I anticipate there will never be more than 100K nodes, probably less. It will reach an equilibrium where it's not worth it for more nodes to join in. The rest will be lightweight clients, which could be millions. -Satoshi 2010-07-14 #zapathon
Discussion
Is there a count of how many nodes there is now?
Not sure how accurate this is. But if so, halfway there…
GLOBAL BITCOIN NODES
Updated: Fri Apr 28 19:00:00 2023 CDT
47447 NODES
Window size: 1-day
This page reports the estimated size of the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network including both reachable and unreachable nodes, i.e. global nodes
This like Bill Gates saying no one will ever need 4k bytes of memory!! Full nodes will run on your watch, in your car, on your refrigerator in 15yrs, not because it's necessary, but because it'll be convenient and more secure.