ChainBench · Flotapponnier · Jul 24, 2026 · Jul 24, 2026
@@ -0,0 +1,163 @@
+# OpenChainBench. Bench № 093
+
+slug: tron-rpc
+number: "093"
+title: Fastest free TRON RPC, live no-key JSON-RPC endpoint latency
+seo_title: "Fastest free TRON RPC 2026"
+seo_description: "{{best_name}} leads free TRON RPC at {{best_p50}} (eth_getBlockByNumber p50, 24h). 3 no-key JSON-RPC-compat providers measured every 60s from 3 regions."
+subtitle: HTTP round-trip latency for `eth_getBlockByNumber("latest", false)` against every free, no-key public TRON JSON-RPC-compatible endpoint, audited every 60 seconds from 3 regions.
+
+category: RPCs
+status: live
+metric: RPC latency
+unit: ms
+higher_is_better: false
+
+seo_intro: |
+  TRON exposes two RPC surfaces: the native Tron HTTP API
+  (`wallet/getnowblock`, `wallet/triggersmartcontract`) and an
+  EVM-compatible JSON-RPC endpoint (`/jsonrpc`) that speaks standard
+  Ethereum method names (`eth_blockNumber`, `eth_getBlockByNumber`,
+  `eth_getBalance`). This bench measures the JSON-RPC surface because
+  that is the path every TRON-compatible EVM wallet, TronWeb bridge
+  and cross-chain bot integrates against. Provider cohort at launch:
+  TronGrid (Tron Foundation official), dRPC and PublicNode / Allnodes.
+  Ankr's JSON-RPC path is keyless in branding but rejected our probes
+  with `API key is not allowed to access blockchain`; Chainstack,
+  NOWNodes, GetBlock, Tatum and BlockPI require API keys on the TRON
+  JSON-RPC path; OnFinality and Blast API have no public TRON
+  JSON-RPC gateway at this time. The native TRON REST API surface
+  (used by TronWeb + TronBox) is out of scope for the RPC cluster
+  and would need a chain-specific probe added.
+
+abstract: |
+  Per-chain member of the RPC latency cluster, extended to the TRON
+  JSON-RPC-compatible surface. We measure the round-trip latency of a
+  single, identical JSON-RPC call
+  (`eth_getBlockByNumber("latest", false)`) against every no-key
+  public TRON JSON-RPC endpoint that sustains continuous probing,
+  3 providers at launch, every 60 seconds, from us-east, eu-west and
+  Singapore. The harness classifies every response
+  (ok / http_err / jsonrpc_err / stale / timeout) with the EVM
+  staleness gap tuned for TRON's ~3 s block time (25 blocks ≈ 75
+  seconds). The cross-chain view lives on the parent `rpc-capabilities`
+  benchmark; this page is the TRON-scoped answer with per-region
+  breakdowns as a first-class dimension.
+
+methodology:
+  - "Cadence: every 60 seconds per provider, from each of 3 probe regions (us-east Virginia, eu-west Amsterdam, sgp Singapore). Headline p50/p90/p99 aggregate across all 3 regions via Prometheus `avg(quantile_over_time(...))`; per-region breakdowns are first-class on this page via the region tabs."
+  - "Payload: `{\"jsonrpc\":\"2.0\",\"id\":<rotating>,\"method\":\"eth_getBlockByNumber\",\"params\":[\"latest\", false]}`. Plain HTTP POST, identical for every endpoint, no API key in any request. Non-cacheable by design: the rotating id defeats edge caches that would answer a bare head query without touching a node."
+  - "Latency: client-side round-trip delta in milliseconds, exposed as both a gauge and a histogram (buckets 50 ms → 10 s), so percentiles are computed via Prometheus `quantile_over_time` over the last 24 hours."
+  - "Call-result classification: `ok` (HTTP 200 + non-empty result with a parsable hex block number), `http_err`, `jsonrpc_err` (HTTP 200 carrying an error body), `stale` (more than 25 blocks behind the cross-provider tip, roughly 75 seconds at TRON's ~3 s block time), `timeout`. Latency without reliability is a misleading ranking signal."
+  - "Surface scope: only the EVM-compatible JSON-RPC surface (`/jsonrpc` endpoints) is measured, because that is the path every cross-chain wallet, TronWeb / EVM bridge and arbitrage bot integrates against. The native TRON REST API (`wallet/getnowblock`, `wallet/triggersmartcontract`) is out of scope for this bench; a chain-specific `tron-rest` bench can be added later when there is clear demand from integrators using TronWeb directly."
+  - "This page is part of the per-chain RPC cluster derived from the cross-chain [rpc-capabilities](https://openchainbench.com/benchmarks/rpc-capabilities) benchmark; the identical harness, cadence and exclusion rules apply on every chain."
+  - "Chain scope: every query on this page is pinned to `chain=\"tron\"`. Provider coverage at launch: 3 no-key JSON-RPC endpoints (TronGrid, dRPC, PublicNode). The TRON JSON-RPC provider market is materially smaller than the EVM one; most TRON infra vendors expose only the native TRON REST API keyless, and gate the JSON-RPC path behind an API key."
+  - "Excluded by the launch audit: Ankr (`rpc.ankr.com/tron_jsonrpc` returned `API key is not allowed to access blockchain` without a key), Chainstack / NOWNodes / GetBlock / Tatum / BlockPI (all require an API key on the TRON JSON-RPC path even though branded as public), OnFinality + Blast API + AllThatNode (no public TRON JSON-RPC gateway), Tron Foundation's `rpc.trongrid.io` (DNS not resolving; the correct official host is `api.trongrid.io/jsonrpc`)."
+
+findings:
+  - "{{best_name}} currently leads free TRON RPC at {{best_p50}} (eth_getBlockByNumber p50, 24h) across 3 measured providers."
+  - "{{name:trongrid}} is Tron Foundation's official public API gateway; the bench measures the same `api.trongrid.io/jsonrpc` endpoint that every TronWeb + tronbox integrator points at first. Latency here reflects what a keyless TRON-EVM integrator sees end-to-end."
+  - "{{name:drpc}} routes TRON JSON-RPC through its multi-provider load balancer; latency here is a good proxy for what a cross-chain integrator (multi-chain wallets, bridges) can expect from a load-balanced setup."
+  - "{{name:publicnode}} extends its universal multi-chain footprint to TRON JSON-RPC without a keyed path; the reliability column matters as much as p50 since TRON JSON-RPC compat is a thin layer over the native TRON API and can drift under load."
+
+faq:
+  - q: "What is the fastest free TRON RPC right now?"
+    a: "{{best_name}} currently leads at {{best_p50}} (eth_getBlockByNumber p50 over the last 24h), measured against 3 no-key JSON-RPC providers probed every 60 seconds from us-east, eu-west and Singapore. The leaderboard re-sorts continuously against fresh Prometheus samples, so the answer on this page is the answer right now, not a quarterly snapshot. Use the region tabs to see the leader from the origin closest to your deployment."
+  - q: "Which TRON RPCs work without an API key?"
+    a: "Three JSON-RPC endpoints sustain continuous keyless probing at launch: TronGrid (`api.trongrid.io/jsonrpc`), dRPC (`tron.drpc.org`) and PublicNode / Allnodes (`tron.publicnode.com/jsonrpc`). Every listed endpoint was live-verified with an `eth_getBlockByNumber` POST returning a parsable hex head before inclusion. Excluded by the audit: Ankr's TRON JSON-RPC path rejects keyless probes with `API key is not allowed to access blockchain`; Chainstack, NOWNodes, GetBlock, Tatum and BlockPI require an API key on the TRON JSON-RPC path even though branded as public; OnFinality, Blast API and AllThatNode have no public TRON JSON-RPC gateway. The TRON JSON-RPC provider market is materially smaller than the EVM one , most TRON infra vendors expose only the native TRON REST API keyless."
+  - q: "Why only 3 providers when other RPC benches have 5+?"
+    a: "TRON's JSON-RPC compat layer is thinner than the EVM one, and most infra vendors gate it behind an API key even when their native TRON REST endpoints are keyless. The 3 providers on this page are all keyless endpoints that responded correctly to a plain POST during the launch audit; when other vendors open a keyless JSON-RPC path we will add them. Latency and reliability numbers here are still meaningful because the 3 providers span a Foundation-official endpoint, a multi-provider aggregator (dRPC) and a universal multi-chain gateway (PublicNode) , the three infra archetypes an integrator would compare against each other anyway."
+  - q: "Does this bench cover the native TRON REST API (`wallet/getnowblock`)?"
+    a: "No. This bench scopes only the EVM-compatible JSON-RPC surface (`/jsonrpc` endpoints), because that is the path cross-chain wallets, TronWeb bridges, and arbitrage bots integrate against. The native TRON REST API surface (used by TronWeb + TronBox directly) has different method semantics (address encoding, resource model, `wallet/*` vs `walletsolidity/*` paths) and would need a chain-specific probe added. That will land as a separate `tron-rest` bench when the demand from integrators using TronWeb directly is clear."
+  - q: "Does the fastest TRON RPC change by region?"
+    a: "Often. TRON public infra concentrates operations in specific regions; a gateway that wins from Amsterdam can lose from Singapore by multiples. The region tabs at the top of the page re-scope every number on the page to a single origin; pick the one closest to where your requests actually originate."
+  - q: "How is TRON RPC latency measured here, technically?"
+    a: "One identical JSON-RPC POST (`eth_getBlockByNumber(\"latest\", false)`) every 60 seconds against each provider from each of 3 regions, using the same plain HTTP client the rest of the EVM cluster uses. Wall-clock round-trip is recorded at millisecond precision; p50/p90/p99 are computed via Prometheus `quantile_over_time` over 24 hours. Responses are classified (`ok` / `http_err` / `jsonrpc_err` / `stale` / `timeout`) so an endpoint stuck on an old head or returning errors behind HTTP 200 is never ranked as fastest."
+
+source: https://github.com/ChainBench/OpenChainBench/tree/main/harnesses/rpc-capabilities
+
+prometheus:
+  window: 24h
+  freshness_metric: rpc_latency_milliseconds
+
+# Per-cell (region) ranking matrix for scoped badge claims. Chain is
+# fixed for the whole bench, so cells key on region alone.
+rank_matrix_query: avg by (provider, region) (ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p50_24h{chain="tron"})
+
+# Region is the only dimension: chain is baked into every query.
+dimensions:
+  region:
+    - { value: all,     label: All regions }
+    - { value: us-east, label: US-East }
+    - { value: eu-west, label: EU-West }
+    - { value: sgp,     label: Singapore }
+
+providers:
+  - slug: trongrid
+    name: TronGrid
+    tag: Tron Foundation's official public API gateway
+    formula: "50th percentile over 24h of client-side round-trip latency (ms) for a single `eth_getBlockByNumber(\"latest\", false)` POST sent every 60s from 3 regions (us-east + eu-west + sgp) to TronGrid's no-key TRON JSON-RPC endpoint."
+    queries:
+      p50: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p50_24h{provider="trongrid", chain="tron"})
+      p90: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p90_24h{provider="trongrid", chain="tron"})
+      p99: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p99_24h{provider="trongrid", chain="tron"})
+      mean: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:mean_24h{provider="trongrid", chain="tron"})
+      success: sum(ocb:rpc_call:ok_rate_24h{provider="trongrid", chain="tron"}) / sum(ocb:rpc_call:rate_24h{provider="trongrid", chain="tron"})
+      sample_size: sum(ocb:rpc_call:increase_24h{provider="trongrid", chain="tron"})
+      series: avg(avg_over_time(rpc_latency_milliseconds{provider="trongrid", chain="tron"}[1h]))
+      regions:
+        - region: us-east
+          p50: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p50_24h{provider="trongrid", chain="tron", region="us-east"})
+          series: avg_over_time(rpc_latency_milliseconds{provider="trongrid", chain="tron", region="us-east"}[1h])
+        - region: eu-west
+          p50: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p50_24h{provider="trongrid", chain="tron", region="eu-west"})
+          series: avg_over_time(rpc_latency_milliseconds{provider="trongrid", chain="tron", region="eu-west"}[1h])
+        - region: ap-southeast
+          p50: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p50_24h{provider="trongrid", chain="tron", region="sgp"})
+          series: avg_over_time(rpc_latency_milliseconds{provider="trongrid", chain="tron", region="sgp"}[1h])
+
+  - slug: drpc
+    name: dRPC
+    tag: Multi-provider RPC load balancer, edge-close routing
+    formula: "50th percentile over 24h of client-side round-trip latency (ms) for a single `eth_getBlockByNumber(\"latest\", false)` POST sent every 60s from 3 regions (us-east + eu-west + sgp) to dRPC's no-key TRON JSON-RPC endpoint."
+    queries:
+      p50: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p50_24h{provider="drpc", chain="tron"})
+      p90: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p90_24h{provider="drpc", chain="tron"})
+      p99: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p99_24h{provider="drpc", chain="tron"})
+      mean: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:mean_24h{provider="drpc", chain="tron"})
+      success: sum(ocb:rpc_call:ok_rate_24h{provider="drpc", chain="tron"}) / sum(ocb:rpc_call:rate_24h{provider="drpc", chain="tron"})
+      sample_size: sum(ocb:rpc_call:increase_24h{provider="drpc", chain="tron"})
+      series: avg(avg_over_time(rpc_latency_milliseconds{provider="drpc", chain="tron"}[1h]))
+      regions:
+        - region: us-east
+          p50: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p50_24h{provider="drpc", chain="tron", region="us-east"})
+          series: avg_over_time(rpc_latency_milliseconds{provider="drpc", chain="tron", region="us-east"}[1h])
+        - region: eu-west
+          p50: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p50_24h{provider="drpc", chain="tron", region="eu-west"})
+          series: avg_over_time(rpc_latency_milliseconds{provider="drpc", chain="tron", region="eu-west"}[1h])
+        - region: ap-southeast
+          p50: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p50_24h{provider="drpc", chain="tron", region="sgp"})
+          series: avg_over_time(rpc_latency_milliseconds{provider="drpc", chain="tron", region="sgp"}[1h])
+
+  - slug: publicnode
+    name: PublicNode
+    tag: Allnodes-operated, 70+ chains, keyless TRON JSON-RPC path
+    formula: "50th percentile over 24h of client-side round-trip latency (ms) for a single `eth_getBlockByNumber(\"latest\", false)` POST sent every 60s from 3 regions (us-east + eu-west + sgp) to PublicNode's no-key TRON JSON-RPC endpoint."
+    queries:
+      p50: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p50_24h{provider="publicnode", chain="tron"})
+      p90: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p90_24h{provider="publicnode", chain="tron"})
+      p99: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p99_24h{provider="publicnode", chain="tron"})
+      mean: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:mean_24h{provider="publicnode", chain="tron"})
+      success: sum(ocb:rpc_call:ok_rate_24h{provider="publicnode", chain="tron"}) / sum(ocb:rpc_call:rate_24h{provider="publicnode", chain="tron"})
+      sample_size: sum(ocb:rpc_call:increase_24h{provider="publicnode", chain="tron"})
+      series: avg(avg_over_time(rpc_latency_milliseconds{provider="publicnode", chain="tron"}[1h]))
+      regions:
+        - region: us-east
+          p50: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p50_24h{provider="publicnode", chain="tron", region="us-east"})
+          series: avg_over_time(rpc_latency_milliseconds{provider="publicnode", chain="tron", region="us-east"}[1h])
+        - region: eu-west
+          p50: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p50_24h{provider="publicnode", chain="tron", region="eu-west"})
+          series: avg_over_time(rpc_latency_milliseconds{provider="publicnode", chain="tron", region="eu-west"}[1h])
+        - region: ap-southeast
+          p50: avg(ocb:rpc_latency_milliseconds:p50_24h{provider="publicnode", chain="tron", region="sgp"})
+          series: avg_over_time(rpc_latency_milliseconds{provider="publicnode", chain="tron", region="sgp"}[1h])
@@ -448,6 +448,53 @@ func chains() []Chain {
 				{Slug: "soneium-official", Name: "Soneium Official", URL: envDefault("RPC_URL_SONEIUM_OFFICIAL", "https://rpc.soneium.org")},
 			},
 		},
+		// ─── Hyperliquid HyperEVM (chain 999) — added 2026-07-24. Standard
+		// EVM JSON-RPC surface bolted onto the HyperCore perps engine.
+		// Providers live-verified keyless via eth_blockNumber during launch
+		// audit: hyperliquid-official (rpc.hyperliquid.xyz/evm), dRPC,
+		// Stakely, Purroof Group, Hypurrscan. Excluded by that sweep:
+		// Alchemy demo (rate-limited dead), thirdweb (`Invalid chain`
+		// error on HyperEVM), Grove/Pocket public LB (needs app id at
+		// public LB path), AllThatNode + Blast API + Chainstack + Gelato
+		// + Imperator HyperEVM guesses (DNS-fail or 401 without key),
+		// PublicNode (no HyperEVM subdomain yet).
+		{
+			Slug: "hyperliquid",
+			Name: "Hyperliquid",
+			Providers: []Provider{
+				{Slug: "hyperliquid-official", Name: "Hyperliquid Labs", URL: envDefault("RPC_URL_HYPERLIQUID_OFFICIAL", "https://rpc.hyperliquid.xyz/evm")},
+				{Slug: "drpc", Name: "dRPC", URL: envDefault("RPC_URL_HYPERLIQUID_DRPC", "https://hyperliquid.drpc.org")},
+				{Slug: "stakely", Name: "Stakely", URL: envDefault("RPC_URL_HYPERLIQUID_STAKELY", "https://hyperliquid-json-rpc.stakely.io")},
+				{Slug: "purroofgroup", Name: "Purroof Group", URL: envDefault("RPC_URL_HYPERLIQUID_PURROOF", "https://rpc.purroofgroup.com")},
+				{Slug: "hypurrscan", Name: "Hypurrscan", URL: envDefault("RPC_URL_HYPERLIQUID_HYPURRSCAN", "https://rpc.hypurrscan.io")},
+			},
+		},
+		// ─── TRON (JSON-RPC compat surface only) — added 2026-07-24.
+		// TRON exposes both a native REST API (wallet/getnowblock) and
+		// an EVM-compatible JSON-RPC surface at /jsonrpc. We probe the
+		// JSON-RPC surface because that is the path every cross-chain
+		// wallet + TronWeb/EVM bridge integrates against. Providers
+		// live-verified keyless via eth_blockNumber during launch
+		// audit: TronGrid (api.trongrid.io/jsonrpc — Tron Foundation
+		// official), dRPC and PublicNode/Allnodes. Excluded by that
+		// sweep: Ankr (API key required despite public branding),
+		// Chainstack + NOWNodes + GetBlock + Tatum + BlockPI (all
+		// require API key on TRON JSON-RPC path), OnFinality + Blast
+		// API + AllThatNode (no public TRON JSON-RPC gateway). The
+		// TRON JSON-RPC provider market is materially smaller than
+		// EVM — most TRON infra vendors expose only the native TRON
+		// REST API keyless. Native REST API surface is out of scope
+		// for this cluster; a `tron-rest` bench would need a
+		// chain-specific probe.
+		{
+			Slug: "tron",
+			Name: "TRON",
+			Providers: []Provider{
+				{Slug: "trongrid", Name: "TronGrid", URL: envDefault("RPC_URL_TRON_TRONGRID", "https://api.trongrid.io/jsonrpc")},
+				{Slug: "drpc", Name: "dRPC", URL: envDefault("RPC_URL_TRON_DRPC", "https://tron.drpc.org")},
+				{Slug: "publicnode", Name: "PublicNode", URL: envDefault("RPC_URL_TRON_PUBLICNODE", "https://tron.publicnode.com/jsonrpc")},
+			},
+		},
 	}
 
 	filter := strings.TrimSpace(os.Getenv("OCB_CHAINS"))