# How to run your own Monero node > Why a personal node is the upgrade most XMR users skip, what hardware/bandwidth it needs, and the bootstrap, sync, and remote-access setup — including a Tor hidden service. Canonical URL: https://www.xmr.club/guides/run-a-monero-node ## Overview Public remote nodes work, but they correlate your IP with your subaddresses on every wallet refresh. A personal node solves that — and gives you a chain you can trust against re-org/relay manipulation. Below: when it's worth the effort, the hardware floor, the setup, and how to share it back to the network. ## Body Why personal nodes matter (and when they don't) Privacy: the remote-node operator sees your IP and which subaddresses you scan for. Your own node makes that information local-only. Trust: you verify every block. The chain you see is the chain consensus rules say is valid — not what a public-node operator chose to show you. Availability: public nodes go down or get rate-limited. Your node is always there. When not worth it: low-balance hot wallet, mobile-only user, transient setup. Then a vetted Tor-hosted remote node from /nodes is the pragmatic option. Hardware floor CPU: any 64-bit CPU made in the last 10 years. Sync is single-threaded-ish + RandomX validation; nothing fancy. RAM: 4 GB minimum, 8 GB comfortable. Disk: ~250 GB SSD as of mid-2026 (pruned: ~80 GB). NVMe is faster but SATA SSD works. Spinning rust is painful. Bandwidth: ~5–10 GB initial sync, then a few hundred MB/day. Unlimited or generous-cap connection. OS: Linux (Debian / Ubuntu / Arch) is the path of least resistance. Windows + macOS work; raspi 4 works for pruned-only. Setup — Linux (recommended) Get a verified binary. Download from getmonero.org → verify GPG signature (see verify guide ) → extract. Pick a config: monerod \ --data-dir /var/lib/monero \ --no-igd \ --restricted-rpc \ --rpc-bind-ip 127.0.0.1 \ --rpc-bind-port 18081 \ --confirm-external-bind \ --enable-dns-blocklist \ --out-peers 32 \ --in-peers 64 (drop --restricted-rpc if this node is for your own wallet only; keep it if you'll share) Run as a service: systemd unit, restart on failure, user monero . Wait. Initial sync: 12–48 hours depending on disk + CPU. Use --fast-block-sync 1 for less verification (faster but trusts the network more on old blocks). Open the wallet RPC port only to localhost (or your LAN with a firewall). Never expose 18081 to the public internet without RPC restrictions. Connect your wallet Feather / Monero GUI / Cake on same machine: point at http://127.0.0.1:18081 . Done. Same LAN: point at the LAN IP. Make sure RPC is bound to the LAN interface, firewalled to your subnet. Remote (recommended Tor): see below. Expose over Tor (recommended for remote access) Install Tor on the same machine. apt install tor . Add a hidden service to /etc/tor/torrc : HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/monero-rpc/ HiddenServicePort 18081 127.0.0.1:18081 Restart Tor , read /var/lib/tor/monero-rpc/hostname — that's your .onion address. Wallet config: point at http://:18081 . Use --proxy 127.0.0.1:9050 on the wallet's CLI or the wallet's "use Tor" toggle. Optional: add the --rpc-restricted-bind port to a second hidden service so you can share with friends without exposing internal-only RPC. Share back to the network If you have bandwidth to spare, the Monero P2P port ( 18080 ) can be exposed publicly to relay blocks and transactions for others. Doing so helps decentralization. Run a clear-net peer + an onion peer for max impact; xmr.club lists working public nodes at /nodes — yours can join. Common failure modes Disk fills up during sync. Provision 300+ GB. Use a separate volume so the OS root doesn't crash. "Connection refused" from wallet. RPC isn't bound to where the wallet's connecting. Check --rpc-bind-ip + firewall. Slow first sync. CPU is RandomX-bottlenecked or disk is the bottleneck. SSD non-negotiable. Node falls behind. Often clock skew. Run chrony / systemd-timesyncd . Wallet syncs forever. Wallet's restore height is too low. Set it to the height your wallet was created — wallet skips earlier blocks. Wallet picks that work well with your own node ## Recommended picks - [Feather](https://www.xmr.club/wallets/feather) · /llm/wallets/feather.txt — Best wallet-to-node UX. Add custom remote → done. Tor handling built in. - [Monero GUI](https://www.xmr.club/wallets/monero-gui) · /llm/wallets/monero-gui.txt — Official desktop. Talks to local monerod natively. Reproducible build. - [Monerujo](https://www.xmr.club/wallets/monerujo) · /llm/wallets/monerujo.txt — Android. Connects to your own onion node with the Tor proxy toggle. - [Cake Wallet](https://www.xmr.club/wallets/cake-wallet) · /llm/wallets/cake-wallet.txt — Mobile. Custom remote-node field accepts your onion address. ## License CC-BY-4.0. Attribute "xmr.club".