Monero nodes: local vs remote, and what a remote node can see

A remote node is a Monero node on someone else’s computer that your wallet uses instead of your own. It can see your IP address, when you connect and the transactions you send. It never receives your private keys or your wallet file, so it can’t spend your funds or see your balance directly.^[1]

What does a Monero node do?

A node is a computer running the Monero software with its own copy of the blockchain. It checks that transactions and blocks follow the network’s rules, stores the chain and passes transactions on to other nodes.^[2]

Your wallet can’t work without one. It downloads new blocks from a node and scans them on your device with your private view key to find payments to you, and it hands your signed transactions to a node to broadcast.^[1] A node on your own machine is a local node; one running anywhere else is a remote node.^[2]

Remote nodes come in two kinds: private ones that you control, for example on a rented server, and open ones that anyone can use. When people say “remote node”, they usually mean an open one.^[3]

Full vs pruned node: what’s the difference?

A full node stores the whole blockchain. A pruned node keeps only an eighth of the data that isn’t strictly needed, while still keeping the full transaction history.^[4] That saves about two-thirds of the disk space without degrading how the node works.^[5] As of 2024, getmonero.org put the full blockchain at about 225 GB and a pruned one at about 86 GB, and both keep growing.^[4]

The trade-off is small: a pruned node does less to help new nodes catch up, up to an eighth of a full node’s contribution.^[5] The Monero FAQ recommends a pruned node if your storage is limited and a full node if you have plenty, and notes that a pruned node still helps the network and improves your privacy.^[4]

Local or remote node: which should you use?

A local node gives you the most privacy, because your wallet talks only to a machine you control. Monero’s community suggests always running your own node for the most privacy, which also helps keep the network decentralised.^[3]

A remote node is the convenient option: you can use a wallet straight away, without downloading the blockchain first.^[3] That’s why so many wallets use one. The official desktop wallet’s simple mode connects to a remote node automatically, while its advanced mode gives you full control of your own node. Most of the mobile wallets listed on getmonero.org also connect to remote nodes and scan the blocks on your phone.^[6]

What can a remote node see?

Monero’s documentation is specific about this. A remote node can see:^[1]

• your IP address, unless you connect through Tor, I2P or a VPN
• the transactions you send, although Monero’s cryptography still protects most of what’s in them
• the outputs each of your transactions spends from
• which outputs you own, but only if you mark it as a trusted node.

It also knows when you connect and sync, simply because your wallet is talking to it. But because it never receives your private keys or wallet file, it can’t spend or steal your funds, create transactions for you, decrypt amounts or see your balance directly. Your wallet scans the blocks itself, so the node doesn’t learn which outputs in them are yours just by serving them.^[1] On-chain privacy is covered in How private is Monero?

Can a malicious remote node hurt you?

It can’t take your money, but it can cause trouble. According to Monero’s documentation, a dishonest node can:^[1]

• delay or refuse to relay your transactions
• withhold data, so incoming payments show up late or not at all
• quote an inflated fee, so you pay far more than you need to
• hand your wallet biased decoys, to weaken the privacy of your ring signatures.

Wallets run some sanity checks but can’t verify everything a node tells them, so check the fee before you confirm a payment.^[1] A node can also simply keep logs: its operator can link the transactions it receives to the IP addresses they came from.^[3]

Does Dandelion++ hide your IP address?

Partly. Dandelion++, added to Monero in 2020, changes how new transactions spread across the network, making it much harder for observers to link a transaction to the IP address it came from.^[7]

It doesn’t protect against your internet provider or against the first node your transaction is sent to.^[1] If your wallet uses a remote node, that node is the first one: it gets your transaction straight from your IP address, before Dandelion++ does anything.

Spy nodes are a documented problem too. In October 2024 a developer reported on the Monero Research Lab’s GitHub that about 40% of the IP addresses running Monero nodes appeared not to be real nodes but proxies, and that a transaction sent over the clearnet (the ordinary internet, outside Tor or I2P) was highly likely to pass through one of them during Dandelion++’s early “stem” stage, where it could help trace the transaction back.^[8] Monero 0.18.4.3, released in October 2025, changed how nodes choose peers, avoiding several connections in the same small block of IP addresses, to put spy nodes at a disadvantage.^[9]

Can you use Monero over Tor or I2P?

Yes, in two ways, though Monero still describes this support as experimental.^[10]

If you run your own node, the --tx-proxy option sends your own transactions out through Tor or I2P.^[5] Only a few kinds of messages travel over these networks, mainly transaction broadcasts, and the blockchain itself isn’t synced over onion or I2P hidden services.^[10] So other nodes can still see that your IP address runs a Monero node.^[1]

Your wallet can also reach a remote node through Tor or I2P. Connecting to the node’s hidden service, an address that exists only inside Tor or I2P, is end-to-end encrypted and hides your IP address from the node, though its operator still sees the transactions you send.^[1] For background, see What is Tor Browser?

Monero’s documentation compares the common set-ups like this, from most to least private:^[1]

One caution about timing: if you start your node only to send a transaction and then shut it down, your internet provider may be able to link you to that transaction.^[10]

What is restricted RPC?

RPC is the interface wallets use to talk to a node. If you let other people’s wallets use your node, the --restricted-rpc option of monerod (the Monero node program) limits that interface to view-only commands and stops it returning privacy-sensitive data. The --public-node option advertises the node so other users can find it.^[5] Restricted RPC limits what visitors can do on a node; it doesn’t change what the operator can see about them.

How can I run my own Monero node?

1. Download the official Monero software from getmonero.org and verify it before you install it.^[6]
2. Pick an interface: the desktop wallet in advanced mode, or monerod with the command-line wallet.^[6]
3. Short of space? Turn on pruning: --prune-blockchain for monerod, or the pruning option in the desktop wallet.^[5][6]
4. Let it sync. The first sync has to download and check the blockchain, which can take a long time, especially on older hardware.^[4]
5. For more privacy, send your transactions over Tor or I2P with --tx-proxy. To use the node from your phone, reach it through its own Tor or I2P hidden service rather than over the open internet.^[1]

Monero Docs has more detailed guides, including one for Tor and I2P.

How do you choose a remote node?

If you can’t run your own node, Monero’s documentation suggests a node you control or trust, reached as a Tor or I2P hidden service. After that come a node reached over Tor or a VPN, then one over SSL/TLS. A remote node on a plain, unencrypted connection is the least private choice.^[1]

Whichever you pick, don’t mark a node you don’t control as trusted, and check the fee before every payment.^[1] Our guide to Monero wallets covers what to check when you pick a wallet, including its node options.

How does Mantis plan to handle nodes?

Mantis plans to run its own Monero nodes to keep wallets in sync and to broadcast transactions that users sign on their phones. In the plan, those nodes never receive spending keys and keep no logs that identify users, such as IP addresses. From your phone’s point of view they would be remote nodes, so the trade-offs in this guide apply, and the product plan treats remote-node metadata, such as IP addresses and timing, as a security concern to keep to a minimum.