Streamr Network

The Streamr Network is a decentralized, topic-based publish-subscribe system. Each stream or pub-sub topic has its own peer-to-peer overlay network that is built and maintained by a set of BitTorrent-like trackers. Development is still in progress, with Tatum as the current milestone.

The Streamr Network is still under active development, with Tatum as the current major milestone.

MSGS/SEC
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NODES
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Network overview

Applications publishing or subscribing to data streams interact with the network via Streamr nodes, which run natively inside JS-based applications, including the browser. Apps can also interface with nodes using simple standard protocols like MQTT, HTTP, and WebSockets, making integration easy from any programming language.

Network overview

To allow applications to interact with a stream, the node joins it by connecting to a number of other nodes that have already joined the stream. Each node that has joined a stream relays messages to other connected nodes under the rules of the protocol. This means that every node that receives particular data also helps distribute it onwards, making the network scale extremely well.

Network overview

Messages that are not intended to be public are end-to-end encrypted, and can only be decrypted by a set of recipients controlled by the publisher. Each published message is also signed with the publisher’s private key, making tampering of the data impossible.

Network overview

The Streamr Network works alongside the Ethereum blockchain and uses its identity system. Users are represented by Ethereum addresses and authenticated by private keys. Ethereum smart contracts are used to maintain and secure the registry of permissions associated with streams, and the DATA token is used to to pay Streamr nodes for securing and scaling streams on the network.

  • Explore Streamr use cases

  • Streamr is a cryptographically secure, open‑source, and decentralized network, capable of streaming any live media or real‑time data at scale.

  • AI

    AI

    Data delivery to, from & between AI models and AI agents.

  • Live Video

    Live Video

    Stream any media via Streamr's hyperscalable decentralized live CDN.

  • DePin

    DePin

    Stream verifiable data from any networked DePIN hardware or IoT device.

  • Communications

    Communications

    Message and coordinate securely without servers or middlemen.

  • Metaverse

    Metaverse

    Multicast interactive experiences and dynamic environments at scale.

  • Data Monetisation

    Data Monetisation

    Buy and sell data stream subscriptions.

Explore the Network

The Network Explorer app allows you to dig into what is happening moment-to-moment on the Streamr Network. View and search for nodes, streams and connections, with live and historical metrics.

Get started with the Streamr Network

Truly decentralised innovation with real-time data applications is enabled by Streamr's P2P network and companion blockchain settlement layer.

Connect your app
to the Network

Applications always access the Streamr Network via a node. JS-based applications, including the browser will run a node inside your application. Non-JS based environments interface with Streamr nodes with standard protocols.

Streamr SDK

By using the Streamr SDK, a Streamr node will run natively inside your application, but this approach can only be used in JS-based environments at the moment. This library is distributed as an npm package.

Streamr node

If your application is written in other programming languages, run a Streamr node as a separate process, and your application will interact with it over MQTT, HTTP or WebSocket. The Streamr node is distributed as a Docker image or as an npm package.

Mine DATA tokens

You can earn DATA by becoming an Operator and running Streamr nodes. By doing so, you help secure and scale the Network, and contribute your bandwidth and computing resources to the Network.

Mine DATA tokens

While the full token economics will only go live in the 1.0 milestone in late 2023, Streamr nodes can earn token rewards in the Brubeck milestone too.

Mine DATA tokens

The Streamr node runs well on commodity hardware, including ordinary computers, mini-computers such as Raspberry Pi—almost anything that can run Docker or node.js.

Mine DATA tokens

The node consumes bandwidth and CPU depending on your application workloads or mining settings, which determine how much data traffic flows through the node. For mining, high uptime and a stable connection will maximize rewards, and at least 8 GB of available RAM is recommended.

Governance

Streamr is using a lightweight governance system of community voting on Streamr Improvement Proposals (SIPs) via the Snapshot app. All token holders are eligible to vote and you can browse current and past proposals.

Streamr on Snapshot

Tokenomics

The Network can operate as a free and open data network, but it also provides incentives for users to run sponsored nodes to provide a higher quality of service, and allows token holders to earn by staking on Operators that share revenue.

Explore tokenomics

Networks compared

Understanding how the Streamr network differs from other solutions can help to clarify the strengths of a truly decentralised real-time data network.

 
Streamr
PubNub
Google Firebase
Matrix
Architecture
Decentralised
Distributed
Distributed
Federated
Message Ordering
Yes
No
No
Yes
Message completeness
Yes
No
No
Yes
Message signing
Yes
No
No
Yes
E2E Encryption
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Data monetisation
Yes
No
No
No
Storage
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
License
Open source
Proprietary
Proprietary
Apache V2
Governance
DAO
Company
N/A
Foundation
Identity
Ethereum public key
Eth public key
Email
Email
Email + phone number
Email + phone
Best-effort
With pre-shared AES key
Difficult to implement
 StreamrPubNub
ArchitectureDecentralisedDistributed
Message Ordering
Yes
No
Message completeness
Yes
No
Message signing
Yes
No
E2E Encryption
Yes
Yes
Data monetisation
Yes
No
Storage
Yes
Yes
LicenseOpen sourceProprietary
GovernanceDAOCompany
Identity
Ethereum public key
Eth public key
Email
Best-effort
With pre-shared AES key
 StreamrGoogle Firebase
ArchitectureDecentralisedDistributed
Message Ordering
Yes
No
Message completeness
Yes
No
Message signing
Yes
No
E2E Encryption
Yes
No
Data monetisation
Yes
No
Storage
Yes
Yes
LicenseOpen sourceProprietary
GovernanceDAON/A
Identity
Ethereum public key
Eth public key
Email
Best-effort
 StreamrMatrix
ArchitectureDecentralisedFederated
Message Ordering
Yes
Yes
Message completeness
Yes
Yes
Message signing
Yes
Yes
E2E Encryption
Yes
Yes
Data monetisation
Yes
No
Storage
Yes
Yes
LicenseOpen sourceApache V2
GovernanceDAOFoundation
Identity
Ethereum public key
Eth public key
Email + phone number
Email + phone
Difficult to implement

Design principles

Explore some of the design principles that guide network development or grab the whitepaper for more details.

Scalable
Provide acceptable quality of service
no matter how many nodes are added
Decentralized
Avoid hotspots or central points of failure
Low and predictable latency
Subscribers should
receive each event without unnecessary delays
Optimized for small payloads per message
Works best with large numbers of smaller messages
Efficient
The number of unnecessary messages
transmitted in the network should be low
Message complete
Nodes should receive all the
messages of subscribed streams with high probability
Churn tolerant
Offer good quality of service even
if nodes join and leave the network at a rapid pace
Resilient
Should provide resilience to all known attacks
Simple
Should be reliable in real-life use,
simple and easy to debug