Dune Analytics 101

Dune is the SQL frontend to on-chain data. Every Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, Solana, and 10+ other chain's raw data is indexed and queryable through PostgreSQL/DuckDB. In 2026 it has 400k+ registered users and hosts most public crypto dashboards.

What Dune gives you

• Every transaction on supported chains, in queryable tables.
• Decoded event logs for thousands of contracts (Uniswap, Aave, OpenSea, ...).
• Prices data, token metadata, DeFi protocol tables.
• Community-built "spells" (reusable views) for common analyses.

Learning path

1. Fork an existing dashboard, tweak the queries.
2. Learn to query ethereum.transactions and ethereum.logs.
3. Read the docs on the dex.trades and nft.trades spells.
4. Write your first custom analysis.

What Dune shines at

• Ad-hoc research ("how many wallets interacted with X this week?").
• Public dashboards that update daily.
• Reproducibility (queries are code, forkable).
• Cross-protocol aggregation.

What Dune lags at

• Real-time (query latency + refresh cadence).
• Building app data infrastructure (use The Graph or Envio instead).
• Very deep historical archival state.

Pricing

• Free tier: 2500 credits/month, dashboards public.
• Plus: $349/month, private dashboards + API.
• Enterprise: custom.

Alternatives

• Flipside. Similar model, different chain focus.
• Nansen Query. Wallet-labeled + smart-money enriched.
• The Graph. Subgraph indexing for apps.
• Envio / Goldsky. Faster indexing pipelines.