Lightning Network Stats — Nodes, Channels, Capacity, Fees

What does Lightning Network Stats do?

Lightning Network Stats delivers a comprehensive, analytics-enriched snapshot of the Bitcoin Lightning Network in a single structured JSON record. It combines data from mempool.space and 1ML.com to report on network size, growth, privacy, channel economics, routing fees, and a composite network health score (0–100), as well as enriched per-node profiles for the top nodes by connectivity and liquidity.

Why use Lightning Network Stats?

• One call, complete network picture. Instead of juggling multiple API calls across mempool.space, 1ML.com, and node explorer endpoints, a single actor run aggregates channel count, node count, total BTC capacity, Tor privacy ratio, routing fee benchmarks, 30-day growth, and top-node rankings into one clean JSON document.
• Quantified health and efficiency scores. The network_health_score (0–100) blends routing efficiency, decentralization, growth momentum, fee competitiveness, and privacy ratio into a single comparable KPI — ideal for time-series dashboards.
• Node-level enrichment out of the box. Top nodes by connectivity and liquidity are enriched with node_quality_score, routing_efficiency_signal, liquidity_balance_health, channel_closure_risk, and fee_competitiveness — useful for channel partner selection.
• Lightning vs. on-chain economics. The lightning_vs_onchain_economics field for each top node compares expected LN routing fees to on-chain transaction fees, making the cost savings from Lightning immediately visible.
• No API key required. Data is sourced from fully public endpoints on mempool.space and 1ML.com with no authentication.

How to use Lightning Network Stats

1. Go to the Apify Store and find Lightning Network Stats.
2. Click Try for free — this actor has no required inputs.
3. Click Run (the actor needs no configuration for a standard full snapshot).
4. Download the single JSON record from the dataset tab.
5. Parse the nested structure: network, growth, privacy, channel_economics, routing_fees, analytics, top_nodes_by_connectivity, top_nodes_by_liquidity, history_30d, and lightning_network_summary.

Input

This actor has no required inputs. It always fetches the latest global Lightning Network snapshot.

Field	Type	Default	Description
(none)	—	—	No configuration needed. Run the actor as-is.

Output

[
  {
    "network": {
      "channel_count": 58241,
      "node_count": 14832,
      "total_capacity_btc": 4812.34,
      "total_capacity_usd": 481234000,
      "layer1_capacity_ratio": 0.000229
    },
    "growth": {
      "channel_change_1d": 12,
      "node_change_1d": 3,
      "new_nodes_24h": 18,
      "new_channels_24h": 94,
      "nodes_30d_change_pct": 1.24,
      "channels_30d_change_pct": 2.11,
      "capacity_30d_change_pct": 3.87,
      "network_growth_rate_pct": 3.87
    },
    "privacy": {
      "tor_nodes": 4021,
      "clearnet_nodes": 9814,
      "clearnet_tor_nodes": 412,
      "unannounced_nodes": 585,
      "tor_pct": 27.1
    },
    "channel_economics": {
      "avg_capacity_btc": 0.00826,
      "avg_capacity_usd": 826.0,
      "avg_channels_per_node": 7.84,
      "avg_node_age_days": 812.3,
      "avg_channel_age_days": 541.1,
      "avg_channel_capacity_sats": 826000
    },
    "routing_fees": {
      "avg_fee_rate_ppm": 312,
      "med_fee_rate_ppm": 150,
      "avg_base_fee_msat": 1000,
      "med_base_fee_msat": 1000,
      "fee_market_signal": "moderate"
    },
    "analytics": {
      "network_health_score": 74,
      "centralization_score": 38,
      "routing_efficiency_score": 81,
      "payment_success_rate_signal": "medium",
      "channel_density": 3.93,
      "fee_spread_ratio": 2.08,
      "network_saturation_pct": 0.022908
    },
    "top_nodes_by_connectivity": [
      {
        "alias": "ACINQ",
        "public_key": "03864ef025fde8fb587d989186ce6a4a186895ee44a926bfc370e2c366597a3f8f",
        "channels": 612,
        "capacity_btc": 52.4812,
        "node_quality_score": 87,
        "routing_efficiency_signal": "optimal_router",
        "liquidity_balance_health": "inbound_heavy",
        "channel_closure_risk": "stable",
        "fee_competitiveness": "competitive",
        "network_centrality_tier": "hub",
        "adoption_signal": "growing",
        "lightning_vs_onchain_economics": "lightning_preferred"
      }
    ],
    "lightning_network_summary": {
      "total_network_capacity_btc": 4812.34,
      "total_channels": 58241,
      "network_health": "growing",
      "avg_routing_fee_ppm": 312,
      "btc_in_lightning_vs_total_supply": 0.022920
    },
    "fetched_at": "2026-09-02T10:31:00Z"
  }
]

Data fields

Field	Description
network.channel_count	Total active payment channels across the Lightning Network
network.node_count	Total reachable Lightning nodes
network.total_capacity_btc	Total BTC locked across all channels
network.total_capacity_usd	Total USD value of locked BTC
network.layer1_capacity_ratio	LN capacity as a fraction of Bitcoin's layer-1 circulating supply
growth.capacity_30d_change_pct	Percentage change in total capacity over 30 days
growth.nodes_30d_change_pct	Percentage change in node count over 30 days
growth.new_channels_24h	New channels opened in the past 24 hours
privacy.tor_pct	Percentage of nodes running behind Tor
routing_fees.avg_fee_rate_ppm	Average routing fee rate in parts-per-million
routing_fees.fee_market_signal	competitive / moderate / expensive
analytics.network_health_score	0–100 composite health score
analytics.centralization_score	0–100 hub concentration score (higher = more centralized)
analytics.routing_efficiency_score	0–100 network diameter efficiency estimate
analytics.payment_success_rate_signal	high / medium / low
analytics.channel_density	Average channels per node
analytics.fee_spread_ratio	Avg/median fee ratio — hub concentration indicator
analytics.network_saturation_pct	LN capacity as % of 21M BTC total supply
top_nodes_by_connectivity[].node_quality_score	0–100 composite node quality
top_nodes_by_connectivity[].routing_efficiency_signal	optimal_router / good_router / average / poor_router / unreliable
top_nodes_by_connectivity[].liquidity_balance_health	well_balanced / inbound_heavy / outbound_heavy / fully_depleted
top_nodes_by_connectivity[].network_centrality_tier	hub / well_connected / peripheral / isolated
top_nodes_by_connectivity[].lightning_vs_onchain_economics	lightning_preferred / competitive / onchain_better
lightning_network_summary.network_health	growing / stable / declining
lightning_network_summary.btc_in_lightning_vs_total_supply	% of all 21M BTC locked in LN channels
history_30d	Weekly-sampled capacity and channel snapshots over the past 30 days
fetched_at	ISO 8601 timestamp of the data pull

Cost estimation

Pricing model: $0.005 flat per run — always returns one complete network snapshot.

Scenario	Runs	Estimated cost
One-off research snapshot	1 run	$0.005
Daily monitoring (30 days)	30 runs	$0.15
Hourly monitoring (7 days)	168 runs	$0.84

FAQ

Q: How often is Lightning Network data updated? A: mempool.space updates its Lightning statistics continuously; 1ML.com refreshes roughly every few hours. Running the actor once per day is sufficient for most trend-monitoring use cases.

Q: Can I track individual node performance over time? A: The actor returns the top 10 nodes by connectivity and by liquidity with enriched analytics. For longitudinal tracking, schedule the actor to run daily and store results in a database, joining on public_key.

Q: What is the network_saturation_pct field? A: It expresses how much of Bitcoin's fixed 21-million-coin supply is actively locked inside Lightning Network channels — a proxy for Lightning adoption depth relative to the total Bitcoin economy.

Disclaimer: Data is sourced from public APIs (mempool.space, 1ML.com) and is provided for informational purposes only. Node quality scores and network health signals are computed heuristics, not guarantees of performance. This is not financial advice.

Keywords: Lightning Network statistics, Bitcoin Lightning tracker, LN node analytics, Lightning Network health score, LN channel count, routing fee monitor, Bitcoin payment network data, Lightning capacity BTC, Tor node privacy LN, mempool space API

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Related actors

• Bitcoin Mempool Analytics — Bitcoin on-chain data to contextualize Lightning Network capacity and activity
• BTC Miner Revenue Tracker — Miner income alongside LN routing fee economics
• Bitcoin Mining Pools — Mining pool activity and block times that affect Lightning channel management

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