A Quorum explorer is a block explorer for a permissioned Ethereum network that runs Hyperledger Besu or the older GoQuorum client. This page compares the explorer tools you can use in 2026, explains what an explorer shows about private transactions, and lists the steps to run one inside a consortium.
This page covers tools for watching a network. For building on the platform itself, see Quorum development.
What a Quorum explorer does
A block explorer reads data from a node and shows it in a web page. On public Ethereum, Etherscan and similar sites do this for everyone. A consortium network has no public explorer, so its members must run their own.
A Quorum blockchain explorer usually shows these items:
- Blocks, with the validator that proposed each one.
- Transactions, with sender, receiver, gas used and status.
- Smart contracts, with verified source code and decoded function calls.
- Token balances and transfers for ERC-20 and ERC-721 contracts.
- The current validator set and the peers each node can see.
Without an explorer, operators query nodes through JSON-RPC from the command line, business users have no simple way to check that a transaction went through, and auditors lack a view of contract state.
Status of GoQuorum and Besu in 2026
The client your network runs decides which explorer you can use, and several tools from the original Quorum stack no longer get updates.
| Component | Status in October 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|
| GoQuorum client | Repository archived by Consensys on June 5, 2026. The README says GoQuorum is no longer maintained and is not recommended for new projects. | GitHub: Consensys/quorum |
| Quorum Explorer (Consensys) | Repository archived on September 14, 2026. The README said the tool was not designed for production use. | GitHub: Consensys/quorum-explorer |
| Hyperledger Besu | Maintained. The code moved to the besu-eth GitHub organization. Besu supports QBFT and IBFT 2.0 for private networks. Clique was removed in 26.4.0. | Besu docs |
| Tessera privacy | Deprecated in Besu 24.12.0 and removed in 25.6.0, together with on-chain permissioning. The Tessera repository is archived. | LF Decentralized Trust blog |
A new network should run Besu. An existing GoQuorum network can still run, but it gets no security fixes from Consensys. Many GoQuorum networks plan a move to Besu, and the explorer should support both clients during the move. The Quorum development page lists the migration steps.
Block explorer options for Quorum and Besu
| Tool | How it works | Fits | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consensys Quorum Explorer | A Next.js web app that calls node RPC endpoints directly. It has no database. Config lists each node as "goquorum" or "besu" and supports QBFT, IBFT, Clique and Raft. | Demo and test networks | Archived, so it gets no fixes. It has no indexer, so search across history is slow or missing. |
| Blockscout | An open-source explorer with an indexer and a PostgreSQL database. It has a Besu setting for its JSON-RPC variant. | Production networks that need search, contract verification and APIs | Needs a full archive node with tracing, plus a database to run and back up. |
| Chainlens (Web3 Labs) | An explorer for Ethereum, Quorum and Besu networks. A free edition is on GitHub, and Web3 Labs sells hosted plans with more features. | Teams that want a supported product | The README of the free edition allows only non-commercial use and evaluation. A business network needs a paid plan. |
| Prometheus and Grafana | Besu exports node metrics to Prometheus. Grafana shows them as dashboards. | Node health, peer counts, block times | Shows node metrics only, so it runs next to an explorer, not in place of one. |
Blockscout's setup docs state that it needs a full archive node to import every state change, and it reads internal transactions and block traces from a tracing endpoint. Plan a separate archive node for the explorer, so indexing load does not slow the validators.
What an explorer shows about private transactions
GoQuorum used a private transaction manager called Tessera to keep private data off the shared ledger: participants exchanged the encrypted payload directly, and the chain recorded a marker transaction that held only a hash of that payload. Both GoQuorum and Tessera are now archived, so this design survives only on older networks that have not yet migrated.
On such a legacy network, explorers show private transactions in three ways:
- A generic explorer shows that a transaction happened, with its sender and time, but not its content.
- An explorer connected to a member's node can show the decrypted details of transactions that member took part in.
- Each member sees a different view, so the consortium runs either one explorer per organization or one shared explorer that shows public state only.
A Besu network on a current release has no private transactions at the protocol level, because Besu removed Tessera privacy in version 25.6.0. Privacy then moves to the application layer, for example encrypted data off-chain with only hashes on-chain. In that design, one shared explorer can show the whole chain, and access control on the explorer becomes the main privacy measure.
Features to check in a block explorer
- Consensus data: the validator set, the proposer of each block, and missed rounds, which show which organization's node has fallen behind.
- Contract verification: verified source code lets the explorer turn raw hex into readable function calls and events.
- Token pages: balances and transfers for ERC-20 and ERC-721 contracts, if the network holds tokenized assets.
- API and export: reconciliation and audit tools can query the same indexed data as the web pages.
- Zero gas price support: many private networks set gas price to zero, and the explorer should display fees correctly in that case.
Access control and security
A consortium explorer shows who trades with whom and when, so treat it as an internal business application.
- Put the explorer behind single sign-on with role-based access, and do not expose it on the open internet.
- Connect the explorer to a read-only RPC node, and do not expose admin or personal APIs through its backend.
- Turn off any feature that keeps private keys in the browser on a production network. Contract deployment belongs in separate tooling.
- Log every access, because auditors may ask who viewed which records.
How to run your own explorer
- Provision a dedicated read node. Run it in archive mode with tracing turned on if you choose Blockscout.
- Choose the tool by stage. A lightweight explorer serves a test network, and an indexed explorer such as Blockscout serves production.
- Set the chain details. Enter the chain ID, the consensus type (QBFT or IBFT 2.0) and the gas price setting.
- Turn on contract verification so members can read the source code of deployed contracts.
- Add monitoring. Send node metrics to Prometheus and set alerts for stalled blocks or lost validators.
- Agree on governance. The consortium decides who operates the explorer and who may log in.
For more on permissioned networks, see private blockchain development, Hyperledger development and enterprise blockchain solutions.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use Etherscan for a Quorum network?
No. Etherscan indexes a fixed list of public networks, so a private network needs its own explorer, run by the consortium and connected to its nodes.
Is the Consensys Quorum Explorer still maintained?
No. Consensys archived the Quorum Explorer repository on September 14, 2026. The code still runs for demos, but it gets no fixes, so a production network should use an indexed explorer such as Blockscout.
Does Blockscout work with Besu?
Yes. Blockscout has a Besu setting for its JSON-RPC variant, and it needs a full archive node with tracing to index every state change.
Why can I see a transaction hash but no details?
The network is probably a legacy GoQuorum network that used Tessera private transactions. On such a network, the chain stores only a hash of the encrypted payload, and only the participants' nodes hold the content, so the details appear only in an explorer connected to a participant's node.