Centralized System :

  • A single entity owns the data and the solution.
  • The resources are centralized in one place.
  • Easy to maintain.
  • Single point of failure, low fault tolerance.
  • Low and fixed scalability

Distributed System:

  • A single entity owns the data.
  • The solution provider distributes resources across multiple locations, data centres, and systems.
  • Cloud computing and “as a service” solution.
  • Extremely high fault tolerance and more scalable.
  • Most centralized systems evolve into distributed systems.

Decentralized System:

  • There is no single owner of either data or network hardware.
  • Each participant is responsible for ownership and maintenance.
  • Highly fault tolerant.
  • Infinitely scalable as resources are independent entities.
  • Most challenging to maintain as no one entity owns it.
  • It is shared amongst the peers or participants of the system.
  • Runs over P2P network architecture. 
  • P2P is a network of equally privileged participants where tasks and workloads are partitioned across all participant
  • Participants are called Nodes.
  • In P2P systems, all nodes are both client and servers simultaneously.