexer conventions layered on top of ordinary transactions, so serving them requires an indexer rather than a Core node.

The documented list is the standard Bitcoin Core JSON-RPC surface, 36 methods in six groups: 6 transaction methods, 13 block methods, 7 network and chain methods, 4 mempool methods, 3 UTXO methods and 3 utility methods. The quickstart shows the endpoint as a JSON-RPC URL of the form bitcoin-mainnet.alchemy-blast.com/v2/{apiKey}.

On the pricing page read 1 September 2026, the free plan includes 30M compute units a month at 25 requests per second. Pay as You Go is $0.45 per 1M compute units for the first 300M and $0.40 per 1M after that, starting at 300 requests per second. Enterprise is custom and starts at 1000 requests per second.

Yes, and this is where Alchemy beats us outright. sendrawtransaction submits a signed transaction, testmempoolaccept dry-runs it against mempool policy first, and submitpackage handles a parent and child together. BitcoinDatabase is read-only and does not broadcast, so if sending is part of your product you need a node provider.

Because Bitcoin has no account balances. The ledger is a set of unspent transaction outputs, and Core indexes them by transaction id and output index so it can validate spends. A balance is a derived number: find every output ever paid to an address, subtract the spent ones, and sum the rest. That derivation is what an indexed database does for you.

For reading the chain, yes. If your queries start with an address, an xpub, a balance, a history or an ordinal, you need an index, and that is exactly what BitcoinDatabase is. For broadcasting, mempool policy testing or multi-chain node access, Alchemy is the better product and the two are commonly used side by side.

No. BitcoinDatabase provides informational on-chain data and analytics only. It is not investment, financial or legal advice, and nothing here is a signal or guarantee.

Explore the data

The Bitcoin data you can query here

Bulk Bitcoin address balance checker

Check thousands of addresses in one pass, not twenty at a time.

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Bitcoin node API

JSON-RPC style access to blocks, transactions and balances, with no Bitcoin Core to run.

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Bitcoin active addresses

Daily active address counts, historical series and entity-adjusted numbers from the indexed chain.

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Bitcoin address lookup

Look up any Bitcoin address: balance, full history and UTXOs in one query.

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See everything BitcoinDatabase can query

Query the whole Bitcoin blockchain in one place

An address in, structured on-chain data out. BitcoinDatabase indexes balances, UTXOs, transactions, entity labels and fund flows since the 2009 genesis block, queryable by REST API, SQL and dashboards. No node to run.

See pricing

REST + SQL + dashboards · new blocks within seconds · informational on-chain data only