Choose a Solana API by the object your application needs. A token chart needs indexed candles; a transaction builder needs account state and simulation; a wallet performance panel needs trade history and a defined cost-basis model. Buying one layer does not automatically provide the others.
We build Solana Tracker's Data API and infrastructure. This guide explains the selection criteria and links to our implementation examples; it is not an independent performance ranking.
What is a Solana API?
The term covers several contracts. Standard JSON-RPC exposes chain state and transaction methods. Indexed APIs turn chain activity into higher-level token, wallet, or market objects. Streaming delivers ongoing observations. Swap APIs quote or construct transactions for execution.
| Application requirement | Start with | Work you still own |
|---|---|---|
| Account state and simulation | JSON-RPC | Validation, confirmation policy, retries |
| Prices and candles | Indexed market data | Freshness, chart mapping, pool scope |
| Wallet PnL | Indexed trading analytics | Coverage and cost-basis interpretation |
| Raw program activity | Geyser / Yellowstone | Decoding, forks, backfill, storage |
| Live normalized trades | Market-data WebSocket | Deduplication, gaps, subscription lifecycle |
| Swap execution | Quote and transaction API | Signing, slippage policy, confirmation |
Evaluate response semantics before pricing
Pick one real screen and list the fields it requires. Then test those fields on an established token, a newly launched token, a migrated token, and a wallet that has not been indexed yet.
Check how the service represents missing data, empty pages, stale observations, and pending indexing. A null price is different from zero. A queued PnL response is different from an empty wallet. An opaque cursor should survive a round trip through your database without conversion.
Request costs only become comparable after this test. A cheaper raw endpoint may require several follow-up requests and a custom indexer to produce the same screen.
Solana Tracker Data API and SDK workflows
The Data API documentation covers token details, prices, charts, search, wallets, trades, PnL, and related indexed data. The TypeScript SDK combines REST clients with Datastream subscription helpers.
The current SDK 0.5.0 migration guide explains opt-in mixed swap/liquidity history, exact LP amounts, enriched events, and cursor compatibility. Existing trade calls remain swaps-only.
Choose a working path by feature:
- Price snapshots for watchlists and portfolio marks.
- OHLCV candles for historical charts.
- Wallet portfolios for holdings and separate PnL panels.
- Liquidity activity for LP additions and removals.
- Jupiter DCA orders for recurring-order state and fills.
- Lighthouse for market-level discovery.
Use the current pricing reference for endpoint access and limits rather than assuming every feature is included in a free key.
RPC and raw streaming still have distinct jobs
Use Solana's JSON-RPC reference to identify the standard methods your builder needs. Provider-specific indexed methods can reduce application work, but they also require an explicit migration plan.
Yellowstone is useful when you need program instructions or account updates rather than a pre-parsed trade object. It requires a decoder and a recovery policy. Follow the gRPC setup guide and test inner instructions and loaded addresses before relying on a parser.
Keep execution separate from market observations
A current price is not an executable quote. A quote is not a confirmed trade. Preserve those boundaries in the application so a fast price response cannot accidentally stand in for slippage checks or transaction confirmation.
If you evaluate Raptor or another swap-routing service, compare route coverage, quote freshness, transaction construction, operational requirements, and failure behavior independently of your market-data provider.
FAQ
Can a data API replace a Solana RPC provider?
It can replace some indexing work, but raw account reads, simulations, and transaction submission still require appropriate chain access.
Should I use WebSocket or gRPC?
Use normalized WebSocket events when their schema matches the product. Use raw gRPC when instruction-level control justifies maintaining decoding and recovery.
What should I test before choosing a paid plan?
Run the actual method mix, including errors and pagination, from your deployment region. Record response coverage, tail latency, limits, and total request cost.