Sharenet is a decentralized, not-for-commercial-use open-source infrastructure for sharing and mutual aid.
It helps neighbors, organizers, and communities request, offer, and coordinate material support — tools, food, rides, housing, care — without relying on corporate platforms, central authorities, or extractive systems.
We love what Buy Nothing inspired.
But Buy Nothing is registered as business: The Buy Nothing Project Inc. It is a centrally-controlled organization and brand. The Buy Nothing app is not open source and it does not allow community control of its infrastructure. You are locked into a single platform, controlled by a central bureaucracy which can disown or shut down your local Buy Nothing group down over a single incorrect judgment.
Sharenet on the other hand is decentralized and open source in all aspects-- infrastructure, software, and governance. It has no a single point of failure. It's carefully designed to be robust, survivable, and true to its stated mission.
No — it's a system and a practice.
Sharenet can take the form of a lightweight app, but more importantly, it's an open toolkit and network that any group, neighborhood, or city can adopt, extend, and host.
Think of it as digital plumbing for the sharing and solidarity economy.
| Platform | What They Do | What Sharenet Does |
|---|---|---|
| GoFundMe | Monetizes crisis | Supports mutual aid, no fees |
| Craigslist | Matches stuff to people | Adds context, trust, and care |
| Nextdoor | Neighborhood gossip & alerts | Coordination for needs, not ads |
| Freecycle | One-way giving | Two-way sharing, tracking, & collaboration |
Sharenet doesn't monetize pain, lock you into a system, or sell your data. It's built for people, by people, to strengthen the real connections that keep us alive and help keep life worth living.
In many cases, yes.
We're designing for low-connectivity and offline-first use — including peer-to-peer protocols, SMS fallback, and even paper backups.
Sharenet can also plug into community mesh networks or run on a Raspberry Pi at a local fridge.
Not at all.
Sharenet is being designed so anyone — a neighbor, a pantry volunteer, a mutual aid group member — can use it with little to no training.
That said, we do welcome developers, designers, and organizers to help us build it better. If you want to contribute code, shape features, or help test — reach out.
No one and everyone.
It’s a commons — licensed open-source, designed for collective governance, and intended to be forked, remixed, and run locally.
We’re working with cooperators, mutual aid groups, and digital commons advocates to ensure it's governed by its users, not investors.
At the same time, you are not locked into a single Sharenet network — you can create your own and build in parallel with what already exists.
Great! Sharenet can help you:
You're already doing the work — we want to support it, not replace it.
There isn't one. Sharenet is not-for-profit, values-aligned, and community-governed. It does not rely on investors, grants, or large donors. If you’re really interested, read the Sharenet Public License (SPL).
No ads. No fees. No user exploitation. Just connecting at grassroots level.
There’s no obligation to share or not share. You can take as much as you’d like. You can give as much as you’d like (or not at all). This is a tool for communities to help each other communicate and share their resources.
Yes — that's the goal. We're developing a simple one-step Sharenet Installer that lets any community create their own node. Until then, we’re running early pilots with partner groups.
If you're interested, join the waitlist, or reach out directly: <a href="mailto:sharenetproject@gmail.com">sharenetproject@gmail.com</a>