Filecoin

Filecoin is an open, blockchain-based storage network where independent storage providers hold customer data and prove cryptographically that they still have it. The vendor sells several storage options: warm storage for datasets, AI training data, and video libraries; archival storage for backups and records; storage for AI agents; IPFS pinning; and an enterprise S3-compatible object store from Fil One with client-side encryption. Filecoin Onchain Cloud reached mainnet in March 2026. It stores two independent copies on separate providers by default and checks them with Proof of Data Possession every 24 hours. Payments stop automatically if the proofs stop. Pricing is usage-based rather than plan-based. Storage starts at 2.50 USD per TiB per month for each copy, which Filecoin calls early pricing. A flat proving fee per data set applies, and Filecoin Beam charges for fast CDN-style delivery. Customers can pay in FIL, the USDFC stablecoin, or other ERC-20 tokens. Developers work through the Synapse SDK for JavaScript and TypeScript, which includes React bindings, along with a CLI, agent skills, and an MCP server. The enterprise S3 offering works with existing S3 SDKs and CLIs. Customers named by Filecoin include the Internet Archive, Flickr, and the Smithsonian. It suits teams that want cheap, verifiable, provider-independent storage, especially for archives and Web3 or AI data. Its main limitation is reliability guarantees. No contractual SLA is published, retrieval from cold or uncached storage can be slow, and independent measurements have shown inconsistent retrieval success from storage providers.