UploadKit vs Filestack

Filestack provides a file picker, an upload API and file transformations, and it supports uploading to your own Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage or Azure bucket on every plan. UploadKit also supports your own bucket, through a self-hosted storage adapter, so storage ownership is not what separates the two.

The practical differences are price, the free plan and the SDK license. UploadKit’s SDK and components are MIT licensed, and the free plan is larger on storage and bandwidth. Filestack’s free plan allows bigger single files.

Sources (checked October 2026): Filestack pricing, Filestack free signup. Vendors change prices; confirm on their site before you decide.

• You use Google Cloud Storage or Azure

  Filestack lists S3, GCS and Azure as upload targets. UploadKit’s documented adapters are S3, R2 and MinIO.

• You need transformations on the free plan

  Filestack Free includes 1,000 transformations. UploadKit Free has no image transforms; they start on Pro.

• You want an established vendor contract

  Filestack has fixed tiers up to $379/mo and a long track record, which some procurement teams prefer.

• You want a lower starting price

  UploadKit Pro is $15/mo for 100 GB storage, 200 GB bandwidth and 512 MB files. Filestack’s first paid tier is $69/mo.

• You want more free storage and bandwidth

  UploadKit Free gives 5 GB storage and 2 GB bandwidth per month. Filestack Free gives 1 GB of each.

• You want an open-source SDK and ready components

  The SDK and 40+ React components are MIT licensed, so the UI lives in your repo and you can restyle it.

If you upload to your own bucket through Filestack, your existing files already live where you want them. You can point UploadKit’s storage adapter at the same bucket and keep reading old objects while new uploads go through the UploadKit route. Replace Filestack’s picker with an UploadKit component:

npm install @uploadkitdev/next @uploadkitdev/react

import { UploadButton } from '@uploadkitdev/react';

export default function ProfilePage() {
  return (
    <UploadButton
      route="imageUploader"
      onUploadComplete={(files) => {
        console.log('Files uploaded:', files.map((f) => f.url));
      }}
      onUploadError={(error) => {
        alert(`Upload failed: ${error.message}`);
      }}
    />
  );
}

The button needs an upload route and a provider; the Next.js quickstart walks through both.