Self-hosted Synapse media repository

Free allowance: Unbounded — max_upload_size defaults to 50M and can be set to any value; storage and media retention are entirely operator-controlled.
Verdict: self-hosted, last resortverdict fails-egress: data cannot be read back out at a usable rate or price. Self-hosted options are listed last, because this site is for users who have no hardware.
Cost: free tier
Identity: institution?placeholder, not evidence; card unknown, phone unknown
Binding limit: noneno named constraint binds
Evidence: reported2 sources; a third party said so
Freshness: stale on 2026-11-05checked 2026-10-21 (inherited); stale on 2026-11-05

Free tier	Unbounded — `max_upload_size` defaults to 50M and can be set to any value; storage and media retention are entirely operator-controlled. unit mixed; metered on stored-bytes
Price	none stated
Identity	institution (inferred, not read) not published
Egress	Your own server's bandwidth.
Per-object cap	not stated
Retention	not stated
Interface	s3, rest, webdav, rclone rest
Tooling	Synapse (Python) or Dendrite/Conduit; standard Matrix media API so rclone's `s3`/`webdav`-adjacent tooling plus any Matrix SDK works. Admin media API allows listing and purging media per user/room.
Composes with	Not a free provider — the multiplier angle is that media is content-addressed and deduplicated by Synapse, and federation lets you push copies to other homeservers as a second replica.
Reliability	Default installs are safe; the risk is operator misconfiguration — enabling media_retention turns the repo into a TTL cache. Federation media cache is the first thing purged.
Parsed numbers	has-free-tier 1

Evidence 2

date	source	what it proved
2026-10-21	matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/usage/configuration/conf	'max_upload_size — The largest allowed upload size in bytes... Defaults to 50M.'
2026-10-21	matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/usage/configuration/conf	'media_retention ... control whether media will be purged if it has not been accessed in a given amount of time'

More fields 1

dead end	{"failure_class": "retention","why": "Unbounded — `max_upload_size` defaults to 50M and can be set to any value; storage and media retention are entirely operator-controlled.","retry_when": null,"first_recorded": "2026-10-21"}

Unknown values 4

per object cap notes: the field may be stated in a source that was not read
per object cap stated: the field may be stated in a source that was not read
retention notes: the field may be stated in a source that was not read
retention stated: the field may be stated in a source that was not read