Pinata
IPFS pinning service that makes decentralized file storage simple — upload, pin, and serve files on IPFS with a friendly API and dashboard.
Use Cases
Free Tier
Free plan: 1GB storage, 500 files, 10GB bandwidth, 10K requests/month, 1 gateway
How to Maximize the Free Tier
Pinata's free tier is small but genuinely permanent — 1GB storage and 500 files are fine for NFT metadata, config files, or static assets in a Web3 prototype. The 10GB monthly bandwidth and 10K requests cover light traffic; IPFS gateways can be slow on free plans, so put a CDN like Cloudflare in front for production serving. Watch the 500-file cap more than the GB cap — thousands of tiny metadata files hit it fast, so batch small files into single JSON/zip blobs. The free gateway is shared, so pin critical content and use pinning services spec (IPFS Pinning Services API) to stay portable if you outgrow it.
Getting Started
1) Create a free account at app.pinata.cloud. 2) Generate API keys in the dashboard. 3) Upload via the Pinata SDK or API (POST /pinning/pinFileToIPFS). 4) Retrieve files through the gateway URL or your own gateway. 5) Use the returned IPFS CID as a permanent content address in your app.
Pros
- Real IPFS pinning: Files live on the IPFS network with permanent CIDs — no vendor lock-in, anyone can re-pin them
- Free forever tier: 1GB storage and 500 files permanently free with no credit card required
- Simple API: SDKs for JS/Python plus a clean REST API make uploading and pinning a few lines of code
Cons
- Small limits: 1GB storage and 500 files are tight — one media-heavy project exhausts both quickly
- Shared gateway latency: The free IPFS gateway is publicly shared, so first-byte latency can be inconsistent compared to a CDN
- Web3 niche: Overkill for ordinary web storage — a plain S3-compatible bucket is simpler if you don't need decentralization