Ethergo supports a wide variety of backends for testing contract and chain interactions. Which one you use depends on your needs. There is usually a trade-off between speed, requirements and visibility.
| Backend | Description | Supports RPC Address | Supports Forking | Embedded (does not require Docker) | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anvil | Anvil is a dockerized-backend that supports a wide variety of options including forking, custom gas pricing, etc all configurable at boot time | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | Slow boot, fast run |
| Geth | Geth is an embedded go-ethereum node. This is the equivelant of the geth --dev command. |
✅ | ❌ | ✅ | Fastish boot, fast run |
| Simulated | Geth simulated backend | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | Practically instant |