What is RPC API?
What is an RPC API?
When it comes to Blockchain Tooling, "RPC API" refers to the API calls made available directly by the blockchain nodes. For example, to get (read) a specific transaction's data or update (write) a smart contract.
Traditionally, these API methods followed the RPC (Remote Procedure Call) API standard, so the name stuck. Today, many chains deploy other API standards like REST, but the RPC terminology still gets used to group these types of services.
RPC API services make it simple for developers to begin reading from and writing to the blockchain without hosting their own blockchain nodes. Typically, they have advanced global deployments that can scale well beyond a simple internal implementation making them the default choice for the biggest Web3 projects on the market.
Looking to compare RPC provider latencies? Try our compare tool.