IPFS Dedicated Gateway Free vs Paid Plans on AIOZ Pin
An IPFS dedicated gateway on AIOZ Pin is called a premium gateway, and the free plan gets a limited version of it. The limited version serves single files such as images, video and audio, but not HTML or scripts, and a paid plan lifts that limit.
TL;DR:
- AIOZ Pin calls its dedicated gateway a premium gateway, and free-plan accounts get a limited premium gateway
- The limited version serves individual files like images, video and audio, and the docs say files with HTML and scripts are not served
- Premium gateways have no predefined rate limit and run on 200+ edge-caching locations, while the public gateway allows 15 requests per minute per CID
- Bandwidth counts the same for every file type, and the payment docs price it at $20 per 1TB
- If your balance reaches zero, the premium option turns off and the public gateway still serves your pinned files
What Is an IPFS Dedicated Gateway on AIOZ Pin?
An IPFS gateway turns a CID into an HTTP URL so a browser can load content without a node, and a dedicated gateway belongs to your account instead of being shared.
Filebase and Pinata call these dedicated gateways, while AIOZ Pin's docs call them premium gateways. The gateway list API returns a name, host, type, bandwidth and active flag for each gateway on your account, so every one has its own hostname.
AIOZ also published an overview of AIOZ Pin dedicated gateways. This post sticks to the limits the docs spell out, because those decide what you can build on each plan.
What Does the Free Plan Limit?
Free-plan users get a limited premium gateway, which the docs say serves individual files like images, videos and audio but not files containing HTML and scripts.
In practice, an NFT image or a video should load fine, while a static website made of an HTML page plus scripts will not. That is my reading of the docs, not a tested result.
For comparison, Filebase's free plan includes a dedicated gateway with no request limits and a 5GB bandwidth allowance, and AIOZ Pin's docs give no equivalent numbers.
If you are planning around the free plan, three things the docs leave open matter:
- JSON files: the list names images, videos and audio. It does not say whether a metadata JSON file counts as an individual file, so load one through your gateway before launching a collection. The ERC-1155 metadata post explains why every metadata URI has to resolve.
- Image optimization: the docs show the
img-widthandimg-heightparameters on a premium host, but they do not say whether the limited gateway supports them. The image resizing guide lists the options. - The bandwidth number: the gateway API has a
bandwidthfield, but no docs page says what value a free-plan gateway gets.
What a Paid Plan Adds
The docs say upgrading to a paid plan unlocks the full potential of premium gateways. Three things are documented:
- No predefined rate limit when you request content
- A global network of 200+ edge-caching locations
- No restriction to single files, which the docs imply by tying the HTML and scripts limit to the limited version
The rate limit is the number you will feel first, because the public gateway allows 15 requests per minute per CID across all visitors, plus 200 per minute per IP. If 20 people open the same NFT page within a minute, the combined traffic passes the per-CID cap, and the rate limits breakdown shows how those numbers play out.
The docs still ask you to use premium gateways responsibly, because heavy use can affect other users of the gateway.
How Bandwidth Is Counted
Bandwidth is the data transferred when someone views or downloads a file through your gateway, and the docs say file type does not change the count. You can follow your usage on the Gateways page of your account.
The payment docs price bandwidth at $20 per 1TB, split by the days in the month into a daily rate that comes out of your wallet. Using 1TB as 1,000GB, my arithmetic puts 50GB of gateway traffic at about $1.
What the docs do not say is how that billing applies to the limited gateway on a free plan, and AIOZ Pin pricing covers the full rate card.
What Happens When Your Balance Hits Zero?
If the premium gateway is on and your balance reaches zero, the option turns off automatically, and pinned files stay reachable through the public gateway.
Two consequences follow, and the second one is my inference from the docs:
- The public gateway limits apply to you again, including 15 requests per minute per CID
- URLs that point at your premium hostname may stop serving, so an app that hard-codes that host needs a fallback to the public one
The docs do not say what happens to the pins themselves, a gap covered in what happens if you stop using AIOZ Pin, and the wallet billing guide shows how a balance drains.
Public, Limited Premium and Premium Side by Side
| Public gateway | Limited premium (free plan) | Premium (paid plan) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account needed | No | Yes | Yes |
| What it serves | IPFS content | Single files: images, video, audio | Full premium, including HTML and scripts |
| Rate limit | 15 per minute per CID, 200 per minute per IP | Not documented | None predefined |
| Edge network | Not documented | Not documented | 200+ locations |
| Intended for | Testing, very low volume | Small projects with media files | Production traffic |
Choosing Between the Three
Use the public gateway when you are testing a CID or sharing a link a few times, because the docs say it is not meant for production. Use the limited premium gateway for media files when you want your own hostname without paying yet, and go paid from the start if you host a website.
Move to a paid premium gateway when real traffic arrives, and watch your bandwidth usage, because a popular asset has no request cap but still produces a bill.
What the Docs Do Not Say
Before you build on any of this, ask AIOZ support about these four points:
- The free-plan bandwidth allowance
- Whether JSON files and optimized images work on the limited gateway
- Whether custom domains are supported, since the overview post mentions them and the premium gateways docs page does not
- What "paid plan" means in practice, because the payment docs describe a wallet with usage-based charges rather than named tiers
Checking Your Gateways From the API
You can list the gateways on your account with the call from the docs. I ran it without keys on 2026-10-19 and got HTTP 401, so the output below is the response shape the docs show, not a result from my account.
curl --location --request GET 'https://api.aiozpin.network/api/gateways/?offset=0&limit=10&type=all' \
--header 'pinning_api_key: YOUR_API_KEY' \
--header 'pinning_secret_key: YOUR_SECRET_KEY'The docs describe each gateway in the response with name, host, type (Public or Premium), bandwidth, operation and active. A content URL then follows the pattern https://<gateway-name>.aiozpin.network/ipfs/<CID>.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an AIOZ Pin premium gateway?
It is the AIOZ Pin equivalent of a dedicated gateway. The docs describe it as a gateway for users who need faster speed or increased rate limits when retrieving IPFS content.
Is the AIOZ Pin premium gateway free?
Free-plan users get a limited premium gateway that serves individual files like images, videos and audio, while the full premium gateway needs a paid plan.
Does a premium gateway have a rate limit?
No predefined one, though the docs still ask you to avoid excessive requests that could affect other users of the gateway.
Can I host a website on the free-plan gateway?
The docs say files containing HTML and scripts are not served through the limited premium gateway, so a site built from them will not load there.
What happens to my files if the premium gateway turns off?
Your pinned files stay reachable through the public gateway, which has the lower limits. The docs do not say what happens to the pins themselves.
Related Reading
- AIOZ Pin Rate Limits: API, Public, and Premium Gateways - every documented limit in one place
- IPFS Is Rate-Limiting Public Gateways: What Changes for You - the IPFS-wide shift behind the public limits
- IPFS Gateway Not Working? Diagnose It in This Order - when a gateway will not return your file
- Explore How IPFS Gateway Works Across Decentralized Networks - how a gateway turns a CID into a URL
References
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