How to get a Sui RPC endpoint in 2026

TL;DR

Sui’s Move-based object model and parallel execution architecture require RPC infrastructure optimized for object queries and checkpoint reads—not just account/log patterns from EVM chains.

A Sui RPC endpoint is the core infrastructure layer your app uses to read object state, track checkpoints, and submit transactions on Sui. This guide explains how to choose the right Sui RPC endpoint in 2026, compare public and private options, and move to production-ready infrastructure with reliable performance, archive access, and API roadmap compatibility.

What is a Sui RPC endpoint?

A Sui RPC endpoint is your app’s gateway to Sui’s Move-based blockchain. Unlike EVM chains where you query accounts and logs, Sui is object-centric: you query owned/shared objects, track checkpoint sequences, and submit transactions that reference object versions.

This fundamental difference means:

• API evolution differs (Sui is retiring JSON-RPC in favor of gRPC and GraphQL)
• Query patterns differ (object IDs, not account addresses)
• Historical data needs differ (checkpoint history, not just block logs)

How Sui RPC differs from EVM RPC

What	Sui	Typical EVM
Data Model	Object-centric (Move)	Account-based
Consensus	Mysticeti DAG-based BFT, with parallel execution	Sequential (Proof of Stake/Work)
Primary Queries	Objects + checkpoints	Accounts + logs/events
Historical Needs	Checkpoint/object history	Block/log history
API Status (2026)	JSON-RPC being retired; gRPC and GraphQL	JSON-RPC stable
Indexing	Sui-specific strategy needed	Many off-the-shelf options

This is exactly why provider selection for Sui should include API roadmap and indexing fit, not just raw RPS.

Sui RPC endpoint options

Choosing the right endpoint is mostly a reliability decision. You’re balancing convenience, cost, and operational risk.

Public vs Private Sui RPC endpoints

Common public endpoints:

• Mainnet: https://fullnode.mainnet.sui.io:443
• Testnet: https://fullnode.testnet.sui.io:443
• Devnet: https://fullnode.devnet.sui.io:443

Sui Foundation’s public endpoints no longer serve JSON-RPC (it was switched off the week of July 27, 2026), so build new integrations on gRPC or GraphQL even for prototyping.

Feature	Public RPC	Private RPC (Chainstack)
Access	Free and open	Restricted access
Resources	Shared infrastructure	Dedicated resources
Performance	Variable, rate-limited	Stable, high throughput
Object queries	May timeout under load	Consistent response times
Checkpoint access	Limited historical depth	Deep checkpoint window (Extended nodes)
Best use case	Development & testing	Production workloads

Public RPC endpoints are useful for testing and experimentation, but treat them as shared community resources.

For production workloads, use an infrastructure RPC provider with clearer performance and availability guarantees.

Full node vs Archive access on Sui

Your data requirements should drive this decision.

Full node access	Archive-capable data access
Current state reads	Deep historical analysis
Standard wallet/dapp interactions	Explorer-like products
Typical transaction workflows	Compliance/reporting use cases
	Large historical backfills

If your product depends on long-range historical queries, validate how far back your provider’s checkpoint window reaches before launch. On Chainstack, Sui Global Nodes are Extended: the node holds a rolling window of checkpoints (about 89.7 million as of September 27, 2026) rather than the full ledger from genesis, and older data comes from Sui’s archival service. Every request costs 1 RU, with no archive surcharge.

HTTPS vs WebSocket

Transport choice impacts system behavior, especially at scale.

HTTPS	WebSocket
Request/response model	Better for event-heavy or real-time workflows
Simple operationally	Can reduce overhead for high-frequency interactions
Good for most standard backend reads/writes	Requires stronger reconnect/error handling patterns

In practice, many teams use HTTPS broadly and add persistent channels only where real-time behavior is required. On Sui, real-time feeds now come from gRPC checkpoint streaming (SubscribeCheckpoints); JSON-RPC WebSocket subscriptions still work on Chainstack, but only until JSON-RPC is removed in mid-October 2026.

How to get a private Sui RPC endpoint with Chainstack

1. Log in to the Chainstack console (or create an account).
2. Create a new project.
3. Select Sui as your blockchain protocol.
4. Choose Sui Mainnet or Testnet
5. Deploy the node.
6. Open Access/Credentials and copy your HTTPS endpoint and x-token. The gRPC endpoint is sui-mainnet.core.chainstack.com:443 (Testnet: sui-testnet.core.chainstack.com:443), and on Mainnet GraphQL is served at YOUR_ENDPOINT/graphql.
7. Run a quick connectivity check in your SDK/client before wiring it into production code.

This flow keeps setup simple while giving you production-grade infrastructure earlier in the lifecycle.

A quick gRPC check with grpcurl returns the chain, the current checkpoint height, and the oldest checkpoint the node holds:

grpcurl -H "x-token: YOUR_X_TOKEN" \
  sui-mainnet.core.chainstack.com:443 \
  sui.rpc.v2.LedgerService/GetServiceInfo

Is Chainlist applicable for Sui?

Not really.
Chainlist is mainly used for EVM wallet-network configuration and is not the standard infrastructure path for Sui. For Sui, use your provider dashboard and official SDK tooling instead.

How to choose the best Sui RPC provider in 2026

Most teams pick an RPC provider too early based on “it works in dev.” For Sui, that can backfire in production because your workload profile changes quickly once users, bots, or indexers hit your app.

Use this evaluation framework before you commit:

Evaluation Criteria	What to Check	Why It matters for Sui
Reliability under load	• SLA terms and incident history • Traffic burst handling • Regional failover behavior	Sui’s parallel execution can spike RPC load unpredictably. Shared infrastructure may throttle during network congestion.
Performance	• p95/p99 latency from your backend regions • Consistency during peak windows	Object queries and checkpoint reads are latency-sensitive. Users notice slow wallet updates immediately.
API roadmap compatibility	• Support for Sui’s API transition path • SDK stack compatibility	Sui is retiring JSON-RPC. Confirm your provider serves gRPC and GraphQL today.
Data access depth	• Archive/checkpoint retention • Historical backfill capabilities	Sui’s checkpoint-based history model means backfills and compliance queries depend on how far back your provider’s window reaches.
Operational controls	• Key management and access rules • Usage analytics and alerting • Support escalation process	Production incidents need fast response. Monitoring prevents surprises at scale.
Pricing predictability	• Request-based vs compute-unit pricing • Model costs at 3x expected traffic • Overage rules and dedicated options	Object-heavy apps fan out into many reads. Model costs before you scale.

A practical rollout model:

• Start on public/dev endpoints for prototyping
• Move to managed shared endpoints for staging
• Use managed production tier with fallback provider before launch

Chainstack pricing for Sui RPC

Chainstack pricing is request-unit-based and easier to forecast than method-weighted credit systems. On Sui, every request, whether gRPC, GraphQL, or JSON-RPC, costs 1 RU.

Plan tiers	Cost	Overage (per extra 1M requests)
Developer	$0/mo, 3M requests included, ~25 RPS	$20
Growth	$49/mo, 20M requests, ~250 RPS	$15
Pro	$199/mo, 80M requests, ~400 RPS	$12.5
Business	$499/mo, 200M requests, ~600 RPS	$10
Enterprise	from $990/mo, 400M requests, custom throughput	from $5

How to estimate your likely monthly cost quickly:

1. Forecast average and peak requests/day
2. Convert to monthly request units
3. Add a 20–30% buffer for spikes
4. Check if RPS limits match your peak traffic profile
5. Compare shared tier vs dedicated economics at projected scale

If your traffic is bursty (bots, analytics, event-heavy apps), throughput limits and overage policy matter more than base plan price.

Production readiness checklist

Before launch, validate these basics:

• Primary + fallback RPC provider configured
• Request timeout policy set
• Retry logic with exponential backoff implemented
• Endpoint and network validated at startup
• Credentials stored in env/secret manager (never hardcoded)
• Monitoring for latency, error rate, and throttling
• Alerts for sustained degradation

These controls prevent most avoidable RPC incidents in production.

Troubleshooting common Sui RPC issues

Issue	Likely cause	How to fix
Frequent rate limits	Shared endpoint saturation	Move to managed endpoint, reduce polling, batch requests
High latency spikes	Region mismatch or overloaded shared infra	Route to closer region and enable fallback endpoint
Intermittent request failures	No retry/timeout strategy	Add bounded timeouts + exponential backoff
Missing historical data	Requested data is older than the node’s checkpoint window	Read lowestAvailableCheckpoint from GetServiceInfo; query Sui’s archival service for older data
Authentication errors	Missing/invalid token config	Verify auth headers/tokens and rotate credentials

Conclusion

Sui’s object-centric architecture makes RPC selection more critical than on EVM chains. Your provider needs to support Sui’s unique data model, API migration path, and checkpoint-based historical queries—not just provide raw RPS.

Use public endpoints for prototyping, then move to managed infrastructure with proven Sui support, clear object indexing strategy, and SLA-backed uptime before production launch.

Start with Chainstack’s free tier (3M requests/month), validate your query patterns in staging, then scale to dedicated infrastructure as traffic grows.

FAQ

Additional resources

• Sui tooling
• Migrate Sui from JSON-RPC to gRPC and GraphQL
• Sui gRPC endpoint
• Sui GraphQL endpoint
• Sui gRPC developer guide: what to migrate, and how it works
• Sui GraphQL: what it is, and when to use it over gRPC
• On-chain validator analytics with pysui