FAQ - How to Start ERPC
Getting Started with Solana RPC / gRPC
You can easily begin using ERPC services via the official Validators DAO Discord. We provide free trial periods for all our plans, so feel free to test and experience our services.
Detailed Getting Started Guide on Discord
Detailed step-by-step instructions are available in the following Discord channel:
🔗 #▶️-how-to-start
Our support team is ready to assist you smoothly through your first steps, so please don’t hesitate to join!
Q. Why hasn't my free trial started yet?
If you’ve only completed the €1 card verification, your free trial has not yet begun. Please make sure to click the “Start Free Trial” button for the desired plan after card verification.
Q. Will I be charged immediately?
No, you won't be charged immediately. The €1 authorization is only to verify your card. All plans include a 7-day free trial. You will only be charged if you don't cancel the trial before it ends.
Q. What regions are supported?
We currently support the following regions:
- Amsterdam
- Frankfurt
- London
- New York
- Chicago
- Salt Lake City
- Tokyo
- Singapore
Sydney region is currently being prepared.
Q. What is the latency like?
Latency varies depending on the measurement method and your specific usage environment. Rather than focusing on exact numerical values, it's crucial to ensure that the latency meets your actual operational requirements.
We offer free trials across all our plans, enabling you to test performance directly in your real-world environment. Additionally, we provide easy-to-use tools in TypeScript and Rust for measuring latency. Feel free to utilize these tools alongside your free trial.
Q. I need latency of at least ~400ms or better.
To achieve latency within approximately 400ms, consider these essential points:
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Realistic Understanding of Ping Values: Ping values indicate ideal conditions and do not reflect actual latency in streaming communications, which typically experience around 5 times the ping latency. For example, a ping of 100ms across continents realistically results in about 500ms of latency. Thus, infrastructure must be established within the same region to achieve ~400ms latency.
- Typical Ping Value Reference:
- Same network: ~0.1ms
- Private Network Interconnect (PNI): ~0.2ms
- Same data center: ~0.3ms
- Same city: ~1ms
- Neighboring country: ~5–10ms
- Intercontinental: ~100–300ms
- Typical Ping Value Reference:
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Avoiding the Pitfall of Average Latency: Solana validators are geographically dispersed globally, and the leader schedule changes randomly with each epoch. Relying on average latency to achieve ~400ms is impractical. Instead, you should precisely track validator schedules in your specific region to identify slots with the lowest latency. To consistently achieve minimal latency, infrastructure across all relevant regions is required. Within the same region, data acquisition can occur in tens of milliseconds, with transmission possible in just a few milliseconds.
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Tracking the Leader Schedule: Continuously monitor the leader validator schedule for your region using the ERPC Leader Slot API (
getLeaderSlots).
It provides real-time data on upcoming leaders, validator geolocations, and reference ping values, allowing you to accurately identify optimal trading slots with minimal latency.
This eliminates the limitations of public data sources such as Solana Beach or native RPC APIs, which have slower update frequencies and lower precision.
Q. How can I achieve zero-block (zero-slot) trading?
Successfully achieving zero-block (zero-slot) trading requires more sophisticated strategies, as follows:
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Identifying Opportunity Zones: Solana validators are distributed globally, and it is physically impossible to achieve optimal latency for every slot. Therefore, monitor validator leader schedules in the region where your infrastructure is located and identify the most favorable opportunity zones. Deploying infrastructure across multiple regions can also be advantageous. For example, Frankfurt is a key region due to its high validator density, resulting in more frequent leader selection and greater trading opportunities.Use the ERPC Leader Slot API (
getLeaderSlots) to obtain real-time leader schedules, validator geolocation data, and reference ping values with far greater precision than Solana Beach or native RPC APIs. This allows you to predict opportunity zones more accurately and execute near-zero-latency trades. -
Implementing Dedicated Nodes: If you struggle to compete, consider deploying dedicated nodes. Shared nodes experience latency due to traffic from other users, and thus are not recommended. Furthermore, placing your dedicated node within the same network as your application significantly reduces network latency and optimizes performance.
Q. Is this RPC (gRPC, Shreds) faster than others?
We encourage you to try our free trial and compare the performance against other services. If you find our service slower, please let us know the specific conditions and competitors you've compared it against via Discord. We will identify the cause and improve the speed further.
We continually work on improving latency based on customer feedback. If you seek the fastest possible endpoint, please share detailed information with us. Providing specific metrics and comparison conditions against competitors allows us to deliver superior performance. This feedback-driven approach has consistently enabled us to enhance our services.
Q. How many tokens does each method consume?
We are currently preparing a detailed token usage table. During the free trial period, you can freely try all methods and get a practical sense of the approximate consumption.
As a reference, the base rate is 42 tokens per method.
Q. Why are dedicated endpoints faster?
Shared endpoints are used by multiple customers who share the same resources. As traffic increases, latency tends to occur. Server resources have physical limits, and the amount of work they can handle is finite. When too many requests arrive at the same time, they must be processed sequentially, which results in slower response times.
Although we take various measures to optimize performance even on shared endpoints, with dedicated endpoints you are the sole user of the resource. This means you are completely unaffected by other users, ensuring consistently stable and fast responses.
In addition, dedicated endpoints provide communication options without TLS, such as HTTP. By skipping the TLS handshake (around 20ms), communication becomes even faster compared to HTTPS.
Q. I want to pay with crypto
ERPC is currently developing “Subscription NFTs.” This mechanism issues subscription rights as NFTs, allowing ownership, transfer, and resale, thereby greatly improving the crypto payment experience. The release is scheduled for the end of 2025. For more details, please see the following link:
Subscription NFTs Press Release: https://erpc.global/en/news/2025/08/31/erpc-subscription-nfts/
However, since development and release will take time, if you want to start paying with crypto right now, we recommend trying services that allow you to use cryptocurrencies as credit card payments:
- Bybit Crypto Card: https://www.bybit.com/en/cards
- Wirex Card: https://wirexapp.com/card
By using these services, you can immediately start paying with cryptocurrency just like with a regular credit card.