2 Best APIs for EVM Chains in Nigeria

OnFinality is a blockchain infrastructure and node-as-a-service platform specializing in Polkadot, Kusama, and Substrate-based blockchain networks, as well as a growing catalog of EVM-compatible chains. It provides developers with reliable, globally distributed RPC node endpoints and advanced APIs that enable interaction with these blockchain networks without the cost and complexity of running and maintaining nodes independently. The Polkadot and Substrate ecosystem is one of the most technically sophisticated in Web3, with a multi-chain architecture where Polkadot serves as a relay chain connecting many specialized parachains. Building on this ecosystem requires reliable access to node infrastructure for each chain — submitting transactions, querying chain state, reading events, and subscribing to block updates. OnFinality provides these endpoints for Polkadot, Kusama, and dozens of Substrate-based parachains (Acala, Moonbeam, Astar, Phala, and many others) through a unified platform. The API endpoints support both HTTPS (for request-response RPC calls) and WebSocket (for subscriptions and persistent connections). WebSocket connections are essential for applications that need to subscribe to real-time blockchain events — new blocks, transaction confirmations, and state changes — without polling. This is particularly important for DApps that display live blockchain data to users. Beyond basic node access, OnFinality provides Enhanced APIs that offer higher-level, more developer-friendly query capabilities over raw RPC. These enhanced endpoints simplify complex data retrieval tasks that would otherwise require multiple RPC calls and custom parsing logic. SubQuery indexer hosting is also available — allowing developers to deploy SubQuery indexing projects that transform raw blockchain data into a structured GraphQL API, which is the standard pattern for building data-rich DApps on Substrate. For Nigerian blockchain developers and Web3 startups working in the Polkadot ecosystem, OnFinality provides the infrastructure layer that makes building feasible. Running Substrate nodes requires significant server resources, technical expertise, and ongoing maintenance. OnFinality abstracts this entirely, letting Nigerian developers focus on application logic and user experience rather than node operations. Nigerian Web3 projects building in the Polkadot ecosystem — DeFi protocols, NFT platforms, cross-chain bridges, and governance tools — can use OnFinality to access all the chains they need through a single provider and API key, simplifying their infrastructure stack and reducing operational overhead. The free tier provides 500,000 API calls per day, which is sufficient for active development, testing, and early production deployments. Paid tiers scale to tens of millions of calls per day for production DApps with significant user bases. Pricing is predictable and billed monthly, making budget planning straightforward for Nigerian startup teams. OnFinality's SubQuery indexer hosting service is a significant value-add beyond basic node access. SubQuery is the leading data indexing framework for Substrate and Polkadot chains, enabling developers to define custom indexing logic and deploy it as a managed GraphQL API. Nigerian Web3 teams building data-heavy applications — portfolio trackers, DEX analytics, governance dashboards — can deploy their SubQuery projects on OnFinality's infrastructure rather than managing indexer servers independently. The OnFinality monitoring dashboard provides visibility into API usage, request rates, error rates, and latency metrics across all endpoints. Nigerian development teams can monitor their blockchain API consumption to stay within plan limits, identify performance bottlenecks, and diagnose connectivity issues from a single operations console. OnFinality's developer support covers Substrate and Polkadot-specific questions that general cloud support teams cannot answer — providing ecosystem-specific expertise that reduces debugging time for Nigerian developers who are newer to the Polkadot ecosystem.

NOWNodes is a blockchain-as-a-service provider offering full node access to over 50 blockchains through a unified API key. Founded in 2019, NOWNodes distinguishes itself by covering both UTXO-based chains (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dash, Dogecoin, Zcash) and EVM-compatible chains in one platform — making it particularly useful for developers building applications that need Bitcoin alongside Ethereum rather than just EVM chains. For Nigerian developers building crypto wallets, exchanges, or payment applications that must handle Bitcoin transactions, NOWNodes provides a straightforward path to Bitcoin RPC access. The UTXO chain support is where NOWNodes stands out from primarily EVM-focused providers like Alchemy or Moralis. Bitcoin and similar UTXO chains use a fundamentally different data model from Ethereum — transactions consume unspent outputs rather than updating account balances. Building Bitcoin integrations requires UTXO management, raw transaction construction, and Bitcoin-specific RPC methods that EVM node providers do not offer. NOWNodes Bitcoin node access provides the full Bitcoin Core RPC interface including getutxos, getrawtransaction, sendrawtransaction, and all other methods needed for robust Bitcoin integration. The blockchain explorer API extends beyond raw RPC to provide indexed blockchain data — address balances, transaction histories, and block data in a query-friendly format that is faster and more convenient than parsing raw RPC responses. For Nigerian exchange or wallet applications needing to display transaction history and current balances for user addresses, the explorer API endpoints provide this data in a clean format without custom indexing. 50+ chain coverage includes Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), BNB Smart Chain, Polygon, Solana, Avalanche, Tron, Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), XRP, and many others. This breadth supports Nigerian crypto applications that need to handle a wide range of cryptocurrencies for their users. The free plan (60,000 requests per day) is less generous than Ankr or dRPC but sufficient for development and low-traffic production. Paid plans starting at $20/month offer higher daily request limits. Dedicated node options provide isolated infrastructure for high-volume production deployments. NOWNodes supports both shared node endpoints (ideal for development and moderate production loads) and dedicated nodes (for applications requiring guaranteed throughput and isolation from other users' traffic). Dedicated nodes eliminate the shared resource contention that can cause response time variability at peak usage periods. The platform's chain coverage spans major proof-of-work, proof-of-stake, and other consensus mechanism chains — enabling Nigerian developers to interact with Bitcoin's UTXO model, Ethereum's account model, and other blockchain architectures through a unified API key and billing relationship. For Nigerian crypto applications and Web3 projects, having reliable node access is the difference between a functioning product and an unreliable one. User-facing applications that depend on blockchain connectivity for wallet balances, transaction broadcasts, and smart contract calls require the kind of managed reliability that NOWNodes provides — handling node maintenance, version upgrades, and infrastructure failures transparently. Block explorer APIs complement the basic node access, providing higher-level queries for address transaction history and balance lookups that would otherwise require parsing raw blockchain data — saving significant development time for Nigerian developers building wallet and portfolio tracking features.