Once you have uploaded content to Pinata, naturally the first thing you want to do is view it on the IPFS network! But there's a problem: IPFS is a separate protocol, just like HTTP for regular websites is a protocol. To access that content, we need a gateway to bridge IPFS and HTTP. IPFS gateways help us do exactly that!
When it comes to gateways, there are several options. The first are public gateways. These gateways are shared publicly which can be nice for testing things out since they are free, however because they are shared, they can be very slow and congested. Here's an example you can view:
Pretty slow right? This is why you probably will never want to use a public gateway for production use. On the other hand, the Dedicated Gateways on our paid plans are much faster. Check out the same CID through a dedicated gateway!
Blazing fast right?! This is the power of Pinata's Dedicated Gateways, taking advantage of a global CDN that caches the content for speedy retrievals. Not only are they fast, but they also allow custom domains to match the brand you are creating.
Want to get a Dedicated Gateway for yourself? Click on the button below to get started!!