Filestack
File upload API with a drop-in picker, file transformations and CDN delivery.
Updated · AppBreakup editorial · Web, iOS, Android
Is Filestack free?
Free plan, plus paid plans
- Starting price:
- $69/month
- Free plan:
- Yes
Checked on Filestack's site Nov 8, 2026
Full Filestack pricing and plansSwitch from Filestack to
All 5
UploadThingStarting price: $10/month for 100GB
CloudinaryStarting price: $99/month, or $89/month billed yearly (Plus)
ImageKitStarting price: $9 a month plus usage (Lite)
- Verified facts
- 5 of 5
- Alternatives ranked
- 5
- Approved reviews
- 0
- Visits sent from here
- 0
About Filestack
Filestack is a developer service that handles file uploads end to end. You drop its File Picker into a web or mobile app, and users can upload from their device or from 20+ sources such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box and Instagram. Files land in Filestack storage or your own S3, Google Cloud or Azure bucket, and can then be resized, cropped, converted between formats, transcoded or run through add-ons like OCR, virus scanning, image tagging and content moderation, before being served from a CDN. Workflows chain these steps so they run on every upload. SDKs cover JavaScript, React, Angular, Python, PHP, Ruby, Java, Swift and more. A free plan gives small monthly quotas for testing, paid plans scale bandwidth, uploads and transformations, and many AI features are paid add-ons. It is aimed at product teams that would rather not build upload infrastructure themselves.
Best for: Developers who need a ready-made upload widget plus file processing and delivery.
Filestack pricing (checked Nov 8, 2026)
Each line is quoted from Filestack's own site, with the page it came from.
| Plan or term | What it says | Checked | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Nov 8, 2026 | filestack.com |
| Starting price | $69/month | Nov 8, 2026 | filestack.com |
| Free plan file size | 20 MB max | Nov 8, 2026 | filestack.com |
Pros and cons
What works
- Drop-in picker with 20+ cloud and social upload sources
- Can store files in your own S3, Google Cloud or Azure bucket
- SDKs for most major languages and frameworks
Why people leave
- Paid plans start fairly high compared with image-only CDNs
- Many features (OCR extras, tagging, moderation, custom CNAME) are paid add-ons
- Free plan limits files to 20 MB and has small monthly quotas
Filestack vs UploadThing, Cloudinary and ImageKit
From each app's listing and the prices verified on its own site. A dash means we haven't verified it yet.
| Attribute | Filestack | UploadThing | Cloudinary | ImageKit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan + paid | Free plan + paid | Free plan + paid | Free plan + paid |
| Verified price | $69/month | $10/month for 100GB | $99/month, or $89/month billed yearly (Plus) | $9 a month plus usage (Lite) |
| Free plan | Yes | 2GB of storage | Yes, $0 forever, no credit card | Yes, 20 GB bandwidth a month |
| Open source | No | No | No | No |
| Self-hostable | No | No | No | No |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android | Web | Web | Web |
Top Filestack alternatives
See all 5- 1UploadThing68.8
Simpler, TypeScript-first file uploads with cheaper storage-based pricing.
- 2Cloudinary64.8
Upload widget plus deeper image and video transformations and delivery.
- 3ImageKit61.8
Lower-cost choice if you mainly need image optimisation and a CDN.
- 4
Sirv59.4Better fit for ecommerce product images, with 360° spins and zoom.
- 5
Amazon S351.2Upload straight to your own bucket with presigned URLs and pay only for storage and transfer.
Why people left Filestack
In reviewers' own words, from reviews of the apps they moved to. These are their opinions, not ours.
No switching stories yet. If you moved away from Filestack, review the app you switched to and tell us why.
Reviews
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Filestack: common questions
What is Filestack?
Filestack: File upload API with a drop-in picker, file transformations and CDN delivery. Best for developers who need a ready-made upload widget plus file processing and delivery. Available for Web, iOS and Android.
Is Filestack free?
Filestack has a free plan and paid plans. Free plan: Yes (checked on Filestack's own site).
How much does Filestack cost?
Filestack is free with paid plans. Free plan: Yes; Starting price: $69/month; Free plan file size: 20 MB max. Checked on Filestack's own site, November 2026.
Is Filestack open source?
No, Filestack is not open source.
What platforms does Filestack run on?
Filestack is available for Web, iOS and Android.
What are the best alternatives to Filestack?
The highest-ranked Filestack alternatives right now are UploadThing, Cloudinary and ImageKit. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.
Filestack vs UploadThing: what's the difference?
Both Filestack and UploadThing are free with paid plans. Verified prices: Filestack $69/month, UploadThing $10/month for 100GB. Only Filestack runs on iOS and Android.