GetBlock RPC competitor monitor — 2026-09-18
Criterion of the day: Data availability and modular infra: Celestia, EigenDA, Avail, modular rollups and Web3 backend positioning (data-availability-modular-infra).
Executive summary
Today’s pass produced a classification correction and evidence refresh, not a broad market launch signal. The cumulative matrix now distinguishes (1) named DA/protocol access, (2) hosted-protocol catalogue entries, (3) rollup/appchain deployment products, and (4) modular RPC backend positioning.
- Celestia: directly evidenced on current first-party surfaces for QuickNode, NOWNodes and dRPC; Allnodes lists Celestia in its hosted-protocol catalogue, but the monitored page does not prove a DA submission/API surface.
- Avail: the only current monitored positive evidence is Allnodes’ hosted-protocol catalogue. Previously inherited Avail checkmarks for other vendors were removed because today’s direct sources did not substantiate them.
- EigenDA: no direct public evidence was verified across the 15-provider monitored universe.
- Rollup/modular products: Alchemy and Ankr explicitly market rollup/appchain launch products. dRPC markets a modular RPC infrastructure stack; this is not equivalent to managed rollup deployment or DA integration.
- Lifecycle constraints: Blast API remains deprecated. Grove states it is winding down, while Pocket Network continues separately.
Decision-relevant evidence
| Provider | Confirmed evidence on 2026-09-18 | Matrix action |
|---|---|---|
| QuickNode | Chain directory lists Celestia mainnet and Mocha testnet with Core RPC API | Celestia retained/qualified; unsupported Avail claim removed |
| Alchemy | First-party home/pricing pages present Rollups as a launch-your-own-chain product with mainnet/testnet plan rows | Rollup-infrastructure cell retained and clarified; Avail removed |
| Ankr | Home/docs/enterprise surfaces explicitly advertise dedicated rollup/sidechain creation and AppChains | Rollup/appchain cell retained with direct evidence; Avail removed |
| NOWNodes | Node directory lists Celestia mainnet REST, Tendermint RPC and WSS plus dedicated-node CTA | Celestia cell strengthened with protocol/interface detail; Avail removed |
| dRPC | Chainlist lists Celestia Archive Premium over HTTP/WSS; home positions NodeCore/NodeCraft as modular RPC infrastructure | Celestia strengthened; modular-backend cell qualified; Avail removed |
| Allnodes | Home/pricing catalogue lists both Celestia and Avail | Celestia and Avail retained but explicitly limited to hosted-protocol catalogue evidence |
| Blast API | First-party notice says products are deprecated and points customers to Alchemy | Active-offering dimensions marked not applicable to procurement |
| Pocket Network / Grove | Grove says it is winding down; Pocket Network continues on its own site | Lifecycle limitation added; no DA capability inferred |
| LlamaRPC | Website returned HTTP 526; docs/status had DNS failures | Entire row remains unverified and is a priority for alternate-path research |
What changed versus noise
Material changes / corrections
- Matrix evidence was tightened. The prior topic brief contained broad Avail positives that were not supported by the current direct source set. These were removed rather than carried forward as guessed checkmarks.
- Service scopes were separated. dRPC’s “modular” wording is now recorded as modular RPC backend positioning, while Alchemy and Ankr are recorded as rollup/appchain deployment products. Allnodes’ named protocol entries are not described as DA APIs.
- Lifecycle status is explicit. Blast deprecation and Grove’s wind-down are now represented in the decision surface.
Non-material page diffs
- QuickNode home/blog, Chainstack docs, Moralis site pages, NOWNodes blog, dRPC chainlist and Allnodes home/pricing changed at the page/hash level, but most observed differences were navigation, site-shell, catalogue/market-data or content-feed movement.
- No page hash or generic navigation change was treated as a market change without matching first-party topic evidence.
- Allnodes market-cap/token-price movements are volatile display data, not product changes.
Full monitored-universe notes
- QuickNode: positive Celestia chain-directory evidence. The generic product navigation also shows RPC, Streams and Webhooks, but those are not automatically attributed to Celestia beyond the chain row’s stated Core RPC API. Changelog URL returned 404.
- Alchemy: positive Rollups product evidence. No Celestia, EigenDA or Avail evidence verified on monitored pages. Two legacy monitored URLs returned 404; they were not used for negative capability claims.
- Infura: no named Celestia/EigenDA/Avail or rollup-launch product verified in monitored evidence. The network page’s L2 descriptions are not treated as a managed rollup product.
- Chainstack: no named DA network or rollup-launch product verified. The changed docs capture appears to be index/navigation evolution, not a DA market change.
- Ankr: positive rollup/sidechain/AppChain product evidence; no named Celestia/EigenDA/Avail evidence verified.
- Moralis: no named DA service or rollup launch product verified. “Mantle modular Ethereum L2” is a chain description, not evidence that Moralis sells modular rollup infrastructure.
- NOWNodes: positive Celestia REST/Tendermint/WSS evidence. Legacy Postman documentation URL returned 404.
- dRPC: positive Celestia chainlist evidence and modular RPC backend positioning. This does not establish blob submission or rollup deployment.
- Blast API: deprecated; Alchemy migration path shown by first-party notice.
- Blockdaemon: no topic-specific positive evidence verified. Monitored RPC and pricing URLs returned 404; home/docs remained available.
- Tatum: no topic-specific positive evidence verified. Legacy supported-blockchains URL returned 404; current docs remained available.
- Pocket Network / Grove: Grove wind-down confirmed; Pocket Network remains accessible. Grove docs had DNS failure. No topic capability inferred from availability alone.
- LlamaRPC: extraction/access gap across all monitored surfaces (HTTP 526 and DNS failures); no capability conclusion possible.
- Allnodes: Celestia and Avail appear in the hosted-protocol catalogue. Interface, node type and DA workflow remain unverified.
- Lava Network: no named DA service or rollup-launch product verified. Two legacy paths returned 404; home/docs/blog remained accessible.
Access and extraction limitations
- 404s: QuickNode changelog; Alchemy legacy chains/customer-stories URLs; NOWNodes Postman docs; Blockdaemon legacy RPC/pricing URLs; Tatum legacy supported-blockchains URL; Allnodes nodes/blog URLs; Lava developers/network URLs.
- DNS/access failures: Grove docs; LlamaRPC docs/status. LlamaRPC website/chains returned HTTP 526.
- Extraction semantics: homepage/nav repetition can nominate a source but cannot establish a product claim. Positive matrix cells use exact topic wording from first-party pages.
- Reference source: CompareNodes was available, but its SOC/ISO directory is not relevant to today’s DA/modular criterion and was not used to classify provider capabilities.
GetBlock implications
- Sales: disambiguate “DA support” in discovery: consensus RPC vs blob read/write vs validator/full-node hosting vs rollup-integrated production workflow.
- Product marketing: a defensible differentiator would be an explicit matrix of Celestia/Avail/EigenDA interfaces, retention, dedicated capacity, regions and SLA rather than a generic chain logo.
- Content: publish a buyer guide comparing DA endpoint access, rollup deployment and modular RPC backends; competitors currently blur these product classes.
Publication and automation status
- The living topic brief was updated at
/monitoring/topics/data-availability-modular-infra.html; this report is the audit trail, not the primary comparison. - The pre-run encyclopedia publisher reported success (
published_urls: 129), but publication is rerun after these Markdown edits as the final release step. - Agentic routing paper update reported
ok: true,paper_updated: true, with 11 routing-related evidence items; the living paper publisher also reported success. The routing update is adjacent evidence, not a new DA capability claim.
Direct sources
- QuickNode chain directory
- Alchemy home and pricing
- Ankr home, docs and enterprise
- NOWNodes node directory
- dRPC chainlist and home
- Blast API deprecation notice
- Grove wind-down notice and Pocket Network
- Allnodes home and pricing
All sources above were checked 2026-09-18. Volatile availability, product scope, pricing and SLA claims should be re-verified before external sales use.