name: Subscan API FinOps
description: Financial operations guidance for teams consuming the Subscan API for Polkadot and Kusama blockchain data. Covers cost management, budgeting, and optimization strategies.
provider: Subscan
url: https://pro.subscan.io/
contact: api@subscan.io
cost_model:
  type: Subscription
  tiers:
    - name: Free
      monthly_cost: 0
      daily_request_limit: 100000
      rate_limit_rps: 5
      cost_per_request: 0
    - name: Developer
      monthly_cost: null
      daily_request_limit: 400000
      rate_limit_rps: null
      cost_per_request: null
      notes: Contact api@subscan.io for pricing
    - name: Pro
      monthly_cost: null
      daily_request_limit: null
      rate_limit_rps: null
      cost_per_request: null
      notes: Enterprise pricing negotiated directly; contact api@subscan.io
  alternative_access:
    name: PubFi (usage-based)
    description: Subscan data is also available via PubFi (pubfi.ai) with usage-based pricing and x402 payments, enabling automated pay-per-use access for AI agents and automated workflows.
    url: https://pubfi.ai/discovery/api/subscan
    model: Pay-per-request
cost_optimization:
  - recommendation: Cache frequently accessed data (current block, token metadata) locally to reduce redundant API calls.
    impact: high
  - recommendation: Batch queries where possible using list endpoints rather than individual lookups.
    impact: medium
  - recommendation: Monitor daily request consumption against the 100,000 req/day Free plan limit using response headers.
    impact: medium
  - recommendation: For production workloads exceeding Free plan limits, self-host Substrate API Sidecar against a Polkadot node to eliminate per-request costs.
    impact: high
  - recommendation: Use the PubFi gateway for sporadic or agent-driven access patterns where per-request billing is more cost-effective than a subscription.
    impact: medium
budgeting:
  free_tier_ceiling_per_month: 3000000
  notes: Free plan provides 100,000 requests/day, equating to approximately 3 million requests/month at no cost. Plan upgrades are required for higher volumes.
references:
  - url: https://support.subscan.io/
    description: Subscan API documentation
  - url: https://pro.subscan.io/
    description: Subscan API key registration and plan management
  - url: https://pubfi.ai/discovery/api/subscan
    description: PubFi usage-based access to Subscan data