# IPFS vs IC for large amount of files cost-wise comparison

**URL:** <https://forum.dfinity.org/t/ipfs-vs-ic-for-large-amount-of-files-cost-wise-comparison/5923>\
**Category:** Developers\
**Created:** [July 15, 2021, 2:55pm UTC](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/ipfs-vs-ic-for-large-amount-of-files-cost-wise-comparison/5923 "2021-07-15T14:55:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ehsan6sha](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex023/user_avatar/forum.dfinity.org/ehsan6sha/32/2460_2.png) [@ehsan6sha](https://forum.dfinity.org/u/ehsan6sha)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2021, 2:55pm UTC](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/ipfs-vs-ic-for-large-amount-of-files-cost-wise-comparison/5923/1 "2021-07-15T14:55:11Z")

</div>

Hi  
Anyone knows if storing large amount of files is cost-wise better on IC or a pinning service of IPFS ?

My scenario is, I want to have a gallery. So I have two approaches:  
1- Storing everything(files, metadata, database) on IC  
2- Storing files on IFPS and everything else+CIDs on IC

I believe second choice is better becasue of 4G limit of canisters and I see IC as an Internet Computer meaning CPU+RAM and not a hard disk, correct me if wrong? any insights is much appreciated.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GLdev](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4bbf92/32.png) [@GLdev](https://forum.dfinity.org/u/GLdev)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 5:32am UTC](https://forum.dfinity.org/t/ipfs-vs-ic-for-large-amount-of-files-cost-wise-comparison/5923/2 "2021-07-16T05:32:03Z")

</div>

I believe someone from dfinity shared a rough estimate of storage cost at around 5$ / GB / year. There’s also talk of storage optimized canisters in the future, so that might be an option.