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Decentralization is a structural feature of a network that has an even distribution of nodes and connectivity such that there are no elements with a radically higher level of connectivity and capacity that would make them central to the network. Examples include grid computing, social movements, or peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.

Decentralized networks have unique characteristics that differentiate them from centralized networks. Capacity and connectivity are more evenly distributed across the elements in the system. They are typically more adaptive and respond to local changes thus allowing for greater diversity of nodes. They have lower levels of dependency on key nodes making them less critical and potentially more resilient. With centralized nodes as super spreaders information often permeates more slowly across the network while alignment and coherence can be more difficult to achieve.