Notes 
Hyphanet, formerly Freenet, is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant, anonymous communication. It uses a decentralized distributed data store to keep and deliver information, and has a suite of free software for publishing and communicating on the Web without fear of censorship.
Reviewed by Marco Wollank
Hyphanet
hyphanet.org 1 rating so far*
Rate Hyphanet: No account needed
Threat level
Targeted
A targeted-tier tool. Built for a real, capable adversary. Overkill for everyone below. Threat levels
Our take
Now called Hyphanet, this is a censorship-resistant distributed datastore, which is a very specific thing: you publish content into the network and it persists and stays reachable even under pressure. The trade is that it’s slow, unusual to operate, and nothing like a normal browsing experience, so the learning investment is real. It earns its place for resilient publishing where takedowns are the threat. Don’t approach it expecting a faster or friendlier Tor.
GitHub at a glance
hyphanet/fred GPL-2.0 anonymityhyphanetprivacy
Stars
1,228
+0 this week
Forks
236
92 watching
Last commit
2mo ago
healthy
Latest release
build01507
2mo ago, 68 total
Star history
Commits, last 26 weeks
61 commits, active 13 of 26 weeks
83 contributors since Apr 2009
Languages
- Java 87.7%
- HTML 10.7%
- CSS 1.2%
Updated daily from the GitHub API. Star tracking since Jun 15, 2026.
Website at a glance
hyphanet.org
D- score 25
Weak website security headers
Graded by Mozilla HTTP Observatory, tested today
Inspect this site yourself
Measures the security configuration of the tool's own website, not the privacy of the product itself. A strong tool can still score low here.
Hyphanet alternatives
IPFS The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a protocol and peer-to-peer network for storing and sharing data in a distributed file system. IPFS uses content-addressing to uniquely…
Tor Tor, short for The Onion Router, is for enabling anonymous communication. It directs Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer overlay network, consisting of more…
I2P The Invisible Internet Project (I2P) is an anonymous network layer that allows for censorship-resistant, peer-to-peer communication. Anonymous connections are achieved by…
GNUnet For decentralized, peer-to-peer networking and an official GNU package. The framework offers link encryption, peer discovery, resource allocation, communication over many…
Orbot Free, open-source Tor VPN app for Android and iOS that routes device traffic through the Tor network. Supports per-app Tor routing and access to .onion services on Android.
Retroshare Peer-to-peer communication and file sharing app based on a friend-to-friend network built on GNU Privacy Guard (GPG). Optionally, peers may communicate certificates and IP…
Hyphanet license, in plain English
GPL-2.0 Strong copyleft
Free to use and modify, but anything you distribute that is built on it must also be open under the same license.
Permits
- Commercial use
- Modification
- Distribution
- Private use
Requires
- Disclose source
- Same license
- State changes
- License and copyright notice
Does not provide
- Liability cover
- Warranty
Why it matters: Strong copyleft keeps every distributed version open. A vendor cannot fold this into a closed product and ship it without releasing their changes.
Plain-language summary of the project's license, not legal advice. Read the full text for the exact terms.
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