There are tons of both public and private Solana RPC nodes, and choosing a good one can make a significant difference in your botting experience.
Does Choosing a Node Matter?
A quality node makes all the difference when it comes to botting in Solana. A good node will allow your transactions to land more frequently, and execute buy and sell orders with speed. A few millisecond difference or failed transactions could mean the difference between profit and loss.
While all 3 components are very important for botting (bot, node, and VPS), the node is the most important part of the equation. A poorly coded bot can beat even the most optimized bot if the optimized bot is using a slow node, and the poorly coded bot using a good one.
What Are the Different Types of Nodes?
Public Nodes
Public nodes are usually free to use. They have strict rate limits and usually quite high delay (around 100ms or higher). These are good for making infrequent requests for personal usage or low-traffic web apps. They are not good for botting.
Private Shared Nodes
These nodes are usually shared between 2-20 people. Their performance depends on the number of people using it at any given moment. These nodes are a good, cost-effective way to get your hands on a node while only paying a fraction of the price. Private shared nodes can be used for botting, however the types of bots that are compatible are limited, and you will almost always get beat by better nodes.
Private Dedicated Nodes
These nodes are what most botters utilize. They are reserved only for you, and should have no rate limits. They have high transactions per second and requests per second, and should have very little latency. They are usually compatible with all good trading bots on the market.
Private Dedicated Nodes with Validator
This is the highest tier of node that can be purchased. You have all the benefits of a private dedicated node, with the added bonus of having a dedicated validator which the node is connected to. Having a dedicated validator means that you do not have to pay Jito fees to process your transactions. Instead, the node's validator will just automatically validate everything quickly. This type of setup is extremely expensive and can cost over 6-figures USD. A private dedicated node with validator is the best performing type of node for botting, as it allows you to use unique trading strategies (since fees are no longer an issue), and it allows you to snipe faster or even front-run other traders.
How Can I Buy a Solana RPC Node?
Some Solana RPC nodes are available for rent through a legitimate hosting company. You simply select the duration (or in some cases, the amount of usage credits) that you wish to purchase, checkout and have access to your node.
Other nodes require you to own their NFT before being allow access to the node. In addition, you also have to pay a monthly renewal fee to keep your access or else you would have to sell or burn your NFT. Some of these NFTs sell for thousands of dollars, however fortunately you can resell them to other buyers if you decide you no longer need the node.
Best Solana RPC Nodes
Moonboard has published a ranked list of the best Solana RPC nodes. The ratings take into account the performance of the node, the legitimacy of the team behind it, and and if the money to value is worth it.