View Proposal Detail:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YZ5G_8e_FV7CzBwFHzlPReawwLrD9iFCs5JqUvYJeR0/edit?tab=t.0

Executive Summary

Subscan is the leading high-precision Web3 explorer and essential data infrastructure for the Polkadot, Kusama, and Substrate-based ecosystems. It provides a comprehensive, user-friendly interface for ecosystem participants to track extrinsics, events, transfers, and governance activities. Beyond a visual block explorer, Subscan serves as a critical developer tool, offering the free API plan that powers numerous wallets, DApps, and analytics platforms across the network.

To ensure the community can quickly understand the scope, cost, and structural changes of this service, we have prepared this one-page executive summary. This guide provides a clear overview of the 2026 forward-looking maintenance proposal, allowing the community to evaluate the structural changes and funding request at a glance.

1. Proposal Purpose & Background

This proposal establishes a forward-looking 2026 Enterprise SaaS Subscription for Subscan services covering the Polkadot Relay Chain and selected public parachains. Subscan has consistently served as the foundational data layer for the Polkadot ecosystem. Our goal for 2026 is to make ongoing maintenance highly predictable, easier to evaluate, and fully controllable by the Polkadot community through monthly OpenGov milestones.

Past Proposals Reference

Subscan has a proven track record of delivering robust infrastructure. This proposal builds on our history of reliable support while pivoting to a more community-friendly funding structure:

#151 Subscan | Infrastructure Costs of Subscan for Polkadot & Westend & Rococo Networks

#20 Subscan | Infrastructure Costs of Subscan for Polkadot & Westend & Rococo & Statemint & Rockmine Networks (from July to December 2022)

#1056 Subscan | Infrastructure Costs of Subscan for Polkadot & Westend & Rococo & Statemint & Rockmine Networks (from October 2023 to June 2024)

#1366 Subscan Q3/Q4 2024 Funding Proposal: Basic service fee & Development cost for the Polkadot, Westend, and Rococo Ecosystems）

#1727 Subscan Q4 2024 – Q2 2025 Funding Proposal: Basic Service Fee & Development Cost for the Polkadot and Westend Ecosystems

#1866 [Polkadot] Subscan 2025 Q2-Q4 Funding Proposal: Basic service fee for the Polkadot Relaychain and Polkadot public parachain (AssetHub, BridgeHub, Coretime, Collectives, People)

2. Moving to a Predictable Subscription Model

We have heard the community clearly: the era of large post-paid retroactive settlements should end. This proposal therefore separates the 2026 service year into a clean, forward-looking SaaS subscription with monthly deliverables and monthly payment control.

Instead of asking the Treasury to approve a long period after costs have already been incurred, Subscan is proposing a structure where each month is treated as a separate milestone. This greatly improves evaluability, reduces approval ambiguity, and gives the community a practical governance lever throughout the year.

Forward-looking subscription: The 2026 annual scope is proposed before the service period rather than as a retroactive settlement.

Milestone-based payment: The annual service is divided into 12 independent monthly milestones.

Community termination right: The community may stop approving future milestones at any time if the service no longer meets expectations, if priorities change, or if a better alternative emerges.

3. GCP Optimization & 2026 Price Reductions

Throughout 2025, Subscan invested heavily in optimizing our infrastructure to reduce long-term operational costs. Specifically, we transitioned to a Hot/Cold storage separation architecture, which drastically reduced our reliance on high-cost GCP operations.

We are proud to pass these savings directly to the Polkadot community. Compared to Q4 2025, our 2026 pricing reflects significant cost reductions across our networks. For example, the Polkadot Relay Chain monthly fee drops substantially from $19,405 in Q4 2025 to $10,000 in 2026—an approximate 48% reduction. This demonstrates our commitment to the long-term financial sustainability of the Polkadot ecosystem.

4. 2026 Subscription Fee Breakdown

Why Trace Remains Necessary for Polkadot and AssetHub

The Trace-related fees are listed separately to make the scope and cost transparent. Subscan currently supports Polkadot Trace, and the fee includes the additional Trace node costs required to maintain this capability.

Polkadot Trace is not a standard explorer feature. It is a deeper infrastructure layer that enables historical state analysis and provides important technical and data foundations for future feature expansion. Trace currently supports several advanced use cases, including:

Account balance history: fetching block-by-block account balance history.

https://polkadot.subscan.io/account/13UVJyLnbVp9RBZYFwFGyDvVd1y27Tt8tkntv6Q7JVPhFsTB?tab=balance_history&chart_tab=block

Custom state tracing: allowing developers to query on-chain storage changes.

https://polkadot.subscan.io/state_tracing

Storage changes: allowing users to inspect state changes directly from block or extrinsic pages.

https://polkadot.subscan.io/block/31587572?tab=state_tracing&trace=31587572-37

Convenient access to storage-change data is currently difficult to obtain across the Polkadot ecosystem, and Subscan Trace provides one of the only readily accessible ways to query and inspect this information. This makes Trace an important developer tool, not only a data feature for end users.

The continued subscription of Polkadot Trace in 2026 is necessary because the Polkadot Relay Chain still has real user and developer demand for historical balance analysis and state-change queries. Taking Polkadot as an example, in September 2025, before the AssetHub migration, Trace-related API access through the Subscan web frontend averaged approximately 12.8k requests per day, mainly for historical balance data. In May 2026, usage averaged approximately 3.2k requests per day, with the main use case shifting toward custom state queries.

This change reflects a shift in demand rather than the disappearance of demand. After the AssetHub migration, part of the original Relay Chain activity moved to AssetHub, which naturally reduces Relay Chain Trace usage while creating new demand for AssetHub Trace. For this reason, AssetHub Trace is proposed as an H2 2026 addition. It will only be added after community approval, delivery, and inclusion in the relevant monthly milestones.

5. Monthly Milestone Delivery Plan

The annual subscription cap of $238,740 is strictly divided into 12 monthly milestones across two phases. Each month corresponds to one independently reviewable and payable milestone, ensuring continuous delivery and validation.

6. SLA, Monitoring, and Refund Policy

Transparent service accountability is paramount. Service uptime is publicly monitored 24/7 at https://subscan.statuspage.io/.

For each monthly milestone, if Subscan fails to meet the uptime standards below, Subscan will credit or refund the applicable percentage of the monthly fee back to the Polkadot Treasury. This ensures strict monthly accountability under community oversight.

7. Review Checklist for the Community

To make review practical and to underline our commitment to alignment with the community's desires, voters can evaluate this proposal using the following checklist:

Structure: Is the 2026 service separated from past retroactive settlement items? Yes. This is the standalone 2026 forward-looking subscription.

Payment cadence: Is treasury outflow monthly rather than lump-sum? Yes. 12 monthly milestones.

Termination control: Can the community stop future payments? Yes. Future milestones can be stopped by the community at any time.

Pricing: Does the proposal reflect reduced 2026 infrastructure cost? Yes. Polkadot Relay Chain drops from $19,405/mo in Q4 2025 to $10,000/mo in 2026.

SLA accountability: Are refunds/credits defined? Yes. Refund tiers are rigorously based on monthly uptime.

Approval of this proposal confirms the 2026 subscription structure and maximum monthly milestone amounts. It does not remove the community’s ability to stop or reject future monthly milestones if service expectations are not met. We look forward to continuing to provide top-tier infrastructure support for the Polkadot ecosystem.