Two RPC stack solutions. One mission: scalable, reliable RPC. Here’s how to choose the right fit based on your infra needs, team size, and scaling
Why Two RPC Stack Products?
Both NodeCore and NodeCloud were built to support decentralized applications with serious infrastructure needs — but they serve different stages and different kinds of teams.
While both products are designed for dApps, NodeCore is also a powerful option for blockchain foundations that operate their own node infrastructure. Whether you’re running a high-volume consumer application or a node orchestration layer for an entire ecosystem, NodeCore gives you full control without sacrificing scale or speed.
This guide is here to help you decide which is the better fit for your team today — and how you can use both if needed.
Two Paths, One Ecosystem
Feature
NodeCloud
NodeCore
Hosting
Fully hosted by dRPC
Self-hosted
Management
Managed by dRPC
Your team (or by dRPC on a paid basis)
Observability
Built-in
Connection to NodeCloud or Bring your own
Load balancing
Ai-powered (managed)
Formula based strategies
Customizability
Limited
Full
RPC providers
50 verified providers
50 verified providers + any of the providers that you have endpoint link
Use case
Gateways on our side.
Best global coverage and routing. Ideal for clients with Web3 UIs (when RPC requests sends from end-user machines)
Gateway on your side.
Eliminates 3rd party single point of failure, allows connecting RPC partners not connected to the dRPC network
Cost
Pays-as-you-go (PAYG), no volume commitments from your side
Free + optional services
What Kind of Team Are You?
🔹 For Lean Teams or fully distributed\decentralised dApps ➔ NodeCloud
If you’re just launching a product, building MVP, operating with minimal infra resources, or trying to test something fast: use NodeCloud. It lets you start instantly, scale flexibly, and requires zero infra expertise to operate. You always could switch to NodeCore if needed, both products fully compatible.
Just plug in and go.
🔹 For Infra-Mature Apps with self-hosted infra and 1-3 RPC-source geo ➔ NodeCore
If you’re already running nodes or have a long-term contracts with RPC provider not connected to dRPC network, NodeCore gives you what you’ve been missing: single point of failure on your isde, not 3rd party, full control under routing, intelligent load balancing, ability to manage everything with the best in class UI (via connection your instance to NodeCloud), and the freedom to extend or optimize however you like.
You’re not locked into any provider. You run it your way. The most resilient setup, prepared for real adoption.
🔹 For Blockchain Foundations ➔ NodeCore and NodeHaus
Foundations managing ecosystem-level infrastructure often need to run and route traffic through their own node clusters. NodeCore gives them the tools to do so reliably, with a load balancing engine built from real production use cases and the ability to connect in-house RPC nodes to NodeHaus to get a single endpoint link for all Public nodes and unparalleled observability under Public infrastructure.
It’s not a sandbox. It’s production-ready infrastructure that already powers leaders of the industry.
🔹 For Scaling Projects in Transition ➔ NodeCloud and NodeCore
With NodeCloud and NodeCore, you always get the best possible performance, reliability, and price. You can switch between these 2 products at any time based on your needs. Without extra costs associated.
The product line from dRPC.org covers you in any scenario.
Quick Self-Check
You’re probably better off with NodeCore if:
You operate your own nodes
You have available infra or DevOps resources
You want to control observability and routing
You need extensibility or compliance independence
You need to eliminate single point of failure on 3rd party side
You have long-term contracts with some RPC provider, that doesn’t connected to dRPC.org
You plan to scale globally
You’re probably better off with NodeCloud if:
You want to launch instantly
You don’t want to run infrastructure
You just need a reliable RPC that works out of the box
You have a decentralized Web part or other needs to serve requests closer to end-users
You don’t want to pay fixed costs for infrastructure and engineers that will maintain it, and you prefer to pay only for what you use
Future-Proofing Your Stack
Even if you’re not ready for a self-hosted stack today, it’s smart to choose tools that grow with you. NodeCore and NodeCloud are designed to interoperate — so you can scale from managed to modular without rethinking your whole architecture later.
Final Thoughts
At dRPC, we know teams grow, needs evolve, and stacks get more complex. That’s why we built two interoperable tools, not just one. Whether you’re prioritizing speed, control, or flexibility, you’ll find the right entry point for your RPC infrastructure journey.
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