NMTS and an ordinary cloud
| An ordinary cloud | NMTS | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can read your files | An ordinary cloudThe provider holds the keys and can open them. | NMTSOnly you. Files are encrypted in your browser before they leave your device, and the key never leaves it. |
| What the account needs | An ordinary cloudAn email address, a name and a password. | NMTSOne NMTS key. No email address, no name. |
| Where the files are | An ordinary cloudOn the provider's own servers. | NMTSOn the Walrus public storage network, in encrypted pieces. NMTS keeps only the encrypted list of names and where the pieces are, with sizes and times. |
| What you pay, and to whom | An ordinary cloudA subscription to the provider. | NMTSNothing to NMTS. You buy storage for a period on Walrus, from your own wallet or with credits; when a free trial place is left that week, it pays for a first amount. |
| If the service disappears | An ordinary cloudThe files go with it. | NMTSAn open-source recovery program rebuilds them from the network with your NMTS key and the recovery list you saved. |
| An AI agent using it | An ordinary cloudThrough the provider's API under your own account, where offered. | NMTSA command-line tool and an MCP server. An agent gets its own AI account under yours, with the same encryption. |
| Source code | An ordinary cloudClosed. | NMTSThe encryption engine, the tool and the recovery program are open source. The server and the web app are not. |
| If you forget the secret | An ordinary cloudA password reset by email. | NMTSThere is none. Lose the NMTS key and the recovery kit, and the files cannot be opened by anyone. |
NMTS is not decentralized as a service: one developer runs one server in front of a public storage network. The storage is spread over many operators; the service is not.