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Solana method

getBlockHeight

Returns the current block height, which is lower than the slot.

cheapCheap for a provider to serve — no state is read, or one key is.Primary specification (opens in a new tab)

How each provider handles it

This method has not been measured in this window.

It is scheduled but no observation has landed yet.

What it does

Block height counts blocks that were actually produced. Slot counts scheduled windows, including the ones a leader skipped, so height is always the smaller number and the gap between them grows over time.

Transaction expiry is expressed in block height, which is why `getLatestBlockhash` returns `lastValidBlockHeight` rather than a slot.

Parameters

configObjectoptional
commitment and minContextSlot.

Returns

u64 — the block height.

Try it

Runnable as written, against a keyless public endpoint. Nothing here needs an API key.

Request

curl -s https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"getBlockHeight"}'

As JSON-RPC

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "getBlockHeight"
}

Response

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": 350412977,
  "id": 1
}

Things that bite

  • Comparing a block height against a slot is a category error, and the two are close enough in magnitude that the mistake is easy to miss.

Why it is measured

It advances more slowly and more evenly than the slot, which makes it a useful cross-check on a provider's head freshness.

Called every 60 seconds per endpoint, with jitter so the fleet does not hit a provider in lockstep.

1h window · generated 2026-08-24 17:26:26 UTC · 0 providers