Decentralised Data Storage: Arweave (AR) vs. Filecoin (FIL)

gmeow gmeow gmeow! Intern has finally been given the opportunity to write here with the big bois! *excites* hello to you and I hope my musings will bring you some entertainment, joy, and happiness. lezgo!

the other day while Intern was on the way to work, a random thought popped up: what’s the difference between Arweave and Filecoin? so got to work reading up a little on both projects the moment Intern reached the office.

storage wars and pies with similar flavours

turns out there are surprisingly more differences than similarities between the 2 protocols. Arweave claims it is a network “like Bitcoin, but for data: a permanent and decentralized web inside an open ledger” Filecoin says it “is a decentralized storage network designed to store humanity’s most important information”. just comparing the one-liners, Intern can already smell the difference between the 2.?

people on CT like to bring up wars - stablecoin wars, layer-2 wars, etc. decentralised data storage wars is also a thing, and they often put these 2 protocols together as if they are competing for the same slice of the pie. Intern would like to challenge that! instead, Intern thinks they are actually chasing 2 different pies…or at least 2 different slices of pie at least! both are web3 decentralised data storage protocols, both use blockchain technology, and both are decentralised, using incentivised miners/storage providers from across the world — that’s about as far as their similarities go though!

permanent and temporary pies

Arweave focuses on providing novel permanent or long-term data blockchain storage, establishing an entire ecosystem of applications that can leverage and benefit from the permanence it provides. you can see Arweave as providing a new service and market that hadn’t existed before its existence. Arweave is building what they call the “Permaweb” for truly permanent data storage. many interesting projects have already started building on Arweave as a permanent data storage base layer, one of which is ao. Intern also wrote a thread about it earlier, you can check it out here!?

on the other hand, Filecoin wants to disrupt the current subscription-based temporary cloud storage market by offering a low-cost alternative. this means they’re inevitably competing face-on with web2 giants like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Alibaba. Filecoin aims to establish a decentralised marketplace for storage, creating a network of people across the globe who have excess data, and are incentivised to store other people’s data.

housing pies

let Intern give you an example to visualise better: Filecoin is like Airbnb, connecting homeowners with extra space to users who are looking for temporary space for a fee, based on duration, location, and reputation. Arweave is like buying a house, something permanently yours to stay in where you can build your life around. in this example, both products are related to houses, but both target very different markets and audiences, the rental market vs. the ownership market. Intern told ya! different pies all together!?

ok Intern is getting hungry…read here for the full piece!

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