These buttons open the developer's own site, repository or store listing in a new tab. wares.gg does not host downloads.
About Freenet
Freenet turns your computer into a peer on a global network that hosts apps no company controls. Apps run in your browser and look like normal websites, but are served peer-to-peer rather than from the cloud. The first app to try is River, a decentralized group chat.
You can install your own peer on Windows, macOS or Linux, or try River in the browser through a peer the project runs, in which case your keys live with them. Developers can build apps in Rust and TypeScript. The small team is funded by grants and donations.
Strengths
- No central servers behind the apps
- Browser demo of River without installing anything
- Desktop peer for Windows, macOS and Linux
- App development in Rust and TypeScript
Limitations
- The browser version keeps your keys on the project's peer
- Small app ecosystem so far
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree to use; the project is funded by grants and donations.
- License
- Proprietary
- Developer
- Freenet
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux, Web
- How it runs
- Downloadable app, Web application
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- No
- Best suited for
- Trying decentralized chat and apps that no company can take down
- Categories
- Messaging, Privacy tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.
Alternatives to Freenet
Compare allSoftware that can replace Freenet for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
Hyphanet
A peer-to-peer network for censorship-resistant, anonymous publishing and communication, formerly known as Freenet.
Hyphanet, the project formerly called Freenet, focuses on anonymous censorship-resistant publishing with plugins for sites and forums, is GPL-2.0 licensed, and runs slower than the regular web.
RetroShare
A decentralized, encrypted friend-to-friend network for chat, mail, forums, channels and file sharing.
RetroShare offers decentralized chat, mail, forums and file sharing through a friend-to-friend network on desktop and Android, but is useful only once friends join.
GNUnet
A GNU network protocol stack for building secure, decentralised and privacy-preserving peer-to-peer applications.
GNUnet is a Linux protocol stack for building metadata-resistant peer-to-peer applications, aimed at developers and researchers rather than a polished end-user app.
Freenet as an alternative
Listings that name Freenet as an alternative.
Chitchatter
A peer-to-peer chat app in the browser that is serverless, decentralized and ephemeral.
Freenet runs decentralized apps such as River chat without central servers, with a browser demo and desktop peers, though the browser version keeps your keys on the project's peer.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
Quiet
A peer-to-peer team chat app that syncs messages between members' devices over Tor, with no server.
Berty
An open-source peer-to-peer messenger that works without central servers and can operate offline.
I2P
Encrypted overlay network for anonymous sites, messaging and file sharing.
IPFS Desktop
A desktop app that runs an IPFS node for sharing files over the peer-to-peer IPFS network.
Agregore
A minimal web browser that loads sites over peer-to-peer protocols such as IPFS, Hypercore and BitTorrent.
Yggdrasil
An experimental, end-to-end encrypted IPv6 mesh network run as a lightweight userspace software router.
