A Sepolia faucet is a website that sends a small amount of free test ETH to your wallet address on Sepolia, Ethereum's testnet for application developers. You use that test ETH to pay gas when you deploy and test smart contracts. Sepolia ETH is meant to have no real value. As of October 2026 Sepolia is still the recommended testnet for app development: it took the Glamsterdam upgrade on 6 October 2026. Developers are discussing a replacement network, but no shutdown date has been set.
Where Sepolia stands in October 2026
- Upgrade on 6 October 2026. The Ethereum Foundation says the Glamsterdam network upgrade activated on Sepolia on 6 October 2026 at 13:53:36 UTC (epoch 353,024). The Foundation also says Sepolia's gas limit is 200M. Glamsterdam on the Hoodi testnet was postponed on 22 October 2026, and no new date has been set.
- The 2026 end-of-life date has passed. In a post dated 18 March 2025, the Ethereum Foundation gave Sepolia an "expected end of life" of 30 September 2026 and planned a replacement for March 2026. Sepolia was still running and still being upgraded after that date.
- A new schedule has been proposed but not agreed. On 27 May 2026, a post on the Fellowship of Ethereum Magicians forum proposed a new testnet that would reach the latest fork by Q1 2027. Under that proposal, Sepolia would be fully shut down in Q2 or Q3 2027, with about six months for developers to migrate. As of the latest replies, nothing has been decided.
In practice, Sepolia is the right testnet for app development today. Check the official announcements before you plan any work past mid-2027.
What Sepolia is
ethereum.org calls Sepolia "the recommended default testnet for application development". Its validator set is permissioned and "controlled by client & testing teams". Its chain ID is 11155111, according to the network's configuration repository.
Sepolia started as a proof-of-work network. Its client configuration lists the ethash engine. Sepolia moved to proof-of-stake when its total difficulty passed 17,000,000,000,000,000, under the Ethereum Foundation's Sepolia Merge announcement of 30 June 2022. It has received later upgrades on its own schedule, including Shanghai (28 February 2023), Cancun (30 January 2024), Prague (5 March 2025) and Osaka (14 October 2025).
Other Ethereum testnets have different jobs:
| Testnet | Status per ethereum.org | Intended use |
|---|---|---|
| Sepolia | Active | Contract and application development |
| Hoodi | Active | Validator and staking tests, network upgrades |
| Ephemery | Active, resets every 28 days | Short-lived tests with easy access to funds |
| Holesky | Deprecated (September 2025) | Replaced by Hoodi |
| Goerli | Deprecated | Older tutorials only. Use Sepolia instead |
Why you need test ETH
Sepolia charges gas the same way mainnet does. Deploying a contract, calling a function or sending a token all cost gas, so your wallet needs some Sepolia ETH. ethereum.org says testnet ETH "is supposed to have no real value". That is why faucets give it away, and why there is nothing to gain from collecting it.
Which testnet and faucet route fits you?
Answer a few questions to see which testnet the article points you to and which kind of faucet check you can pass.
What are you testing?
- Smart contracts or an application → next question
- Validators, staking or a network upgrade → Use Hoodi, not Sepolia
- A short-lived test where easy access to funds matters most → Consider Ephemery
- Following an older tutorial built on Goerli or Holesky → Move the tutorial to Sepolia
Does your wallet hold at least 0.001 ETH on Ethereum mainnet, with some mainnet activity?
Do you have an account with a node or infrastructure provider that runs a faucet?
Sepolia is the recommended testnet for app development. A faucet that checks mainnet activity fits you: Alchemy's, for example, sends 0.1 Sepolia ETH every 24 hours to addresses with at least 0.001 ETH and sufficient activity on mainnet. Share only your public address, and check the faucet's own page, because limits change often.
Sepolia is the recommended testnet for app development. Several node and infrastructure providers run faucets for their own users, so start with the one you already have an account with. Share only your public address, never a seed phrase or private key.
Sepolia is the recommended testnet for app development. A proof-of-work faucet, such as the PoW Faucet, pays out after your browser does some computing work, so you don't need a mainnet balance. Share only your public address.
ethereum.org lists Hoodi for validator and staking tests and network upgrades. Note that Glamsterdam on Hoodi was postponed on 22 October 2026, and no new date has been set.
ethereum.org lists Ephemery for short-lived tests with easy access to funds. It resets every 28 days, so don't keep anything there that you need later.
Goerli is deprecated, and Holesky was deprecated in September 2025 and replaced by Hoodi. For contract and app work, follow the same steps on Sepolia instead.
This sorts readers by the testnet uses and faucet checks the article describes; it does not check any faucet's current limits or eligibility, and it cannot say when Sepolia will shut down, because the proposed Q2–Q3 2027 schedule is undecided.
How a faucet works
ethereum.org describes most faucets as "webapps where you can input an address which you request ETH to be sent to". To stop one person from draining the faucet, each provider adds a check. Common ones are:
- Mainnet activity. For example, Alchemy's faucet sends 0.1 Sepolia ETH every 24 hours. It requires at least 0.001 ETH on Ethereum mainnet and "sufficient activity" on mainnet. You don't need an Alchemy account.
- An account with the provider. Several node and infrastructure providers run faucets for their own users.
- Proof-of-work. Some faucets, such as the "PoW Faucet", pay out after your browser has done some computing work, so you don't need a mainnet balance.
Limits and requirements change often. Check the faucet's own page before you rely on a figure.
Faucets listed by official sources
ethereum.org lists these Sepolia faucets: Alchemy, Chain Platform, Chainstack, ethfaucet.com, Google Cloud Web3, Grabteeth, Infura, OpenFaucet.org, PoW Faucet and QuickNode. The Sepolia client repository (eth-clients/sepolia) has its own list, which overlaps with this one. Use these lists to find faucets rather than search ads.
How to get Sepolia ETH, step by step
- Show test networks in your wallet. In MetaMask, open the menu, choose "Networks", then scroll down and turn on "Show test networks" at the bottom of the list.
- Select Sepolia. Make sure the wallet shows Sepolia, not Ethereum mainnet. Your address is the same on both networks, but your balances are separate.
- Copy your public address. It starts with
0x. It is safe to share. - Request from a faucet. Paste the address and complete the faucet's check.
- Confirm on a Sepolia block explorer. Search for your address on sepolia.etherscan.io. If the transaction shows there but your wallet shows nothing, your wallet is probably set to the wrong network.
Staying safe
A faucet only needs your public address. A site that asks for your seed phrase or private key, or asks you to connect a wallet and sign a transaction to "receive" test ETH, is not a normal faucet. Treat it as an attempt to drain your wallet. It also helps to keep a separate wallet just for testnets, with no mainnet funds in it.
Testnet dates in this article come from Ethereum Foundation posts and an open forum discussion. Because that discussion has not been decided, Sepolia's shutdown date may change.
