Clients

Chainstack selects the node client for each protocol, and often per mode (full vs archive) and node type (Global Node, Trader Node, Dedicated Node). Clients evolve as protocols upgrade — so treat this page as the current picture for the major protocols, not a frozen contract. This page lists the primary protocols. For a protocol not covered here, see its entry on the Networks page or contact support — the client can also be confirmed at runtime with web3_clientVersion (EVM) or the chain’s equivalent.

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Ethereum

Execution layer:

• Geth — the Go Ethereum implementation; exposes the eth_* and debug_* namespaces.
• Reth — the Reth implementation, used for archive nodes.
• Erigon — the Erigon implementation, available on Dedicated Nodes; adds the Parity trace_* namespace on top of debug_*.

Consensus layer:

• Lighthouse — the Rust implementation of the Ethereum Beacon Chain client.

See Debug and trace APIs for how the execution client affects available tracing methods.

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Polygon

Polygon runs the Bor client — the native Polygon client. It is interacted with using the standard Ethereum JSON-RPC methods.

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BNB Smart Chain

Archive nodes run Reth (the reth-bsc implementation) — Chainstack migrated the BNB Smart Chain archive client from Erigon to Reth. It is interacted with using the standard Ethereum JSON-RPC methods.

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Avalanche

AvalancheGo is the Go implementation of an Avalanche node. It exposes a Geth-compatible C-Chain API with a limited set of debug_trace* methods. See the Chainstack Avalanche API reference.

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Cronos

Cronos is a fully EVM-compatible chain. Connect via the standard Ethereum JSON-RPC API or libraries like ethers.js, web3.js, and web3.py.

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Gnosis Chain

• Execution layer — Nethermind, the .NET implementation. See the JSON-RPC reference in the Nethermind documentation.
• Consensus layer — Lighthouse.

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Harmony

The client is the Harmony Go implementation, interacted with using Geth-style JSON-RPC methods.

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Fantom and Sonic

Both Fantom and Sonic run the Sonic client (Sonic is the successor network to Fantom Opera). It is EVM-compatible and accessed via the standard Ethereum JSON-RPC methods.

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Ronin

The client is Ronin — a Go Ethereum fork — interacted with using Geth-style JSON-RPC methods.

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Arbitrum

Nitro is the official Arbitrum node — a fully integrated layer-2 optimistic rollup stack (fraud proofs, sequencer, token bridges, calldata compression). Arbitrum uses arbtrace_* for pre-Nitro blocks and debug_* for post-Nitro blocks. See the Chainstack Arbitrum API reference and the official Arbitrum docs.

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Base

The execution client is base-reth-node (built on Reth) and the consensus client is base-consensus. Base introduced this native stack with the Azul upgrade (mainnet May 28, 2026), replacing op-geth and op-node.

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Optimism

Global Nodes and Trader Nodes run op-reth (built on Reth). See the Chainstack Optimism API reference.

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zkSync Era

The client is zkSync Era. Tracing is served through the debug_* namespace on archive nodes.

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Scroll

The client is Geth-based (l2geth), accessed via the standard Ethereum JSON-RPC methods.

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Solana

Solana runs Agave (the Anza validator client; reports as solana-core via getVersion). JSON-RPC methods are documented in the Solana docs. For clients, use @solana/kit or the classic @solana/web3.js — both are maintained.

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TON

TON runs the official TON node. Chainstack exposes both the v2 and v3 APIs — see Choosing TON API v2 or v3.

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Sui

Sui runs the official Sui full node. Chainstack serves Sui over both JSON-RPC and gRPC — see the Sui gRPC endpoint.

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Aptos

Aptos-core is the official Aptos client, accessed through its REST API and SDKs (TypeScript, Python, Rust).

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TRON

java-tron is the client. See the TRON API reference.

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Starknet

Chainstack’s Starknet nodes implement the Starknet JSON-RPC specification v0.8.1 (confirmed via starknet_specVersion).

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NEAR

NEAR runs the official nearcore client, accessed via the NEAR JSON-RPC API.

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Tezos

Tezos runs Octez, the reference implementation, accessed through its RPC interface.

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Cardano

Cardano runs cardano-node, the reference implementation.

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Stellar

Stellar runs Stellar Core, accessed through the Horizon and RPC APIs.

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Filecoin

Filecoin runs Lotus, the reference implementation, which exposes a JSON-RPC API.

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Bitcoin

Bitcoin Core connects to the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network to download and validate blocks and transactions. See the available methods in the Bitcoin RPC methods reference. The same Bitcoin Core lineage serves the other UTXO chains on Chainstack (for example, Litecoin, Dogecoin, and Zcash via their respective Core clients).