Discover how Buttrfly, a growing social app, transitioned its media storage to Pinata to gain faster uploads, save costs, and get the freedom to focus on building new features.

• 50% savings on storage costs compared to other providers
• 10-20% faster uploads
• 0 downtime during migration

About 

Buttrfly is a social app built on open networks like Farcaster and Lens. Users can connect, post, and interact using interoperable open data platforms based on Ethereum. With a small but rapidly growing platform, Buttrfly needs storage that could scale, perform well, and save time.

Challenge

Switching to a new storage provider and infrastructure without any disruptions

Social media faces a distinct storage problem: infinite scale. With users constantly uploading media, the potential for growth is almost immeasurable. 

For example, Meta (including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) stores multiple clusters containing exabytes of data across 25 global data centers. So any app hoping to succeed in the social sphere needs to be able to scale its storage capacity indefinitely — while also maintaining impeccable performance. 

One such app, Buttrfly, was already growing rapidly when its free storage provider was discontinued. Founder Moe Salih needed a replacement backend storage solution — and fast. He began looking for a service that offered:

• Performance: Moe wanted to ensure media uploads and downloads remained fast and smooth for users after the transition. That would require a stable solution and a team that was familiar with the space in which Buttrfly operated.
• Scalability: Buttrfly needed media storage that could scale with user demand. As Buttrfly’s sole developer, Moe knew that every hour spent on infrastructure was time taken away from building the app’s core features. So he needed a storage option that didn’t require him to manage it as the app grew.
• Cost: As a startup with limited resources, Buttrfly hoped to keep costs low, especially since their previous solution was a free platform.
• Easy Migration: Moe also expected onboarding to be seamless, without any user disruptions that could harm the app’s reputation and stifle growth.

Solution

Improving upload speeds with Pinata’s decentralized media storage

Thanks to Pinata’s scalable infrastructure and developer-friendly tools, Buttrfly’s transition was effortless. From migration to performance improvements, Pinata helped transform Buttrfly’s operations in several ways:

• Zero downtime during migration: Thanks to Pinata’s extensive documentation, Moe was able to migrate IPFS providers quickly and easily. He describes the migration as seamless. “It took just one day, and users didn’t even notice the change,” he says.” It was exactly what we needed.”
• Improved upload speeds: Switching to Pinata resulted in a noticeable boost to upload speeds, improving the app’s overall performance. This meant users could upload and access media faster, leading to a smoother experience. Moe says this made a real difference in how the app performs.
• Affordable storage costs: Pinata delivered a more cost-effective solution than other platforms, with Buttrfly saving significantly on its media storage costs. This helped Moe keep operating expenses down while benefiting from Pinata’s high performance.
• Scalable infrastructure: Pinata’s infrastructure is built to support Buttrfly’s expanding user base and increasing media uploads. As Buttrfly grows, they can easily accommodate a higher volume of content, allowing users to upload and access media without interruption. 
• Time savings: With Pinata, Moe doesn’t need to manage infrastructure, giving him back a developer’s most valuable asset: time. Now he has more capacity for building new features for Buttrfly. In fact, the time saved was equivalent to hiring a full-time server operations specialist.

Overall, these benefits allowed Moe to focus on what matters most: enhancing the user experience and scaling the app for future growth. 

Results

Zero downtime, faster uploads, and storage that scales

With Pinata, Buttrfly has a high-performing, cost-effective, and scalable storage solution that also saves valuable development time. Key outcomes include:

• 50% savings compared to other IPFS providers
• 10-20% faster media uploads
• 1-day migration, with 0 downtime

Looking ahead, Moe aims to focus on building new features and enhancing the user experience as Buttrfly continues to evolve. With Pinata’s scalable infrastructure, he’s confident that the backend storage will support the app’s growth and increased demand without storage concerns.