Last Friday, July 1st, GetBlock Explorer had a Reddit AMA session held by the NEAR Protocol Mods Team. NEAR community was so active and vibrant (just as usual)! It's a pity we had to choose only 25 questions for replying. Anyway, here's the recap of the answers by GetBlock Team.
Community member: What is Getblock and what services do they offer?
GetBlock: GetBlock is a service that provides decentralized applications with reliable and low-cost API endpoints. We offer APIs of both programmatic and non-programmatic blockchains. The two main categories of services at GetBlock are shared blockchain nodes and dedicated nodes. Moreover, we can roll-out an archive node for teams in need of valuable blockchain insights. Moreover, we’re now working on the development of multichain explorer in an app-like user-friendly interface.
Community member: What is node? And what is the use of it?
GetBlock: Simply put, nodes are the decentralized equivalent of servers. They keep the copies of the blockchain and protect it from malicious attacks. You can either set up your own node downloading special software or request the required blockchain data from your virtual node without the need to set it up yourself. This is way easier, and that’s where we can help you!
Community member: How does GetBlock differ from similar services on other blockchains?
GetBlock: In one word: flexibility. Now let me expand on this: GetBlock offers APIs for both programmatic and non-programmatic blockchains. We offer access to 45+ blockchains among which there are mastodons such as Bitcoin, Litecoin and XRP Ledger along with novel ecosystems like Moonbeam, Moonriver, TON. There are also Layer-one giants Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, Fantom, followed by cutting-edge L2 solutions such as Optimism and Arbitrum. Not only this but also is GetBlock flexible in terms of pricing and plans. We offer a handful of alternatives to suit every client’s needs and requirements.
Community member: What are the pros of using GetBlock is it easier than running your own node?
GetBlock: Developing on your own node comes with a handful of things that may annoy you once in a while (sometimes in a short while):
- Setting up a node might take you a lot of time. Up to a few weeks!
- Nodes have to be managed, upgraded, and occasionally re-built from scratch
- A single node is fine and dandy for building a personal project. However, if your project grows, a time comes when you can't make your node server large enough to keep up with the requests you're sending it anymore.
These are just the most widespread issues, but there are even more. Fret not, GetBlock as a node provider you’ll easily avoid these drawbacks of nodes. Our team offers access to nodes and you are able to send requests to the identical API running fully-synced, uo-to-date nodes 24/7.
Community member: 1. On how many blockchain Getblock is offering their services? 2. What is your roadmap for the coming future?
GetBlock: 1. 45+ 2. One of the truly big milestones coming very very soon is the release of our NEAR blockchain explorer. It’ll have a modern app-like interface and provide you high-end analytics in an easy-to-read format. We’re also planning to build explorers for other blockchains aiming at going cross-chain one day. As for the nodes - we’re constantly adding new ones and this summer we should have some updates in this regard up our sleeve.
Community member: Will your team be able to make adjustments for upcoming blockchains in future? Or the blockchains you have now are the only blockchains GetBlock is going to focus on? Also can you share a short overview of roadmap of GetBlock?
GetBlock: We’re constantly evolving and adding new blockchains to our stack. For instance, we’re working on adding new nodes at this very moment, so keep an eye on our updates. As for the roadmap, the nearest milestone would be NEAR block explorer release. After that, a part of our team will focus on creating explorers for other blockchains with the final aim to go cross-chain and facilitate high-end analytics in our explorers’ user-friendly app-like interface.
Community member: What’s the difference between a shared node and a dedicated one?
GetBlock: Shared nodes have a limited number of requests per second because they are used by several projects. This is a fair go-to option for early-stage dApps with low traffic as well as for testing and R&D. Dedicated nodes not only sound premium - they are! They’re built for a particular client, hence facilitating higher speed and unlimited number of requests. Moreover, these nodes are packed with 24/7 premium support, easy-to-use analytical dashboard, and enable blockchain access through various API interfaces such as JSON-RPC, WS or GraphQL. Not to omit, there is an opportunity to deploy third-party software using our infrastructure.
Community member: Is there any rate limit for the nodes? How quick is can work? Is there any delay?
GetBlock: Shared nodes have their limit of API calls set to a max. of 30 requests per second which may be exceeded due to overall usage. As for dedicated nodes - there are no limits at all.
Community member: What will happen if I exceed the limit of 30 requests/second on shared nodes?
GetBlock: You’ll get the Error 429 “Too many requests”.
Community member: Do you have a monitoring system that prevents downtime on dedicated nodes?
GetBlock: We have an internal system where we check everything and solve issues ASAP.
Community member: What is the difference between a full node and an archive node?
GetBlock: In simplest terms: archive nodes have data since genesis block while full nodes receive copies of transactions.
Community member: How can anyone access archive data?
GetBlock: Archive data can only be accessed with our dedicated nodes plan. Shared nodes plan doesn’t provide access to archive data.
Community member: A) How to get started with GetBlock? B) What are the pricing for GetBlock services? C) Do we get any free trial?
GetBlock: A) Well, as it often goes, you start with creating an account! Here’s a step-by-step guide with visuals to help you out: https://getblock.io/docs/get-started/how-to-setup-an-account/ B) It depends on the blockchain, the plan, the period for which you want to acquire. Get in touch with our team here and they’ll find the best fit based on your needs: https://getblock.io/contact/ C) Yes! Contact us to get 1 month free access to any of the dedicated nodes we have.
Community member: Can you tell us the pricing of GetBlock? Is the price flat or does it vary depending on the blockchain?
GetBlock: It depends on the blockchain and number of nodes. You may pick node cluster which hosts a set of nodes and supporting infrastructure and the price here will be different from shared and dedicated nodes.There are some special offers as well. In any case, our bizdevs are happy to find you the deal that would fit in your both technical and financial requirements.
Community member: What ready-made solutions for creating wallets do you have?
GetBlock: Unfortunately, wallet methods are not available within our service.
Community member: Does GetBlock offer a Service Level Agreement (SLA)?
GetBlock: You can check it out here: https://getblock.io/sla/.
Community member: I know this is a very basic question but after all that's how every project gains momentum for a long run. How do you create motivations or incentives for first-time users to connect with your platform? Many platforms pay referral fees for users to attract them and expand their customer reach. Is this the way your platform works or is there some other plans?
GetBlock: We offer a free plan for 40k requests per day so the users can test and see whether they are satisfied with everything. To be honest (and proud too!) the majority is happy with the service and we don’t see a need for artificial incentivizing techniques. What is more, users can even get a free trial month of our dedicated nodes just by contacting our bizdevs.
Community member: Do you have customer support?? If something goes wrong while using your services whom should we can connect with and get a proper resolution for that.
GetBlock: We have support channels on Telegram and Discord. They’ll get your problems solved ASAP, feel free to drop a line in case of any inconveniences: https://t.me/getblockio_eng and https://discord.gg/EHHpMrYUX7.
Community member: I want to know about your team. Who are those people working so hard behind the scenes to make this project successful. Please describe them.
GetBlock: We are so different yet we all have at least one thing in common - passion about blockchain and love for what we’re doing! Our team consists of a highly-skilled DevOps unit, extremely responsible and out-of-the-box thinking backends and frontends, creative designers and copywriters, attentive project managers, friendly bizdevs, driven marketing unit and of course, HR unit without which we wouldn’t make it at all. We love working together just as much as having fun when we have such an opportunity.
Community member: Do you guys feel satisfied by seeing your progresses and achievements till now, when you look back to the day when you have started this project?
GetBlock: During the two years on the market GetBlock has grown from a start up to a reputable company with remarkable achievements. Nevertheless, we keep building and evolving, onboarding new partners every week and cherishing our existing partners all the way.
Community member: I want to support your project. Tell us more about the Ambassador Program and in what ways can we participate?
GetBlock: Unfortunately, we don’t have that at the moment, however, we’re working on setting it up. When it comes to the Ambassador program, we are looking to bring in leads in the first place, not just website traffic. Keep an eye on our updates and you won’t miss out when the Ambassador program is launched.
Community member: Where are GetBlock’s servers located?
GetBlock: Our servers are distributed across the world: Europe, Asia, the USA. It allows us to run various nodes without being affected by anti-crypto attacks in various regions of the world.
Community member: Why did you choose NEAR PROTOCOL when there are so many blockchains available in the market? What attracted you to build on NEAR PROTOCOL?
GetBlock: In the beginning we thought of building explorers for veteran blockchains like Bitcoin or Ethereum. However, we never do things without researching first and that’s how we bumped into NEAR. We saw a unique potential in it as well as many things that appealed personally to different members of our team. For example, I always look at the eco-side of the projects and delve into community. With NEAR being climate-neutral and having such a vibrant and thankful community, I just had a gut feeling that this will eventually work out exceeding all expectations.
Community member: How to build a dapp quickly and easily without any hassle?
GetBlock: Dapp development is rather diverse since you can build nearly whatever: DeFi being the most popular pick with GameFi and marketplaces following. I’m not going to lie, this process requires time and effort anyway, however, GetBlock is a one-stop shop for dApp developers that would help avoid hassles.
Community member: Where I can get the latest updates or more information about the project?
GetBlock: This is a great one! Our social media and our blog are among the top sources where you can get the latest updates on GetBlock: Twitter, Telegram Announcements,Telegram Chat , Discord , blog.
Thank you for all the questions and your interest in the GetBlock project!
GetBlock is also grateful to NEAR Protocol Mods Team for arranging this AMA.
Make sure not to miss our next AMA, subscribe to our social channels mentioned in the last AMA reply!
