On-chain analytics
Dune API Alternative for Historical Polymarket Data
Overview
Quick comparison
From Dune billing docs / pricing and PolyOrderbooks product docs.
| Feature | Dune Analytics | PolyOrderbooks |
|---|---|---|
| Historical prices | Queryable from on-chain Polymarket tables via SQL — e.g. Spellbook polymarket_polygon.market_trades, derived from exchange contract events | Yes |
| Historical L2 books | No — Dune's Polymarket datasets are built from on-chain events (executed fills and settlement). Polymarket's full-depth order book is off-chain and is never fully written to Polygon, so there is no historical L2 depth to query | Yes — full bid/ask ladders |
| Capture / delivery | On-chain event ingestion into Spellbook tables; update cadence driven by contract events rather than interval snapshots | 250ms capture; 250ms query resolution on every plan, including free |
| REST API | Yes — Dune API executes your SQL queries and returns results; 20–200 requests/minute by plan | Yes |
| Python tooling | Community Python clients (e.g. dune-client); official MCP server; no official first-party market-data Python SDK | Official Python SDK on PyPI |
| Bulk export | Query-result export via API or CSV, charged per MB (Free 20 credits/MB, Analyst 10, Plus 2) | Enterprise S3 delivery (Parquet, CSV, JSON) — not on self-serve plans |
| Free tier | Yes — Free $0/mo with 2,500 credits and API access; accounts created before July 21, 2026 move to view-only access from Sept 10, 2026 | Yes — Starter: 250ms L2, prices, and metrics at $0 (3-day history) |
| Starting paid price | $65–$75/month Analyst and $349/month Plus (public pricing at time of verification) | $19/month Pro (public pricing at time of verification) |
| Coverage | Polymarket on-chain tables plus 1,000+ chains and datasets — not Polymarket-specific | Polymarket crypto markets (Up/Down and related) — depth history, not metadata breadth |
| Historical coverage | On-chain from each contract/table's inception; no off-chain order-book history | Continuous 250ms archive from 3-day Starter windows to 30–120-day paid windows; resolved markets stay queryable |
Source (Dune): https://docs.dune.com/api-reference/overview/billing
On-chain analytics, not an order-book archive
Dune's Polymarket datasets are built from on-chain events. Spellbook tables such as polymarket_polygon.market_trades are derived from the Exchange contracts on Polygon — the fills, transfers, and settlements that actually settle on chain. That works for volume, flows, and trader behavior — none of which needs the off-chain resting book.
It is not the same as the order book. Polymarket runs a central limit order book off-chain; only executions and settlement reach Polygon. So while Dune can tell you about executed trades, there is no full-depth historical L2 ladder to query — the book state was never written on chain. Any claim of reconstructed L2 depth from Dune SQL has to be rebuilt from a lossy event stream, which is exactly the failure mode we measured on a public archive: 67.8% of replayed books disagreed with their own snapshots across 381,093 checkpoints.
SQL, credits, and exports
Dune's API runs the SQL you write and returns results. Cost is credit-metered: query execution and every export consume credits, with exports billed per megabyte (20 credits/MB on Free, 10 on Analyst, 2 on Plus at time of verification). Public plans are Free at $0/month with 2,500 credits, Analyst at $65–$75/month, and Plus at $349/month.
That model suits exploratory analytics. It gets expensive for bulk or repeated order-book-scale work, where each reconstructed book costs compute rather than being a stored artifact you pull over REST.
Dune has also announced that from September 10, 2026, accounts created before July 21, 2026 move to view-only access unless upgraded. If a pipeline assumes always-available free Dune queries, that assumption has a date on it.
When on-chain analytics fits
None of these workloads uses resting depth — if the book is your input, the next section is the relevant one.
- Trader PnL, wallet flows, and volume studies across resolved markets
- Community dashboards and reusable SQL instead of building pipelines from scratch
- Cross-chain joins — Polymarket alongside other on-chain datasets
- One-off research where writing SQL is cheaper than paying for a market-data REST tier
When an L2 archive fits instead
If your input is depth history — fill simulation, slippage, liquidity timing, order-book backtests — you need stored books, not derived fills. PolyOrderbooks captures Polymarket crypto ladders every 250ms and serves them over REST at 250ms query resolution on every plan, including free, reconciled against the live book so the ladders are snapshots rather than reconstructions.
Inspect a free 1-second L2 sample to see the ladder shape Dune cannot offer.
FAQ
Does Dune have Polymarket order book data?
Not the full-depth historical off-chain book. Dune's Polymarket tables are built from on-chain exchange-contract events — executed fills, transfers, and settlement. Polymarket's order book matches off-chain and is never fully written to Polygon, so historical L2 depth cannot be reconstructed in Dune SQL. For historical full L2, use a purpose-built archive.
What is a Dune API alternative for Polymarket data?
The two fit different workflows. For historical full-depth order books over REST, PolyOrderbooks provides 250ms L2 capture with a free tier, official SDK, and MCP server. For on-chain analytics — trader PnL, flows, volume, dashboards — Dune works well, with the caveat that its Polymarket tables cannot reconstruct the off-chain book.
How much does the Dune API cost?
Dune is credit-metered: query executions and exports consume plan credits. Public pricing at time of verification: Free $0/mo with 2,500 credits, Analyst $65–$75/mo with 4,000 credits, Plus $349/mo with 25,000 credits, Enterprise custom. Exports cost 20 credits per MB on Free, 10 on Analyst, and 2 on Plus. Sources: dune.com/pricing and Dune's billing docs.
Is the Dune free plan going away?
Dune announced that from September 10, 2026, accounts created before July 21, 2026 lose the ability to execute credit-consuming actions and become view-only unless they upgrade. New accounts still receive a free tier. Check Dune's current pricing page for the latest terms before relying on free access.
PolyOrderbooks vs Dune: which should I use?
They answer different questions. Dune is a SQL analytics platform over on-chain data — a fit for volumes, flows, and trader behavior. PolyOrderbooks is a Polymarket crypto-specific API storing 250ms-capture full L2 ladders served over REST — a fit for order-book backtests and fill simulation. Use each for the workflow it is built for.