Zippyshare, a pioneering free online file hosting and sharing site, is retiring after 17 years of service. Users have two weeks to back up their important files before the permanent shutdown.
zippyshare, It’s finish ! Or almost. Launched in 2006, the famous free online storage and sharing site will close its doors at the end of March 2023, after 17 years of service, giving users two weeks to save their important files before the final disappearance. Curiously, as its officials explain in a press release published on their blog on March 19, this closure is not due to legal measures resulting from complaints from rights holders against the presence of illegally copied files – one of the most frequent uses of this kind of platform… –, but, more prosaically, to economic reasons, humbly recognizing that their model is no longer adapted to the uses of the time…
End of Zippyshare: an outdated business model
In fact, since its beginnings, the site with some 45 million monthly visits has lived solely on advertising, offering its services for free in exchange for viewing ads. but as more and more users install ad blockers – ad-blockers, in jargon, such as AdBlock or uBlock Origin – in their browsers, the number of ads viewed has steadily decreased over the years , forcing Zippyshare administrators to always integrate advertisements to maintain their income, leading them into a real vicious circle. More recently, Zippyshare executives have had to contend with dramatic energy price hikes, seeing their electricity bills skyrocket, driving up their operating costs. Finally, as they honestly admit, Zippyshare has hardly evolved since its creation: its simple interface has become old-fashioned and the maximum file size is limited to 500 MB, which is little compared to what is offered today. now similar – and far more popular – platforms like MediaFire, Uptobox1file or Mega.
“The arguably very simple formula of the services we provide is slowly running out of steam. I guess every competing file storage service company in the market looks better, offers better performance, and more features. ‘needs a dinosaur like us’, explain the administrators of Zippyshare, lucid. “Over the past year, electricity prices have increased by a factor of 2.5, which together with a large number of servers gives a significant increase in costs that we have no way of balancing”, they continue before ending their farewell message with thanks. “You can send us your comments (we will read them all…) at: [email protected]. Thank you for being with us over the years”. Admittedly, there is no shortage of solutions for hosting and sharing files online for free these days, but the closure of this emblematic site will certainly make the oldest regulars feel a pinch in the heart…