Best NFT.storage Alternatives in 2026 (Featuring AIOZ Pin)

The best NFT.Storage alternatives for new uploads in 2026 are Pinata, Filebase, Lighthouse, and AIOZ Pin. NFT.Storage Classic stopped accepting uploads on June 30, 2024, and the new NFT.Storage only preserves NFTs you have already put on IPFS somewhere else.

TL;DR:

• NFT.Storage Classic (web app, APIs, SDK, and Pinning API) takes no new uploads; existing data still loads, but NFT.Storage warns latency and availability may degrade
• The new NFT.Storage charges a one-time $4.99 per GB for long-term Filecoin preservation, and you still need a separate IPFS host for hot storage
• NFT.Storage itself recommends Pinata (code NFTSTORAGE50 for 50% off the first month) and Lighthouse for hot storage
• Filebase has the cheapest paid plan at $7.50 a month and the only S3-compatible API here; AIOZ Pin has flat per-TB pricing and an NFT endpoint that pins the asset and metadata together
• Pin your existing CIDs instead of re-uploading files, so your on-chain ipfs:// links keep resolving to the same content

Updated Oct 19, 2026: fixed the Filebase free tier (10 GB IPFS egress, not 1 GB), refreshed all prices, and added a comparison table, an S3 section, and safer migration steps.

What Happened to NFT.Storage?

The NFT.Storage GitHub notice says that as of June 30, 2024, NFT.Storage Classic no longer accepts new uploads or pins. That covers NFTUp, the Classic web app, the Classic APIs and SDK, and the Pinning API. Data you uploaded before then stays reachable through the NFT.Storage Gateway and Filecoin, but the team warns that latency and availability may degrade over time.

A new NFT.Storage runs under the same name, and it does a different job. You mint first, then send NFT.Storage your metadata and image CIDs, chain, contract address, and token IDs. It preserves that data in long-term Filecoin storage for a one-time fee of $4.99 per GB. The notice is explicit that you need to upload the data to IPFS separately, so you still need one of the hot-storage services below.

NFT.Storage Alternatives Compared

We checked every price below on each vendor's own pricing page on Oct 19, 2026:

AIOZ Pin: Flat Per-TB Pricing and an NFT Endpoint

AIOZ Pin bills storage at $20 per TB per month and bandwidth at $20 per TB, deducted daily from a wallet you fund with AIOZ tokens. The first 40,000 pinned files are free, and each extra 1,000 pins costs $0.10. You pay from the first GB because there is no free storage or bandwidth allowance. A small collection still costs very little: 50 GB of storage runs about $1 a month.

The NFT endpoint is why AIOZ Pin belongs on this list. One request pins your asset and its metadata JSON together and returns both CIDs, so an image never ends up pinned without its metadata. You can also pass the CID of an asset that is already on IPFS instead of uploading the file again.

Pinata: The Recommended Migration Target

Pinata is one of the two hot-storage partners NFT.Storage names, and its code NFTSTORAGE50 gives you 50% off your first month. Pinata's pricing page now leads each plan with an agent count (0, 1, or 3), which reflects its newer agents product. For pinning, the numbers that matter are storage, files, bandwidth, and requests.

The Free plan gives you 1 GB of storage, 500 files, 10 GB of bandwidth, and 10,000 requests. Picnic costs $20 a month for 1 TB, 5 million files, 500 GB of bandwidth, and 1 million requests. Fiesta costs $100 a month for 5 TB, 10 million files, 2.5 TB of bandwidth, and 5 million requests. Past those caps you pay $0.07 or $0.035 per GB of storage, $0.10 or $0.08 per GB of bandwidth, and $0.20 or $0.15 per 10,000 requests. Our AIOZ Pin vs Pinata comparison runs these numbers at two usage levels.

Filebase: The Lowest Paid Plan

Filebase's Free plan pools 5 GB across object storage and IPFS, with 500 pinned files, 10 GB of IPFS egress, one gateway, and one IPNS name. Pro costs $7.50 a month for 500 GB, unlimited pinned files, 250 GB of IPFS egress, five gateways, and 100 IPNS names. Extra storage and extra IPFS bandwidth both cost $0.015 per GB. If your collection is small and you want a fixed monthly bill, this is the cheapest paid option on the list.

Do You Need an S3-Compatible API?

Filebase is the only option here that advertises an S3-compatible API, and that matters if your minting pipeline already writes to AWS S3. You can often point the same S3 client at Filebase and keep your upload code. Delivery from Filebase's object storage is free on both plans, while IPFS egress has the separate allowance above.

AIOZ Pin, Pinata, and Lighthouse are IPFS-native instead: you work with CIDs, pins, and gateways, not buckets and object keys. Moving an S3-based uploader to one of them means rewriting that layer. If you are starting fresh, the IPFS-native model is simpler for NFTs because the CID you store on-chain is the same ID you pin. Our AIOZ Pin vs Filebase post compares the two in more depth.

Lighthouse: Filecoin-Backed Plans

Lighthouse is the other partner NFT.Storage recommends, described in its notice as an IPFS provider with a pay-once, store-forever option. Its Filecoin plans run Free at 5 GB, Lite at $12 a month for 500 GB, and Premium at $49 a month for 2.5 TB. Premium adds encryption and token gating, IPNS, and migration support, and annual billing is cheaper. Lighthouse also sells Walrus-backed plans and a $99 Pro add-on with SLAs and a custom gateway. It fits best if long-term archival matters more to you than a pinning API you script against.

How Do You Migrate NFTs Off NFT.Storage?

Start with a list of every CID your contracts reference, taken from your own records or your token metadata. Then pin those CIDs at the new provider by CID while the NFT.Storage Gateway still serves them, so the provider fetches the existing blocks from the network.

Pinning by CID matters because a re-upload can change the address: a different chunk size or CID version gives the same file a new CID. Your contracts would then point at a CID nobody pins anymore. Our explainer on why the same file can get different CIDs covers the settings involved, and what happens when an NFT's pin expires shows the failure you are avoiding.

After pinning, load a few tokens through your new gateway and check that the metadata and images resolve. If you want long-term preservation as well, send the same CIDs to the new NFT.Storage.

Choosing Between the Four

Pick Pinata if you want NFT.Storage's own recommended path, detailed NFT minting guides, and bundled monthly plans. Pick Filebase if you need an S3-compatible API or the cheapest fixed monthly price. Pick Lighthouse if Filecoin-backed archival matters more than an API-driven pinning workflow. Pick AIOZ Pin if you want to pay only for what you use at a flat per-TB rate and pin an NFT's asset and metadata in one call.

How AIOZ Pin Handles It

We built an NFT endpoint into AIOZ Pin for exactly this job. This is the cURL example from the AIOZ Pin NFT API docs, which uploads the asset and its metadata JSON in one request:

curl --location --request POST 'https://api.aiozpin.network/api/nft/' \
--header 'pinning_api_key: KEY' \
--header 'pinning_secret_key: SECRET' \
--form 'metadata=@"/sample.json"' \
--form 'file=@"/test.png"'

The response returns asset_cid and metadata_cid, plus a pin ID for each. If your image is already on IPFS, add the optional cid query parameter with the asset CID. For files that are not NFTs, POST /api/pinning/pinByHash pins an existing CID without a re-upload. In Node.js, the @aioznetwork/aioz-pin-sdk package wraps the same endpoint as pinNft.

Next step: the AIOZ Pin NFTs guide covers the metadata format and the full minting flow.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is NFT.Storage completely shut down? No: Classic stopped taking uploads on June 30, 2024, but old data still loads, and a new NFT.Storage now sells one-time Filecoin preservation for data you host on IPFS yourself.

What alternative does NFT.Storage recommend? NFT.Storage names Pinata, with the code NFTSTORAGE50 for 50% off the first month, and Lighthouse as its hot-storage partners.

Is AIOZ Pin a good NFT.Storage replacement? It is a real option if you want flat $20 per TB pricing and one endpoint that pins an asset and its metadata together, though NFT.Storage does not list it.

Will moving my NFTs to a new provider break my smart contracts? Not if you pin the same CIDs. Re-uploading files can produce new CIDs when settings differ, so pin by CID wherever the provider supports it.

Which NFT.Storage alternative is cheapest? Filebase has the cheapest paid plan at $7.50 a month for 500 GB. AIOZ Pin can cost less for a small collection, because you pay only for the GB you use.

Do these services support the IPFS Pinning Service API? AIOZ Pin and Pinata both implement it, so tools written against the standard need a new endpoint and key rather than a rewrite.

Related Reading

• AIOZ Pin vs Pinata - a full head-to-head on pricing and features
• AIOZ Pin vs Filebase - S3-compatible storage against an IPFS-native API
• The NFT metadata problem - what breaks when a pin expires
• Automating NFT pinning with the AIOZ Pin NFT API - the NFT endpoint in a full script
• What is IPFS? - the protocol every option here is built on

References

• NFT.Storage GitHub: Product Decommission Notice
• NFT.Storage Pricing
• Pinata Pricing
• Filebase Pricing
• Lighthouse Pricing
• AIOZ Pin Docs: Payment
• AIOZ Pin Docs: NFT API