Peer-to-Peer
A decentralized architecture where each node acts as both client and server. No central authority. Used by BitTorrent, blockchain, and WebRTC.
What is Peer-to-Peer?
A decentralized architecture where each node acts as both client and server. No central authority. Used by BitTorrent, blockchain, and WebRTC.
Peer-to-Peer is a foundational concept that sits in the Core Fundamentals area of system design. Engineers reach for it whenever they need to reason about real-world trade-offs in that space — not just for textbook correctness, but because real production systems at companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Google make these decisions every day.
If you want to go deeper than this definition — with diagrams, code, and a quiz to lock it in — work through the "Peer-to-Peer" lesson linked below. It walks through the why, the mechanism, the trade-offs, and how the giants actually use it in production.
Learn Peer-to-Peer in depth
Full interactive lesson with diagrams, code examples, real-world references, and a quiz.
Open the Peer-to-Peer lessonRelated lessons
Lessons that touch on Peer-to-Peer as part of a larger topic.
See also
Related glossary terms you might want to look up next.
Client-Server Model
The foundational architecture of the web: clients (browsers, apps) send requests and servers process them and return responses. Every web interaction follows this pattern.
Gossip Protocol
A peer-to-peer communication protocol where nodes share information with random neighbors, spreading it like gossip. Used for cluster membership and failure detection.
Distributed Lock
A lock that coordinates access to a shared resource across multiple machines. Implemented via Redis (Redlock), ZooKeeper, or etcd. Much harder than local locks.