Compare · Coin Metrics
Coin Metrics alternative for raw Bitcoin data
Coin Metrics is now Talos. On 8 September 2026 every coinmetrics.io path we tried, including /pricing/, redirected to one Talos overview page.
Its free community API still answers. We measured what it gives you for Bitcoin, and what it withholds.
REST API · SQL · dashboards · address history since the 2009 genesis block
BTC
Balance trail
informational on-chain data · not financial advice
Coin Metrics leads on institutional multi-asset metrics and sub-second reference rates, while BitcoinDatabase gives you the raw, fully-indexed Bitcoin chain so you can compute and audit those numbers yourself.
Side by side
Coin Metrics vs BitcoinDatabase, honestly
A fair look at what each does well. Both are capable tools. Here is where they differ.
| What matters | BitcoinDatabase | Coin Metrics |
|---|---|---|
| Status on 8 September 2026 | Independent and unchanged | Now Talos: coinmetrics.io returns 301 to talos.com |
| Published pricing | Usage-based paid plans, listed on our pricing page | None found: /pricing/ redirects away and talos.com/pricing returns 404 |
| Free tier | No free plan | Yes, the community API answered with no key |
| Bitcoin coverage without a key | Not offered without a plan | 31 Bitcoin metrics in the community catalog |
| Granularity on the free tier | Per block and per transaction on paid plans | 28 of those 31 metrics are daily only |
| Sub-second market data | Not offered | Reference rates at 1s, 1m and 1h |
| SOPR and realized cap on the free tier | Derivable from the rows: outputs carry a spent flag and price_at_creation_usd | SOPR, CapRealUSD, SplyAct1d, AdrBalUSD10Cnt and FeeMeanNtv all returned 403 |
| Raw chain access | Blocks, transactions, inputs, outputs and the UTXO set over REST and SQL | Metrics and market data, not the raw UTXO set |
| Recompute a published number | Yes, from the underlying rows | Not on the community tier |
| Asset coverage | Bitcoin only, by design | Many assets across crypto |
| Public documentation | REST and SQL reference on /docs | docs.coinmetrics.io is public and serves an llms.txt |
| Best suited for | Teams that need the raw Bitcoin chain to query and audit | Teams buying institutional multi-asset metrics and reference rates |
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
Coin Metrics is now Talos, and the pricing page went with it
We checked this directly on 8 September 2026. The root domain coinmetrics.io returns 301 to talos.com/our-solutions/data/overview, and so does coinmetrics.io/pricing/, which lands on that same marketing overview rather than a price. talos.com/pricing returns 404. The community documentation survived the move: docs.coinmetrics.io still returns 200, and coinmetrics.io/community-network-data/ redirects to a live community resources page on talos.com. If you are mid-evaluation and cannot find a number, that is why. The only route to a quote is sales.
The free tier is real, and what it withholds is the product
Credit where it is due: community-api.coinmetrics.io answered our requests with no API key at all, which is more than most vendors in this category offer. The catalog lists 31 Bitcoin metrics. The limits show up when you look closely. Twenty-eight of those 31 are daily frequency only; just the four reference rate series go down to 1s, 1m and 1h. Ask for the metrics a quant desk actually wants and you get a wall: SOPR, CapRealUSD, SplyAct1d, AdrBalUSD10Cnt and FeeMeanNtv each returned an explicit forbidden error reading "not available with supplied credentials". The paid host, api.coinmetrics.io, returned 401 without a key.
One published number, five defensible answers
The community API told us Bitcoin active addresses for 8 September 2026 was 604,102, and transaction count was 634,799. Both are single numbers with a methodology behind them. When we counted active addresses ourselves on one block, 963,218, we got five defensible answers from the same data: 12,388 naive unique, 11,533 excluding same-transaction change, 9,789 entity-adjusted, 8,087 receiving only and 5,512 sending only. The widest pair differ by 2.25 times. None of them is wrong. That is the honest case for holding the raw chain: when you buy a metric you are buying a definition somebody else chose, and on a tier that withholds the underlying rows you cannot check which one you got.
What you can rebuild from the rows
BitcoinDatabase indexes blocks, transactions, inputs, outputs and the UTXO set, and exposes them over REST and SQL. Outputs carry a spent flag and price_at_creation_usd, which is what makes spent-output profit ratio and realized price computable rather than purchased. You pick the definition, you see the intermediate counts, and you can show your work to a risk committee or an auditor. The trade is real and worth stating plainly: you are taking on the computation that Coin Metrics does for you, and for many teams buying the metric is the right call.
Good questions
Coin Metrics vs BitcoinDatabase, answered
Explore the data
The Bitcoin data you can query here
Bitcoin broadcast transaction API
Push a signed raw transaction to the Bitcoin network over REST and get the txid back, or the node's exact reason for refusing it.
ExploreBitcoin block explorer API
Power an explorer with blocks, transactions and addresses, no node to maintain.
ExploreBitcoin data API
One Bitcoin data API and data provider for chain rows, balances, metrics and market history.
ExploreOn-chain metrics
Active addresses, realized cap, SOPR, HODL waves and exchange flows.
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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.
REST + SQL + dashboards · new blocks within seconds · informational on-chain data only