How to Claim Sepolia Testnet ETH Tokens Through Faucets
Sepolia ETH tokens are needed for the Sepolia testnet to test upcoming dApps before they go live on the Ethereum mainnet. You can claim Sepolia testnet ETH from Alchemy, QuickNode, and Infura faucets.
Key Takeaways
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You can obtain test Ethereum tokens for the Sepolia test network from the official faucet and a handful of other independent faucets.
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Sepolia ETH is only meant for testing applications deployed on the network and pending final deployment on the main network. They are not meant to be traded.
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Sepolia is the recommended testnet by the Ethereum core team. Projects are moving over to Sepolia as other testnets are being deprecated.
Ethereum’s Kiln Testnet has been deprecated since the Ethereum Merge was completed. The Ropsten testnet network followed shortly as the list of Ethereum testnets continue deprecating as planned. The quite popular Goerli testnet and the newer Sepolia testnet are currently the most used Ethereum test networks, with the latter being recommended by the Ethereum core team, as Goerli will be deprecated towards the end of 2023 and replaced with the Holesky testnet.
This article will focus on the Sepolia testnet and how you can obtain Sepolia ETH.
Claim Sepolia ETH on Alchemy Sepolia ETH Faucet
Alchemy offers faucet service for Ethereum’s Goerli and Sepolia testnets. Alchemy remits up to 0.5 Sepolia ETH daily. In order to mitigate abuse, an Alchemy account is needed to access the faucet service.
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First, create an Alchemy account to request Sepolia ETH.
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Visit the Alchemy Sepolia faucet and log in with your Alchemy account.
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Enter your wallet in the provided box, complete the CAPTCHA verification, and click Send Me ETH.
Sepolia ETH will be sent to your wallet and will be accessible once the transaction is complete.
Claim Sepolia ETH on the QuickNode Sepolia Faucet
QuickNode is a multichain faucet service, and supported testnets on the platform include testnets for Ethereum, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, Solana, Coinbase’s Base, and several other chains’ testnets.
QuickNode offers 0.05 Sepolia ETH daily, and you can double this by tweeting about your claim.
To obtain Sepolia ETH from QuickNode:
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Choose a preferred connection method. You can directly connect your wallet to the platform, or copy and paste your wallet address on the provided box.
Select Ethereum from the chain options and Sepolia from the network options and click Continue.
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Enter the link to your Tweet (if you wrote one) for a 2x bonus, or simply skip and receive 0.05 Sepolia ETH.
Note that you must hold at least 0.001 ETH on Ethereum Mainnet to use the QuickNode faucet for EVM testnets.
Claim Sepolia ETH on the Infura Sepolia Faucet
Infura claims to be the world's most powerful suite of high-availability blockchain APIs and developer tools. It offers faucet services for the Sepolia network and Consensys’ Linea network. To mitigate abuse of the platform, Sepolia’s faucet services are only available to registered users, and the receiving wallet must have at least 0.001ETH on the main network. Infura offers 0.5 Sepolia ETH daily to registered users.
- To obtain Sepolia ETH from Infura, register for an Infura account. Follow the email confirmation prompts to complete your personal or company details.
Complete account creation and log into your account.
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Visit the faucet platform for the Sepolia network. Enter your wallet address in the provided box and click Receive ETH.
Done! 0.5 Sepolia ETH will be sent to your wallet.
Other Sepolia Faucets
Besides Infura and Alchemy, there are other faucets that offer Sepolia ETH.
Sepolia PoW Faucet
The Sepolia PoW Faucet is an Ethereum faucet that runs on the Sepolia Testnet. In order to prevent malicious actors from exhausting available funds or accumuluating enough ETH to mount spam attacks, the faucet requires some mining work to be done in exchange for Sepolia ETH.
Enter your ETH address and complete the reCAPTCHA, then click Start Mining. -
You will accumulate mining rewards in the form of Sepolia ETH (SepETH). Once done, click Stop Mining & Claim Rewards. Do note that there is a minimum claim reward of 0.05 Sepolia ETH before you can claim rewards.
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You can now click on Claim Rewards to receive Sepolia ETH in your wallet.
RockX's Sepolia Faucet
RockX offers digital staking solutions for cryptocurrencies, and they also offer a Sepolia faucet.
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Sign up for a RockX account and connect to the faucet to claim 0.05 Sepolia ETH.
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You can retweet a post to earn an extra 0.10 Sepolia ETH.
What Can Sepolia ETH Be Used For?
Now that you have received some Sepolia testnet ETH, you might wonder how you can put your new test token to use. Here are some things you can do with your Sepolia ETH
As a Developer
Test your application(s): Every developer needs a testing environment. Web2 applications can be easily tested on your local host, but Web3 applications and smart contracts are quite different. Testing smart contracts on the main network can be risky, with real funds involved. With Sepolia testnet and the Sepolia ETH, you can deploy your application in a free-to-use environment where you can discover mistakes (and fix them). Use your Sepolia ETH to perform preliminary tests on your application’s functionalities before opening it up for further testing.
Assist individual testers: When you are done with in-house testing for your application, the next stage (in most cases) is to invite individual testers to use the application as well. Regardless of the technological exposure of your testers, there is a need to guide them through the application. This could be through live demonstrations or by simply helping them out with testnet tokens. Whichever it is, your Sepolia ETH can be easily sent to the testers’ wallets or used to demonstrate the functionalities of your applications.
As a User
Explore the Sepolia testnet: Sepolia is Ethereum’s newest testnet at the moment. Likely, a good percentage of EVM and blockchain enthusiasts are yet to use the network. Goerli is currently the go-to testnet for Ethereum developers and testers, although this is set to change in the near future as Goerli will be deprecated. You can use your Sepolia ETH to explore the network and the applications available.
Test and improve applications on the network: Developers are encouraged to deploy their test applications on Sepolia testnet. Individual users play the vital role of testing applications and pinpointing the strengths and weaknesses of these applications, and if you're interested, you can take on this role for the applications deployed on Sepolia by using your Sepolia ETH to perform activities available on dApps deployed on the network. If the testing program is incentivized, you could benefit handsomely from playing this role as well.
As an example, you can check out Taiko, an Ethereum equivalent zero knowledge EVM Layer 2. Visit the Taiko bridge, connect your wallet, and switch to the Sepolia network to bridge your Sepolia ETH to Taiko ETH
After which you’ll be able to swap between all available tokens – and potentially score an airdrop!
Get familiar with EVM and blockchain networks: For newbies in the crypto space, DeFi might be daunting. Using the main network for the learning process might lead to a loss of assets, and even technologically exposed users might still find new dApps a little complicated.
Test networks come in handy for instances like this. You can use your Sepolia ETH to run transactions similar to the activities you wish to perform on the main network, and familiarize yourself with the process until you are confident to use the main network.
Adding Sepolia to MetaMask
To access the Sepolia Network via MetaMask, you will need to add the network to your MetaMask account.
Option 1: Add Network via Presets
Log into your MetaMask, click on the network bar in the top left corner, and toggle the Show test networks switch.
From the list of preset networks, select Sepolia and your account will be connected automatically.
Option 2: Add Sepolia Testnet Manually
Alternatively, you can select Add network, and add the network manually.
In the form that pops up, fill in the following accordingly;-
Network Name - Sepolia Testnet
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New RPC URL - https://rpc2.sepolia.org
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Chain ID - 11155111
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Currency Symbol - SepoliaETH
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Block explorer URL - https://sepolia.etherscan.io/
Click Save, and Sepolia can now be accessed via your MetaMask wallet.
To switch between networks, simply click the drop-down menu at the top left corner of your wallet toggle it to Show test networks, and select Sepolia.
Option 3: Adding Sepolia to Your MetaMask Wallet Through Chainlist
Another way to add Sepolia to your MetaMask wallet is via the Chainlist application. Chainlist pools together a comprehensive list of EVM networks and allows blockchain enthusiasts to add them to their wallets through simple clicks.
You can follow this simple process to get started:
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Visit the ChainList platform and connect your MetaMask wallet.
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Search 'Sepolia' in the search bar at the top of the page (for ETH Sepolia, select the network with chain ID = 11155111).
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Tap 'Add to MetaMask,' and the verified Sepolia network information will be automatically added to your extension.
You can now connect to Sepolia network dApps from the MetaMask extension. Visit the dApp’s website from your Chrome browser to connect to the Sepolia network. Mobile application users can use the Sepolia network via the dApp browser – click the menu at the top left corner and select ‘Browser’ from the drop-down.
What Is the Sepolia Testnet?
On a short note, the Sepolia testnet is a playground for developers on the Ethereum network. It gives developers and individual users an avenue to explore applications’ functionalities and fix discovered errors before deploying on the main network. Smart contract applications are designed to handle high-profile transactions. An average interaction with a smart contract means way more than plain action. Therefore, there’s a need to make sure that these applications work as intended. But testing on the main network is cost-intensive, and errors might lead to the loss of valuable assets, which defeats the goal.
As a fix, testnets were created. Most blockchain networks, especially EVM networks and related new-generation blockchains, have testnets. Testnets are designed to mirror the setup on the main network but leverage ‘valueless’ tokens to develop a zero consequences scenario. ‘Zero consequences’ in the sense that errors lead to no significant financial or security implications, and Sepolia is such an environment for Ethereum developers and users.
Sepolia Testnet was initially launched in 2021 as a closed testing environment running the Proof of Work (POW) consensus mechanism. However, it has transitioned with the main network into a public testnet and running the Proof of Stake (POS) consensus mechanism following the Merge in September 2022. Since this time, Sepolia has emerged as the recommended testnet by the core Ethereum team. And as detailed in this announcement, it is likely to take up a majority of the testnet activities since other testnets are getting deprecated.
Sepolia testnet was named after a neighborhood in Athens, Greece, where one of the Ethereum developers grew up. It is designed to mimic a harsh network environment and allow developers to get a feel of how their applications will perform in an extreme environment. You can access the Sepolia network by adding the network details to your MetaMask or other supported wallets. The Ethereum core team will strive to equip developers with everything they need to build efficient and safe applications on the main network through the Sepolia testnet.
Sepolia Testnet Vs. Goerli Testnet
Sepolia will attempt to oust Goerli in terms of relevance. Anyways, since the Goerli testnet will be deprecated soon, this will be an easy one for Sepolia. However, before this happens, Sepolia and Goerli are the two most relevant Ethereum testnets at the time of writing. But both networks have a couple of differences in areas like;
Validator Access
Goerli testnet and Sepolia have both transitioned into POS networks alongside the main network thanks to the merge. Prior to this, Goerli ran the POA (Proof of Authority) consensus mechanism, while Sepolia used the POW consensus mechanism. Running the POS consensus mechanisms, the security and decentralization of both networks are vested on validators. Validators lock up assets on the network and verify the authenticity of new blocks before they are added to the network. But both networks differ in validator access.
On Goerli, anyone can freely create a validator node; this is different for Sepolia. At the time of writing, Sepolia runs a closed validator system. Validators on the network are selected by the team to secure the network. This might change in the future as the network expands. The permission validator system shares a striking resemblance to the POA consensus mechanism. POA validators are also required to verify their real identity as a way of ensuring that they don’t approve malicious blocks and distort the network.
Efficiency
Goerli is a large state network, thanks to tons of test version applications deployed on the network and a long chain of transactions. In comparison, Sepolia is newer, has lesser application, and has a shorter chain of transactions. Sepolia is, therefore, a lighter network and is more efficient. This efficiency could deplete as the network grows. Goerli is also more resource intensive. It takes a long time to synchronize the network, and running the Goerli network will also require a larger storage capacity. Sepolia is time efficient, as it takes a shorter time to synchronize. It is resource-efficient as well, it requires a lesser storage capacity to run.
Activity
Sepolia is still in the shadow of Goerli at the time of writing. This is evidenced in the on-chain and off-chain proof of demand. The scarcity of Goerli testnet tokens and the resultant trading of Goerli ETH, while not encouraged, is thanks to the high activity on the network. Incentivization of these activities played a significant role. This brings the Goerli testing environment closer to the main network in terms of activity, while Sepolia attempts to artificially create this scenario by simulating a harsh network condition. But in terms of real activities, Sepolia is still an emerging network and still not as openly used as Goerli. On the bright side, this makes it a lighter and more efficient network.
Final Thoughts
As a developer working on a decentralized application, the need to perform several road tests on the contracts and the interactions cannot be overemphasized. When smart contracts malfunction, the most likely outcome is the loss of assets. Smart contracts, on the other hand, are tedious, and it’s quite easy to leave room for exploitations and serious failures. Testnets hand users and developers a platform to reduce and possibly prevent this. Sepolia network mirrors the Ethereum network and the freedom and zero-cost testing ground it offers are quite important.
Test running new applications is not only the duty of the developers but the users as well. The more diverse parties are involved, the better the application. This article takes you through the process of obtaining Sepolia ETH and getting involved in testing new applications. Note that these tokens only have testing values and are not meant to be traded. It is also recommended that you verify the authenticity of any independent faucet before connecting your wallet to them. Finally, note that this article is only educational and not financial advice.
Joel is deeply interested in the technologies behind cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks. In his over 7 years of involvement in the space, he helps startups build a stronger internet presence through written content. Follow the author on Twitter @agboifesinachi
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