Storing and sharing files online with proper hotlinking supported: PixelDrain hands-on review
As of May 2025, there are at least a couple dozens of websites that let one store/share reasonably sized files online, like Mega and Google Drive - free of charge, more often than not.
The bad part is, most of them have an inherent flaw. Prior to accessing files, the user must visit a download page meaning there is no way to simply click on a link and start watching (streaming) a video or perhaps reading a PDF right away.
At least two file hosting websites that allow hotlinking (file access via direct and permanent links) exist. However, both can be very slow depending on what time of the day it is. While not free, PixelDrain.com is much, much faster than both pomf2.lain.la and catbox.moe - and it's a lot more powerful than a brief look at its home page might suggest.
While PixelDrain does have a free plan, that one is heavily limited in features. To really get things going, one will have to either pay 10 euros (and VAT on top of that) directly via PayPal or a different payment provider or become a Patreon, which starts at 4 euros a month, VAT not included. 10 euros are worth $11.16 as of May 18, 2025, for reference.
The good part is, PixelDrain employs a real 'pay as you go' model with no asterisks or fine print. It charges €0.001 per gigabyte of upstream/downstream traffic meaning that depending on the usage, those 10 euros can last you several years.
Enabling hotlinking while also disabling download pages for your files takes a couple of mouse clicks in the settings.
If you plan on using PixelDrain to show (embed) large files on your website, you'll also have to pay a quick visit to the Embedding Controls submenu, shown in the image below.
For those who'd like to host videos to watch together with friends on cytu.be, just typing cytu.be does not seem to cut it - please also add www.cytu.be
On to direct, permanent file links. The Filesystem feature is what we'll have to use for this.
Start by creating a folder:
Press the pen button and 'share' this new folder by ticking the corresponding checkbox:
You can now upload files to this folder. Every file you upload will be shared by default. To get direct, permanent links to your files that will work for anyone on the Web, select a file, click Details in the left-hand column and scroll down to the Direct sharing link line as underscored in the image below.
While these won't be covered in this article, there are more advanced features on offer, too:
You can use pixeldrain as object storage with the rclone integration
If you ever find yourself having difficulty understanding how things work with PixelDrain, you can get help directly from its founder (Fornax) who actually replies to questions every day on the official Discord server.
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