Cryptocurrency & Blockchain · head to head
Rainbow vs Alchemy
Rainbow
Cryptocurrency & Blockchain
The fun, simple, and secure Ethereum wallet
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Rainbow free instant deposits and fee auto-compounding are gated behind the paid Rainbow Black tier; the vendor's own site states "Upgrade to Rainbow Black for free instant deposits, bigger rewards, and up to 100% of your trading fees auto-compounded", implying standard accounts pay deposit and trading fees; Alchemy the free tier is capped at 30M compute units a month and 25 requests per second
- They diverge on capability: Rainbow covers Ethereum Wallet, Alchemy covers Node APIs.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Rainbow and Alchemy actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cryptocurrency & Blockchain).
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 Rainbow
- Ethereum Wallet
- NFT Gallery
- ENS Integration
- Layer 2 Support
- Swaps
- Ethereum
- Optimism
- Arbitrum
Only in Alchemy
- Node APIs
- Enhanced APIs
- NFT API
- Webhooks
- Mempool
- 35+ chains
- SDKs
- Api support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Rainbow
- Walletsnot Alchemy
- Ethereumnot Alchemy
- Mobilenot Alchemy
Alchemy
- Hosted blockchain node access across mainnets and testnetsnot Rainbow
- Backing a production web3 application without running nodesnot Rainbow
- Webhook-driven notifications for on-chain eventsnot Rainbow
- Scaling read throughput beyond self-hosted node limitsnot Rainbow
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Rainbow
- Free instant deposits and fee auto-compounding are gated behind the paid Rainbow Black tier; the vendor's own site states "Upgrade to Rainbow Black for free instant deposits, bigger rewards, and up to 100% of your trading fees auto-compounded", implying standard accounts pay deposit and trading fees
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
Pricing, plan by plan
Rainbow
Free- FreeFree
- Ethereum wallet
- NFTs
- ENS
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
Which should you pick?
Choose Rainbow if
- You need ethereum wallet.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Ios, Android, Chrome.
- You also want nft gallery.
Choose Alchemy if
- You need node apis.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Api, Web.
- You also want enhanced apis.
Questions people ask
- Is Rainbow or Alchemy better?
- Neither clearly leads. Rainbow starts at Free and Alchemy at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Rainbow or Alchemy?
- Rainbow starts at Free and Alchemy at Free.
- Does Rainbow or Alchemy run on more platforms?
- Rainbow runs on Ios, Android, Chrome. Alchemy runs on Api, Web.
- Can I use Rainbow for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Rainbow best used for?
- Rainbow is most often used for wallets, ethereum, mobile. Of those, wallets and ethereum are not what Alchemy is typically brought in for.
- What can Rainbow do that Alchemy cannot?
- Rainbow covers Ethereum Wallet, NFT Gallery, ENS Integration, Layer 2 Support. Alchemy covers Node APIs, Enhanced APIs, NFT API, Webhooks.