Object Storage with MinIO: Your Private S3

What Is MinIO?

MinIO is a high-performance, S3-compatible object storage system. It speaks the same API as AWS S3, which means any tool, library, or application that works with S3 works with MinIO.

Why Self-Host Object Storage?

Cost

AWS S3: $0.023/GB/month for storage + $0.09/GB for egress. Self-hosted MinIO: your server's disk space, $0 for egress.

For 1 TB of storage with moderate access:

Privacy

Your files stay on your server. No third-party access, no data mining, no compliance concerns about cloud storage.

No Egress Fees

Cloud providers charge for data transfer out. Self-hosted MinIO has zero egress costs. Download as much as you want.

Use Cases

Application File Storage

Store user uploads, media files, and documents. Your application uses the S3 SDK — just point it at your MinIO server instead of AWS.

Backup Destination

Restic, rclone, and other backup tools support S3. Point them at MinIO for free, private backup storage.

Static Asset Hosting

Host images, CSS, JavaScript, and other static files. Serve them directly or through a CDN.

Data Lake

Store large datasets for analytics processing. MinIO handles petabytes of data.

Deploying MinIO on TinyPod

1. Find MinIO in the app catalog

2. Deploy with 0.5 cores and 512 MB RAM

3. Access the MinIO Console at your subdomain

4. Create buckets and upload files

Using the S3 API

Any S3 client works with MinIO. Just change the endpoint:

const s3 = new S3Client({

endpoint: 'https://minio.your-subdomain.boilr.xyz',

credentials: { accessKeyId: '...', secretAccessKey: '...' },

region: 'us-east-1',

});

All S3 operations work: PutObject, GetObject, ListBuckets, multipart upload, pre-signed URLs, etc.

MinIO Console

MinIO includes a web-based management console: