# Best host for external images? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 1, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118 "2019-10-01T21:47:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/1 "2019-10-01T21:47:15Z")
The site I’ve stored graphics for linking to has gone pay, and while my storage is grandfathered no one else can view them. Although there’s a direct address to nearly all pictures and graphics online, there are exceptions that need the equivalent of a P.O. Box. Since the board’s policy is to not host or embed pictures, what’s a cheap option for picture linking? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/2 "2019-10-02T20:20:11Z")
I have none personally but Photobucket seems a popular choice. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/3 "2019-10-02T23:23:07Z")
Get a gmail account and use [Google drive](https://www.google.com/drive/). It’s free and you can store up to 15 gig of data. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2019, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/4 "2019-10-02T23:50:44Z")
Photobucket isn’t an image hosting site. It’s not clear exactly what they _are_, but if you try to use them for image hosting, your attempt will fail. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/5 "2019-10-03T00:24:33Z")
For transient stuff that you don’t care too much about, [imgur.com](http://imgur.com). Doesn’t require signing up, no paywalls, etc. For anything where you want some permanence, Google Drive. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/6 "2019-10-03T01:43:13Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Get a gmail account and use [Google drive](https://www.google.com/drive/). It’s free and you can store up to 15 gig of data. That’s what I use too. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/7 "2019-10-03T01:48:38Z")
With the free, open ones some guy is basically donating his storage and bandwidth, so you are gambling on how long (one year? two years? five?) he or she will keep it up before pulling the plug, and also there is the risk some files will disappear in case the disk fills up. The paid ones (Google, Amazon, Microsoft) run by large corporations seem like a better alternative for archiving important data, but they cost money (unless they decide to keep the free tier of service around indefinitely). But maybe you already rely on one of these for backups in general, and therefore may as well link there? So the “best” one depends on whether you need a temporary link or reliable long-term storage. What **Dr. Strangelove** said. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/8 "2019-10-03T01:49:27Z")
I’m familiar with it from my work email account- Google Drive it is. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/9 "2019-10-03T21:23:09Z")
I think imgur is fine for longterm storage, as long as you make an account. I still can easily go see everything I’ve uploaded since creating one. Google Drive has a maximum space–though Google Photos does not. However, Google Photos will reencode the image. I also know for sure that Imgur will let me link the image without it linking to any other images. Google Drive also does this. But I don’t know about Google Photos. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/10 "2019-10-03T21:32:43Z")
One issue I’ve had with Google Drive is that the URLs don’t end in .jpg (or .jpeg or .png or .gif), which causes issues with the image code on some sites where you might want to embed them. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/11 "2019-10-03T22:30:37Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I think imgur is fine for longterm storage, as long as you make an account. I still can easily go see everything I’ve uploaded since creating one. The problem is their long-term trustworthiness. Photobucket seemed good until they realized they had no business model and paywalled everything. Google Drive is either a paid service or a free version of a paid service, so there’s a bit more confidence that your stuff won’t disappear 5 years from now. If that doesn’t matter, Imgur is great. I do have one small annoyance with Imgur: I once ran across a funny pic, but the description was laden with profanity. I wanted to share it with my grandmother, so I re-uploaded it with a different description. Imgur however detected the duplicate image and just redirected the link back to the original. Not a huge deal, but Google never would have done that. ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2019, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/12 "2019-10-04T10:34:43Z")
Not doing this very often, but I’ve used [https://postimages.org/](https://postimages.org/) for this in the past. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2019, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/13 "2019-10-04T12:53:38Z")
Photobucket is like playing a slot machine. Once in a while it works. flickr works much better. But that’s not saying much. All too often there’s just a blank space. [imgbox](https://imgbox.com/) seems to work at my viewing end the best. Never a problem loading an image and direct linking is okay. I’ll be trying it when I next have the need for uploading. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2019, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/14 "2019-10-12T02:13:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > One issue I’ve had with Google Drive is that the URLs don’t end in .jpg (or .jpeg or .png or .gif), which causes issues with the image code on some sites where you might want to embed them. Just finally realized the limitations of this. So far NOWHERE accepts a Google Drive link as an image. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2019, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/15 "2019-10-12T03:01:16Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Just finally realized the limitations of this. So far NOWHERE accepts a Google Drive link as an image. :smack: Yeah I have only gotten Google Photos to work. When I endorsed Google as a storage format it’s only through [photos.google.com](http://photos.google.com) that I have really made it work as an embedded image. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2019, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-host-for-external-images/841118/16 "2019-10-12T08:31:26Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > I do have one small annoyance with Imgur: I once ran across a funny pic, but the description was laden with profanity. You can create a link directly to an image, without any of the captions or comments by right clicking on the image and then selecting “Open image in new tab”. From this: [1950s Rockets - Album on Imgur](https://imgur.com/gallery/hWz1Z87) To this: [Imgur: The magic of the Internet](https://i.imgur.com/g2MJMJE.jpg)