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Shared relays are multi-tenant relays run by n0.computer on infrastructure that is separate from the public relays. They sit between the free public relays and fully dedicated relays: you share a box with a small number of other tenants instead of the entire internet.

Why not the public relays

The public relays are rate-limited based on total traffic across every iroh user on them. When traffic is high or bursty, your application shares those limits with everyone else. Shared relays:
  • Run on separate infrastructure from the public relays, so they aren’t affected by bursty traffic or DDoS attacks against them
  • Have far fewer tenants per machine
  • Have higher rate limits than the public relays
  • Optional API key authentication, so only your applications can connect
  • Provide more predictable performance

What you get

For $19/month:
  • Four relays across the globe
  • Up to 10,000 concurrent connections, then $0.003 per additional endpoint per month
  • 100 GB of relay egress per month, then $0.09/GB
  • A 5 MB/s rate limit
  • API key authentication, so you can revoke access for endpoints as needed
Only traffic carried by a relay counts as relay egress. Direct peer-to-peer traffic does not. Authentication uses an endpoint-bound capability token signed locally with your project API key. See API Keys for how tokens and project-wide credentials differ. Metrics are already included with the Pro plan: throughput, direct connection rates, relay usage, and rate limits. See Metrics.

Free trial

The Pro plan includes a 30-day free trial.

How to get shared relays

Sign up at services.iroh.computer and create a Pro project, or upgrade an existing project to Pro. Shared relays are included with the plan.

Configure your endpoint

Click Connect in your project or in the relays section to get the configuration for your endpoints. Relay code snippet By default, your endpoint authenticates to Shared and Dedicated relays. The iroh-services preset uses your project API key locally to mint a token bound to the endpoint’s Endpoint ID and scoped to relay use. The token expires after 30 days by default; the project API key is not sent to the relay. See API Keys for details.
On a free project, omit the relay URLs. Then, the preset will use the n0 public relays instead.

Shared vs. Dedicated

Shared relays give you authentication, isolation from public traffic, and higher rate limits at a low fixed price. Choose Dedicated Relays when you need single-tenant isolation, version locking, blue/green deployments, or custom regions. Choose Enterprise when you need an SLA or multi-cloud deployment.