Etherscan

The phone book for Ethereum. Every address, every transaction, everything public, searchable.

free + API proFor beginnerVisit site

The primary block explorer for Ethereum. View any address, transaction hash, or contract. Read/write contract functions directly. The de facto truth source when something went wrong on-chain.

What to check when you're worried

After signing a transaction: Paste your tx hash into search. Status=success means it went through. Check the 'Tokens Transferred' section — matches what you expected?

Before interacting with a contract:

Is the contract 'Verified' (green check)? Unverified = avoid
Click 'Contract' tab → 'Read'/'Write' — see exactly what functions exist
'Holders' tab — top 10 holders. If team holds >50%, rug risk high
'Comments' section sometimes has scam warnings

Tracking suspicious activity: For any address, 'Token Txns' tab shows all ERC20 moves. Filter by token to see specific coin flows.

Pro tips

Use 'Follow' feature to track addresses
Alerts require an account
Gas tracker is the industry-standard reference

Pros

Free for 99% of use cases
Gas tracker is the canonical reference
Contract verification = trust signal
Every crypto person uses it

Cons

UI can feel overwhelming at first
Token spam is common — scammers airdrop tokens to famous addresses for visibility
Sanctioned addresses are labeled but not blocked