- Free allowance
- Per-account unlimited (Pixelfed has no per-user storage counter).
- Verdict
- fails: quotathe free allowance is too small to matter
- Cost
- free tier
- Identity
- email?placeholder, not evidence; card unknown, phone unknown
- Binding limit
- per-object-capPer-file image_size_limit = video_size_limit = 15360000 bytes (about 14.65 MiB)
- Evidence
- reported6 sources; a third party said so
- Freshness
- stale on 2026-11-19checked 2026-11-04 (live); stale on 2026-11-19
| Free tier | Per-account unlimited (Pixelfed has no per-user storage counter). Per-file image_size_limit = video_size_limit = 15360000 bytes (14.6 MiB); 12 attachments per status; image_matrix_limit 2,073,600 px (1920x1080). unit unlimited; metered on stored-bytes |
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| Price | none stated |
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| Limits | - per-object-cap (binding) Per-file image_size_limit = video_size_limit = 15360000 bytes (about 14.65 MiB) source
per-object-cap 14.6 MiB; per-account unlimited; supported MIME restricted to image/jpeg,png,gif,webp + video/mp4 — no arbitrary blobs (PNG/JPEG wrapper needed). |
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| Identity | email (placeholder) the registration form asks name, username, email, password and a box confirming the user is at least 16 years old; no phone or card field |
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| Egress | Free, plain CDN path, no meter. |
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| Per-object cap | Per-file image_size_limit = video_size_limit = 15360000 bytes (about 14.65 MiB) (15360000 bytes) |
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| Retention | not stated |
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| Interface | rest rest |
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| Tooling | Pixelfed is a Mastodon-API derivative: POST /api/v1/media (multipart) then POST /api/v1/statuses with media_ids[]. OAuth2 via /api/v1/apps. Any Mastodon client library mostly works. |
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| Composes with | Worst per-object cap (14.6 MiB, and photos-only MIME list: jpeg/png/gif/webp/mp4). The multiplier is broad: hundreds of Pixelfed instances, most open. Useful only as a fan-out target, never as primary. |
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| Reliability | pixelfed.social itself returned HTTP 521 (origin down) throughout this probe; pixelfed.art also 521. The software is fine, the flagship host was not. |
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| Evidence note | reported reported: the pages read on 2026-11-03 are https://pixelfed.de/api/v1/instance, which states registrations true with approval_required false, image_size_limit and video_size_limit of 15360000, the MIME types image/jpeg, image/png, image/gif, image/webp and video/mp4, and max_media_attachments 12, and https://pixelfed.de/register, which shows a form with an age-confirmation box. Neither page states a per-account storage quota, so the 'unlimited per account' value of free_tier.stated is not confirmed by them and the rung stays reported. |
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| Parsed numbers | - has-free-tier 1
- per-object-cap 14.65 MiB
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