Iroh 1.0: P2P networking with a pricing question attached

Iroh 1.0 launched, a peer-to-peer networking library that routes by key rather than by address. The library now has multi-language support including Kotlin, which opens it up to Android and multiplatform apps. The technical reception was positive, with comparisons to Zenoh and discussion of whether the two could be used together, Iroh handling routing and Zenoh handling message semantics.

But the thread's sharpest question was about business model: 'Doesn't it seem odd to have pricing for a protocol that's meant to serve a similar function to IP addresses?' It is a fair tension. Infrastructure protocols that charge for relay or discovery services create a dependency that pure P2P is supposed to eliminate. The pricing model suggests Iroh's relay infrastructure is part of the product, not just an open protocol.

This is a recurring challenge for open-source networking infrastructure. The protocol can be open, but if the practical implementation depends on centralized relay nodes, the business model ends up looking like a SaaS wrapper around something that was supposed to be decentralized.