If you’ve ever wondered “what is a pruned node in blockchain?”, you’re not alone. Developers, wallet providers, and exchanges ask this question all the time. At first, it sounds simple: a pruned node is just a full blockchain node that deletes old data. But the reality is far more interesting — and far more complicated.
At NOWNodes, we work with pruned nodes every day. We prune nodes across dozens of blockchains, not just to save disk space, but to keep infrastructure lean, reliable, and production-ready. Let’s dive into how pruned nodes actually work, why they matter, and why running them correctly is harder than it looks.
How Pruned Nodes Work in Blockchain
A full node downloads the entire blockchain — every block, every transaction, from day one. That means hundreds of gigabytes or even terabytes of data for networks like Bitcoin or Ethereum.
A pruned node, however, takes a smarter approach:
- First, it downloads and verifies the full chain.
- Then, it prunes — meaning it deletes older blocks and keeps only what’s essential: the current state and a small number of recent blocks.
- From that point on, it behaves like a full node, validating new transactions and keeping the network secure — but without the weight of years of history.
This is why blockchain node pruning is so powerful: you get the security of a full node with just a fraction of the storage requirements.
Why Pruning is Harder Than It Sounds
On paper, pruning looks easy: “just delete old blocks.” In practice, it’s a serious engineering challenge.
Every blockchain prunes differently. Bitcoin uses a UTXO set, Ethereum relies on state data, and other chains add their own quirks. A pruned node also can’t simply “download the missing part” if it falls behind. In many cases, it has to resync the entire chain from scratch.
That means if you try to run your own pruned node for production use — say, powering an exchange or a wallet with thousands of users — you’re constantly dealing with resyncs, downtime, and broken RPC endpoints. And downtime in blockchain means lost trust, lost users, and sometimes lost money.
How NOWNodes Prunes Nodes the Right Way
Here’s the difference: at NOWNodes, pruning is not just a feature — it’s part of our infrastructure DNA.
We’ve built systems that manage pruned nodes across 110+ blockchains (IMPORTANT: Archival nodes are not pruned!) with automation, monitoring, and redundancy. If a pruned node desyncs, our system rebuilds it automatically. If one endpoint fails, traffic instantly reroutes to another. For clients, this means zero downtime, even though under the hood nodes are constantly pruning and resyncing.
In other words: you don’t just get a pruned node. You get a professional RPC provider that makes pruning invisible. Your queries are fast, your transactions are validated, and your project runs smoothly — because we take care of the complexity for you.
Why This Matters for Your Project
If you’re building on blockchain, you don’t want to worry about storage limits, node crashes, or sync issues. You just want reliable RPC access. That’s exactly what NOWNodes delivers.
By handling pruned nodes the right way, we give you:
- Efficiency — no terabytes of data slowing you down.
- Security — every pruned node still validates independently.
- Reliability — no interruptions, no downtime, no broken apps.
That’s why developers, wallet providers, and exchanges trust NOWNodes for their blockchain infrastructure.
Final Thoughts
Pruned nodes are one of those concepts that look simple from the outside but demand deep expertise in practice. At NOWNodes, we’ve spent years perfecting the process of pruning and maintaining nodes at scale.
So, the next time someone asks you “what is a pruned node?”, you’ll know the answer: it’s the backbone of efficient, secure, and reliable blockchain infrastructure — and with NOWNodes, it’s done the way it should be.
That’s why we prune. That’s why we’re different.
