Zerion API vs Allium: A Comprehensive Comparison

Your app needs reliable blockchain data, but choosing between different providers isn't straightforward. Zerion API and Allium take two distinct approaches to solving multichain data access. One is optimized for consumer crypto experiences, the other is built for institutional scale and historical precision.

This post explores how each API serves different needs, from consumer interfaces to compliant historical data.

Understanding Zerion API and Allium

Zerion API is an enterprise-grade wallet data API built specifically for consumer-facing applications. It delivers comprehensive wallet data across all major EVM chains and Solana through a single, normalized API. It covers tokens, NFTs, DeFi positions, transaction history, PnL, and everything else that’s visible in Zerion Wallet and Zerion portfolio tracker.

Allium is an institutional blockchain data platform serving as the "system of record for onchain finance." It provides historical and real-time data from 130+ blockchains with SOC 1 and SOC 2 certifications, delivering normalized, timestamped balances and transactions with block-level precision.

Both eliminate infrastructure complexity. But they differ fundamentally in target use cases: Zerion optimizes for consumer interfaces, while Allium focuses on institutional reliability and historical data at scale.

Core features comparison

Data coverage

Zerion API provides wallet-centric data designed for user interfaces:

• Interpreted transaction history with decoded operations (approve, swap, deposit, withdraw)
• Token balances with metadata and real-time pricing in USD and other major currencies
• DeFi positions tracking for over 8,000 protocols
• NFT positions and collections with full metadata
• Portfolio analytics, including total balance chart and PnL calculations
• Chart data for assets

Allium delivers institutional-grade blockchain primitives:

• Token balances (ERC20, ERC721, ERC1155) with normalized decimals
• Historical balances at every block height
• Transaction data with rich enrichment and activity labels
• Holdings data with PnL calculations
• NFT transfers and collection histories
• Identity and wallet labeling

The critical difference: Zerion interprets DeFi positions at the protocol level. For example, it shows deposits in Aave or Uniswap LP positions as distinct entities. Allium provides block-precise historical state and token balances, leaving protocol interpretation to your application logic.

Chain support

Zerion API supports EVM and Solana:

• All major EVM chains (Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, BSC, Avalanche, and others)
• Solana with full token balances and transactions 
• Testnet support via header configuration

Allium offers the broadest multichain coverage:

• 130+ blockchains across the platform
• 20+ chains in Realtime APIs (major EVMs, Solana, Bitcoin)
• 80+ chains in Stream Transformation APIs
• Custom chain support available on request

If your application needs emerging chain support or Bitcoin integration alongside EVM and Solana, Allium's 130+ chain coverage is unmatched. For consumer wallets prioritizing popular chains with protocol-specific positions, Zerion's focused coverage delivers more value.

Performance and reliability

Historical data

Zerion API provides recent history:

• Transaction history with pagination
• Portfolio charts with configurable time periods
• Historical PnL calculations

Allium specializes in block-level historical precision:

• Token balances at every block height since genesis
• Historical pricing from DEX trades
• Temporal queries at specific timestamps
• Complete audit trails for compliance

If you need to reconstruct the address state at any point in history (e.g., for tax reporting), Allium's block-precise data is purpose-built for this. Zerion focuses on recent history for consumer use cases with minimum additional interpretation. 

Compliance and security

Zerion API offers enterprise support:

• Production SLAs for enterprise customers
• Dedicated support channels
• Proven scale at thousands of RPS

Allium provides institutional certifications:

• SOC 1 Type 1 & 2 certified
• SOC 2 Type 1 & 2 certified
• Production-grade data verification
• Self-healing validation processes

For enterprises requiring formal compliance certifications, Allium's SOC certifications matter. Consumer wallet applications typically don't require SOC compliance but benefit from Zerion's proven production scale. Coinbase, Kraken, Uniswap, and other leading crypto products use Zerion API for their data needs. 

Developer experience

API design

Zerion API uses wallet-centric endpoints:

• /v1/wallets/{address}/portfolio
• /v1/wallets/{address}/positions/
• /v1/wallets/{address}/transactions/
• Pre-aggregated data minimizes integration complexity

Allium provides endpoints focused on blockchain primitives:

• POST /api/v1/developer/wallet/balances
• POST /api/v1/developer/wallet/transactions
• POST /api/v1/developer/wallet/historical-token-balances
• POST /api/v1/developer/wallet/prices

As it originates from its own products, Zerion's endpoints map directly to common wallet UI components. Allium's granular endpoints offer more control but require additional logic to aggregate protocol positions.

Data normalization

Zerion API delivers extensive normalization:

• Unified schema across EVM and Solana
• Position types categorized (wallet, deposited, borrowed, locked, staked)
• Application metadata (DApp names, icons, contract methods)

Allium provides foundational normalization across blockchain primitives:

• Standardized schemas across 130+ blockchains and 1,000+ protocols
• Balances adjusted for token decimals
• Activity labels and categorization
• USD valuation from on-chain sources

For cross-chain wallet development, Zerion's EVM + Solana unification simplifies implementation and maximizes speed to market. Allium's broader chain normalization serves data teams building custom analytics layers.

Pricing and scale

Zerion API uses customized enterprise pricing:

• Generous free tier
• Contact sales for pricing tiers
• Scales with RPS and feature usage
• Proven scale, tested by products like OpenSea and Bungee 

Allium offers free tiers and enterprise contracts:

• Free tier available for Realtime APIs
• Enterprise contracts for high-throughput use cases
• Custom pricing for institutional features

Both Allium and Zerion offer free tiers that make exploration accessible. Both scale to enterprise throughput, but Allium explicitly targets institutional use cases while Zerion focuses on wallet-scale production deployments.

Use cases and when to choose each

Choose Zerion API when:

Building consumer wallets: Zerion powers production wallets with complete data for balances, positions, transactions, and portfolio analytics. It’s designed for instant loading and user activation.

DeFi position tracking matters: If showing users their Aave deposits, Uniswap liquidity, or staked positions across 8,000+ protocols is core to your UX, Zerion's protocol-specific positions save months of development.

Solana + EVM parity: Zerion offers unified API access to both Solana and EVM chains with consistent DeFi position support. This reduces infrastructure complexity for multi-chain consumer apps. Privy used it to get wallet data across 1,500+ apps on different chains.

Time-to-market is critical: Pre-aggregated and interpreted portfolio data, positions, and analytics reduce integration time from months to weeks. With Zerion API, OpenSea shipped token trading 3 months faster.

Choose Allium when:

Institutional compliance required: SOC 1 and SOC 2 certifications are non-negotiable for financial institutions, auditing firms, and regulated applications.

Historical precision matters: Tax reporting, forensic analysis, or compliance workflows requiring block-exact balance reconstruction at any point in history.

Maximum chain coverage: Supporting 130+ blockchains, including Bitcoin, emerging L1s, and long-tail networks that other APIs don't cover.

Data team workflows: Analysts and engineers who need raw blockchain primitives, custom data pipelines, or integration with data warehouses (Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks).

Making your decision

Both Allium and Zerion offer robust APIs suitable for enterprise scale. 

Zerion API is the stronger choice for consumer-facing wallet applications and DeFi platforms where protocol-specific position tracking, instant loading, and Solana + EVM parity drive user experience. Its wallet-first design and interpreted data reduce time-to-market for consumer use cases. It’s a partner of choice for leading crypto products, built by Coinbase, Kraken, Uniswap, and others. 

Allium excels when you need institutional compliance and block-level historical precision for analytics teams. Its proven scale and institutional customers demonstrate enterprise reliability.

Your decision should be guided by whether you're building consumer-facing wallet experiences (Zerion) or data infrastructure requiring compliance and historical precision (Allium).

Ready to get started? Create free Zerion API keys to see it in action.