What is RPC
RPC (Remote Procedure Call) is basically how your app talks to Solana without running a full validator node. Essentially it acts as an API gateway into the blockchain - you send JSON-RPC requests, the node handles the heavy lifting, and you get back the data you need. Simple as that.
Every wallet, DEX, Squads, memecoin game and DeFi protocol on Solana depends on these RPC nodes. They're the workhorses that let you query account balances, fetch transaction history, and submit new transactions. Without them, you'd need to run your own validator just to build an app (literally nobody would build apps).
The validator network backing these RPC services has gotten leaner and meaner over the years. Back in early 2021, we had around 1,900 validators. Now were down to 1,295 as of June 2025. But here's the thing - performance has actually improved. The daily skip rate dropped from 15% to just 0.3%!
Performance Evolution and Provider Innovation
Private RPC endpoints blow public ones out of the water - that's just facts based on June 2025 benchmarks. If you're serious about your app's performance, you're not using public endpoints anymore. Some good private ones:
ERPC: They went all-in on hardware. Their London node runs an EPYC 5th Gen CPU at 4.8 GHz with over 1TB of DDR5 RAM. Overkill? Maybe. But when you're handling thousands of requests per second, that extra headroom matters. They've also expanded to Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and New York, giving developers more options for geographical optimization.
Helius Labs: They just dropped some interesting features in August 2025. LaserStream is their new streaming tech, but the real game-changer is their backrun rebates feature. Basically, you can now monetize MEV opportunities through your RPC provider. Pretty clever way to offset infrastructure costs. Their free tier gives you 1 million credits at 10 requests per second—enough to prototype without pulling out the credit card.
Triton One: They took a different approach with their Old Faithful beta for gRPC streaming. If you need raw throughput and don't mind working with gRPC instead of JSON-RPC, this is worth checking out. They've got a strict no-backrunning policy too, which some developers prefer for fairness reasons. Meanwhile, Validators DAO upgraded their Shredstream infrastructure across multiple cities. More nodes, better redundancy, faster response times—the whole ecosystem is leveling up.
Developer Impact and Ecosystem Growth
QuickNode's August 2025 study dropped some numbers that got people's attention: optimized RPC endpoints can cut application latency by 70%. That can make a huge difference for user experience if your an app developer,
The variety of providers means you can optimize for different things. Need historical data going back months? ERPC's got enhanced data retention. Building a trading bot that needs minimal latency? Pick a provider with nodes closest to your servers. Running a simple wallet? Maybe the free tier is all you need.
This competition has been great for developers. Providers keep pushing boundaries - better uptime, faster responses, more features. ERPC's focus on data retention is perfect for analytics platforms that need to crunch historical blockchain data. Helius's MEV features help trading platforms stay competitive. Triton's gRPC option gives high-frequency traders another tool in their arsenal.
The bottom line? Solana's RPC infrastructure has grown up. Whether you're building a basic dApp or a complex trading system, there's an RPC solution that fits. The network's performance improvements, combined with provider innovation, mean developers can build faster, more reliable applications than ever before. And that's ultimately what drives adoption - when stuff just works.
