Managing media files in WordPress can be a challenge at any level, but will be more complex as your site grows. Whether you deal with large video files, hundreds of images, or an ever-expanding Media Library, traditional hosting solutions might fall short. My Infinite Uploads review could help you fix that problem.
The goal for the service is to help transform how you handle WordPress media through cloud storage and a Content Delivery Network (CDN). However, there’s more to the plugin than this, and I’ll discuss it throughout the article.
For this post, I’m going to run the rule over Infinite Uploads and you’ll find out what makes it worthy of your consideration. First up, let’s introduce the solution.
Say “Hello!” to Infinite Uploads
Infinite Uploads is a WordPress cloud storage and CDN solution that combines a number of typical elements of media management as an all-in-one tool:
- It will offload your images and video to the Media Library with minimal input on your part.
- There’s a CDN onboard that offers seamless integration with WordPress and the dashboard.
- In a unique twist, Infinite Uploads gives you the capability to stream video.
The latter is interesting to me because there are few suitable solutions for branding video players to your site’s requirements. The solution Infinite Uploads provides will encode video into a number of formats and let you customize the player to match your needs.
What sets the tool apart for me is its focus on simplicity, as it eliminates the need for complex third-party cloud service configurations but still delivers enterprise-grade features. In addition, I like the safe and secure architecture that includes “11 nines” of data durability—and the confidence of the developer:
“…It’s more likely for the earth to be destroyed by an asteroid in the next million years than to lose your data…”
On the whole, Infinite Uploads comes from a team that clearly understands what you need from a WordPress media solution. This is evident in their free Big File Uploads plugin, which already helps thousands of websites manage large file uploads with greater efficiency.
Infinite Uploads builds on the quality of this plugin and the developer’s expertise to offer a more complete solution for your WordPress media management.
Why You’d Want to Use Infinite Uploads
The WordPress Media Library offers a functional way to manage your images, videos, and other file types. However, you could encounter a few frustrations beyond any basic usage:
- Your WordPress installation could restrict file size uploads, which is a problem when it comes to video.
- The Media Library doesn’t focus on content delivery, only management. Performance is down to your site’s server, which could be an issue in some cases.
- As you add more media to your site, your server storage will rise. By extension, this will likely incur a greater cost.
If any of these aspects ring true, you’ll appreciate what Infinite Uploads has to offer. The plugin can help you overcome these common WordPress media challenges within a range of scenarios.
For example, Infinite Uploads lets you connect as many sites as you need to its service. This will be ideal if you’re an agency or freelancer that juggles multiple sites. Having a central hub could bolster your productivity and efficiency too.
If you’re a content creator who works with video often, the built-in video streaming functionality will be a boon. For instance, consider an e-commerce site that provides videos of products in use or a business that creates short team profiles.
The service gives you automatic video encoding, which works by creating multiple quality versions (ranging from 240p up to 4K) to ensure smooth playback across different devices and connection speeds. What’s more, you can customize and brand this to your specific requirements.
For high-traffic sites of all stripes, the global CDN supplies 110+ Points of Presence (PoPs) to help deliver content faster to wherever the user browses from. This not only improves the User Experience (UX) but will also reduce the load on your primary hosting server.
How to Set Up and Use Infinite Uploads
In my opinion, one of Infinite Uploads’ strongest selling points is its straightforward setup process. You won’t need any complex API configurations or server file tweaking here. Instead, you can install the plugin from the WordPress Plugin Directory, which will add a new admin panel link and a shiny new Connect button:
Clicking this brings you to another screen, this time with a Run Scan button:
This will take up to a couple of minutes, depending on the size of your site. However, once it completes, you’ll see an overview of the media and files on your site. From here, you can begin to Connect your account:
If you don’t already have an account, the plugin will redirect you to the pricing screen (more of which in a moment) or the login page. Regardless, you’ll need to create a new library and choose a storage region:
Once you click the Connect button, Infinite Uploads will do its thing and eventually bring you back to the WordPress dashboard:
You’ll want to complete two more tasks before you can move on. First, transfer your Media Library to Infinite Uploads through the Sync Now button. This will upload your media files and show you the progress:
You’ll want to click to Enable the cloud storage and CDN functionality from here:
Next, click the Enable Video Cloud button to start the install for the video player library tools. Once this completes, you’ll see both widgets within the dashboard active and showing analytics along with further options to look through:
This is the majority of what you need to do to set up Infinite Uploads. However, I want to focus on the video player a little more, as you have some customization options to work with.
Using and Customizing the Video Player
The Video Cloud Overview widget gives you two options: to manage your video library, and to work with the player’s settings. I want to focus on the settings here, because it’s how you customize the experience.
The options are straightforward. You can choose a color for the player from the palette picker, select a default language, and choose from an array of player controls. This lets you hone in on what your idea of a video player offers, and it’s something few competing solutions can provide.
Finally, there’s an Encoding tab, which is even more straightforward:
Here, select which encoding options you’d like to enable, and this will apply to every upload you make while using the plugin. To embed the video, you can use the Infinite Uploads Video Block on any post or page:
You’re able to choose a video here or drag your file onto the uploader. Once you save your changes, the video will display on the page or post.
Infinite Uploads Review: The All-Important Cost
Infinite Uploads takes a straightforward approach to pricing, which is refreshing. There are two plans to choose from:
- Starter ($192 per year). You get 50GB of cloud storage, 100GB of CDN bandwidth, and can upload as much media as you wish to as many sites as you need.
- Business ($288 per year). This tier doubles your storage and bandwidth, while keeping the practically unlimited upload options. However, you can also use custom CDN domains and access S3-compatible API credentials.
Annual-only billing could be a barrier for you, but there is also a month-by-month option at $19 and $24 respectively. This isn’t too bad considering the wealth of functionality on offer. What’s more, you get almost the full functionality of Infinite Uploads on all tiers. In comparison to the competition, this represents good value. What’s more, you get a seven-day free trial of any plan.
Also, the Business tier lets you scale and upgrade your cloud storage to a maximum of 2.5TB. Of course, there’s a higher cost associated with this, but it’s an option if you need that room.
Infinite Uploads Review: Customer Support
Customer support is an area where Infinite Uploads demonstrates a strong commitment, which you’d expect given the quality and reputation of the developers. If you have an issue, the first stop should be the dedicated knowledge base.
It’s good to see that there are plenty of ways to self-serve your own needs, with the ability to escalate your issues if you have them.
When it comes to direct support, the main method of contact is through live chat and email. You can access this through the widget on the Infinite Uploads website, which is simple and straightforward.
What Others Have to Say About Infinite Uploads
Real user insight into products drives trust and conversions. I always like to look at what a user base has to say because it can give you an idea into what your life will be like after purchase.
Infinite Uploads doesn’t have many unbiased and dedicated reviews for its premium offering that I could find, although there are some excellent testimonials on its website that praise the performance benefits on offer:
“Thousands of files stored safely without slowing down my site. If that’s not a win…I don’t know what is.”
Micah Dailey, host of “Hello,WP!”
One place to read reviews for Infinite Uploads is on its WordPress.org download page. For example, theinnographer likes the usability and support:
…it’s been easy to manage on multiple sites within our growing agency…the support we’ve received has been over the top—working very quickly and going deep to help us when we needed it…
There are other users, such as Erick Fogtman, who is one of a few who praise the design and interface of the plugin:
…the UI is clean and the account creation process is slick too, perfect for any user. Shout out to the team behind this plugin, they really know what they’re doing :)…
As such, Infinite Uploads is a long-term solution for offloading your WordPress media assets if user reviews are anything to go by!
In a nutshell, Infinite Uploads offers a powerful and accessible solution for WordPress media management. For me, I like how it combines enterprise-grade features such as the video player with WordPress-native simplicity. The annual billing model could be expensive for some, but I’m a fan of the value you get. No restrictions on site connections means it’s ideal for agencies and businesses that manage multiple WordPress websites.
Do you have an opinion on my Infinite Uploads review? I’d love to hear it in the comments section below!
Video file credits: xBriantcx
