GlossaryAdvanced
Archive Node
A full node that retains a blockchain's complete historical state data, not just recent state.
An archive node stores a blockchain's complete historical state data at every point in its history, not just its current state — useful for applications that need to query historical data, such as block explorers.
Archive nodes require significantly more storage than a standard full node, since they retain far more historical data.
Examples
- A block explorer typically relies on archive nodes to answer historical state queries.
- Running an archive node requires substantially more storage than a standard, pruned full node.