File uploads for TypeScript developers
Visit WebsiteThe Bottom Line
Entry price
Free plan available, paid tiers above
Biggest pro
Easy file uploads
Biggest con
Newer platform
TL;DR - UploadThing
- UploadThing is a file upload service for TypeScript applications
- It provides simple file uploads with a developer-friendly API
- Offers a free tier and paid plans
What is UploadThing?
Available on: Web
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Easy file uploads
- TypeScript native
- Next.js focused
- Good DX
- Fair pricing
Cons
- Newer platform
- Vendor lock-in
- Limited features
- React/Next.js focused
- Documentation improving
Key Features
Pricing Plans
Pricing checked Aug 23, 2026
Free
- 2GB storage
- 7-day audit logs
- Unlimited uploads/downloads
100GB
$10/month
- 100GB storage
- No seat charges
- No bandwidth charges
Usage-Based
$25/month
- 250GB included
- $0.08/GB additional
- Enterprise ready
Is UploadThing worth the price?
UploadThing solves a genuinely painful problem: file uploads in modern web apps are disproportionately complex relative to how simple they should be.
The free tier (2GB storage, unlimited uploads/downloads) is generous enough for prototypes and small projects. Pro at $10/month unlocks 100GB and 30-day audit logs, enough for most production apps with moderate file upload needs.
Business at $25/month provides 250GB with usage-based scaling at $0.08/GB overage, which is refreshingly transparent: no bandwidth charges, no per-request fees, no seat-based pricing. You pay for storage used, period.
The developer experience is the real differentiator, type-safe file routes, built-in size/type validation, auth middleware hooks, and first-class Next.js/SolidStart/Nuxt support. The tradeoff: UploadThing is a managed service with no self-hosting option, your files live on their infrastructure (backed by AWS S3), and you are locked into their SDK for uploads.
For developers who want full control, direct S3 integration remains cheaper at scale.
Hidden Costs & Gotchas
The 2GB free tier fills up fast if your app handles user-generated images or documents. A single app with 100 users uploading profile photos and a few documents each can exhaust 2GB in weeks.
Default file size limits are conservative
4MB for images, 16MB for video, 8MB for audio, 4MB for PDFs. You can increase these in your file route config, but the defaults can surprise developers who do not read the docs.
No bandwidth charges sounds great, but UploadThing serves files through their CDN, if you need a custom domain for file URLs or specific CDN configuration (edge caching rules, geo-restrictions), you are limited by their infrastructure.
Audit log retention is plan-gated
7 days on Free, 30 days on Pro. If you need longer retention for compliance, you must build your own logging on top of UploadThing webhooks.
Overage pricing on the Business plan ($0.08/GB/month) adds up at scale. At 1TB of storage, you are paying $25 + (750 x $0.08) = $85/month. Direct S3 storage costs roughly $23/month for 1TB, UploadThing charges a 3-4x premium for the managed experience.
No self-hosting option means vendor lock-in. Migrating away requires re-uploading all files to a new storage provider and updating every file URL in your database.
The SDK is TypeScript-only. If your backend is Python, Go, Ruby, or any non-JS language, you cannot use UploadThing's server-side SDK and must rely on their REST API with less developer ergonomics.
How UploadThing's pricing compares
At $10/mo, UploadThing is the most affordable of its 3 direct competitors.
Entry paid plan, monthly. Pricing checked Aug 23, 2026.
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UploadThing FAQ
How does UploadThing simplify file uploads for developers?
Which teams benefit most from using UploadThing?
How is UploadThing priced?
Can UploadThing be used for managing files within a Next.js application?
What are the trade-offs when choosing UploadThing for file management?
How does UploadThing compare to AWS S3 for file storage?
Source: uploadthing.com