Comparison table of software implementations

ImplementationsLNDCore Lightning

Codebase

written in C with plugins in various languages github.com/ElementsProject/lightning

Documentation

Contact

IRC libera.chat #c-lightning t.me/lightningd

Main advantages

bigger networkshare and team more services built on top detailed documentation bundled with services and GUI in lit binaries provided for various platforms

specs driven modular development ensures flexibility very modest hardware need even as a routing node built with privacy as a priority in mind

Multiple channels between two peers

yes

yes since v0.11.0

Keysend

optional

on by default

Payments

most efficient in finding the shortest path best success rate a cost function takes recent failures into consideration

prefers low locktimes takes channel sizes into account since v0.10.2 (Pickhardt Payments) Slightly more expensive due to randomization for privacy the logic can be replaced with plugins

MPP (multi part payments)

optional

on by default

Swaps

Loop service (with daemon) Boltz.exchange (with daemon) PeerSwap

Boltz.exchange through website + API PeerSwap

Autopilot

built in, but limited

CLBOSS plugin with advanced logic

Watchtower

built in not incentivised

available as a plugin for Eye of Satoshi not incentivised

Dymanic fee settings

solved by external tools like charge-lnd and Balance of Satoshis

feeadjuster plugin, CLBOSS

Dual funded channels

manual, using PSBTs and/or Balance of Satoshis

experimental feature automated with liquidity ads

Paid incoming channels

Pool service including sidecar channels Voltage Flow amboss.space Magma

boltz.exchange plugin liquidity ads amboss.space Magma

Privacy

full Tor support

WebUI

RTL Thunderhub Lightning Terminal

RTL Spark Wallet / Sparko

Mobile Apps

Zeus Fully Noded (iOS only) Zap Android (iOS unmaintained)

Zeus Fully Noded (iOS only)

Database format

bbolt by default (restarts needed to compact) experinemtal etcd full postgres support

sqlite3 by default (compacts on-the-fly) full postgres support

Backups and recovery

hsmsecret hex (optional seedwords) + append-only (low wear) backup of the sqlite3 database with the backup plugin sqlite3 replication to a custom path or NFS mount lightning.readthedocs.io/BACKUP.html

Resources

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