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Public channel graph

Lightning Network

Public Lightning node, channel and capacity statistics with growth context — and a clear note on what the public graph cannot see.

Read this first

Public channel graph only. Private and unannounced channels are excluded, so every figure on this page is a lower bound on real Lightning capacity.

Public graph

What the network announces.

connecting
Announced capacity
Public channels30-day change
Public nodes30-day change
Capacity changeOver 30 days · 1 year

History

Announced capacity over time.

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Detail

Channel and node composition.

Channels

Average channel capacity
Median channel capacity
Average fee rate

The gap between average and median capacity shows how skewed the graph is: a handful of very large channels pull the average well above what a typical channel actually holds.

Nodes

Clearnet nodes
Tor nodes
Observation date

Lightning statistics are compiled from the announced channel graph and update on a daily cadence, not in real time.

Why capacity is a floor

The graph is deliberately incomplete.

Lightning channels only appear in the public graph if their operators announce them, and there are good reasons not to. A merchant taking payments does not need to be routable by strangers; a custodial service running channels between its own nodes has no reason to advertise them; and a mobile wallet using unannounced channels gains privacy by staying out of the graph. Growth in announced capacity is therefore a signal about the routing network, not a measurement of Lightning usage — and a flat line here is entirely compatible with rising payment volume.