Compare · Arkham

Arkham Intelligence alternative and Arkham API pricing compared

Arkham tells you whose wallet it is. Its API is granted by application, with no public price list.

If you need Bitcoin balances, flows and SQL you can buy today and reproduce at a block height, compare the two here.

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REST API · SQL · dashboards · address history since the 2009 genesis block

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REST API · SQL · dashboards, one indexed dataset. Reading the chain ...

Arkham leads on attribution, naming entities across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Tron and more with a visual tracer and alerts, while BitcoinDatabase is a self-serve Bitcoin index with published prices, address history back to 2009 over REST, and SQL over an indexed chain that grows with every block.

Side by side

Arkham vs BitcoinDatabase, honestly

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

What matters	BitcoinDatabase	Arkham
What you buy	A Bitcoin data index over REST, SQL and exports	An entity intelligence platform: labels, tracer, alerts, counterparties and USD flows
How you get API access	Self-serve: pick a plan, the key is issued at checkout	By application through a form; an API Pilot Program for eligible institutions and power users
Published API price	Developer $49, Growth $199, Scale $799 a month, Enterprise on contact	No price list on arkm.com; the AWS Marketplace listing shows a free tier metered in credits
How calls are metered	1 credit per address, tx or block lookup, 5 per SQL query	Credits per call, the amount depends on the endpoint
Networks	Bitcoin only	Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Tron, Zcash, Polymarket and Hyperliquid, per the AWS listing
Entity attribution	Labels endpoint on Scale, one address per call, informational only	The core product; batch intelligence takes up to 1,000 addresses per request
Balance at a past block height	From full REST address history back to 2009, or one SQL query within the indexed chain, from Growth	Historical balances are offered; check whether your plan returns them pinned to a height or a timestamp
SQL across addresses	Yes, POST /v1/sql from Growth	Not offered; REST endpoints
Rate limits	10, 50 or 250 requests a second by plan	Counterparty endpoints one request a second; other limits per endpoint
Unauthenticated call from a cloud server	HTTP 401 with a JSON error body	HTTP 403 with a Cloudflare HTML block page in 0.20 s, docs page blocked the same way
Best suited for	Bitcoin exchanges, custodians, auditors and analysts who need numbers they can reproduce	Traders, investigators and researchers who need to know who is behind an address on many chains

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

What Arkham API access costs, and how you get it

We checked Arkham's own pages on 28 September 2026. The Arkham Codex says the API is for users who want to integrate data flows into their own systems and sends you to an application form. Arkham announced an API Pilot Program open to eligible institutions and Arkham power users, covering entity labels, transaction histories, balances, token metrics, USD flows and counterparties. arkm.com publishes no API price list. The AWS Marketplace listing for the Arkham API shows a single free tier metered in credits, where the credits a call uses depend on the endpoint, counterparty endpoints are limited to one request a second, and batch intelligence accepts up to 1,000 addresses per request. So the honest answer to "how much does the Arkham API cost" is that access is granted, not bought, and you learn your terms when you apply. BitcoinDatabase publishes its prices: Developer $49 a month for 500,000 credits, Growth $199 with SQL and full history, Scale $799 with labels, webhooks and bulk exports.

A label and a balance answer different questions

Attribution is Arkham's strength and we do not compete with it on names. A label tells you who probably owns a wallet. It does not tell you what the wallet held at the block your audit or report is pinned to, and that is a separate measurement. On 28 September 2026 we read five exchange cold addresses we track at block 969,059. Their total was 685,431.54334626 BTC, identical to the satoshi to our reading at block 968,700, 359 blocks earlier, and two independent explorers agreed on every digit. In the same reading a 546 satoshi dust payment to one of those addresses, paying 0.162 sat/vB, was still unconfirmed after more than two days. The funding hot wallet held 11,659.65 BTC across 2,339,834 transactions. Those are row level facts at a height, and they are what a SQL index over the chain is built to return.

Our probe hit a Cloudflare wall, not a JSON error

We called the Arkham API from a cloud server without a key on 28 September 2026. GET api.arkm.com/intelligence/address followed by a Bitcoin address answered HTTP 403 in 0.20 seconds with a Cloudflare "Attention Required" HTML page, not a JSON error, and arkm.com/api/docs was blocked the same way. On 6 September 2026 our unauthenticated test of Arkham had come back as HTTP 400 with a please sign up message, so the error a keyless client sees changed shape within three weeks. With a valid key and an allowlisted network your results may differ, and we say so plainly. It still matters for production code: a client that parses every response as JSON will throw on an HTML block page, so treat a 403 with a text/html content type as a network block, alert on it, and do not retry it in a tight loop. BitcoinDatabase answers a missing or bad key with HTTP 401 and a JSON body, and a spent credit pool with 402, so the error is always machine readable.

Where Arkham is the better buy

If your question is who is behind an address, on Bitcoin and on the chains around it, Arkham is the stronger tool. Its web platform, tracer, visualizer and alerts are built for investigators, traders and journalists, it covers Ethereum, Solana and Tron as well as Bitcoin, and batch lookups of up to 1,000 addresses suit screening work. BitcoinDatabase is the better fit when Bitcoin is the business and the output is a number someone will check: a balance at a period-end block, net flow through an exchange cluster over a window, every output of a script type in a range, or a reconciliation that has to tie out to the satoshi. You can buy it today without an application, start on REST at $49 a month, and move to SQL at $199 when the questions span many addresses.

Good questions

Arkham vs BitcoinDatabase, answered

Arkham does not publish an API price list on arkm.com. Access is granted by application, and Arkham ran an API Pilot Program for eligible institutions and power users. The AWS Marketplace listing, read on 28 September 2026, shows a single free tier metered in credits, with the credit cost of a call depending on the endpoint.

You apply. The Arkham Codex links to an application form, and Arkham reviews requests rather than issuing keys at checkout. If you need a Bitcoin key today, BitcoinDatabase issues one the moment you choose a plan, from $49 a month for REST and $199 for SQL.

It depends on the job. For entity attribution across many chains, Nansen is the closest like-for-like option. For court-ready tracing, forensic vendors fit better. If Bitcoin is the whole business and you need balances at a block height, flows across addresses or SQL over the chain, a Bitcoin-only index like BitcoinDatabase fits better.

Yes. Arkham's AWS Marketplace listing names Bitcoin alongside Ethereum, Solana, Tron, Zcash, Polymarket and Hyperliquid, and its data covers balances, transfers, counterparties, entity labels and risk scores. BitcoinDatabase covers Bitcoin only, which is why its address history reaches back to 2009 over REST and a query across every output in the indexed chain is one SQL call.

Per the AWS Marketplace listing, counterparty endpoints allow one request a second, batch intelligence accepts up to 1,000 addresses per request, and each endpoint has its own default and maximum result limits. BitcoinDatabase allows 10, 50 or 250 requests a second depending on plan.

In our 28 September 2026 test, an unauthenticated call from a cloud server returned HTTP 403 with a Cloudflare HTML block page in 0.20 seconds, not a JSON error. Check your key and network first, and handle text/html 403 responses as a block rather than parsing them as data.

The Arkham web platform can be used with an account, and the AWS Marketplace listing for the API shows a free credit-metered tier, but API access still has to be granted. BitcoinDatabase has no free plan: you can run one demo query on the site, then paid plans start at $49 a month.

Only as far as a label goes. The Scale plan includes an entity labels endpoint that returns informational tags such as exchange or service, one address per call. It is not an identity claim about a person, and for broad attribution across chains Arkham is the stronger tool.

No. BitcoinDatabase provides informational on-chain data and analytics only. It is not investment, financial or legal advice. Vendor facts on this page were read on 28 September 2026 and may change after that date. Arkham is a trademark of its owner.

Explore the data

The Bitcoin data you can query here

Bitcoin node API

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

Explore

Bitcoin address labels

Attach exchange, miner and service labels to addresses, so raw hashes read as entities.

Explore

Bitcoin address lookup

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

Explore

BTC address balance API

Get exact balances and UTXOs for any address, in batches.

Explore

More comparisons

See how BitcoinDatabase compares

vs Glassnode

Glassnode alternative

Raw queryable Bitcoin data over REST, SQL and dashboards, not just curated charts.

vs Dune

Dune alternative

Bitcoin-only and fully-indexed, with a REST API too, not just cross-chain SQL.

vs Blockchair

Blockchair alternative

Bitcoin-deep with every UTXO, entity labels, metrics, SQL and dashboards.

vs Chainalysis

Chainalysis alternative

Developer-first, self-serve on-chain data with compliance tooling to support your own review.

vs BlockCypher

BlockCypher alternative

Bitcoin-native depth with SQL and dashboards, not just a multi-chain REST API.

vs Chainstack

Chainstack alternative

Indexed Bitcoin data over REST and SQL, not raw RPC nodes you still have to query.

vs Blockchain.com

Blockchain.com API alternative

Production-grade indexed Bitcoin data over REST and SQL, not a rate-capped free explorer API.

vs Mempool.space

Mempool.space alternative

Indexed address, balance and history data over REST and SQL, alongside mempool and fees, on production plans.

vs CoinAPI

CoinAPI alternative

On-chain Bitcoin data: addresses, balances, UTXOs and labels, not cross-asset market prices.

vs TRM Labs

TRM Labs alternative

Bitcoin-native on-chain data and screening signals over REST and SQL, not a full multi-chain investigations suite.

vs Whale Alert

Whale Alert alternative

Query large bitcoin transactions on your own thresholds from the fully-indexed chain, not just a fixed real-time feed.

vs CoinGecko

CoinGecko alternative

Raw on-chain Bitcoin data over REST and SQL, not market prices across thousands of coins.

vs CoinMarketCap

CoinMarketCap alternative

On-chain Bitcoin data over REST and SQL, where CoinMarketCap serves market prices.

vs Blockdaemon

Blockdaemon alternative

A query-first indexed Bitcoin database over REST and SQL, not raw node RPC infrastructure.

vs Xverse

Xverse alternative

Query indexed ordinals, inscriptions, BRC-20 and Runes data over REST and SQL, not just wallet and minting endpoints.

vs BigQuery

BigQuery alternative

Balances, entity labels and fund flows already indexed, without per-terabyte scan billing.

vs Bitquery

Bitquery alternative

Bitcoin-only depth over REST and SQL, billed on calls rather than on points that move with query shape.

vs TimechainIndex

TimechainIndex alternative

Bitcoin-only like TimechainIndex, with published pricing and a commercial REST API.

vs CryptoQuant

CryptoQuant alternative

API access on the entry plan and the raw chain underneath, not day-resolution metrics.

vs Alchemy

Alchemy alternative

An indexed Bitcoin database you query by address, not a Bitcoin Core JSON-RPC passthrough.

vs QuickNode

QuickNode alternative

An indexed Bitcoin database you query by address, not a managed Core node with the address-capable calls switched off.

vs Hiro

Hiro alternative

Hiro retired its Bitcoin Layer 1 APIs. The endpoints now answer HTTP 410 Gone, and the migration link inside that answer is itself dead.

vs Amberdata

Amberdata alternative

Amberdata belongs to Kaiko as of June 2026. Its pricing page loads but publishes no number, and its API answers a missing key three different ways.

vs Elliptic

Elliptic alternative

Elliptic publishes no pricing and sells its screening API only on a negotiated contract. We measured its endpoints, and the OFAC list underneath it, on 4 September 2026.

vs Merkle Science

Merkle Science alternative

Merkle Science publishes no pricing and gates every product behind a demo. We measured its site, its API documentation and its blockchain coverage on 6 September 2026.

vs Coin Metrics

Coin Metrics alternative

Coin Metrics is now Talos and its pricing page is gone. We measured the redirects, the free community API and the exact metrics it withholds on 8 September 2026.

vs CoinGlass

CoinGlass alternative

CoinGlass publishes exchange balances per wallet address, hourly and rounded, from $29 a month with no free tier. We measured its plans, its documented precision and its Bitcoin gaps on 10 September 2026.

vs Crypto APIs

Crypto APIs alternative

Crypto APIs covers 35+ networks from $49 a month. For Bitcoin fee rates, balances and history, we measured where a Bitcoin-only index does the job better and where it does not.

vs Tatum

Tatum alternative

Tatum covers 130+ blockchains from $49 a month. For Bitcoin history, balances at a past block and fee rates, we priced its plans and measured the Bitcoin side on 22 Sep 2026.

vs NOWNodes

NOWNodes alternative

NOWNodes sells shared node and Blockbook access across 100+ networks from 20 euros a month. We read its price list and hit its Bitcoin endpoints on 26 Sep 2026.

vs GetBlock

GetBlock alternative

GetBlock sells shared nodes on 130+ chains, priced in compute units, from $49 a month. We read its plan table and CU rules and probed its Bitcoin endpoints on 27 Sep 2026.

vs Santiment

Santiment alternative

Santiment sells 1,000+ metrics across 2,800 assets over GraphQL. We read its plans and tested its Bitcoin balance query against the chain on 29 Sep 2026.

vs Nansen

Nansen alternative

Nansen labels wallets across 38 chains, and Bitcoin is one of them. We read its API docs, credit table and pay-per-call terms on 30 Sep 2026.

vs Allium

Allium alternative

Allium sells enterprise blockchain data across dozens of chains, Bitcoin included. We read its docs, unit tables and keyless pricing on 1 Oct 2026.

vs Flipside

Flipside alternative

Flipside sold its blockchain data business to SonarX in May 2026 and its old domain now redirects to an enterprise AI product. We checked what is left on 2 Oct 2026.

vs SonarX

SonarX alternative

SonarX ships Bitcoin as Snowflake shares, file dumps and Kafka streams, and turns on Bitcoin balances and REST on request. We read its Bitcoin page and checked its pricing URL on 5 Oct 2026.

vs GoldRush

GoldRush alternative

GoldRush, the API formerly sold as Covalent, covers 100 plus chains and gives Bitcoin three endpoints. We read its Bitcoin docs and pricing page on 6 Oct 2026.

vs Scorechain

Scorechain alternative

Scorechain is a Luxembourg blockchain analytics firm covering 25 plus chains. We read its site, its QuickNode add-on docs and pricing on 7 Oct 2026.

vs AMLBot

AMLBot alternative

AMLBot sells wallet checks, KYT monitoring and KYC to crypto businesses across many chains. We read its site and plan guide on 8 Oct 2026.

See everything BitcoinDatabase can query

Query the whole Bitcoin blockchain in one place

An address in, structured on-chain data out. BitcoinDatabase serves balances, UTXOs, transactions, entity labels and fund flows, with address history back to the 2009 genesis block over REST, and SQL and dashboards over the indexed chain. No node to run.

See pricing

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