Public vs Private Blockchain: Which Is Better?

Business executives are tasked with making those important decisions that determine the future of the business. One such decision is choosing between a public vs private blockchain. Choosing the wrong types of blockchains not only determines whether you reap the benefits of blockchain technology but also whether you remain profitable in this fast-changing business climate. 

We understand the pressure you are under, and so we’ve written this article to help you make sense of the blockchain network options and weigh the differences to know which works best for you. At the end of this article, you should have clarity about the different blockchain network types and the insights you need to make an informed decision about choosing a public blockchain or a private one. 

What is a Blockchain?

A blockchain is a decentralised, distributed database or ledger shared across a network of nodes. The word has become very popular these days, especially among people who have been exploring digital transformation or new ways to streamline complex operations.

For simplicity, you can call it a digital ledger. But that term does little justice to the concept of a blockchain in its entirety. This “digital ledger” doesn’t stay on a single server. Instead, it is distributed across many different computers. 

And when it comes to entries using this distributed ledger technology, each entry, known as a block, forms a chain that cannot be altered or “fixed” behind the scenes. As a result, once something is recorded, it stays there. That permanence is part of the appeal.

As a result, there are many valuable use cases for blockchain networks in the tech ecosystem. However, the key point for you as a decision-maker is that not all blockchains operate the same way. In fact, there are several types of blockchains, but we’ll be talking about two major blockchain network types in this article, namely public and private blockchains.

What is a Public Blockchain?

A public blockchain is probably what comes to mind when most people hear the word “blockchain.” It’s the original model—the one behind Bitcoin—and the foundation that inspired thousands of open networks after it.

Yes, you guessed right. A public blockchain is a digital ledger that is open to the public, meaning anyone interested can join, view, or verify the blocks or entries on the network. You can think of it as a permissionless blockchain, visualised as a global, community-controlled network not controlled by any centralised organisation. As a result, the network’s operations are controlled by a network of nodes (independent computers). These nodes are responsible for creating entries (blocks), validating transactions, and maintaining transparency. 

That’s not all. 

The fact that public blockchains are essentially an open ecosystem means individuals don’t need any form of permission to interact with the network. Therefore, any organisation that wants to build an application, send a transaction, or verify data can easily do so without restrictions. 

Some popular examples include: 

• Bitcoin, the pioneer of decentralized digital money
• Ethereum, home to smart contracts and thousands of dApps
• Solana, known for its high-speed, high-throughput environment

As you might have predicted, there are trade-offs associated with this level of freedom. To keep players on public blockchains who don’t know or trust each other, more sophisticated consensus mechanisms, such as Proof-of-Work or Proof-of-Stake, are typically used. 

These safeguards improve the security of the network, but they can also:

• Slow down the transaction process
• Increase network congestion
• Drive up transaction fees during peak activity

Nevertheless, many businesses still think the advantages far outweigh the downsides when comparing private blockchain vs public blockchain​. This is because public blockchains guarantee transparency, immutability, and unrestricted access to a global user base. 

Which business wouldn’t love that? 

That said, not every business wants its processes or data exposed on a publicly accessible ledger—and that’s exactly why private blockchains exist. Let’s take a closer look at those next.

What is a Private Blockchain?

While public blockchains are open to anyone, private blockchains take a very different approach. These types of blockchains are closed, controlled, and permissioned blockchains—and they’re designed for organisations that want the benefits of blockchain without exposing their operations to the entire world.

If you think of a public blockchain as a bustling open marketplace, a private blockchain is more like a secure boardroom. Only approved participants can enter, and every member inside the network is identified and verified. This controlled environment is one of the biggest reasons private blockchains have become so appealing to banks, large enterprises, supply-chain operators, and industries where data privacy isn’t optional.

In a private blockchain, the organisation—or a group of organisations—oversees the network. They decide:

• Who can join the blockchain
• Who has permission to validate transactions?
• What data participants can see
• How governance rules are implemented
  

This level of control gives companies greater flexibility to tailor the system to their internal processes. For example, private blockchains often use highly efficient consensus mechanisms like Proof of Authority or PBFT. These offer faster transaction speeds and greater scalability compared to the heavier mechanisms used in public networks. If you’re concerned about throughput, latency, or predictable performance, this setup becomes highly attractive.

But just like public blockchains, private ones come with their own trade-offs. By limiting participation to a trusted group, you also sacrifice some decentralisation. This means the network may have more centralized control—something that goes against the original spirit of blockchain technology. Yet, for many organisations, this is a worthwhile compromise because the benefits often outweigh the downsides:

• Strong data privacy controls
  
• High transaction throughput
  
• Easier to meet regulatory requirements
  
• Full control over governance and permissions
  

In the broader conversation about public vs private blockchain​, private networks appeal to businesses that value confidentiality, speed, and compliance over open participation.

So if your organisation handles sensitive data or operates in a highly regulated environment, a private blockchain may better align with your operational and strategic needs.

Public vs Private Blockchain – Key Differences 

Public and Private blockchains differ significantly in how they operate, including accessibility, governance, security, and energy use.

The table below summarises the key differences between private blockchain vs public blockchain.

Dimension	Public Blockchain	Private Blockchain
Access Model	Permissionless; open participation	Permissioned blockchains; access restricted
Governance	Decentralized, community-driven	Centralized or consortium-based
Transparency	Fully transparent ledger	Selective visibility based on roles
Consensus	PoW, PoS, open BFT variants	PBFT, PoA, Raft, enterprise BFT
Security Model	Secured by decentralization	Secured by identity, governance
Performance	Lower throughput, higher latency	High throughput, low latency
Energy Use	Higher (especially PoW)	Lower due to efficient consensus
Tokens	Usually, native tokens for incentives	Token optional, often unnecessary
Attack Risks	External adversaries, but resilient	Internal collusion, admin misuse
Use Cases	DeFi, public registries, dApps	Enterprise workflows, supply chain
Trust Model	Trustless; cryptoeconomic security	Trusted; identity and governance
Governance Flexibility	Slow changes, community-wide	Rapid, admin-managed
Interoperability	Broad ecosystem, open integration	Limited, controlled environments
Compliance	Complex due to pseudonymity	Strong compliance and auditability
Cost	Transaction fees, variable	Infrastructure and admin costs

Below we discuss these differences in detail, paying attention to the most important details.

Accessibility and participation 

Public blockchains allow users with an Internet connection to join the network, read information stored on the chain, broadcast transactions, and even participate as a validator or miner (depending on the consensus algorithm). 

This is known as a permissionless model and is fundamental to the decentralized philosophy of blockchain technology—with this model, anyone on the network can download the client software, synchronize with the network, and interact with the distributed ledger technology without permission from any governing body. This way, the blockchain is censorship-resistant, and permission is unrestricted. 

On the other hand, private blockchains use a permissioned model to restrict participation to approved entities. With private blockchains, a central administrator or consortium gets to decide who joins the network, what roles each participant serves, and the privileges they are allowed. 

Participants can be assigned varying permissions, such as read access, write access, or validation rights. Because private blockchains are controlled, they ensure that all participants can be easily identified and vetted. This provides structured governance and tighter infrastructure control. However, this comes at a cost—structured governance reduces decentralization. But it’s not all bad, as it offers organizations the ability to meet operational, legal, or compliance-related requirements that demand restricted access. 

Governance and control

Governance in public blockchain is decentralized and emergent. This means that system upgrades, rule changes, and protocol adjustments require community support—this is usually through an open-source development process, network-wide voting, or informal community consensus.  While this decentralised approach ensures that no single actor can change the system at a whim, it also makes coordination complex, especially when stakeholders have conflicting interests or motivating philosophies. 

Private blockchains do not suffer these challenges because they employ a centralized or consortium-based governance. Because a single organization controls protocol updates, participant onboarding, and policy enforcement, decision-making is streamlined, allowing rapid deployment of upgrades and business logic adjustments. Additionally, this centralized approach allows organizations to customize blockchains to meet specific operational needs, integrate custom workflows, and enforce compliance measures without requiring global consensus. 

Transparency vs privacy

Public blockchains are built with transparency in mind. With public blockchains, every transaction is recorded on a distributed ledger technology that any participant can access and verify independently. This way, participants can audit transactions, validate current state changes, and inspect smart contract code whenever they want. 

This transparency helps with accountability and public verification, particularly in those areas where building trust is essential, such as public audits, decentralized finance, or global asset issuance. Ironically, this transparency is often seen as a downside to public blockchains: even though users operate under pseudonyms, transaction patterns can be analyzed. This raises privacy concerns for participants who prefer to operate incognito due to the sensitivity of their operations. 

For these users, private blockchains offer a safe haven as they emphasize confidentiality. With private blockchains, ledger data is restricted according to a participant’s permissions, and validating the entire state does not require all the nodes. This way, sensitive information can be isolated within particular channels, sub-networks, or encrypted data stores, ensuring that only those who have permission can see relevant details. 

Customers in industries such as banking, supply chain logistics, and healthcare find private blockchains particularly useful, as privacy is essential not only for their operations but also for compliance. Finally, unlike public blockchains, where transparency is integral, private chains can structure visibility to match the operational sensitivity of each participant. 

Consensus mechanisms 

Public blockchains rely on consensus mechanisms that can secure an open, adversarial environment, such as Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS). Proof of Work requires blockchain participants to use computational power to validate blocks. This protects the blockchain against attacks by ensuring probabilistic security. 

On the other hand, Proof of Stake uses economic stake instead of computing power. This approach penalizes malicious behavior by slashing collateral and so discourages scammers and hackers. These two models work on the assumption that participants may not trust one another and may attempt to game the system. As such, the consensus mechanisms are designed to operate under adversarial conditions at a global scale. 

Private blockchains adopt a different approach since participants are known and authenticated. These blockchains often utilize algorithms such as Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT), Raft, Proof of Authority (PoA), or other BFT-style systems to allow rapid block confirmation without heavy resource expenditure. 

Since private blockchains typically involve a small number of validators, consensus is faster and more controlled. This reduces latency, increases throughput, and reduces energy consumption. Finally, because each participant is known and consensus is restricted, these blockchains do not need the defense of public blockchains; as such, they allow for consensus algorithms optimized for trusted networks. 

Security and trust

The security of public blockchains arises primarily from decentralization: because you need a large, distributed set of validators, it is nearly impossible and economically and computationally infeasible for a single attacker to gain control. Since thousands of nodes maintain and validate the ledger independently, data tampering becomes a Herculean task. Public blockchains also benefit from open-source scrutiny with global developers inspecting and providing code. 

Private blockchains do not have the security of public blockchains, and they do not need to since participants are known and authenticated—instead, they rely on trust amongst participants.  Because every participant is known, security concerns and models shift from external attacks to internal risks such as collusion or misuse of privileged access. Therefore, private blockchains use identity verification, access control layers, and audit trails to secure their networks. 

Performance and Scalability 

Consensus on public blockchains is a complex operation involving several nodes across the globe. It often requires multiple rounds of communication or probabilistic methods. As such, confirmation times are slower, congestions often occur during periods of high demand, and transaction throughput is relatively low. While this can be frustrating, it is intentional and protects decentralization and global accessibility. 

In contrast, private blockchains achieve much higher performance since fewer nodes participate in consensus, latency is minimal, and bandwidth can be optimized to fit enterprise infrastructure. Because of its high performance, finality is almost instant, enabling large-scale transaction systems such as interbank settlements or real-time supply chain tracking. Finally, since the system is restricted, administrators can provide hardware resources, distribute nodes across controlled environments, and optimize network topology for efficiency. 

Which Blockchain Should Your Organization Choose? – Key Decision-Making Criteria

Ultimately, your choice among these options for a blockchain business development approach should depend on your unique characteristics, objectives, constraints, and the environment in which your system will operate.

If you prioritize decentralization, transparency and public auditability, global accessibility, premium security through decentralization, and crypto economic incentives, then public blockchains are the right fit for you. However, if you prefer controlled access and identity management, high performance and scalability, custom governance, data confidentiality, and compliance with laws and regulations, private blockchains are the right choice.

Conclusion

So, which is better? Private or public blockchain.

The answer depends entirely on what you want and who you are. Therefore, before making a choice, you should have a clear understanding of both concepts, key public vs private blockchain differences​, and how they might fit your objectives. This can be a complicated task for a non-tech-savvy individual. 

If this sounds like you, then you’re in luck because at Debut Infotech, our team of blockchain consultants is at your service to help you make the right choice amongst the different blockchain network types. We will partner with you from start to finish to ensure you build systems tailored to your unique operations. 

Reach out today to speak to one of our consultants. 

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