eli5

whats the difference between arweave and ipfs? why choose one over the other?

Ethereum

IPFS starts with a universal, self verifiable address for content - content addressing that is location independent.

This means where & how content is stored has many options.

Arweave is a blockchain that tokenizes content storage focused on “forever” storage.

The two can be used together.

Web Tinkerer. DWeb. Open Source. Community. Just another one of the bees 🐝

Sometimes people complain that “IPFS is slow”. So…you’re using a random public gateway to fetch and serve, with no caching?

Guess what, a free web server under your desk is slow, too. 

The Public IPFS DHT on “mainnet” aka “Amino” is slow. Cache your stuff.

Default setups for IPFS nodes leak your IP. Which isn’t great. 

Run it over Tor or NymTech for enhanced privacy.

IPFS: no blockchain, no masters.

Hash some content, stick it on a USB key and put it in a drawer. Put it back online 2 years later and it’s still provably online. 

“Someone” has to care to keep it online. You know, just like registering a domain name and running a server. 

But ANYONE can keep a hash online.