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Stacks Documentation
  • Start Here
  • 🧠Concepts
    • Stacks 101
      • What Is Stacks?
      • Bitcoin Connection
      • Proof of Transfer
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      • Financial Incentive and Security Budget
    • Network Fundamentals
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    • Block Production
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      • How Transactions Work
      • Post Conditions
    • Clarity
      • Overview
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    • sBTC
      • Core Features
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        • Deposit
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        • Deposit vs Withdrawal Times
      • Emily API
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      • Clarity Contracts
        • sBTC Registry
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      • Auxiliary Features
        • Transaction Fee Sponsorship
        • Signer Wallet Rotation
      • Walkthroughs
        • Signer Process Walkthrough
        • sBTC Transaction Walkthrough
      • sBTC FAQ
    • Gaia
      • Configuration
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      • Amazon EC2
      • Linux
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  • 🛠️Guides & Tutorials
    • Developer Quickstart
    • Clarity Crash Course
    • Build a Borrowing & Lending Protocol
    • Bitcoin Integration
      • Sending Bitcoin with Leather Wallet
      • Verifying a Bitcoin Transaction
      • Parsing a Bitcoin Transaction
    • Create Tokens
      • Creating a NFT
      • Creating a Fungible Token
    • Build a Frontend
      • Post Conditions with Stacks.js
      • Authentication with Stacks.js
      • Sending Transactions with Stacks.js
    • Testing Smart Contracts
      • Fuzz Testing
    • Run a Node
      • Run a Node with Docker
      • Run a Node with Digital Ocean
      • Run a Node with a Hosted Provider
      • Run a Node with Quicknode
      • Run a Bitcoin Node
      • Run a Pruned Bitcoin Node
    • Run a Miner
      • Miner Prerequisites
      • Miner Costs and Fees
      • Mine Testnet Stacks Tokens
      • Mine Mainnet Stacks Tokens
      • Verify Miner
    • Run a Signer
      • Signer Quickstart
      • How to Read Signer Logs
      • How to Monitor a Signer
      • Best practices for running a Signer
      • OpSec Best Practices
    • sBTC
      • How to Run an sBTC Signer
      • Best practices for running an sBTC Signer
      • How to Use the sBTC Bridge
      • Earn sBTC Rewards
    • Stack STX
      • Solo Stack
      • Operate a Pool
      • Stack with a Pool
      • Increase Stacked Position
      • Stop Stacking
    • Oracles
    • Community Tutorials
  • 📚Reference
    • API
    • Clarity Types
    • Clarity Functions
    • Clarity Keywords
    • Stacks Node Configuration
    • Signer Configuration
    • Stacks Tooling
  • 🏗️Example Contracts
    • Audited Starter Contracts
    • Stacking
    • BNS
    • Multi Send
  • 🧡Press & Top Links
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    • 🔶2025
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      • 🔸May 2025
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    • 🟠Bitcoin Theses
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On this page
  • Mainnet
  • Primary and Nakamoto Testnets
  • Important notes on the Primary Testnet:
  • Configuration Files for Signers
  • About testnet

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  1. Concepts
  2. Network Fundamentals

Mainnet and Testnets

PreviousNetwork BasicsNextAccounts

Last updated 8 months ago

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Stacks has both a mainnet and a few different testnets for different purposes. Mainnet and testnet are two completely different networks and tokens cannot be transferred between one or the other.

Mainnet

Stacks mainnet is directly connected to Bitcoin mainnet and is the network where tokens have actual monetary worth. This is the production network and should be treated as such.

You can view mainnet activity using .

Primary and Nakamoto Testnets

There are some notable differences between Primary Testnet and Nakamoto Testnet, this table can guide you in selecting the one most aligned with your needs.

Attributes
Nakamoto Testnet
Primary Testnet

Stacking Cycle Length

3 days

1 week

Description

Bleeding edge, more frequent upgrades with Release Candidates.

Stable release updates ONLY, the last step before Mainnet.

Usage Recommendations

  • Use this if you don’t mind frequent resets and would like to test the latest features as they’re released

  • Use this if you prefer faster feedback loops to test various stacking-signer scenarios

  • Use this if you prefer more stable releases and don’t want frequent resets and updates

  • Use this if you don't need to be among the first to test new features

  • Use this if you prefer longer Stacking cycles

Lifespan

Nakamoto Testnet will remain available until sBTC goes live on Mainnet

The Primary Testnet will exist and be maintained forever.

Explorer

Important notes on the Primary Testnet:

  • Core devs are working on a BTC Regtest Explorer. In the meantime, Wallet, Explorer, and API links to BTC transactions will lead you nowhere. This is expected and will be addressed. All STX transactions are available to track on the .

  • You can start onboarding your Signer, deploy contracts and test your Apps. All functionality from the previous testnet is available.

  • Old testnet data is archived and will remain until the end of June 2024

  • Faucet and tSTX:

    • The and limits stay the same.

    • If you need more tSTX than the current daily limit to onboard your Signer on Primary Testnet, please reach out to your main point of contact in the ecosystem.

Configuration Files for Signers

  • Signer Configuration

About testnet

The testnet is a separate blockchain from the Stacks mainnet analogous to a staging environnement. It's a network used by developers to test their apps, smart contracts, or changes to the protocol in a production-like environment.

It produces blocks at roughly the same rate as mainnet; about 1 block every 10 minutes on average. The Stacks testnet is rarely reset.

Faucets

Testnet faucets provide you with free Stacks Token (STX) to test with. These are not the same as STX on mainnet and have no value. There are a couple of different options for getting testnet STX.

Hiro

To get STX tokens from within the Explorer Sandbox, navigate to the "Faucet" tab on the left and click "Request STX" button.

You can also try out Stacking by clicking on I want to stack.

The Explorer Sandbox requires you to login with a Stacks wallet

LearnWeb3

Testnet API

The hosted Stacks Blockchain API for the testnet is available at this base URL:

https://api.testnet.hiro.so/

You can get STX from the Hiro faucet on the , or using the .

Alternatively, you can use the .

🧠
Hiro's block explorer
Explorer
available
Faucet address
Hiro Explorer Sandbox
API
LearnWeb3 faucet
Nakamoto Explorer
Primary Explorer
#primary-testnet-config