The State of Web3 Indexing
Indexing is the unglamorous backbone of every serious Web3 product. The real question is whether you’re managing indexers - or starting with finished data.
- No infrastructure to manage
- Enterprise SOC 2 Type 2
- Multi-chain support
The Challenge
Building Indexers Is Hard. Maintaining Them Is Harder.
Whether you're building a wallet, DeFi dashboard, tax engine, or analytics stack, you're solving the same problem: turning noisy onchain data into fast, reliable, queryable datasets.
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Backfills
Backfills are slow and painful.
Re-indexing large amounts of historical data takes time and compute, and becomes increasingly hard to manage as schemas and requirements change.
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Operational ownership
Managing indexing infrastructure is a full-time job.
Running indexers across multiple chains means owning nodes, pipelines, scaling, monitoring, and ongoing maintenance.
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Analytics Overhead
Indexing isn’t the end of the data pipeline.
Analytics and BI teams still need indexed data reshaped into warehouse-friendly tables before it’s usable.
See how Moralis solves this
The Indexing Ecosystem
Two Approaches to Web3 Data
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DIY Indexer Frameworks
Your team owns schemas, indexing logic, infrastructure, backfills, and reliability.
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The Graph
Decentralized subgraph protocol
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Ponder
TypeScript-native indexer framework
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Subsquid
ETL-style indexing + data lakes
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Envio HyperIndex
Ultra-fast EVM indexer
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SubQuery
Multi-ecosystem indexer toolkit
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Managed Data Products
Schemas, decoding, infrastructure, scaling, and reliability are handled for you.
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Pre-built schemas & mappings
No indexer configuration required
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Decoded & enriched data
Ready to use immediately
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Production-ready infrastructure
SLAs, monitoring, scaling included
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Custom indexing available
Managed backfills and warehouse delivery when you need it
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How Do They Stack Up?
A detailed comparison of indexing solutions across key factors that matter to your team. Choosing the right data provider determines how much infrastructure your team has to run.
| Feature |
Moralis Data APIs
|
Moralis Data Indexer |
The Graph
|
Ponder
|
Subsquid
|
Envio
|
SubQuery
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schema Design Ownership | Pre-built by Moralis | Defined with Moralis (you specify target schema; Moralis operationalizes it) | You define subgraph entities | You design the database schema | You design the squid schema | You define event mappings | You define project schema |
| Setup Requirements | API keys only (no schema or infrastructure) | API access (schema defined with Moralis) | Schema design + infrastructure provisioning + pipeline configuration | Schema design + infrastructure provisioning + pipeline configuration | Schema design + infrastructure provisioning + pipeline configuration | Schema design + infrastructure provisioning + pipeline configuration | Schema design + infrastructure provisioning + pipeline configuration |
| Infrastructure Ownership | Fully managed by Moralis | Fully managed by Moralis | Typically your team (self-hosted or hosted services) | Typically your team (self-hosted or hosted services) | Typically your team (self-hosted or hosted services) | Typically your team (self-hosted or hosted services) | Typically your team (self-hosted or hosted services) |
| Backfill Responsibility | Pre-indexed | Managed large-scale backfills | Team runs and monitors backfills | Team runs and monitors backfills | Team runs backfills (Archives available for batch ETL) | Team runs and monitors backfills | Team runs and monitors backfills |
| Multi-Chain Support | Multi-chain via unified APIs | Multi-chain; scope defined per project | Varies by subgraph/network deployment | Varies by implementation | EVM chains | EVM focused | Multi-ecosystem (Polkadot, Cosmos, EVM) |
| Bring-Your-Own Schema | Not applicable (pre-defined schemas) | Yes (with Moralis) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Data Enrichment | Built-in decoding & enrichment | Available via managed pipelines | Requires custom enrichment pipelines | Requires custom enrichment pipelines | Requires custom enrichment pipelines | Requires custom enrichment pipelines | Requires custom enrichment pipelines |
| Enterprise SLAs & Compliance | SOC2, uptime SLAs included | SOC2, uptime SLAs included | Depends on indexer operator and deployment | Depends on hosting model and operator | Depends on hosting model and operator | Depends on hosting model and operator | Depends on hosting model and operator |
| Data Warehouse Delivery | Available via data export | Native Snowflake/BigQuery/S3 | Requires custom ETL | You build the pipeline | Possible via custom output | Requires custom work | Requires custom work |
| Maintenance Responsibility | No indexer maintenance | Minimal oversight required | Requires dedicated team | Requires dedicated team | Requires dedicated team | Reduced if hosted | Reduced if hosted |
| Typical Use Cases | Wallets, dashboards, dapps | Enterprise data teams | DeFi protocols with GraphQL needs | TypeScript teams wanting full control | Analytics-heavy workloads | High-performance EVM indexing | Polkadot & multi-ecosystem |
Ready to skip the complexity? Try Moralis
Full Data Products, Not Just Indexers
Data API
Data API
Cover application data needs without building or operating custom indexers
A unified API layer across multiple chains that gives you instant access to wallet data, token positions, NFTs, transfers, and decoded transactions - fully production-ready.
- No schema definition Pre-built, maintained, and optimized for you
- Decoded & Enriched No raw log parsing - get structured data instantly
- Enterprise-Grade SLAs, rate limits, monitoring, and 24/7 support
Data Indexer
Data Indexer
Custom indexing, without owning indexing infrastructure.
For the 10-20% of cases where you need custom pipelines and warehouse-native tables - we handle the indexing, backfills, and streaming. You get data in your Snowflake, BigQuery, or S3.
- Define events/contracts with our help
- We run historical backfills at scale
- Real-time streams kept in sync
- Delivered to your data warehouse
- SOC 2 Type 2 certified, with custom SLAs & enterprise support
Choose Your Path
DIY Indexer Frameworks
Best For:
- Full control over schemas
- Niche/experimental protocols
- Dedicated infra teams
Tradeoffs:
- Slow backfills
- Ops overhead
- Maintenance burden
Tools: The Graph, Ponder, Subsquid, Envio, SubQuery
Moralis Data APIs
Best For:
- Wallets & dashboards
- Fast time-to-market
- Multi-chain support
Benefits:
- No indexing infrastructure to operate
- Production-ready
- Instant setup
Covers 80 - 90% of use cases
Get API Key
Data Indexer
Best For:
- Enterprise data teams
- Warehouse integration
- Custom analytics
Benefits:
- Custom schemas
- Managed backfills
- SOC 2 Type 2 & SLAs
For large enterprise data teams
Contact Sales
Ready to Start Shipping?
From instant APIs to custom data pipelines, Moralis handles the indexing so you don’t have to. Build on production-ready Web3 data - without managing indexers, pipelines, or backfills.
