RPC method

eth_getBlockByNumber on Ethereum

Supported on SwiftNodes

Everything below was measured on 2026-10-13 by calling eth_getBlockByNumber on Ethereum through the same endpoint customers use, and is re-measured weekly.

What eth_getBlockByNumber does

Returns a block by number or tag (latest, safe, finalized, pending, earliest): the header, and either the transaction hashes or the full transactions. Indexers, explorers and wallets use it to follow the chain.

eth_getBlockByNumber on Ethereum: what we measured

Header fields	26
Transactions per block	301, 276, 341, 305, 334 in five consecutive blocks
Response size, full transactions (true)	443.7 KB average
Response size, hashes only (false)	24.0 KB
Gas limit	60,000,000
Gas used in the latest block	21,056,853 (35.1% of the limit)
Base fee	0.1183 gwei
Tag "safe"	block 26,183,495
Tag "finalized"	block 26,183,463
Tag "pending"	block 26,183,536
Tag "earliest"	block 0

What is different on Ethereum

The header includes the fields added by London (EIP-1559 base fee), Shanghai (withdrawals), Cancun (EIP-4844 blob gas), Cancun (EIP-4788 beacon root), Prague (EIP-7685 requests). Code that assumes Ethereum's current header shape will parse it as is.

Asking for full transactions (second parameter true) made the response 18.5 times larger than hashes only. If you need only some transactions, fetch hashes and request those transactions or their receipts individually.

"finalized" was 73 blocks (about 15 min) behind the head.

A real Ethereum block header

From block 26,183,536, as our endpoint returned it (long hex values shortened).

{
  "baseFeePerGas": "0x70ce6cc",
  "blobGasUsed": "0x140000",
  "difficulty": "0x0",
  "excessBlobGas": "0xb00ed43",
  "extraData": "0xe29ca82051756173617220287175617361722e77696e2920e29ca8",
  "gasLimit": "0x3938700",
  "gasUsed": "0x1414d55",
  "hash": "0xac33e871b407747aeec1c410ef6a1ce909ccb1b6d9812f15f126116957f87ff5",
  "logsBloom": "0xa1e9adeb79666bf9…(256 bytes)",
  "miner": "0x396343362be2a4da1ce0c1c210945346fb82aa49",
  "mixHash": "0xaa441230d94c80f1e3a71a13fea9a10000086e8241edc84e13b61b288c3c91f1",
  "nonce": "0x0000000000000000",
  "number": "0x18f8770",
  "parentBeaconBlockRoot": "0x34c3a7bce46a6a82f4ea69be156790d0e390647e6b2a8174b21b31ddac7497ef",
  "parentHash": "0x89622210bc0514309bf789457102276aa3ab2ef17086dc323f26ca7ca642fe0f",
  "receiptsRoot": "0x60eb9746d4c9ee46b0d62560064098d781a1db53ba8193e5981de535db631a61",
  "requestsHash": "0xe3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855",
  "sha3Uncles": "0x1dcc4de8dec75d7aab85b567b6ccd41ad312451b948a7413f0a142fd40d49347",
  "size": "0x1d9fd",
  "stateRoot": "0xc0c69a6e7253c78482c73b241e2f532ca7c52d7ad6501397065f830c6138f846",
  "timestamp": "0x6ace2243",
  "transactions": "301 transactions",
  "transactionsRoot": "0xe95a2c12740cdaef1667ccd8114c48dbc55ab2beddeb0adced177cc5b0a45782",
  "uncles": [],
  "withdrawals": [
    {
      "index": "0x8b989eb",
      "validatorIndex": "0x349e",
      "address": "0x49738b8b9cbfb4fa1f7eb1e76e151226f26cf0b9",
      "amount": "0xd19a1c"
    },
    {
      "index": "0x8b989ec",
      "validatorIndex": "0x349f",
      "address": "0x49738b8b9cbfb4fa1f7eb1e76e151226f26cf0b9",
      "amount": "0xd1e0f3"
    },
    "…14 more"
  ],
  "withdrawalsRoot": "0xd7852a68e8077dfd5d80314807718a7aef0b181a242090906dbf07372d49b99c"
}

Example request

curl -s https://rpc.swiftnodes.io/rpc/eth?key=YOUR_API_KEY \
  -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"eth_getBlockByNumber","params":["latest",false]}'

import { createPublicClient, http } from "viem";

const client = createPublicClient({
  transport: http("https://rpc.swiftnodes.io/rpc/eth?key=YOUR_API_KEY"),
});

// Header plus transaction hashes (24.0 KB)
const block = await client.getBlock({ blockTag: "latest" });

// With full transactions (443.7 KB on average on Ethereum)
const full = await client.getBlock({ blockNumber: block.number, includeTransactions: true });

// A block that will not be reorganised
const final = await client.getBlock({ blockTag: "finalized" });

Other methods on Ethereum

eth_getBlockByNumber on other chains

Frequently asked questions

Does Ethereum support eth_getBlockByNumber?

Yes. eth_getBlockByNumber answered on the SwiftNodes Ethereum endpoint when our weekly probe called it through the customer path (2026-10-13).

How many transactions are in each Ethereum block?

In five consecutive blocks on 2026-10-13: 301, 276, 341, 305, 334.

Ethereum endpoints, live block height and WebSocket status are on the Ethereum RPC page.

One key covers every chain we serve, and SwiftNodes has a free tier.