<p>My current real-time estimate using <a href="https://github.com/ayeowch/bitnodes" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/ayeowch/bitnodes</a> is 8000 to 10000 nodes that are reachable at any one time with churn rate of 300 to 500 nodes every 5 minutes. The churn could be due to several factors, e.g.</p>

<ul>
<li>Node went offline</li>
<li>Node reached max. allowed connections</li>
<li>Time of day, e.g. more nodes are online during US working hours</li>
<li>Network errors</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-26T21:25:03.630Z
Thanks for your answer. I checked at http://getaddr.bitnodes.io and today's measurement was about 158,000 nodes. I thought these are the unique nodes the script was able to connect to in a given time period. Is this true? Does the high "churn rate" play a big role here? How many of the network nodes are connected in long term? Is it the 8-10k?
Kozuch
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-26T21:39:50.653Z
Also, I found this list (warning - a 64 MB .txt file) - http://luke.dashjr.org/programs/bitcoin/files/charts/seeds.txt - it lists 400k+ IPs with probabilities of the node being seen in various time intervals (from 2 hours till 30 days).
Kozuch
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-27T06:04:45.253Z
The public data on getaddr.bitnodes.io is based on the first generation crawler (bitnodes.py) from the same GitHub repo. It shows nodes that ever came online in the last 30 days.
bitnodes
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-27T06:08:07.250Z
The seeds.txt with 400k IPs is being updated continuously (appended) using https://github.com/sipa/bitcoin-seeder.
bitnodes
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-25T22:53:53.710Z
2014-04-07T11:08:37.647Z
2014-04-07T11:08:37.647Z
bitnodes
<p>There is no definitive answer because the network changes as nodes connect and disconnect.  Blockchain.info maintains some statistics that might help you.  Try going <a href="https://blockchain.info/nodes-globe?series=onlineNow" rel="nofollow"><strong>here</strong></a> to get a list of nodes that have connected recently.  This still won't tell you the total number of nodes in the network, but it gives you an idea.  They also maintain a list of nodes that have been contacted over the past 48 hours.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-24T03:34:43.537Z
2013-12-24T03:34:43.537Z
ScripterRon
<p>How big is the Bitcoin network in terms of total number of computers (peers, clients) that are connected together? Are there any network statistics or historical size data available?</p>

<network><history><peers>
How big is the Bitcoin network?
Kozuch
# How big is the Bitcoin network?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-12-24)

How big is the Bitcoin network in terms of total number of computers (peers, clients) that are connected together? Are there any network statistics or historical size data available?

**Tags:** network, history, peers


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2013-12-25. Score: 3

My current real-time estimate using <https://github.com/ayeowch/username_1> is 8000 to 10000 nodes that are reachable at any one time with churn rate of 300 to 500 nodes every 5 minutes. The churn could be due to several factors, e.g.

* Node went offline
* Node reached max. allowed connections
* Time of day, e.g. more nodes are online during US working hours
* Network errors

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for your answer. I checked at http://getaddr.username_1.io and today's measurement was about 158,000 nodes. I thought these are the unique nodes the script was able to connect to in a given time period. Is this true? Does the high "churn rate" play a big role here? How many of the network nodes are connected in long term? Is it the 8-10k?  
> **username_0**: Also, I found this list (warning - a 64 MB .txt file) - http://luke.dashjr.org/programs/bitcoin/files/charts/seeds.txt - it lists 400k+ IPs with probabilities of the node being seen in various time intervals (from 2 hours till 30 days).  
> **username_1**: The public data on getaddr.username_1.io is based on the first generation crawler (username_1.py) from the same GitHub repo. It shows nodes that ever came online in the last 30 days.  
> **username_1**: The seeds.txt with 400k IPs is being updated continuously (appended) using https://github.com/sipa/bitcoin-seeder.  

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### Answer by username_2 on 2013-12-24. Score: 1

There is no definitive answer because the network changes as nodes connect and disconnect. Blockchain.info maintains some statistics that might help you. Try going [**here**](https://blockchain.info/nodes-globe?series=onlineNow) to get a list of nodes that have connected recently. This still won't tell you the total number of nodes in the network, but it gives you an idea. They also maintain a list of nodes that have been contacted over the past 48 hours.


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