7 Best IPFS Pinning Services in 2026 — Compared

Uploading a file to IPFS is the easy part. Keeping it available is where things get tricky. When you add content to the InterPlanetary File System, it only stays accessible as long as at least one node on the network actively pins it. Stop pinning, and the network’s garbage collector eventually sweeps your data away. That is why IPFS pinning services exist: they run infrastructure that keeps your content online 24/7 so you do not have to.

Choosing the right pinning service matters more than it used to. In 2026 the market has matured considerably, with providers differentiating on API design, gateway performance, pricing models, and additional features like encryption, analytics, and multi-network redundancy. Whether you are storing NFT metadata, hosting a decentralized frontend, or building an API that writes files to IPFS on every request, the right provider can save you hours of integration work and hundreds of dollars a year.

In this guide we compare seven leading IPFS pinning services across the dimensions that matter most: pricing, free tier generosity, API and SDK quality, gateway performance, and unique capabilities. We have ranked them based on overall value for developers in 2026, but every service on this list is production-worthy, and the best choice depends on your specific use case.

Quick Comparison Table

Detailed Reviews

1. IPFS Ninja

Website: ipfs.ninja

IPFS Ninja takes a refreshingly straightforward approach to IPFS pinning. Rather than burying functionality behind complex SDKs or requiring you to learn a new protocol, it exposes a clean REST API that accepts any file type — JSON, images, PDFs, videos, or arbitrary binary data — and returns a CID. What sets it apart is its focus on developer experience for production workloads: signed upload tokens let you safely delegate uploads to frontend clients without exposing your API key, dedicated gateways with built-in access controls give you fine-grained distribution options, and a real-time analytics dashboard shows you exactly how your content is being accessed. IPFS Ninja is also one of the few pinning services to offer built-in IPNS (InterPlanetary Name System) support, letting you create mutable names that point to changing CIDs — up to 3 names on Bodhi and 10 on Nirvana. The onboarding experience is among the fastest we have tested; you can go from signup to first pinned file in under two minutes.

Pricing:

• Free (Dharma): 500 files, 1 GB storage, 1 dedicated gateway
• Bodhi: $5/month — 10 GB storage, dedicated gateway, analytics
• Nirvana: $29/month — 100 GB storage, dedicated gateway with access controls, priority support, full analytics

Pros:

• Exceptionally clean REST API with comprehensive documentation — no SDK installation required, works from any language or platform with an HTTP client
• Signed upload tokens enable secure client-side uploads without exposing credentials, which is ideal for web and mobile applications
• Built-in IPNS support (up to 10 mutable names) solves the “immutable CID” problem for apps that need updatable content behind a stable address
• Dedicated gateways with access controls and analytics provide production-grade content delivery out of the box

Cons:

• Newer entrant compared to Pinata or Web3.Storage, so the community and third-party integration ecosystem is still growing

• No native SDK for specific languages yet (though the REST API is straightforward enough that most developers will not miss one)

Best for: Developers who want a fast, no-fuss REST API for production IPFS uploads with built-in gateway management and analytics. See how simple the API is in our developer tutorial.

2. Pinata

Website: pinata.cloud

Pinata is the most established name in IPFS pinning and for good reason. It has been around since the early days of IPFS adoption and has built a mature platform with an official TypeScript/JavaScript SDK, a polished web dashboard, and a feature called Private IPFS that lets you gate access to pinned content behind conditions like NFT ownership or email verification. Pinata handles billions of pins for some of the largest NFT marketplaces and decentralized applications in the ecosystem. Its API supports the IPFS Pinning Service standard, which means you can also use it directly from the IPFS CLI or desktop app.

Pricing:

• Free: 500 files, 1 GB storage, 10 GB bandwidth, 1 dedicated gateway
• Picnic: $20/month — 1 TB storage, 1M API requests, 500 GB bandwidth, 5M files, 1 gateway + CDN
• Fiesta: $100/month — higher limits for scaling teams
• Enterprise: Custom pricing for high-volume needs

Pros:

• Battle-tested at scale with years of uptime history and the largest user base among IPFS pinning providers
• First-party TypeScript/JavaScript SDK, plus support for the IPFS Pinning Service API standard
• Private IPFS feature provides unique content-gating capabilities that no other pure pinning service offers

Cons:

• Free tier is limited to 500 files and 1 GB, and the jump to the $20/month plan is steep for small projects
• Gateway performance can be inconsistent during peak traffic periods, and advanced gateway features require higher-tier plans

Best for: Teams that need a proven, enterprise-grade pinning service with rich SDKs and content-gating features. For a deeper dive, see our IPFS Ninja vs Pinata comparison.

3. Filebase

Website: filebase.com

Filebase differentiates itself with an S3-compatible API, which means you can swap it into any existing workflow that uses Amazon S3, MinIO, or any S3 client library. Under the hood, Filebase pins your data across multiple decentralized storage networks simultaneously — IPFS, Sia, and Storj — providing a level of redundancy that single-network services cannot match. This multi-network approach means your data persists even if one network experiences issues. The 5 GB free tier is one of the most generous in the space, and the S3 compatibility makes Filebase especially appealing for teams migrating existing applications from centralized cloud storage.

Pricing:

• Free: 5 GB storage across all networks
• Pro: Usage-based pricing starting at $5.99/TB/month for storage, with separate bandwidth charges
• Enterprise: Custom pricing with SLA guarantees

Pros:

• S3-compatible API means zero learning curve for teams already using AWS S3, and compatibility with hundreds of existing S3 tools and libraries
• Multi-network storage (IPFS, Sia, Storj) provides genuine redundancy beyond what single-network pinning offers
• Generous 5 GB free tier with no file count limits

Cons:

• The S3 abstraction, while convenient, hides some IPFS-specific functionality and makes it harder to work with raw CIDs and IPFS-native features
• Usage-based pricing can become unpredictable for applications with variable traffic patterns

Best for: Teams migrating from S3 or centralized storage who want multi-network redundancy without rewriting their upload code.

4. Web3.Storage (now Storacha)

Website: web3.storage / storacha.network

Web3.Storage (now Storacha) is backed by Protocol Labs, the organization behind IPFS and Filecoin, and it leverages that lineage to offer a unique value proposition: every file you upload is pinned to IPFS for fast retrieval and simultaneously stored via Filecoin deals for cryptographically verifiable long-term persistence. The platform is fully open source, which means you can audit exactly how your data is handled, and the w3up client provides a modern, capability-based authorization model built on UCANs. Web3.Storage has gone through several iterations, and the current version (w3up) represents a significant architectural improvement with better performance and a more developer-friendly API.

Pricing:

• Mild (Free): 5 GB storage
• Medium: $10/month — 100 GB storage
• Extra Spicy: $100/month — 2 TB storage
• Filecoin storage deals are included at no additional cost

Pros:

• Dual persistence on IPFS and Filecoin provides verifiable, long-term storage with on-chain proofs that your data exists
• Fully open-source stack backed by Protocol Labs, giving transparency and the ability to self-host components
• UCAN-based authorization is forward-thinking and allows fine-grained, delegatable permissions without centralized API key management

Cons:

• The platform has undergone multiple significant architectural changes, which means documentation and tutorials from even a year ago may be outdated
• Filecoin deal mechanics add complexity that is unnecessary if you only need standard IPFS pinning

Best for: Projects that need verifiable long-term storage with Filecoin proofs and prefer an open-source, Protocol Labs-backed solution.

5. NFT.Storage

Website: nft.storage

NFT.Storage was purpose-built for one thing: making NFT metadata and assets permanently available on IPFS and Filecoin. Originally launched as a free public good funded by Protocol Labs, NFT.Storage has since transitioned to a paid model. It now charges a one-time fee of $4.99/GB using an onchain endowment model, where payment funds long-term Filecoin storage deals that persist your data without recurring costs. The service accepts NFT metadata in standard formats, pins it to IPFS, and creates Filecoin deals to ensure long-term preservation. If your use case is specifically NFT-related — minting collections, storing artwork, preserving metadata — NFT.Storage provides a straightforward storage solution.

Pricing:

• $4.99/GB one-time fee (onchain endowment model — no recurring charges)
• Payment funds long-term Filecoin deals for persistent storage

Pros:

• One-time payment model with no recurring fees, powered by an onchain endowment that funds ongoing Filecoin storage deals
• Purpose-built workflows for NFT metadata standards (ERC-721, ERC-1155) with validation and best-practice guidance
• Backed by Filecoin deals for long-term persistence, ensuring NFT metadata survives even if the service itself changes

Cons:

• No longer free; the $4.99/GB one-time fee may add up for large NFT collections with significant asset storage needs
• Strictly scoped to NFT use cases; it is not appropriate (or intended) for general-purpose file storage or application data

Best for: NFT creators and marketplaces that need reliable, long-term storage for metadata and digital assets with a pay-once pricing model.

6. Lighthouse

Website: lighthouse.storage

Lighthouse takes a fundamentally different approach to pricing: instead of monthly subscriptions, you pay once and your data is stored permanently. This pay-once model is powered by Filecoin deals that Lighthouse manages on your behalf, and it includes built-in encryption so you can store sensitive data without wrapping it in your own encryption layer. Lighthouse also supports programmable access control, letting you define on-chain conditions (like token ownership) that determine who can decrypt and access your files. For projects where data must persist indefinitely and cost predictability matters, the pay-once model is genuinely compelling.

Pricing:

• Free trial: 5 GB storage for testing
• Beacon: $20/month — 5 GB storage (~$4.00/GB)
• Navigator: $100/month — 25 GB storage (~$4.00/GB)
• Harbor: $500/month — 150 GB storage (~$3.33/GB)
• Recurring annual plans are also available alongside pay-once options

Pros:

• Pay-once permanent storage eliminates recurring costs entirely, which is ideal for archival data and long-lived applications
• Built-in encryption and token-gated access control provide privacy features that most pinning services lack or charge extra for
• Filecoin-backed persistence with active deal renewal ensures data remains available long-term without manual intervention

Cons:

• Retrieval speeds can be slower than dedicated IPFS pinning services since data may need to be unsealed from Filecoin deals
• The pay-once pricing model makes cost estimation difficult for projects with unpredictable or rapidly growing storage needs

Best for: Projects that need permanent, encrypted storage with a one-time payment and do not require the fastest possible retrieval times.

7. 4EVERLAND

Website: 4everland.org

4EVERLAND positions itself as a Web3 cloud computing platform rather than a pure pinning service, and that broader scope is both its strength and its complexity. It supports pinning to both IPFS and Arweave, giving you a choice between content-addressed and permanent storage paradigms. Beyond storage, 4EVERLAND offers Web3 hosting (deploy your frontend to IPFS with a single command), an S3-compatible storage gateway, and a decentralized RPC aggregation service. If you are building a fully decentralized application stack and want a single provider for hosting, storage, and compute, 4EVERLAND offers the broadest feature set on this list.

Pricing:

• Free: 5 GB IPFS storage, 1 GB Arweave, limited bandwidth
• Usage-based: Pay-as-you-go pricing for storage and bandwidth beyond free limits
• Developer plans: Starting at competitive rates for combined hosting and storage

Pros:

• Dual-network support (IPFS and Arweave) lets you choose the right persistence model for each piece of data
• Integrated Web3 hosting means you can deploy your frontend and pin your data with the same provider and dashboard
• S3-compatible API plus a conventional REST API give you flexibility in how you integrate

Cons:

• The breadth of features creates a steeper learning curve compared to focused pinning services; the documentation tries to cover too much ground
• As a newer and more ambitious platform, individual features may be less mature than what dedicated single-purpose providers offer

Best for: Teams building full-stack decentralized applications that want a single provider for IPFS pinning, Arweave storage, and Web3 frontend hosting.

How to Choose the Right IPFS Pinning Service

With seven strong options on the table, the right choice depends on your project’s specific priorities. Here is a framework for narrowing it down.

Start with your budget

If you are just experimenting or building a side project, the free tiers from IPFS Ninja (500 files, 1 GB), Filebase (5 GB), or 4EVERLAND (5 GB) give you the most room to work. NFT.Storage charges a one-time $4.99/GB fee with no recurring costs. For production workloads under $30/month, IPFS Ninja and Pinata offer the most predictable pricing with flat monthly plans rather than usage-based billing that can surprise you.

Consider your API preferences

If you want the fastest integration with the least friction, IPFS Ninja’s REST API and signed upload tokens get you from zero to production in minutes. If your team already uses S3 workflows, Filebase or 4EVERLAND drop in without code changes. If you prefer rich client libraries, Pinata’s TypeScript/JavaScript SDK is the most mature. If you care about decentralized authorization, Web3.Storage’s UCAN model is the most forward-thinking.

Think about storage duration

Most pinning services keep your data available as long as you pay. If you need verifiable long-term persistence, Web3.Storage and NFT.Storage add Filecoin deals on top of IPFS pinning. If you want permanent storage, Lighthouse offers both pay-once and recurring annual plans with built-in encryption.

Evaluate gateway needs

If you are serving content directly to end users, gateway quality matters. IPFS Ninja and Pinata both offer dedicated gateways with custom domains. IPFS Ninja adds access controls and analytics at the gateway level, which is particularly useful if you need to restrict or monitor content access. Filebase and 4EVERLAND provide gateway access but with less granular control.

Factor in your ecosystem

Building an NFT project? Consider NFT.Storage for the assets and metadata with its pay-once endowment model. Need multi-chain storage redundancy? Filebase pins across three networks. Want everything under one roof? 4EVERLAND covers hosting, storage, and compute. Want a focused, developer-first experience? IPFS Ninja keeps things simple and performant.

Conclusion

The IPFS pinning landscape in 2026 offers genuine choice. Every service on this list is capable of keeping your content reliably available on the network, but they differ meaningfully in how they approach the developer experience, pricing, and additional features.

IPFS Ninja stands out for its clean API design, signed upload tokens for secure client-side uploads, and dedicated gateways with analytics — a combination that makes it particularly well-suited for production applications where developer velocity and operational visibility matter. Pinata remains the safe choice for teams that value maturity and ecosystem breadth. Filebase is unbeatable for S3-compatible workflows. Web3.Storage and NFT.Storage are the go-to options when Filecoin-backed persistence is a requirement. Lighthouse offers pay-once and recurring plans with encryption for archival needs. And 4EVERLAND provides the broadest Web3 infrastructure platform for teams that want to consolidate providers.

No matter which service you choose, the important thing is that you are pinning at all. Unpinned data on IPFS is ephemeral by design. Pick a provider, pin your content, and build with the confidence that your data will be there when your users need it.

Ready to start pinning? Create a free account — 500 files, 1 GB storage, dedicated gateway. No credit card required.