Uguu

Temporary file sharing, honestly reviewed. No marketing fluff — just what you get when you run your own.

TL;DR

• What it is: Open-source (GPL-3.0) lightweight temporary file hosting platform — drag, paste, click, or API-upload a file, get a link, the file expires. Think a self-hosted WeTransfer with no accounts and no bloat [README][1].
• Who it’s for: Developers and small teams who want to share files quickly without registration, track data through third-party servers, or pay for a SaaS plan. Also power users who pipe files through ShareX or a CLI [README].
• Cost savings: The public uguu.se instance is free. Self-hosting means your VPS bill ($5–10/mo) replaces zero — there’s no expensive SaaS being replaced here. The value is privacy and control, not bill reduction [1].
• Key strength: Genuinely minimal. No accounts. No tracking. Files expire. The whole thing runs on PHP + SQLite. You can understand it in an afternoon [README].
• Key weakness: Sparse documentation, a small community (1,130 GitHub stars), and no encryption — files are served in plain HTTP unless you wrap it in HTTPS yourself. Not in the same class as Lufi or Send for sensitive content [README][3].

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What is Uguu

Uguu is a temporary file host. You visit the page, drop a file, get a URL. The file disappears after a set period — the public uguu.se instance uses three days [1]. That’s the whole product.

The project traces its lineage to Pomf (pomf.se), one of the early minimal file hosts that spawned a wave of similar tools in the self-hosting community. The README is explicit: “Uguu is based on Pomf which was written by Emma Lejack & Go Johansson (nekunekus / nokonoko).” The current maintainer is the same nekunekus who co-wrote the original Pomf [README].

What Uguu adds over raw Pomf: a cleaner modern UI, multiple database backends (SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL), rate limiting, MIME/extension blacklisting, hash-based file blacklisting, and a flexible upload API that returns JSON, HTML, text, or CSV depending on what your tool expects. The ShareX integration is built-in [README].

The stack is PHP 8.3 on Nginx, with Bun used at build time to compile the frontend. Once compiled it’s a PHP app — no Node runtime in production [README]. That makes it unusually easy to drop into an existing LAMP/LEMP server without introducing new runtime dependencies.

The public demo lives at uguu.se, where it has been running long enough to accumulate 17 likes on AlternativeTo and 95 listed alternatives — more a measure of the category than the specific tool [1][3].

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Why people choose it

Uguu doesn’t have a rich review ecosystem. There are no dedicated blog writeups or forum threads in the sources available for this review — just AlternativeTo listings and catalog inclusions [1][2][3][4]. That absence is itself a signal: Uguu is infrastructure, not a product people evangelize. People set it up, it works, they forget about it.

That said, the AlternativeTo listing surfaces the core reasons users reach for it over alternatives [1][3]:

No registration. The most common friction point on file hosting services is the account wall. uguu.se and self-hosted Uguu instances skip this entirely. Upload, get link, share. No email, no password, no profile [1][README].

Predictable expiry. Catbox, the closest proprietary alternative, keeps files permanently — or indefinitely, depending on their moderation policy. Uguu’s three-day default means files don’t pile up on the server, and senders don’t have to remember to delete anything [1][3].

Developer API. The upload API returning JSON or CSV makes it automatable. The ShareX integration is documented in the README; any screenshot tool that can POST a file can use it [README]. This puts it in a different lane from consumer tools like WeTransfer.

Self-hosted means your rules. On uguu.se, files are subject to the maintainer’s blacklist and terms. On your own instance, you control retention period, file size limits, allowed types, and rate limits [README]. That’s why organizations building internal tooling (dev teams sharing build artifacts, QA teams sharing logs, agencies sending client proofs) reach for the self-hosted version.

The honest summary: people choose Uguu when they want simple, reliable, no-signup file sharing with an API, and they want to own the infrastructure.

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Features

Based on the README:

Upload surface:

• Web UI with drag-and-drop, paste from clipboard, and click-to-upload [README]
• Upload API with four response formats: JSON, HTML, text, CSV [README]
• ShareX custom uploader support out of the box [README]
• No registration required at any layer [README]

Administration and safety:

• File extension whitelisting and blacklisting by MIME type [README]
• File hash blacklisting — if a known bad file gets uploaded once, block the hash forever [README]
• Upload rate limiting per IP [README]
• Configurable retention periods [README]

Backend:

• SQLite (default, zero-config), MySQL, and PostgreSQL all supported [README]
• Runs on PHP 8.3 + Nginx — no Node in production [README]
• Frontend compiled with Bun [README]

What it doesn’t have:

• End-to-end encryption (Lufi and Send both offer this — Uguu does not) [3]
• User accounts, login, or per-user storage quotas
• Folder or gallery views
• Preview for video, audio, or documents beyond what the browser natively renders
• Admin dashboard — configuration is file-based

The feature list is deliberately short. Uguu’s value proposition is that it doesn’t do most things. If you want a full media gallery or per-user quota management, you want something else.

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Pricing: SaaS vs self-hosted math

Uguu doesn’t displace an expensive SaaS the way Activepieces displaces Zapier. Temporary file sharing services are mostly free at the consumer level. The math here is different.

What you’re comparing:

Option	Cost	Trade-offs
uguu.se (public)	Free	Files expire in 3 days, subject to maintainer’s terms, no API SLA
WeTransfer free	Free	3GB/month cap, branded with WeTransfer, no self-hosting option [4]
Catbox	Free	Permanent storage, closed-source, US-hosted, moderation can remove files [3]
Filebin	Free	BSD-licensed, Norwegian server, 1-week expiry, no API rate limiting
Self-hosted Uguu	$5–10/mo VPS	Your rules, your retention, your domain, your uptime responsibility

The case for self-hosting isn’t “this saves me $200/month.” It’s: you get a permanent URL on your own domain, files don’t depend on a third party’s continued goodwill, and you control the entire upload pipeline including rate limits and allowed file types.

For an agency or dev team that sends client files regularly, having files.yourdomain.com instead of uguu.se/... or wetransfer.com/... is the actual value. It’s a credibility and brand argument, not a cost argument.

Self-hosted cost breakdown:

• VPS: $5–8/mo (Hetzner or Contabo, 1–2 GB RAM is plenty for PHP + SQLite)
• Domain: $10–15/year if you don’t already have one
• SSL certificate: free via Let’s Encrypt

Annual cost: roughly $75–100 for the VPS plus domain. Data not available on whether any commercial services would charge comparably for the same capability, because there isn’t a direct paid-tier equivalent.

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Deployment reality check

The README points to a wiki for installation instructions rather than including them inline — which is a yellow flag for self-hosters who want everything in one place [README].

What the stack requires:

• Linux VPS (512MB RAM is technically sufficient; 1GB is comfortable)
• Nginx
• PHP 8.3 with standard extensions
• Bun (for the build step only — not needed at runtime)
• One of: SQLite (zero-config), MySQL, or PostgreSQL
• A domain + Certbot/Let’s Encrypt for HTTPS

What the build process looks like:

1. Install Bun, run the build to compile the frontend
2. Configure the PHP backend with your database choice and settings
3. Point Nginx at the PHP-FPM socket
4. Set file upload limits in both Nginx and PHP (two different config locations that need to match)

Where things get fiddly:

• The Nginx + PHP upload size limit mismatch is a classic gotcha: php.ini has upload_max_filesize and post_max_size, Nginx has client_max_body_size. All three need to agree or you’ll get confusing upload failures with no clear error message.
• The wiki documentation was not verifiable as part of this review — the README links to it but the depth and currency of that documentation is unknown.
• No Docker Compose file is mentioned in the README or the available sources. For a tool this simple, Docker would be straightforward to add, but it’s not official.
• Community size is small. With 1,130 GitHub stars and no major blog coverage, you’re largely on your own if something breaks [README].

Realistic time estimate for a developer: 30–60 minutes on a fresh VPS with Nginx already running. For someone without PHP hosting experience: 2–3 hours, mostly spent on the Nginx/PHP configuration and SSL setup. There’s no quick-start Docker Compose to shortcut this.

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Pros and Cons

Pros

• Actually minimal. The scope is a single feature — temporary file hosting — and it does that without sprawl. The codebase is readable and auditable for anyone comfortable with PHP [README].
• No accounts required. Zero friction for senders and recipients. No login wall, no email verification, no tracking profile [README][1].
• Three database backends. SQLite for low-traffic solo use; MySQL or PostgreSQL for shared hosting or high-volume deployments [README]. You’re not locked into one choice.
• API-first for developers. JSON/CSV response modes and ShareX support mean it integrates cleanly into automated workflows. Most consumer file hosts don’t expose an API at all [README].
• Hash blacklisting. Once you block a file’s hash, it can never be re-uploaded under any filename. That’s a meaningful safety feature for self-hosted instances with multiple users [README].
• Rate limiting built in. Prevents your instance from being abused as a public file drop without additional Nginx configuration [README].
• GPL-3.0 license. Copyleft, but freely auditable and self-hostable. No “Fair-code” ambiguity [1].

Cons

• No encryption. Files are stored and served in plaintext. If you need confidential file transfer, use Lufi (end-to-end encrypted, AGPL-3.0) or Send (Firefox Send fork, MPL-2.0) instead [3][4]. Uguu is not the right tool for sensitive documents.
• Small community. 1,130 stars and no dedicated blog coverage means limited community support, few third-party guides, and slower bug response [README].
• No Docker-native path. No official Docker Compose file mentioned in the README or sources. You’re configuring raw PHP + Nginx, which is fine if you know the stack and painful if you don’t [README].
• Documentation lives in a wiki. The README is thin on installation details and defers to an external wiki whose depth is unverified. This is a support liability for self-hosters [README].
• No admin UI. Configuration is file-based. Checking what’s uploaded, clearing files, monitoring storage — there’s no dashboard. You’re in the filesystem and the database [README].
• No user accounts. This is also a pro (simplicity), but it means no per-user quotas, no authenticated API keys, and no upload history for individual users. Everyone shares one anonymous pool [README].
• No video/audio preview. Files are served as direct links. Preview quality depends entirely on the recipient’s browser [README].

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Who should use this / who shouldn’t

Use Uguu if:

• You’re a developer or small team that needs a quick internal file drop — build artifacts, log files, screenshots — without signing up for another SaaS account.
• You want ShareX or another screenshot tool to auto-upload to your own domain.
• You’re comfortable configuring PHP + Nginx and want something auditable and lightweight.
• You need an API that returns JSON or CSV (for scripted uploads).
• The public uguu.se instance covers your needs and you’re comfortable with three-day expiry on a third-party server.

Skip it (use Lufi or Send instead) if:

• You need to transfer sensitive files. Uguu has no client-side encryption. Lufi encrypts in the browser before upload; Send (the Firefox Send fork) does the same with auto-expiring links [3][4].

Skip it (use Filebin instead) if:

• You want a week’s expiry instead of three days, a Norwegian-hosted server, and no build step required.

Skip it (use Nextcloud or Seafile instead) if:

• You need accounts, folder structure, version history, or collaborative editing. Uguu is not a document management platform.

Skip it (stay on WeTransfer) if:

• You have no interest in running a server and the 3GB/month free tier is enough for your volume.

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Alternatives worth considering

From the AlternativeTo listings and the broader self-hosted file sharing space [1][3][4]:

• Lufi — AGPL-3.0, French project, end-to-end encrypted in-browser. Files are encrypted before leaving your machine; the server operator can’t read them. The right choice when privacy matters more than simplicity [3].
• Send — MPL-2.0, a fork of Mozilla’s discontinued Firefox Send. Self-hostable, e2e encrypted, compatible with the ffsend CLI. Up to 2.5GB per transfer [4].
• Filebin — BSD-3-Clause, Norwegian, no registration, one-week expiry. Simpler deployment than Uguu (no build step), but less configurable [3].
• Catbox — Free proprietary, permanent storage, US-hosted. Good for files you want to keep around; bad for anything you want to expire or control [3].
• ShotsShare — MIT-licensed, built specifically for screenshot sharing, Docker-supported [3]. More opinionated than Uguu.

For a non-technical founder, the realistic shortlist is Uguu vs Send vs Lufi. Pick Uguu if you want the simplest possible setup and don’t need encryption. Pick Lufi or Send if the files being transferred are confidential.

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Bottom line

Uguu is the right tool for a narrow job: no-account, API-accessible, temporary file hosting that you run on your own hardware. It doesn’t try to be Nextcloud, it doesn’t try to compete with WeTransfer on features, and it won’t displace a $200/month SaaS bill. The value proposition is control and simplicity — a file drop on your own domain that behaves exactly the way you configure it to behave.

The trade-offs are real: no encryption, no admin UI, thin documentation, small community. If you need encrypted transfers or a polished setup experience, Lufi and Send are better choices. But if you want a fast, auditable, minimal file host you can understand and modify, Uguu delivers.

If the PHP + Nginx configuration is the blocker, that’s exactly the kind of one-time deployment upready.dev handles for clients. Set up once, runs quietly for years.

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Sources

1. AlternativeTo — Apps with ‘Temporary File Hosting’ feature (includes Uguu.se listing with 17 likes, GPL-3.0, Japan, 95 alternatives). https://alternativeto.net/feature/temporary-file-hosting/
2. Shaynly — A Catalog Of Self-Hosted Free Software Network Services And Web Applications (catalog listing). https://shaynly.com/self-hosted-free-software/
3. AlternativeTo — Catbox Alternatives: Top 12 Image Hosting Services & Similar Websites (includes Uguu.se and Lufi comparison). https://alternativeto.net/software/catbox/
4. AlternativeTo — Temp Share Alternatives (includes Send, WeTransfer, Lufi, Filebin). https://alternativeto.net/software/temp-share/

Primary sources:

• GitHub repository and README: https://github.com/nokonoko/uguu (1,130 stars, GPL-3.0 license)
• Live demo: https://uguu.se
• Installation documentation: https://github.com/nokonoko/Uguu/wiki/Uguu-Configuration-&-Installation