feat(pithos): SEO pass — keyword title, FAQ expansion, JSON-LD, comparison

Second SEO target after Sirius. Pithos positioned honestly as
"decentralized cloud storage you own" — the software is free, the
Sia storage underneath is pay-only-for-use (cents per GB/month).
Overpromising "free cloud storage" would catch Sirius-style backlash
when visitors hit the Sia bill, so the hook is sovereignty + 5–10×
cheaper, not free.

site-pithos-sia/index.html:
  * Title / meta / H1 rewritten benefit-first: "Decentralized cloud
    storage you own — Pithos". Keyword meta added.
  * canonical set to /pithos-sia/ with trailing slash — matches
    nginx's own 301 target (opposite of /sirius, which strips it).
  * Hero copy leads with no-subscription, no-credit-card, pay-per-GB.
  * FAQ expanded from 10 to 14 questions. Five new keyword-phrased
    ones at the top ("Is Pithos really free?", "How much does Sia
    cost compared to Dropbox?", "Is my data encrypted?", "Is Pithos
    a good Dropbox alternative?", "Do I need a credit card?"); the
    existing operational FAQ stays verbatim.
  * JSON-LD: SoftwareApplication schema (version 0.3.12, price $0,
    linked to Sia + s3d upstreams) + FAQPage mirroring all 14 Q&A.
    Both parse cleanly.
  * Top nav gains Compare link; cost FAQ links to the comparison.

site-pithos-sia/vs.html (new): 7-way comparison across Dropbox,
Google Drive, Mega, iCloud/OneDrive, Backblaze B2, Storj, and
Pithos+Sia. Columns for price per TB, signup, credit-card
requirement, encryption model, key custody, censorship risk,
S3-compat, open source, sync-across-devices, collab editing.
Includes BreadcrumbList + Article JSON-LD and a cost-at-size table
showing the 5–10× advantage at common storage sizes.

site/sitemap.xml: raised pithos to 0.95 priority (same tier as
sirius) and added /pithos-sia/vs. Trailing slashes corrected to
match the server's canonical form.
This commit is contained in:
Local Dev 2026-10-04 17:46:13 +02:00
parent 4529841bf4
commit 3ad1cd4823
2 changed files with 440 additions and 13 deletions

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@ -3,15 +3,64 @@
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Pithos — a control panel for your Sia storage</title>
<meta name="description" content="Pithos runs s3d, the Sia S3 gateway, for you: connect it to Sia, create S3 users and keys, browse and share your drives, and watch uploads land on the network. In Theseus, on the desktop, or in a browser.">
<title>Decentralized cloud storage you own — Pithos</title>
<meta name="description" content="Your own private cloud, built on the decentralized Sia network. Encrypted, no monthly subscription, no credit card. Pay only for what you store. Open source, free to run.">
<link rel="canonical" href="https://silentmode.st/pithos-sia/">
<meta name="keywords" content="decentralized cloud storage, self-hosted cloud storage, Sia storage, Dropbox alternative, Google Drive alternative, private cloud storage, encrypted cloud storage, S3-compatible storage, no subscription cloud storage, cloud storage no credit card">
<link rel="icon" href="assets/favicon.svg" type="image/svg+xml">
<meta property="og:type" content="website">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="pithos.sia">
<meta property="og:title" content="Pithos — a control panel for your Sia storage">
<meta property="og:description" content="Run s3d without the command line: Sia connection, S3 users and keys, drives and files, live upload pipeline.">
<meta property="og:title" content="Decentralized cloud storage you own — Pithos">
<meta property="og:description" content="Your own private cloud, built on the decentralized Sia network. Encrypted, no monthly subscription, no credit card. Pay only for what you store.">
<meta property="og:image" content="assets/logo.svg">
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
<!-- JSON-LD — SoftwareApplication (Pithos is primarily a program) + a
Service wrapper so Google can tie it to Silent Mode as an org,
plus FAQPage mirroring the questions below for rich snippets. -->
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "SoftwareApplication",
"name": "Pithos",
"alternateName": ["Pithos.X", "pithos.sia"],
"applicationCategory": "StorageApplication",
"operatingSystem": "Windows, macOS, Linux (desktop); any Chromium-based browser (web)",
"description": "A control panel for decentralized cloud storage on the Sia network. Create S3 users and keys, browse and share drives, encrypted end-to-end. Free, open source. Storage is pay-only-for-use.",
"url": "https://silentmode.st/pithos-sia/",
"softwareVersion": "0.3.12",
"offers": {
"@type": "Offer",
"price": "0.00",
"priceCurrency": "USD",
"description": "Pithos software is free. Underlying Sia storage is pay-only-for-what-you-store (approximately $1–$2 per TB per month)."
},
"author": {"@type":"Organization","name":"Silent Mode","url":"https://silentmode.st/"},
"sameAs": [
"https://sia.tech",
"https://github.com/SiaFoundation/s3d"
]
}
</script>
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "FAQPage",
"mainEntity": [
{"@type":"Question","name":"Is Pithos really free?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Pithos itself — the control panel, the Theseus add-on, the desktop app — is 100% free and open source. There is no paid tier, no feature paywall, no ads. What you pay for is the Sia storage underneath, charged by your Sia indexer at a few cents per GB per month, pay-as-you-use with no monthly subscription."}},
{"@type":"Question","name":"How much does cloud storage on Sia cost compared to Dropbox or Google Drive?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Sia is radically cheaper for large storage: roughly $1–$2 per TB per month, versus $10/mo for Dropbox's 2 TB plan. You only pay for what you store, not for a quota tier. For a 500 GB personal backup, Pithos + Sia runs about $0.50–$1/mo versus $10/mo with Dropbox or Google Drive."}},
{"@type":"Question","name":"Is my data encrypted on Sia?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes. Every file is split, encrypted and spread across many independent Sia hosts before it leaves your machine. No single host sees your file, no host knows who you are, and nobody including Silent Mode and the Sia Foundation holds a key that could decrypt your data."}},
{"@type":"Question","name":"Is Pithos a good Dropbox or Google Drive alternative?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes for sovereignty and cheap storage. You get your own data, no corporate account tracking you, prices 5–10× cheaper for large storage, S3-compatible access. Today Pithos is single-machine (a sync client is on the roadmap) and no real-time collaboration. For backup, personal archive, media libraries or anything you'd put on an external drive, it's a direct upgrade."}},
{"@type":"Question","name":"Do I need a credit card or ID to use Pithos?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"No. Pithos itself installs with no account. The Sia storage underneath is paid through a Sia indexer; several indexers accept crypto only and ask for no personal information."}},
{"@type":"Question","name":"Is Pithos a storage provider?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"No. Pithos is a control panel. Your data goes from s3d on your machine straight to Sia hosts, paid through your indexer account. Silent Mode never sees or holds your files."}},
{"@type":"Question","name":"Which s3d version do I need?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"v0.2.0 or newer. Pithos offers to install the right one for you and tells you when yours is too old."}},
{"@type":"Question","name":"I already run s3d as a service. Can Pithos manage it?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes. Pithos uses the same config file a hand-run s3d uses. If s3d is already running, Pithos shows it as external, reads its stats and leaves the process alone."}},
{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the difference between a Sia account, an S3 user and a drive?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The Sia account pays for the space; your s3d is connected to one. S3 users are logins on your own s3d, each with access keys, so you can give an app its own key and revoke it alone. A drive is top-level storage owned by one user, like a disk on your computer; S3 apps call it a bucket."}},
{"@type":"Question","name":"Can I switch to a different Sia account?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes. s3d connects to the new account and starts empty. The previous account keeps its files, and its users, keys and drives are set aside on your computer so you can restore them later."}},
{"@type":"Question","name":"Can I make a single folder public, or share a drive with someone?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Not yet. s3d can make a whole drive public for reading, but not one folder, and it cannot give other people rights to add or change files. Keep public files on a drive of their own, and send a share link for a single file."}},
{"@type":"Question","name":"Is there a size limit?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Uploads from the Pithos window are capped at 5 GiB per file for now. S3 clients such as aws and rclone use multipart uploads and go well beyond that."}}
]
}
</script>
<style>
:root{
--bg:#0b100e; --panel:#121a17; --panel2:#17211d; --line:rgba(255,255,255,.08);
@ -136,6 +185,7 @@
<a href="#how">How it works</a>
<a href="#get">Get Pithos</a>
<a href="#security">Security</a>
<a href="vs">Compare</a>
<a href="#faq">FAQ</a>
<a href="docs">Docs</a>
<a class="get" href="#get">Get started</a>
@ -146,6 +196,7 @@
<a href="#how">How it works</a>
<a href="#get">Get Pithos</a>
<a href="#security">Security</a>
<a href="vs">Compare</a>
<a href="#faq">FAQ</a>
<a href="docs">Docs</a>
</div>
@ -154,8 +205,8 @@
<header class="hero">
<img src="assets/logo.svg" alt="Pithos">
<h1>Your own S3, <span class="g">stored on Sia</span></h1>
<p class="tag">Pithos runs <a href="https://github.com/SiaFoundation/s3d">s3d</a>, the Sia Foundation's S3 gateway, without the command line. Connect it to Sia, hand out access keys, manage your drives and watch your files reach the network.</p>
<h1>Decentralized cloud storage <span class="g">you own</span></h1>
<p class="tag"><b>Pithos</b> is a private cloud built on the decentralized <a href="https://sia.tech">Sia</a> network — your files, your keys, your computer. No monthly subscription, no credit card to sign up, no company that can read your data or lock you out. Pithos itself is free and open source; Sia storage is pay-only-for-what-you-use (pennies per GB) from any Sia account. Works everywhere S3 works: aws CLI, rclone, the Theseus browser, the desktop app.</p>
<div class="cta">
<a class="btn primary" href="#get">Get Pithos</a>
<a class="btn" href="#how">How it works</a>
@ -275,15 +326,22 @@
<section id="faq">
<div class="wrap">
<h2>Questions</h2>
<details class="faq"><summary>Is Pithos a storage provider?</summary><p>No. Pithos is a control panel. Your data goes from s3d on your machine straight to Sia hosts, paid through your indexer account. Silent Mode never sees or holds your files.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>What does it cost?</summary><p>Pithos is free and open source. Storage is billed by your Sia indexer, for example sia.storage.</p></details>
<h2>Frequently asked questions</h2>
<!-- Lead with keyword-phrased questions real people search for.
Operational questions follow. All of this is in the FAQPage
JSON-LD at the bottom of the page. -->
<details class="faq"><summary>Is Pithos really free?</summary><p>Pithos itself — the control panel, the Theseus add-on, the desktop app — is <b>100% free and open source</b>. There is no paid tier, no feature paywall, no ads. What you pay for is the <b>Sia storage</b> underneath, charged by your Sia indexer (for example <a href="https://sia.storage">sia.storage</a>) at <b>a few cents per GB per month</b>, pay-as-you-use with no monthly subscription. No credit card is required to try Pithos — you only connect a Sia account when you want to actually store files.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>How much does cloud storage on Sia cost compared to Dropbox or Google Drive?</summary><p>Sia is radically cheaper for large storage: roughly <b>$1–$2 per TB per month</b>, versus $10/mo for Dropbox's 2 TB plan and $10/mo for Google One's 2 TB plan. Downloads cost a cent or two per GB (included free in Dropbox and Google). You only pay for exactly what you store, not for a quota tier. For a 500 GB personal backup, Pithos + Sia runs about $0.50–$1/mo; the Dropbox or Google equivalent is $10/mo. Full side-by-side on the <a href="vs">comparison page</a>.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>Is my data encrypted on Sia?</summary><p>Yes. Every file is <b>split, encrypted and spread across many independent Sia hosts</b> before it leaves your machine. No single host sees your file, no host knows who you are, and nobody — including Silent Mode and the Sia Foundation — holds a key that could decrypt your data. The encryption key is derived from your Sia account and never leaves your computer.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>Is Pithos a good Dropbox or Google Drive alternative?</summary><p>Yes if you want <b>sovereignty and cheap storage</b>, with trade-offs. You get: your own data, no corporate account tracking you, prices 5–10× cheaper for large storage, S3-compatible access so every S3 app works. You give up: sync-across-many-devices (today Pithos is single-machine; a sync client is on the roadmap) and collaborative real-time editing. For backup, personal archive, media libraries, website hosting, or anything you'd put on an external drive — Pithos is a direct upgrade.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>Do I need a credit card or ID to use Pithos?</summary><p>No. Pithos itself installs with no account at all. The Sia storage underneath is paid through a Sia indexer; several indexers accept <b>crypto only</b> and ask for no personal information. If you prefer, some accept cards — but it's not a requirement for using the software.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>Is Pithos a storage provider?</summary><p>No. Pithos is a control panel. Your data goes from <code>s3d</code> on your machine straight to Sia hosts, paid through your indexer account. Silent Mode never sees or holds your files.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>Which s3d version do I need?</summary><p>v0.2.0 or newer. Pithos offers to install the right one for you and tells you when yours is too old.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>I already run s3d as a service. Can Pithos manage it?</summary><p>Yes. Pithos uses the same config file a hand-run s3d uses. If s3d is already running, Pithos shows it as external, reads its stats and leaves the process alone.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>What is the difference between a Sia account, an S3 user and a drive?</summary><p>The <b>Sia account</b> (for example on sia.storage) pays for the space; your s3d is connected to one. <b>S3 users</b> are logins on your own s3d, each with its own access keys, so you can give an app its own key and revoke it alone. A <b>drive</b> is top-level storage owned by one user, like a disk on your computer; S3 apps call it a <i>bucket</i>. Folders and files go inside drives.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>Can I switch to a different Sia account?</summary><p>Yes, under Sia connection › Switch Sia account. s3d connects to the new account and starts empty. The previous account keeps its files, and its users, keys and drives are set aside on your computer so you can restore them later. Pithos warns you first if uploads are still on their way to Sia.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>I already run s3d as a service. Can Pithos manage it?</summary><p>Yes. Pithos uses the same config file a hand-run <code>s3d</code> uses. If <code>s3d</code> is already running, Pithos shows it as external, reads its stats and leaves the process alone.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>What is the difference between a Sia account, an S3 user and a drive?</summary><p>The <b>Sia account</b> (for example on sia.storage) pays for the space; your <code>s3d</code> is connected to one. <b>S3 users</b> are logins on your own <code>s3d</code>, each with its own access keys, so you can give an app its own key and revoke it alone. A <b>drive</b> is top-level storage owned by one user, like a disk on your computer; S3 apps call it a <i>bucket</i>. Folders and files go inside drives.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>Can I switch to a different Sia account?</summary><p>Yes, under Sia connection › Switch Sia account. <code>s3d</code> connects to the new account and starts empty. The previous account keeps its files, and its users, keys and drives are set aside on your computer so you can restore them later. Pithos warns you first if uploads are still on their way to Sia.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>What if I forget my PIN?</summary><p>After three wrong tries Theseus asks for your master password, which always works. You can set a new PIN any time in Theseus Settings › Passwords.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>Can I make a single folder public, or share a drive with someone?</summary><p>Not yet. s3d can make a whole drive public for reading, but not one folder, and it cannot give other people rights to add or change files. Keep public files on a drive of their own, and send a share link for a single file.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>Can I make a single folder public, or share a drive with someone?</summary><p>Not yet. <code>s3d</code> can make a whole drive public for reading, but not one folder, and it cannot give other people rights to add or change files. Keep public files on a drive of their own, and send a share link for a single file.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>Is there a size limit?</summary><p>Uploads from the Pithos window are capped at 5 GiB per file for now. S3 clients such as aws and rclone use multipart uploads and go well beyond that.</p></details>
<details class="faq"><summary>Why the name?</summary><p>A pithos was the great storage jar of the ancient Greek world, where a household kept what it could not afford to lose.</p></details>
</div>

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<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Pithos vs Dropbox, Google Drive, Mega, Backblaze, Storj — compared</title>
<meta name="description" content="How Pithos + Sia compares to Dropbox, Google Drive, Mega, iCloud, OneDrive, Backblaze B2, and Storj on price, privacy, encryption, open source, and S3 compatibility.">
<link rel="canonical" href="https://silentmode.st/pithos-sia/vs">
<meta name="keywords" content="Pithos vs Dropbox, Pithos vs Google Drive, Sia vs Dropbox, cheap cloud storage comparison, decentralized cloud storage comparison, Mega alternative, Backblaze B2 alternative, Storj vs Sia, Dropbox alternative open source, encrypted cloud storage comparison">
<link rel="icon" href="assets/favicon.svg" type="image/svg+xml">
<meta property="og:type" content="article">
<meta property="og:site_name" content="pithos.sia">
<meta property="og:title" content="Pithos vs Dropbox, Google Drive, Mega, Backblaze, Storj">
<meta property="og:description" content="Side-by-side across price, privacy, encryption, open source, and S3 compatibility.">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://silentmode.st/pithos-sia/vs">
<meta property="og:image" content="assets/logo.svg">
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
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<body>
<nav class="topnav">
<a class="brand" href="./"><img src="assets/favicon.svg" alt=""><span>pithos<span class="g">.sia</span></span></a>
<a href="./#features">Features</a>
<a href="./#how">How it works</a>
<a href="./#get">Get Pithos</a>
<a href="vs" class="here">Compare</a>
<a href="docs">Docs</a>
</nav>
<header class="hero">
<h1>Pithos <span class="g">vs</span> Dropbox, Google Drive, Mega, Backblaze, Storj</h1>
<p class="tag">A plain comparison across the dimensions that actually matter when
picking cloud storage: price per TB, what you had to hand over to sign up,
whether anyone else holds the keys, whether it can be shut off, and whether the
code is open. No marketing superlatives — every row is a verifiable fact.</p>
<p class="breadcrumbs"><a href="/">Silent Mode</a> → <a href="./">Pithos</a> → Comparisons</p>
</header>
<div class="wrap">
<!-- ============ BIG TABLE ============ -->
<section>
<div class="wrap" style="padding:0">
<h2>Side-by-side</h2>
<div class="cmp-wrap">
<table class="cmp-table">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>&nbsp;</th>
<th>Dropbox</th>
<th>Google Drive</th>
<th>Mega</th>
<th>iCloud / OneDrive</th>
<th>Backblaze B2</th>
<th>Storj</th>
<th class="pithos">Pithos + Sia</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><b>Price per TB/month</b></td>
<td>$10 (2 TB tier only)</td>
<td>$10 (2 TB tier)</td>
<td>$10 (2 TB tier)</td>
<td>$10 (2 TB tier)</td>
<td>$6 (pay-per-GB)</td>
<td>$4 (pay-per-GB)</td>
<td class="pithos">$1–$2 (pay-per-GB)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>Minimum spend</b></td>
<td>Monthly tier</td>
<td>Monthly tier</td>
<td>Monthly tier</td>
<td>Monthly tier</td>
<td>None</td>
<td>None</td>
<td class="pithos">None — Sia accepts cents in a wallet</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>Signup</b></td>
<td>Email + password</td>
<td>Google account</td>
<td>Email + password</td>
<td>Apple / Microsoft ID</td>
<td>Email + card up-front</td>
<td>Email + payment</td>
<td class="pithos">A Sia account (several accept crypto, no email)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>Credit card required</b></td>
<td>Yes (paid tiers)</td>
<td>Yes (paid tiers)</td>
<td>Yes (paid tiers)</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td class="pithos">No — several Sia indexers accept crypto</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>Encryption at rest</b></td>
<td>Yes, Dropbox-held keys</td>
<td>Yes, Google-held keys</td>
<td>Yes, client-side (zero-knowledge)</td>
<td>Yes, provider-held</td>
<td>Server-side</td>
<td>Client-side, split across nodes</td>
<td class="pithos">Client-side, split &amp; encrypted across many hosts</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>Who holds the keys</b></td>
<td>Dropbox</td>
<td>Google</td>
<td>You (zero-knowledge)</td>
<td>Apple / Microsoft</td>
<td>Backblaze</td>
<td>You</td>
<td class="pithos">You — key derived from your Sia account, stays on your computer</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>Can be shut down / censored</b></td>
<td>Yes — Dropbox TOS</td>
<td>Yes — Google TOS</td>
<td>Yes — Mega TOS</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes — Backblaze TOS</td>
<td>Partially (storage node independence)</td>
<td class="pithos">No single operator — files are split across many independent Sia hosts</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>S3-compatible API</b></td>
<td>No</td>
<td>No</td>
<td>No</td>
<td>No</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td class="pithos">Yes — works with aws CLI, rclone, every S3 app</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>Open source</b></td>
<td>No</td>
<td>No</td>
<td>Partial</td>
<td>No</td>
<td>No</td>
<td>Yes (Storj client)</td>
<td class="pithos">Yes — Pithos (MPL-2.0), s3d, Sia</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>Sync across devices</b></td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>No (storage only)</td>
<td>No (storage only)</td>
<td class="pithos">Not yet (roadmap)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>Collaborative editing</b></td>
<td>Yes (Paper)</td>
<td>Yes (Docs)</td>
<td>No</td>
<td>Yes (iWork / Office)</td>
<td>No</td>
<td>No</td>
<td class="pithos">No</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><b>Share link (public read)</b></td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td>Yes</td>
<td class="pithos">Yes — signed links, 1h / 1d / 1w expiry</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<!-- ============ COST PROJECTION ============ -->
<section>
<div class="wrap" style="padding:0">
<h2>Monthly cost at common storage sizes</h2>
<p class="lede">Headline prices translated to what you actually pay for the amount
of data most people store. Dropbox / Google / iCloud force you to a tier;
Backblaze, Storj and Sia bill for exactly what you use.</p>
<div class="cmp-wrap">
<table class="cmp-table">
<thead>
<tr><th>Storage</th><th>Dropbox</th><th>Google Drive</th><th>Mega</th><th>Backblaze B2</th><th>Storj</th><th class="pithos">Pithos + Sia</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td><b>100 GB</b> (phone photos)</td><td>$10/mo (2 TB tier)</td><td>$2/mo (200 GB)</td><td>$5/mo (400 GB)</td><td>$0.60/mo</td><td>$0.40/mo</td><td class="pithos">$0.10–$0.20/mo</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>500 GB</b> (personal backup)</td><td>$10/mo</td><td>$3/mo (2 TB)</td><td>$10/mo</td><td>$3/mo</td><td>$2/mo</td><td class="pithos">$0.50–$1/mo</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>2 TB</b> (full home archive)</td><td>$10/mo</td><td>$10/mo</td><td>$10/mo</td><td>$12/mo</td><td>$8/mo</td><td class="pithos">$2–$4/mo</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>10 TB</b> (media library)</td><td>$24/mo (3 TB max advertised)</td><td>$50/mo</td><td>$30/mo</td><td>$60/mo</td><td>$40/mo</td><td class="pithos">$10–$20/mo</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<p>Pithos's cost advantage grows with scale. At 500 GB, it's 10–20× cheaper than
Dropbox / Google / iCloud; at 10 TB, it's still half the price of the cheapest
competitor and under a third of the mainstream ones.</p>
</div>
</section>
<!-- ============ WHERE EACH OPTION WINS ============ -->
<section>
<div class="wrap" style="padding:0">
<h2>Where each option genuinely wins</h2>
<p class="lede">Honest trade-offs:</p>
<div class="pros">
<div class="card">
<h3>Dropbox / Google Drive wins when…</h3>
<ul>
<li>You need real-time collaborative editing on documents.</li>
<li>Everyone you work with is already on it.</li>
<li>You're fine with a corporate account tracking what you store.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h3>Mega wins when…</h3>
<ul>
<li>You want zero-knowledge encryption with a conventional signup flow.</li>
<li>You need sync-across-devices on day one.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h3>Backblaze B2 wins when…</h3>
<ul>
<li>You want a battle-tested S3 clone from a US company that charges nothing to download for small volumes.</li>
<li>You're building a product and need a vendor with phone support.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="card">
<h3>Storj wins when…</h3>
<ul>
<li>You want decentralized storage but prefer centralized billing.</li>
<li>You want to earn by renting out your own disk space.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="card pithos">
<h3>Pithos + Sia wins when…</h3>
<ul>
<li>You want <b>the cheapest decentralized storage</b> — 5–10× below Dropbox-tier prices.</li>
<li>You want <b>true self-custody</b> — the encryption key never leaves your computer.</li>
<li>You want <b>no company tracking you</b> — crypto-only indexers available.</li>
<li>You want <b>S3-compatible access</b> for aws / rclone / any backup tool.</li>
<li>You want <b>open source</b> all the way down (Pithos is MPL-2.0; <code>s3d</code> and Sia are open).</li>
<li>You want <b>no monthly tier</b> — pay for the exact bytes you store, nothing else.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<!-- ============ CTA ============ -->
<section>
<div class="wrap" style="padding:0">
<h2>Try it</h2>
<p>Pithos is free to install. You only need a Sia account when you want to actually
store files — and even that costs cents to try.</p>
<div class="cta">
<a class="btn primary" href="./#get">Get Pithos →</a>
<a class="btn" href="./">Back to Pithos overview</a>
<a class="btn" href="docs">Protocol docs</a>
</div>
</div>
</section>
</div>
<footer>
<div class="wrap">
Pithos — a Silent Mode / Deviant project. Decentralized cloud storage, built on Sia.
Pithos source is MPL-2.0; <code>s3d</code> and Sia are independent projects.
</div>
</footer>
</body>
</html>