Fileverse used Pinata’s IPFS infrastructure to reduce load times, reduce engineering lift, and increase user retention.

About

Fileverse is an onchain space for collaboration and knowledge management. It is used as a privacy preserving alternative to Google Suite and Notion for note-taking, real-time collaboration on docs, file-sharing, sketching ideas and more.

Challenge

Fileverse wanted faster content delivery for decentralized collaboration

Fileverse approaches privacy differently than centralized collaboration platforms like Google Workspace and Notion. That’s because Co-Founders Vijay Krishnavanshi and Andreas Tsamados don’t see decentralization as a technical architecture, but as a core principle that promotes user autonomy, data protection, and resistance to surveillance.

So Fileverse prioritizes user control through data privacy, end-to-end encryption, and self-sovereignty without relying on central servers. There is one caveat, though: They still have to keep up with their competitors' fast loading times. 

Fileverse’s users rely on the platform for secure file sharing, collaborative document management, and token-gated workspaces. For these users, fast loading times are extremely important, because delays can disrupt real-time collaboration, reduce productivity, and undermine the user-friendly experience they expect. 

So when Fileverse noticed that their loading times were not as fast as they wanted, they started looking for a way to speed things up. Without a reliable, fast solution, Fileverse risked losing user confidence, engagement, and adoption — a major challenge given its focus on decentralization and user retention.

Fileverse set out to find a solution to address two concerns:

1. Customer engagement: As page load times go from 1 second to 3 seconds, nearly one-third of users are likely to drop off. They needed a solution that would give customers the same reliable user experience as wider-used centralized platforms.
2. Customer trust: When users encounter slow loading times on a decentralized platform, they might associate this delay with decentralization itself, rather than infrastructure limitations. This creates a misconception that Fileverse is inherently slow or unreliable and pushes users back to centralized alternatives (AKA the competition).

Fileverse tested various solutions, including public IPFS gateways and Web3 storage, and found Pinata to be the best option in terms of content retrieval speed and consistent performance.

Solution

Pinata improved Fileverse's speed with its reliable IPFS infrastructure

With Pinata’s reliable content delivery system, Fileverse was able to enhance user access speeds and create a smoother collaboration experience, all while preserving its decentralized architecture. Pinata’s IPFS gateway provided faster, more reliable content delivery and enhanced the performance of Fileverse’s applications.

Fileverse integrated Pinata’s IPFS infrastructure across their decentralized collaboration tools, including dDocs (decentralized collaboration documents), Portal (onchain alternative to GSuite & Notion), and the DevCon app (for attendees to connect & share content). Right away they began to see results:

• Faster loading times: Pinata’s advanced IPFS gateway uses efficient caching and CDN integration, which accelerates the process of fetching content from decentralized storage.
• Easy implementation and management: Thanks to Pinata’s easy-to-use APIs, Fileverse’s engineering team implemented the platform in just one day. Pinata also manages ongoing IPFS maintenance and reliability, which frees up Fileverse’s engineers for product improvements.
• Frictionless decentralized storage: Pinata’s DNS mapping capability allowed Fileverse to map IPFS content to custom URLs. This improved user accessibility, creating a reliable experience that users expect from collaborative platforms.
• Improved user retention: With faster load times and round-the-clock uptime, user satisfaction and engagement improved, leading to a boost in retention.

Results

Fileverse boosted user engagement and operational efficiency with Pinata

Pinata’s infrastructure increased Fileverse’s speed and uptime while also reducing engineering workload. The faster load times led to real-time collaboration without any lag, which boosted user engagement and retention.

The metrics say it all:

• Increase in user retention
• 10 engineering hours saved per month
• 60% faster load times

Looking forward, Fileverse plans to further use Pinata’s infrastructure in key products like ddocs.new, its decentralized alternative to Google Docs, and the DevCon app, developed in collaboration with the Ethereum Foundation. By enhancing content delivery capabilities within these applications, Fileverse aims to boost performance and user engagement — all while maintaining user autonomy via decentralized architecture.