Before Hand

For a long time, I've heard the common refrains about I2P: "it's empty," "it's slower than Tor," and "it's just a smaller version of Tor." Recently, I decided to dive in and see for myself. I wanted to share my initial experience and impressions thus far.

Initial Setup and First Impressions

The most notable difference I found between I2P and Tor is the setup process. While Tor's installation is a simple "click-and-go" experience that anyone can handle, getting I2P up and running is more of a challenge. It's not a deal-breaker, but it does require more technical know-how than the average user is likely to have.

The Learning Curve of Eepsites

Next, I decided to tackle creating an eepsite. I'll admit, I'm not the best at reading documentation, and that definitely made the process more difficult than it needed to be. Creating an eepsite was a tough process for me, and it took me a while to fully grasp the importance of the address book. It's a key feature, and it took some trial and error to truly understand how it works and why it's so important.

Looking Ahead

Despite the initial challenges, I'm genuinely excited about I2P's future. I hope to see it gain more traction and become integrated into more projects. I think it has a lot of potential to become a more widely used and recognized tool.

To be clear, this isn't a critique of I2P. I've been impressed by it and I'm looking forward to exploring it more. I simply wanted to share my perspective as a newcomer.

Comments

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R_N wrote on August 24, 2025 at 12:49 AM

Welcome. :)

RogueHashrate OP wrote on August 24, 2025 at 1:24 AM

Thank you kindly :)

johnbaconator wrote on August 24, 2025 at 5:50 AM

I'm also pretty new to this I2P and invisible network thing but this place seems a lot more fun than tor. Every time I think of tor I think CP rings and drugs, but this place just makes me think of pre-2010 and IRC and shit. I even tried making my own eepsite with Blazor and tried making it look like it came straight out of 2000. Seems a lot more straightforward and simple on the frontend for setting up invisible services (just set up a tunnel and a port and now you have a unique link to use) but it takes a lot of dedication to keep maintained because the router also acts like a tor node.

cumlord wrote on August 24, 2025 at 3:47 PM

it's good to hear newcumers experience bc it exposes these sorts of weaknesses. i have some guides available that need to be reworked/organized anyway, would appreciate input or like topics you think important that's lacking http://simp.i2p/i2p-guide. didn't have one on eepsites since there's more than a few floating around. the "chat" tab will also let you ask questions on #i2p, which is the support channel for i2p (links to IRC2P) without JS or a proper IRC client setup.

bolvan wrote on August 24, 2025 at 7:04 PM

Hi. I2P rulez, ya.

Can anybody tell my what's wrong with exit.stormycloud.i2p outproxy last week? Can not open many sites, unsable connection...