Meshtastic
Meshtastic is a project that enables you to use inexpensive LoRa radios as a long range off-grid communication platform in areas without existing or reliable communications infrastructure. This project is 100% community driven and open source!
Cost / License
- Free
- Open Source
Platforms
- Linux
- Self-Hosted
- Flathub
- Flatpak
- F-Droid
Features
- Off-the-grid
- Overlay network
Meshtastic News & Activities
Recent activities
- Alaik updated Meshtastic
POX added Meshtastic as alternative to bitchat
ralaud added Meshtastic as alternative to Meshchat and Sideband- POX updated Meshtastic
Meshtastic information
Developed by
Meshtastic LLC Licensing
Open Source (GPL-3.0) and Free product.Written in
Alternatives
7 alternatives listedSupported Languages
- English
AlternativeTo Category
Network & AdminGitHub repository
- 6,313 Stars
- 1,791 Forks
- 381 Open Issues
- Updated
Featured in Lists
A digital toolkit for autonomous survivalists
What is Meshtastic?
Meshtastic is a project that enables you to use inexpensive LoRa radios as a long range off-grid communication platform in areas without existing or reliable communications infrastructure. This project is 100% community driven and open source!
Meshtastic utilizes LoRa, a long-range radio protocol, which is widely accessible in most regions without the need for additional licenses or certifications, unlike HAM radio operations.
These radios are designed to rebroadcast messages they receive, forming a mesh network. This setup ensures that every group member, including those at the furthest distance, can receive messages. Depending on the settings employed, the Meshtastic mesh network can support up to 100 devices concurrently.
Additionally, Meshtastic radios can be paired with a single phone, allowing friends and family to send messages directly to your specific radio. It's important to note that each device is capable of supporting a connection from only one user at a time."
Comments and Reviews
Meshtastic is a really cool project. Since they support a ton of hardware many of the releases are unstable but you can always find at least a handful of boards with good support.
The biggest benefit to Meshtastic for this kind of off-grid comms system is the price and low barrier to entry. There are better systems but not for this cheap.
LoRa the protocol is good for long-range comms but Meshtastic isn't as good in real-world scenarios due to its 1 watt power output and poor object penetration in the 915MHz range. It boasts crazy distances but only if each node is on a mountaintop or something.
Realistically you'll get a couple miles out of a Meshtastic device. It's very useful in urban areas with lots of nodes but pretty deaf in the suburbs and unusable in the countryside.
Meshtastic offers a good way to communicate with each other in the absence of grid power and fixed networks. It is also possible to tunnel IP traffic via Meshtastic.