The short answerDune is the only NFT analytics option where you can audit the calculation, because the calculation is a public SQL query against decoded chain data. That transparency is unmatched, and community dashboards are frequently stale or subtly wrong, which is why reading the query matters.
Best forCustom NFT queries against raw chain data
Data accuracyweight 25%
8.5avg 7.8
Analytical usefulnessweight 20%
8.5avg 7.4
Value for moneyweight 20%
8.0avg 8.1
Coverageweight 20%
8.0avg 7.8
Method transparencyweight 15%
9.0avg 7.1
this service category average across 15Score = Σ mark × weight. Recommendable to most readers, with stated caveats. Methodology.
| Criterion | Mark | What we found | Source | Checked |
|---|
| Data accuracy | 8.5 | not sourced yet | not sourced yet | — |
| Analytical usefulness | 8.5 | not sourced yet | not sourced yet | — |
| Value for money | 8.0 | not sourced yet | not sourced yet | — |
| Coverage | 8.0 | not sourced yet | not sourced yet | — |
| Method transparency | 9.0 | not sourced yet | not sourced yet | — |
What we liked, and what fell short
Liked- Decoded marketplace data queryable directly
- Every dashboard's SQL is readable, so the method is never hidden
- Large library of community NFT dashboards
Fell short- Requires SQL and familiarity with the decoded schemas
- Community dashboards are frequently stale or subtly wrong
Why the marks landed where they did
Every other tool in this category asks you to trust a number. Dune shows you the query that produced it, running against decoded marketplace events across chains, and lets you fork it and check.
What NFT analysis looks like here
Marketplace events — sales, listings, transfers, royalty payments — are decoded and queryable. That means questions no vendor dashboard answers become tractable: how much royalty revenue a collection actually received, what proportion of sales were between related wallets, how holder cohorts changed over a specific period.
The stale dashboard problem
Community dashboards are the starting point for most users and they decay. A marketplace contract migration, a new royalty mechanism or a renamed table can break a query silently, leaving a chart that renders confidently and reports nonsense. View counts are not verification. Read the SQL before citing the chart.
Skill and cost
SQL is required to build anything, and familiarity with the decoded schemas helps considerably. The free tier handles occasional research; paid plans from around $49 a month add performance and API access.
Who should use it
Analysts and researchers who need answers that do not exist in a vendor dashboard, and anyone who wants to verify a number rather than trust it.
FAQ
Can I analyse NFTs on Dune without SQL?+
You can read public dashboards, but you cannot build or verify anything, which is the main reason to use Dune rather than a vendor tool.
Are community NFT dashboards reliable?+
Frequently not. Contract migrations and schema changes break queries silently, and view counts are not verification. Read the SQL.
What can Dune show that other tools cannot?+
Anything answerable from decoded chain data — actual royalty revenue, related-wallet trading proportions, holder cohort changes — with the calculation visible.
What does Dune cost?+
A free tier for occasional queries, with paid plans from around $49 a month for performance and API access.
