No. 12 of 25 ·Decentralized Storage Services

Swarm

Web · Windows · Mac · Linux · Self-hosted · API

Freedom report

Two barsScore 5.7

Free tierNo free tier on record
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely4 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedPlans, terms and facts published

Swarm is ranked #12 of 25 in decentralized storage services on Freedom251. It runs on API, Linux, macOS, Self-hosted, Web, Windows.

Swarm plans and pricing

All plans

Swarm network storage Not published Storage access and persistence use BZZ postage stamps; publishers prepay storage rent. ethswarm.org · 5 Oct 2026

Compared on decentralized storage services

Network type: distributed
Client-side encryption: Yes
Desktop apps: Yes

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The record

What it does: Swarm provides decentralized infrastructure for transferring, storing, and sharing data across a peer-to-peer network.
Open source: Swarm describes its code as open source and its network as open and permissionless.
Storage model: Uploaded data is split into 4 KB chunks and distributed among nodes using Kademlia routing.
Privacy and messaging: Swarm describes its network as private by design and says its PSS messaging protocol uses end-to-end encryption.
Resilience: The site says local replication helps keep data available despite node dropouts or data loss.
Developer tools: Bee is the peer-to-peer client for joining the network, and Bee-js is its complementary JavaScript library for building decentralized apps.
Desktop app: Swarm Desktop is in beta and provides access through a lightweight node, with features to browse, upload, download, and manage data.
Desktop app data collection: The Swarm Desktop beta page says it includes Sentry monitoring and bug reporting software that automatically collects data to help improve the software.
Payments and storage: Publishers use BZZ to buy postage stamp batches for writing data and paying for storage; the displayed current storage price is 0 BZZ per 1 GByte for 1 month.
Node operators: Full node operators share disk space and may receive BZZ through a blockchain-based incentive system.
Integrations: The site says users can link uploaded websites to an ENS name and lists Uniswap, CoW Swap, and Jumper as exchanges for acquiring BZZ.
Who it serves: Swarm presents its tools as infrastructure for developers building and hosting dApps, NFT metadata, and media files.
Support: The Swarm Foundation operates a Discord support bot that flags likely questions for team review; the bot does not post replies, which are written and sent by a human team member.
Organization: The Swarm Foundation is a nonprofit established in 2021 and based in Switzerland.

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Decentralized Storage Services in 2026#12 of 25

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Sources

ethswarm.org· checked 4 Oct 2026
ethswarm.org/why· checked 4 Oct 2026
ethswarm.org/build· checked 4 Oct 2026
ethswarm.org/build/desktop· checked 4 Oct 2026
ethswarm.org/get-bzz· checked 4 Oct 2026
ethswarm.org/build/run-a-full-node· checked 4 Oct 2026
ethswarm.org/privacy· checked 4 Oct 2026
ethswarm.org/foundation· checked 4 Oct 2026
docs.ethswarm.org/docs/desktop/install/· checked 5 Oct 2026