Arweave
Permanent decentralized storage blockchain with a one-time fee guaranteeing 200+ year data preservation on the permaweb.
NFT Tools
Storage & Metadata
Pricing
Paid Only
Platforms
Web
API Access
Yes
Founded
2017
Overview
Arweave is a purpose-built blockchain for permanent data storage, using a Proof-of-Access consensus and a storage endowment model to fund ongoing data replication. Users pay a single one-time AR token fee per upload — typically $0.48–$5 per GB — and the data is stored permanently on the permaweb. It is widely used for NFT metadata, on-chain game state, and archival of smart contract history by projects including Meta/Instagram and Solana.
Key Features
- Permanent permaweb storage: one-time fee funds 200+ year data preservation
- Proof-of-Access consensus: miners must prove access to random historical data to mine blocks
- Storage endowment model: fee surplus invested to fund perpetual storage costs
- AO compute layer: decentralized process execution on Arweave-stored data
- SmartWeave smart contracts: lazy-evaluated contracts executed off-chain by gateways
- Used by Meta/Instagram for NFT metadata and Solana for historical transaction archiving
- HTTP API, GraphQL, and SDKs for JavaScript, Go, PHP, and Scala
Pricing Plans
Pay-once-forever
~$0.48–$5 per GB one-time
- Single one-time AR token payment per upload — no recurring charges
- 200+ year data preservation guaranteed by storage endowment model
- Data replicated across Arweave network with Proof-of-Access consensus
- AO compute layer for decentralized application execution on stored data
- Live fee calculator at ar-fees.arweave.net (price varies with AR token)
