Hosting a file on SIA (SC) is 13x cheaper than Dropbox. Is SIA better than STORJ?

June 5, 2018

We can all agree that we can see Sia and other decentralized storage coins being an amazing use of blockchain technology.

However, is there are a lot of people using it as far as hosting/storing?

Well, according to https://siahub.info/network – SIA network is currently at 4% of network utilization. The whole network has a capacity of 4.5 PB (pentabytes) while only approximately 180 TB (terabytes) are being used currently. Majority of hosters are located in US.

Is this low usage rate bad? Certainly not, because Sia is, as many other coins as well, not yet a finished product. It certainly needs a lot of polishing to smooth out the rough edges. But the team behind SIA are definitely capable of cleaning it all up with enough time.

What does it cost to host files on SIA network?

According to the same site – it will cost you only $0.74 per TB to host files on SIA. In comparison, Dropbox charges $9.99 for the same storage allocation.

SIA could get a lot of users in the wake of Microsoft acquisition of GitHub, building a Git protocol on top of SIA is an option some of the developers in their community mentioned. This could spark a lot of attention to SIA that has been a bit neglected recently as some other coins dominated the spotlight.

Quick explanation on how SIA works …

Essentially: your file is divided into pieces which are encrypted and distributed to hosts that satisfy the terms of your file contract. The service doesn’t need to reach every host in order to retrieve/construct the file, so when a host fails to satisfy a contract and collateral is triggered, the service will find a new host to ensure a certain level of redundancy is retained.

Is it profitable to become a SIA host?

No, not right now. But if you want to setup a SIA host on your device, here is a nice guide on how to do it.

Setting up a host

If you’re a Windows user you will have to run Sia-UI as administrator, or setting up storage won’t work.

Download Sia-UI and install it in some directory.
Create a wallet and unlock it.
Deposit some money (will be used for collateral).
Open the host tab and configure your pricing.
Add some host folders, where the uploaded data will be stored.
Enable “Accepting contracts”.
Click “Announce” to make your host visible to the renters. This will put your IP address in the blockchain.

For a complete and updated reference guide, check Using the UI for Hosting

SIA vs STORJ

Here is a nice overview of both coins and their pros and cons:

Pros and Cons of Storj and Sia

STORJ

Pros

Easy to integrate with and easy to get started as a farmer/renter.
variety of different billing options
Fixed price
Pay as you go model.
Due to its “master node” structure at the bridge, pushing through updates is much easier and quicker.
Transfer speeds on Storj tend to be faster on average than on sia (though this can really vary depending on the Sia contracts).
Largest network with the most amount of stored data.

Cons

single point of failure of the Storj service(storj bridges).
more subjected to vulnerabilities (e.g. DDOS) due to fragmented system.
More expensive storage than SIA (though right now its more or less the same)
No storage marketplace for dynamic pricing

SIA

Pros

Fully distributed, not a single point of failure.
Has a storage marketplace.
Is normally much cheaper than Storj.
very secure due to blockchain consensus.
Limited vulnerability risks.

cons

Requires a deposit of SIA coin before-hand (collateral) in order to rent space on the network. -Contract creation is still relative expensive.
Only allows the payment with the native SIA cryptocurrency.
Developing on top of sia is a bit more complicated than on storj as there are more moving parts.
Requires the download the entire blockchain first in order to become a renter, which requires allot of space and hours of synchronization.
There are (potentially?) limitations on what the blockchain can handle, which can become a bottleneck.
You can’t recover files yet unless you have an up to date backup of your sia working directory/contractor journals.
Can’t handle small files well.
SIA client needs to be constantly updated and synchronized in order to prevent contract cancellation.
You need to lock your funds during contract creation to buy Storage on the network.