Software · head to head
Alchemy vs Lido
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Alchemy the free tier is capped at 30M compute units a month and 25 requests per second; Lido lido takes a 10% fee on staking rewards, split between node operators and the DAO Treasury
- They diverge on capability: Alchemy covers Node APIs, Lido covers Liquid Staking.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Alchemy and Lido actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Alchemy
- Node APIs
- Enhanced APIs
- NFT API
- Webhooks
- Mempool
- 35+ chains
- SDKs
- Api support
Only in Lido
- Liquid Staking
- stETH Token
- No Minimum
- DeFi Composable
- LDO Token
- Multi-chain
Both cover
- Web support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Alchemy
- Hosted blockchain node access across mainnets and testnetsnot Lido
- Backing a production web3 application without running nodesnot Lido
- Webhook-driven notifications for on-chain eventsnot Lido
- Scaling read throughput beyond self-hosted node limitsnot Lido
Lido
- Liquid staking of ETH and other proof of stake tokensnot Alchemy
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Alchemy
- The free tier is capped at 30M compute units a month and 25 requests per second
- Free accounts are limited to 5 apps and 5 webhooks
- Beyond the free allowance it is $0.45 per 1M compute units for the first 300M a month
- Request cost varies by call complexity, from around 10 compute units to over 100, so spend is hard to predict from request counts alone
- Signed SLAs and priority support require an Enterprise contract
Lido
- Lido takes a 10% fee on staking rewards, split between node operators and the DAO Treasury
Pricing, plan by plan
Alchemy
Free- FreeFree
- 300M compute units
- 5 apps
- Core APIs
- Growth$49/month
- 400M compute units
- 15 apps
- Enhanced APIs
- Scale$199/month
- 1B compute units
- Unlimited apps
- Premium support
Lido
Free- FreeFree
- Liquid staking
- stETH token
- DeFi integration
Which should you pick?
Choose Alchemy if
- You need node apis.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Api, Web.
- You also want enhanced apis.
Choose Lido if
- You need liquid staking.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want steth token.
Questions people ask
- Is Alchemy or Lido better?
- Neither clearly leads. Alchemy starts at Free and Lido at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Alchemy or Lido?
- Alchemy starts at Free and Lido at Free.
- Does Alchemy or Lido run on more platforms?
- Alchemy runs on Api, Web. Lido runs on Web.
- Can I use Alchemy for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Alchemy best used for?
- Alchemy is most often used for hosted blockchain node access across mainnets and testnets, backing a production web3 application without running nodes, webhook-driven notifications for on-chain events, scaling read throughput beyond self-hosted node limits. Of those, hosted blockchain node access across mainnets and testnets and backing a production web3 application without running nodes are not what Lido is typically brought in for.
- What can Alchemy do that Lido cannot?
- Alchemy covers Node APIs, Enhanced APIs, NFT API, Webhooks. Lido covers Liquid Staking, stETH Token, No Minimum, DeFi Composable. Both handle Web support.