Awesome dApp, but too Slow? #DeadInTheWater
One of the most critical factors of choosing any app and continuing to use it, is its speed. When users can use an app to work quicker and achieve their goal, they are going to hang, but it’s a fact that when an app lags, they’re going to look to competitors for an alternative.
SPEED MATTERS
The upfront crispness of a UI is key to the value equation, but within Web3 speed can affect the back-end in some particularly nasty ways, so maintaining performance & reliability at scale is the real challenge. Every single block a dApp queries on the blockchain - "what is the price of 'x'?”, "or the price of pair 'y & z'?" or, "how much does wallet 'a' hold of 'b' token?" - is being served to users in real-time, so it has to be lightning-fast and accurate. Slow speeds in data retrieval from the chain/node result in missing entries into your dApp’s database: This can create problems with the functionality of the app, as it can make the processing laggy and produce inaccurate results... or just grind your dApp to a halt.
THE BASICS METRICS TO TRACK
- Response Time: time taken by a response to come from the blockchain node when a request is made... the quicker, the better.
- Nodes Sync: Nodes need to stay in sync with the latest block; if not, it can miss some transaction in a particular block and serve stale data.
- RPS (Requests Per Second): the number of requests the blockchain node (or API) can serve per second; this is integral for high-volume traffic, at scale.
SPEED. RELIABILITY. SCALE.
We meditate and grind on the tech. Our team has created not only the highest value in Web3 infrastructure but also the fastest nodes on the earth.
Our proprietary middleware, finely-tuned nodes, and global scale enable us to serve up thousands of requests per second 24 / 7 / 365 without skipping a beat. Our platform serves over 3 billion requests per month… that’s ~1157 requests per second.
dApp’s that switch from the other providers always increase speed. We helped Unicrypt increase their speed by 100x, and Paraswap got a 50% boost. Neither of these are guesses or ballpark figures. These are solid, data-driven numbers, and just a couple examples of many.
Compare ANY NODE To QuickNode
We’ve created a tool that allows you to drop in any Ethereum endpoint and select a Web3 call to benchmark. So, if you’d like to check it for yourself, you can get a live, realtime comparison right here.
Final Thought
If you are beginning a dApp project or wondering why competitors are performing better and winning in the space, sign up right now. One line of code to start or switch, minutes to connect and sync.
Need help with your project or have questions? Contact us via this form, on Twitter @QuickNode, or ping us on Discord!
About QuickNode
QuickNode is building infrastructure to support the future of Web3. Since 2017, we’ve worked with hundreds of developers and companies, helping scale dApps and providing high-performance access to 16+ blockchains. Subscribe to our newsletter for more content like this and stay in the loop with what’s happening in Web3! 😃