Protocol Comparison


1	Requirement	Tor	I2P	Veilid	Urbit	Freenet-Locutus (2023)	Iroh	Reticulum (LXMF)	Yggdrasil	Braid	Hyphanet (previously Freenet)	ZeroNet	RetroShare	BitTorrent	DAT	Earthstar (Willow)	P2Panda	PPPPP	Secure Scuttlebutt	Nostr	Polycentric	Spritely	Briar (Bramble)	Signal	Berty (Wesh)	NewNode	Session	SimpleX

2	Core Function	Anonymity Network	Anonymity Network	Anonymity Network	Distributed Computation	Distributed Computation	Distributed Computation	Overlay Network	Overlay Network	State Synchronization	Content Distribution	Content Distribution	Content Distribution	Content Distribution	Content Distribution	Decentralized Collaboration	Decentalized Collaboration	Social Network	Social Network	Social Network	Social Network		Private Messaging	Private Messaging	Private Messaging	Private Messaging	Private Messaging	Private Messaging
3	Decentralized (No Single Point of Failure)	NO	YES						YES		YES	YES							PARTIAL: uses DHT to find peers	NO: clients provide relay defaults
4	Private (Packets Encrypted in Transit)	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES		YES	YES	PARTIAL: depends on the transport	YES	YES	YES			YES	YES		YES	YES			YES	YES
5	Authenticated (Signed Events)				YES								YES: explicit authentication of peers		YES	YES	YES		YES: all messages are signed	YES			YES
6	Anonymous (Peer Obfuscation)	YES: onion routing	YES	YES	NO	NO		NO	NO	NO	YES	PARTIAL: Can operate over Tor	PARTIAL: operate over Tor/I2P	NO	NO	NO	NO		NO: identity trivially linked to IP address	NO: partly centralized architecture			YES: local only or via Tor	NO: Phone number required
7	Censorship Resistant (Blind Replication)	NO						NO	NO		YES	YES	PARTIAL: friend-to-friend	YES	PARTIAL				PARTIAL: explicit replication	PARTIAL: some content on multiple relays			PARTIAL: no public data	PARTIAL: no public data
8	Perfect Forward Secrecy			YES		YES		YES											NO				YES	YES
9	Blockchain / Distributed Ledger	NO	NO	NO					NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO			YES: each user/feed has its own blockchain	NO			NO	NO
10	Financial Instrument / Cryptocurrency	NO	NO	NO	YES: depends on Ethereum				NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO			NO				NO	PARTIAL: optional WorldCoin	NO		YES
11	Content Publishing	YES	YES		YES			YES: NomadNet "pages"	YES: most existing web servers work		YES	YES: core use case		YES	PARTIAL: external Beaker Browser	YES			YES: public feeds and reactions	YES			YES: forums and blogs	NO: "Stories" only to specific peers
12	Distributed Storage	NO	NO: external Tahoe-LAFS	YES: DHT	YES	YES: DHT (WASM contracts)		NO	NO		YES	YES: BitTorrent based protocol		YES	PARTIAL: explicit opt in	YES: append-only log	YES: append-only DAG (tangle)		YES: followers replicate all content	PARTIAL: between clients and relays only				NO
13	Distributed Storage: Verified Order																		YES: block chain
14	Distributed Storage: Mutability	N/A	N/A					N/A	N/A	YES				NO		YES
15	Distributed Storage: Mutability (multi-player)	N/A	N/A					N/A	N/A	YES		NO		NO	NO	YES			PARTIAL: events				PARTIAL: forums	PARTIAL: multi-admin groups
16	Distributed Storage: Ephemerality	N/A	N/A					N/A	N/A					NO		YES
17	Private Messaging	NO: requires third-party app		PARTIAL: VeilidChat work in progress		NO		YES	NO			NO		NO					YES: encrypted but still replicated publicly				YES: core use case	YES: core use case	YES: core use case
18	Private Messaging: Store/Forward	N/A						PARTIAL	N/A			N/A							YES: identical to other content				PARTIAL: requires Briar Mailbox	YES: encrypted in transit and at rest
19	Private Messaging: Sealed Sender	N/A							N/A			N/A		N/A					YES					YES
20	Private Messaging: End-to-End Encrypted	N/A						YES	N/A			N/A		N/A					YES				YES
21	Private Messaging: Groups	N/A	PARTIAL: IRC client support					YES	NO			NO		NO					YES				YES	YES
22	Supports Linux	YES		YES: veilid-server, veilid-cli				YES: NomadNet, Sideband, various CLI	YES		YES	YES		YES	YES	YES			YES: Manyverse				YES	YES
23	Supports Android	YES: Orbot	YES	PARTIAL: VeilidChat work in progress				YES: Sideband	YES		NO			YES					YES: Manyverse				YES	YES	YES
24	Supports Web Client	NO	NO	PARTIAL: WASM implementation				NO		YES		NO				YES	YES		PARTIAL: ssbweb	YES	YES		NO	NO
25	Tolerates Short Lived Connections	YES	YES	YES				YES				NO		PARTIAL					PARTIAL: syncing can take a while				NO: mailbox or synchronous messaging	YES
26	Relay Servers: Public	YES		YES				YES	YES			YES		YES: public trackers					YES: "pubs"	YES	YES			YES
27	Relay Servers: Private							YES	YES					YES: private trackers					YES: "rooms"				YES: Briar Mailbox	NO
28	Decentralized Identity	NO						YES	NO	N/A		YES: via ZeroID		NO	NO				YES: public key	YES: public key	YES			NO
29	Shared Identity Across Devices	NO						NO: theoretically possible	N/A					N/A	N/A				NO: one identity per device				NO: planned	YES	NO: planned
30	Friend-to-Friend / Friendnet							YES	YES: possible if configured properly				YES		YES				YES: can be enforced with custom key				YES	Essentially a centralized friendnet
31	Offline First Operation	NO	NO						NO						YES: similar to a git repository				YES: all operations local first, synced later	NO			YES: stored locally until delivered	YES: stored until delivered
32	Transport via Internet	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES		YES: manual peer configuration	YES	YES	YES	YES		YES	YES	YES	YES		YES	YES	YES		YES	YES	YES: libp2p		YES	YES
33	Transport via Local Area Network	NO	YES					YES		YES				YES	YES				YES	PARTIAL: requires manual deployment			YES	NO	YES: libp2p
34	Transport via Nearby Device	NO	NO	NO										NO	NO				PARTIAL: bluetooth unmaintained				YES: Bluetooth	NO	YES: BLE, Nearby
35	Transport via Sneakernet	NO		NO				YES: paper and ink						YES: theoretically	YES: theoretically	PARTIAL: proposed			PARTIAL: conceptually possible				NO	NO
36	Transport via Long Distance Radio	NO	NO	NO				YES: LoRa						NO	NO								NO	NO
37	Bridged to Plainnet Internet	YES	NO	NO	N/A	N/A		N/A	YES	N/A	NO	N/A	NO	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A		Plainnet, web frontends	Plainnet, web browsers			NO	Plainnet default
38	Transparent Layer-3 Network Proxy	YES: SOCKS proxy	PARTIAL: SAMv3	NO	NO				YES					NO									NO	NO
39	Stable Release / Maintained	YES	YES	PARTIAL	YES	PARTIAL		YES	YES	YES	YES	PARTIAL: multiple forks	YES	YES	YES	PARTIAL: new maintainer, being rewritten to use the Willow protocol	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES	NO	YES	YES
40	Open Source	YES	YES	YES		YES		YES	YES	YES	YES	YES		YES	YES	YES			YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	PARTIAL: server out of date?	YES
41	Programming language	C	C / Rust	Rust / Dart	Various esolang	Rust	Rust	Python / C	Go		C	Python / Javascript		C		Javascript / Rust	Rust		Javascript / Rust	Go / Javascript			Java / C	Java
42	Threat model																									https://www.newnode.com/vulnerability-mitigation-overview
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