IPFS + Fleek vs Arweave: Full-Stack Hosting

Best for frequently updated applications. Fleek's edge network caches content from IPFS for sub-second delivery, ideal for frontends, dApps, and sites with regular deployments. You pay for compute and bandwidth (like AWS), not permanent storage. This suits agile development cycles and high-traffic web apps.

True permanent storage with predictable cost. Pay once (~$5-10 for 1GB) for 200+ years of guaranteed storage via the permaweb. No recurring fees or pinning services required. This is non-negotiable for archival data, NFT metadata, legal documents, and protocol binaries where persistence is paramount.

Pay-as-you-go pricing: Fleek's usage-based billing (e.g., $0.15/GB storage, $0.10/GB bandwidth) aligns with variable traffic. This matters for early-stage dApps or projects with unpredictable growth, avoiding large upfront capital lock-in. You only pay for what you pin and serve.

Integrated CI/CD & tooling: Fleek provides a seamless workflow with automatic deployments from GitHub, custom domains, SSL, and environment variables. This matters for teams accustomed to Web2 DevOps (like Vercel/Netlify) who want to build on decentralized infrastructure without rebuilding their entire pipeline.

Pinning dependency: Data persistence relies on Fleek's paid pinning service or a decentralized alternative like Filecoin or Crust. If pins lapse, content can become unavailable. This matters for mission-critical, permanent records where data loss is unacceptable, adding operational overhead for long-term guarantees.

One-time, perpetual storage: Pay an upfront fee (e.g., ~$5-10 per GB) for 200+ years of guaranteed storage, backed by the blockchain's endowment model. This matters for archival data, NFTs, and permanent frontends where tamper-proof, long-term accessibility is the core requirement.

Unified storage & retrieval: Data is written directly to the Arweave chain and served via gateways (like Arweave.net). This eliminates the orchestration complexity of separate pinning/services layers. This matters for protocols and DAOs that need a simple, deterministic guarantee without managing third-party service agreements.

Higher initial capital requirement: Large datasets require significant upfront AR token payment. Slower finality (~2 minutes per block) vs. near-instant IPFS pins. This matters for highly dynamic applications (like social feeds) or projects with tight bootstrapping budgets, where variable costs and speed are critical.

Specific advantage: Fleek provides a seamless, AWS-like workflow with CLI, GitHub integration, and automatic deployments. This matters for teams migrating from Web2 who need familiar CI/CD pipelines and don't want to manage infrastructure. Supports frameworks like Next.js, Vite, and Hugo.

Specific advantage: Pay-as-you-go model for compute and bandwidth, with no upfront storage endowment. This matters for dynamic applications with variable traffic or large, mutable datasets where permanent storage isn't the primary goal. Costs scale with usage.

Specific advantage: One-time, upfront payment secures data for a minimum of 200 years via the endowment model. This matters for NFT metadata, legal documents, and critical protocol data where guaranteed, tamper-proof persistence is non-negotiable. Data is replicated across the Permaweb.

Specific advantage: Storage and retrieval are bundled into a single protocol layer, eliminating pinning services and long-term coordination risk. This matters for building autonomous, serverless backends where data availability must be as reliable as the smart contract logic that references it.

Specific weakness: Long-term persistence relies on third-party pinning services (like Fleek, Pinata) or a robust community pinning ecosystem. This matters for mission-critical archives where the failure of a centralized pinning provider could lead to data loss.

Specific weakness: High, one-time storage cost for large datasets and limited native support for mutable data without bundlers like Bundlr or layers like EverVision. This matters for highly interactive social or gaming dApps that require frequent, low-cost updates.