Alchemy Rate Limits

Overview

Alchemy uses Compute Units (CU) to measure API usage. Different methods cost different CU amounts. Rate limits are per-second, and exceeding them returns 429 errors.

Compute Unit Costs

Method	CU Cost	Category
eth_blockNumber	10	Core
eth_getBalance	19	Core
eth_call	26	Core
eth_getTransactionReceipt	15	Core
getTokenBalances	50	Enhanced
getTokenMetadata	50	Enhanced
getAssetTransfers	150	Enhanced
getNftsForOwner	50	NFT
getNftMetadataBatch	50	NFT
getContractMetadata	50	NFT

Plan Limits

Plan	CU/sec	Monthly CU	Price
Free	330	300M	$0
Growth	660	1.2B	$49/mo
Scale	Custom	Custom	Custom

Instructions

Step 1: CU-Aware Request Throttler

// src/alchemy/throttler.ts
import Bottleneck from 'bottleneck';

const CU_COSTS: Record<string, number> = {
  'eth_blockNumber': 10,
  'eth_getBalance': 19,
  'eth_call': 26,
  'getTokenBalances': 50,
  'getAssetTransfers': 150,
  'getNftsForOwner': 50,
};

// Free tier: 330 CU/sec = ~16 getBalance calls/sec
const limiter = new Bottleneck({
  reservoir: 330,                    // CU budget per interval
  reservoirRefreshInterval: 1000,    // Refresh every second
  reservoirRefreshAmount: 330,       // Reset to max CU/sec
  maxConcurrent: 10,                 // Max parallel requests
  minTime: 50,                       // Min 50ms between requests
});

limiter.on('depleted', () => {
  console.warn('CU budget depleted — queueing requests');
});

async function throttledAlchemyCall<T>(
  method: string,
  operation: () => Promise<T>,
): Promise<T> {
  const cost = CU_COSTS[method] || 26; // Default to eth_call cost
  return limiter.schedule({ weight: cost }, operation);
}

export { throttledAlchemyCall, limiter };

Step 2: Batch Optimizer

// src/alchemy/batch-optimizer.ts
import { Alchemy } from 'alchemy-sdk';

// Instead of N individual calls, batch when possible
async function batchGetBalances(
  alchemy: Alchemy,
  addresses: string[],
): Promise<Map<string, string>> {
  const results = new Map<string, string>();

  // Process in chunks to stay under rate limit
  const CHUNK_SIZE = 10;
  for (let i = 0; i < addresses.length; i += CHUNK_SIZE) {
    const chunk = addresses.slice(i, i + CHUNK_SIZE);
    const balances = await Promise.all(
      chunk.map(addr => alchemy.core.getBalance(addr))
    );
    chunk.forEach((addr, idx) => {
      results.set(addr, (parseInt(balances[idx].toString()) / 1e18).toFixed(6));
    });

    // Pause between chunks to stay under CU limit
    if (i + CHUNK_SIZE < addresses.length) {
      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 200));
    }
  }

  return results;
}

export { batchGetBalances };

Step 3: 429 Retry Handler

// src/alchemy/retry.ts
async function withAlchemyRetry<T>(
  operation: () => Promise<T>,
  maxRetries: number = 5,
): Promise<T> {
  for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= maxRetries; attempt++) {
    try {
      return await operation();
    } catch (err: any) {
      if (err.response?.status !== 429 || attempt === maxRetries) throw err;

      const retryAfter = parseInt(err.response.headers?.['retry-after'] || '1');
      const jitter = Math.random() * 500;
      const delay = retryAfter * 1000 + jitter;

      console.log(`Rate limited — retry ${attempt}/${maxRetries} in ${delay.toFixed(0)}ms`);
      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, delay));
    }
  }
  throw new Error('Unreachable');
}

Output

• CU-aware Bottleneck throttler matching plan limits
• Batch optimizer reducing total CU consumption
• 429 retry handler with Retry-After header support

Resources

• Alchemy Rate Limits
• Alchemy Compute Units
• Bottleneck npm

Next Steps

For security best practices, see alchemy-security-basics.