# Freenet 29 Hacker News commenters recommended Freenet and 28 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Recommended as a decentralized peer-to-peer platform for apps and chat with a menu of anonymity options; critics say its anonymity attracts illegal content. ## Why people recommend it - Choice of anonymity options (4 comments): "The new Freenet provides a menu of options for anonymity which is strictly better than imposing the same (imperfect) anonymity solution on everyone." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48247149)) "much better architecturally than tying the platform to one approach to anonymity as I did when I designed the original Freenet" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48228817)) "the new Freenet gives applications and users different choices about anonymity depending on their requirements" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48231583)) - Decentralized without central control (3 comments): "It has moderation systems without centralized power but with sensible defaults." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49739994)) "probably the first decentralized (not just federated) social network" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46671764)) "Freenet is at least as decentralized as bittorrent" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48250166)) - Quick install and fast startup (3 comments): "you can be chatting with other users on River within seconds" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48223480)) "installation is very quick - the binary itself is just 10MB" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48229517)) "Peers bootstrap into the network in seconds typically" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48235764)) - Good base for building apps (4 comments): "If you're a developer and are interested in building on Freenet I suggest starting with" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48229023)) "Neat. I've been wanting to see WASM-defined network behavior like this for a while" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48228215)) "Letting the payload/application define the merge operation is clever." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48229345)) ## What people warn about - Attracts illegal and abusive content (5 comments): "after seeing a few index sites inside the network, I quickly realized how much of that network was CSAM." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50173796)) "It's so overrun with paedophiles that even the most fervent advocates of anonymity have fled." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46022825)) "I was immediately turned off by the amount of cheese pizza that was readily available" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48273521)) - Still experimental and unstable (2 comments): "Freenet is promising but it's not even fully done. Experimental stage." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46499494)) "Freenet-core itself isn’t stable enough to rely on for something like family chat" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46548530)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Tor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tor.md): 202 recommend - [I2P](https://hackerapproved.com/p/i2p.md): 21 recommend - [Hyphanet](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hyphanet.md): 7 recommend - [Arti](https://hackerapproved.com/p/arti.md): 6 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Freenet", https://hackerapproved.com/p/freenet/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).