Golden Bitcoin coin at the center; to its left, charts locked inside a blue glass urn with a padlock; to its right, the same charts open and glowing orange
Original illustration generated with AI (Adobe Firefly) -- does not represent real data.

Bitcoin On-Chain Data Without Paying for Glassnode: What's Free and What Isn't

If you're comparing Glassnode against CryptoQuant, Nansen, or Arkham, here's a fourth option most listicles skip: free, Bitcoin-only, and built on a node we actually run. This is an honest breakdown of what that gets you, what it doesn't, and when a paid tool is still the right call.

You've probably already seen a "Glassnode alternatives" listicle -- a wall of ten tools nobody on the list has actually used side by side. This page is different: we're one of those tools, so we owe you the highest standard of honesty, starting with what we flat out don't have.

Where NodeWitness Fits Among CryptoQuant, Nansen, Arkham, and Dune

If this is your first time looking into on-chain analysis, you might want to start with our NodeWitness Cycle Score methodology, MVRV, or HODL waves -- the cycle indicators the rest of this page talks about.

If you already reach for Nansen for wallet labeling, Arkham for entity attribution, or Dune for custom SQL dashboards, none of that changes here -- those are multichain, wallet-level tools built for a different job. CryptoQuant is the closer comparison: same general territory (on-chain metrics, exchange flows, Bitcoin-focused dashboards), but still a paid product with its own free tier. NodeWitness sits in a narrower lane than any of them: Bitcoin cycle analysis only, calculated in part from our own Bitcoin node, free, with the methodology and the backtest published in the open.

What Glassnode Actually Costs in 2026

Verified on its own pricing page, not hearsay, as of July 2026:

  • Advanced -- $49/month (billed annually): ~300 metrics at daily resolution, 4 years of history, 10 alerts, personal-use license, no API access.
  • Professional -- custom pricing: 1,500+ metrics, up to 15 years of history, resolution down to 10 minutes, optional API with credits, commercial license.
  • Vector (their signals product): starting at $749/month.

The entry-level plan is the one that surprises people most: $49/month doesn't include full history (4 years doesn't even cover one complete Bitcoin cycle) or API access -- both require moving up to the custom-priced tier.

What NodeWitness Gives You Free -- And Where the Data Comes From

Diagram with three boxes: NodeWitness (free, Bitcoin cycle only), Nansen, Arkham, Dune (wallet and multichain intelligence, paid tiers), and Glassnode, CryptoQuant (paid, broadest on-chain coverage)
Own diagram: three different jobs -- free Bitcoin cycle data is the gap none of the others fill.

The underlying difference isn't just price, it's the source. Part of our data doesn't come from a third-party API anyone could also subscribe to -- it comes from our own Bitcoin node, and the calculation method is publicly documented so you can audit it yourself.

  • A cycle Score (-100 to +100) combining ten on-chain and market indicators, with public methodology, a verifiable historical backtest since 2018, and -- almost nobody else does this -- a page dedicated to where it has gotten it wrong.
  • HODL waves and holder distribution by wallet size, calculated by walking the entire UTXO set from our own node -- the kind of data Glassnode and CryptoQuant charge for, because no free API offers it.
  • MVRV, Puell Multiple, exchange flows, Stock-to-Flow, funding rate, dominance, Fear & Greed, from free public sources (Coin Metrics Community, Binance, alternative.me), cited on every chart.
  • A Bitcoin address analyzer mapping relationships between addresses, and free Telegram alerts when the Score changes phase.

What We Don't Have

  • No altcoins. We're Bitcoin-only, by conviction and by focus. If you need on-chain data for Ethereum or Solana, look elsewhere.
  • No thousands of metrics. Only the ones we consider essential for reading the cycle. Glassnode Professional has 1,500+; we don't match that breadth, nor do we aim to.
  • Daily resolution. No data every 10 minutes -- fine for cycle analysis, not for intraday trading.
  • No public API yet (on the roadmap, no committed date).
  • No entity-adjusted metrics or per-exchange data -- that requires proprietary clustering at industrial scale.
  • Limited history on our own-node metrics. Our node finished syncing, but HODL waves and holder distribution are still point-in-time snapshots, not a full historical series by coin age -- that's on the roadmap, no committed date.

When Paying Is Worth It -- And Where Else to Look

Pay for Glassnode or CryptoQuant if you work professionally with on-chain data, need altcoins, intraday resolution, a commercial API, or niche metrics only they cover -- at that level $49-999/month is a working tool, not an expense. If you're a long-term Bitcoin holder who just wants to know what phase of the cycle you're in and what the classic indicators say, that's what NodeWitness covers for free; there's no reason to pay yet.

Two more free options worth a look before you pay for anything: CoinGlass for derivatives (funding, open interest, liquidations), and Bitcoin Magazine Pro / LookIntoBitcoin for free cycle charts with optional paid plans. If Spanish-language coverage matters to you, Nodecharts (freemium, roughly €20-200/month) and CriptoATH (newsletter and free calculators) are the two real options in that market -- we're not the only one there either.

Want to see what the Bitcoin cycle is signaling right now? The NodeWitness Score is free, requires no sign-up, and explains the why behind every reading -- including the full list of its failures.

Last updated: 2026-07-29