Pinata | Pricing

Frequently Asked Questions

We’ve worked with IPFS since 2018, powering many of the industry’s top projects and marketplaces. We’ve seen and experienced it all. Pinata is built upon thousands of direct conversations with developers and their IPFS needs—everything we do is done to empower builders to do what they do best.

I’m new to web3. Can I still use Pinata?

Absolutely. Pinata’s free and Picnic plans give new builders the chance to see what it’s like to store and distribute content on IPFS. Our web app is incredibly easy to use, even if you don’t have any technical skills.

I’m an experienced developer. Is Pinata for me?

Yep. Pinata is powerful enough for veteran builders, whether you want to use our web app, APIs, SDKs, or a mixture of all three. You can upload any type of content, and we pride ourselves on speed and reliability with a built-in CDN and over 200 server locations around the world. Whatever you’re building, we can support it.

We’re a brand. How can we use Pinata?

Pinata is perfect for teams who want to harness the power, speed and security of IPFS to build and nurture their audience. Our platform makes it easy to distribute any type of content, no matter your technical experience or type of business. If you need help walking through your case study, get in touch via our contact form.

Which blockchains and apps does Pinata work with?

All of them! Pinata is proud to support any blockchain network you wish to build with. You can upload any type of content for your projects including apps, websites, 3D files, NFT metadata, AI creations, and pretty much anything else you can think of.

How do Pinata’s APIs and SDKs work?

Users on any of our plans can use Pinata’s APIs by generating their API keys from their dashboard. You can read the full API documentation here. Our SDKs are free to use and can be downloaded here.

How do I track my usage?

Under ‘Billing’ in your account settings, you can see all usage data including total size of pinned files, bandwidth used, number of requests and more.

What does pinning mean?

When you upload content to IPFS, you’re “pinning” your files to an IPFS node. Hence why we’re called Pinata!

What is meant by bandwidth and requests?

Bandwidth is the data that represents the item you or your users are viewing through your gateway. Each image, video, audio, and any other type of file that is displayed through the gateway or downloaded through the gateway is made of up data. That data is sent from an IPFS node to your computer. The size of this data is bandwidth. A request is anytime your content is pulled. A request could be anything like viewing a piece of a content, loading an app, or viewing an NFT from your collection. Basically anytime someone interacts with your IPFS content, that’s a request.

What is a gateway?

Gateways are the connection between the traditional web protocol (HTTP) and decentralized storage protocol (IPFS). They retrieve content from the IPFS network and serve that content to a web browser (Safari, Chrome, etc.) in a way that the browser can understand. For a more detailed explanation, check out this blog post: What is an IPFS Gateway?

What's the difference between public and private (dedicated) gateways?

Public and private IPFS gateways both connect you to the same IPFS network, but public gateways are sensitive to traffic since there is only a limited amount of bandwidth. If lots of people are using the public IPFS gateway in your area, your content will load slowly.

Dedicated Gateways are focused on performance, getting your content distributed and shared to an audience without any slowdowns. Faster content retrieval, customized URL paths, and tighter control of who can access your content.

Read more here: How to use Dedicated Gateways

Which plan should I start with?

If you want full access to Pinata’s suite of tools, including the ability to customize your gateway, we recommend starting with a Picnic plan. Once you get a better feel for what you need, you can always upgrade from your account dashboard.

What payment methods do you accept?

Pinata accepts all major credit and debit cards.

What happens after I sign up for a plan?

Once you select a plan (either from this page or anywhere you see the “Start Building” button), you’ll be asked to register an account and confirm your registration via email. Once confirmed, you’ll be taken directly to your dashboard where you can add your payment details, customize your gateway, and start pinning.

Once I sign up, can I update my plan or billing settings?

Yep. From your dashboard, head to “Billing” under your account settings. Select your new plan and you’ll see the change reflected by the next billing cycle. You can also update your payment method and see your billing history.

I have more questions. Where should I go?

Our community team is ready to help answer any questions about the platform, our plans, or your project. We recommend asking your question in our Discord, but you can also click the small purple button in the bottom-right corner to open up a chat, or use our contact form.

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Frequently Asked Questions