If you’ve ever tried to explore the full history of the Ethereum blockchain, you know how massive it is — and how hard it can be to host an Ethereum archive node yourself. Good news: you don’t have to anymore.
NOWNodes has just made the Ethereum archive node available in the shared plan, meaning you can now query the entire blockchain history without renting your own dedicated instance or managing terabytes of data.
What Is an Archive Node?
Let’s start with the basics. In Ethereum, there are two main types of nodes: full nodes and archive nodes.
A full node keeps the current state of the network — it verifies transactions, syncs new blocks, and holds enough data to validate everything that’s happening right now.
An archive node, on the other hand, keeps everything. It stores the complete node history, from the genesis block to the latest one, including every past account balance, smart contract, and state change.
That’s why when you compare full node vs archive node, it comes down to this:
- A full node knows what’s happening now.
- An archive node remembers what’s happened since day one.
Why Node History Matters
Having access to full node history opens up a world of possibilities.
Need to check the balance of a wallet from 2017? Want to analyze how a smart contract evolved over time? Building a DeFi dashboard or blockchain explorer?
That’s where an Ethereum archive node shines.
Without it, you’re stuck with the current state only — all historical data is lost or pruned away. With an archive node, every bit of blockchain history is just one query away.
Geth Archive Node vs Erigon Archive Node
Most people think of a Geth archive node when they hear about Ethereum data access. Geth (Go Ethereum) was the original, but it’s also huge — running a full Geth archive can take over 15 terabytes of storage.
NOWNodes takes a smarter route: we use Erigon, a modern, highly optimized Ethereum client designed for speed and efficiency. An Erigon archive node stores the same data as Geth but in a much more compact form. It syncs faster, uses less disk space, and still delivers all the rich historical data you need through the same JSON-RPC interface.
In short: same power, less hassle.
Ethereum Archive Node Access
You can now access Ethereum’s complete archive without managing servers, syncing nodes, or handling maintenance. NOWNodes offers a ready-to-use Ethereum archive endpoint, powered by Erigon, so you can simply connect and start exploring the full blockchain history right away.
But that’s not all — this isn’t just a standard EVM endpoint. With NOWNodes, you also get access to advanced Erigon and trace-level methods that go far beyond typical JSON-RPC calls.
These powerful features let you:
- Retrieve detailed block and header data straight from Erigon’s optimized backend
- Access historical logs and transaction traces for any block or contract
- Replay and analyze past transactions at the deepest execution level
- Perform granular tracing of smart contract calls, gas usage, and internal operations
In other words, you’re not just seeing what happened on Ethereum — you can now understand how it happened.
Whether you’re verifying smart contract behavior, auditing historical transactions, or building analytics tools that depend on precise historical state, the Erigon archive node on NOWNodes gives you both the depth and the flexibility you need — instantly, securely, and at scale.
Ready to Explore Ethereum’s Past?
With NOWNodes, you can now query any block in Ethereum’s history as easily as you query the latest one. Connect to the shared Ethereum archive node endpoint, and unlock the full depth of the blockchain — efficiently, reliably, and at a fraction of the usual cost.
