Question about pricing and media storage limits

Eben

I find Xano very intriguing and I'm looking to build something like a creative agency app where I can share files / pictures with clients and vice versa.

Since files, especially images, can be very large I'm concerned about the economics since one customer's images could very easily be 3GB-4GB in size. Compared to the capacity of the SCALE 1x pricing plan which gives you 50GB media storage, I may blow through that limit with just a few customers. I know it's possible to increase limits at an extra cost so that is also on my mind.

Question: Is there any compression done in Xano backend so that a file that is normally 1GB for example, gets compressed to equal a smaller percentage of its original size? I'm trying to think of pricing and profitability when providing this service to customers by building on Xano.

Thank you.

Ray Deck

I would not store large amounts of files on xano. I’d use xano for the logic and database and do my storage on s3, Google file storage or some other service that is not capped and charges on a metered basis and offers more sophisticated security. It’s not much more money - bytes are cheap! You can wind up with getting further with launch plan on xano and spending a few dollars per month in storage from these other services than spending hundreds on a scale xano plan alone.

Eben

Thank you, this is very helpful. So in this kind of arrangement, will it be better to:
1.  Connect the third-party storage service (e.g. S3, Google File Storage, etc.) to Xano's logic in the backend so that all interactions with the frontend happen through Xano APIs, which ultimately handle the CRUD operations with the third-party service? OR
2. Connect the third-party storage service separately with the frontend to deal with the storage needs directly instead of having it interact with the frontend through Xano APIs in the backend?


In the case of #1, is that possible through Xano?

Ray Deck

 you can definitely start developing and testing with 1. Xano supports receiving files and sending those files elsewhere. You'll likely run into practical limits to this approach within a few iterations, but that's no reason not to build first prototypes with it. 

To give you a look-ahead: best practices in production look more like a blend of 1 and 2. One possible example for the latter: you use Xano to set up authorized upload URLs to a private bucket in S3, then transmit those URLs to the front end, which uses them for the upload process. That way the data goes directly (and securely) between the front-end and the third-party back-end, and the security is managed through Xano.

Finally, I've heard tell that the Xano crew are working on improving their file management features, so it's possible that by the time you're starting to look at production options in earnest, there may be easier choices available to you. The no-code space keeps evolving and keeping your finger on the pulse lets you keep dropping the cost of your project both in time and money. 

Eben

Thank you very much, Ray. This was very helpful.