docs.waku.org/docs/overview/reference/waku-vs-libp2p.md
2023-05-20 00:35:51 +01:00

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---
title: Comparing Waku and libp2p
---
Since Waku is built on top of libp2p, they share a lot of concepts and terminologies between them. However, there are key differences between them that are worth noting.
## Waku as a Service Network
Waku intends to incentivize mechanisms to run nodes, but it's not part of libp2p's scope. Additionally, users or developers do not have to deploy their infra as a prerequisite to use Waku. It is a service network.
However, you are encouraged to [run your node](https://github.com/waku-org/nwaku/tree/master/docs/operators) to support and decentralize the network.
## Waku as a Keyturn Solution
Waku includes various protocols covering the following domains: privacy preservation, censorship resistance, and platform agnosticism, allowing it to run on any platform or environment.
libp2p does not provide out-of-the-box protocols to enable mostly offline/resource-restricted devices, [Waku Store](/overview/concepts/protocols#waku-store)/[Waku Light Push](/overview/concepts/protocols#waku-light-push)/[Waku Filter](/overview/concepts/protocols#waku-filter) caters to those use cases.
## Economic Spam Protection
libp2p does not have strong spam protection guarantees, [RLN (Rate Limit Nullifier)](/overview/concepts/protocols#waku-rln-relay) is a protocol being developed by the Waku team towards this goal.