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Storj

Category: Storage Sharing | Status: Active Website: https://www.storj.io

Description

Storj is a decentralized cloud storage network where you earn by renting out your unused disk space. Run the storage node via Docker and get paid approximately $1.50/TB stored per month plus $2/TB egress. Payments are in STORJ token or via zkSync L2. Requires at least 550GB of available disk space and a stable internet connection. One of the most mature and truly passive storage income services.

Earning Estimates

Metric Value
Monthly range $0 - $15 (estimate)
Per TB
Minimum payout $4
Payout frequency Monthly
Payment methods Crypto

~$1.50/TB stored + $2/TB egress + $2.74/TB audit/repair. Earnings scale with disk allocated and node age. First 9 months have held-back escrow. Port 28967 (TCP+UDP) must be forwarded.

Requirements

Requirement Value
Residential IP No
Minimum bandwidth 5 Mbps upload
GPU required No
Minimum storage 550GB
Supported platforms Docker, Windows, Linux

Setup Instructions

1. No account needed

Storj storage nodes are permissionless — no signup, no account, no auth token. You just run the software. The old authorization token requirement was removed in mid-2025.

Documentation has moved to storj.dev/node.

2. Create a node identity

Before running a storage node, you must generate a cryptographic identity. This involves computing a proof-of-work to difficulty 36, which takes several hours of CPU time.

# Download the identity binary
curl -L https://github.com/storj/storj/releases/latest/download/identity_linux_amd64.zip -o identity.zip
unzip identity.zip

# Generate identity (CPU-intensive, takes hours)
nohup ./identity create storagenode --identity-dir /path/to/identity/ > /tmp/storj-identity.log 2>&1 &

The process outputs progress like Generated 50000 keys; best difficulty so far: 34. It's done when it reaches difficulty 36 and exits. Files created: ca.cert, ca.key, identity.cert, identity.key.

3. Port forwarding

Forward these ports through your router to the server running the node:

  • TCP+UDP 28967 — Storage node traffic (required, UDP for QUIC)
  • TCP 14002 — Dashboard/monitoring (optional, local access only)

4. Get an ERC-20 wallet address

You need an Ethereum-compatible wallet address to receive STORJ token payouts. Any ERC-20 wallet works (MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Ledger, etc.). If you already have an Ethereum address from other DePIN services, you can reuse it. Storj also supports zkSync L2 payouts (same address, lower gas fees).

5. Deploy with CashPilot

In the CashPilot web UI, find Storj in the service catalog and click Deploy. You'll be asked for:

  • Wallet address — your ERC-20 wallet for payouts
  • Email — for operator notifications
  • External address — your public IP or DDNS hostname with port (e.g. 84.54.27.229:28967)
  • Storage allocation — how much disk space to offer (e.g. 2TB)
  • Identity path — host directory where your identity files are stored
  • Storage path — host directory on a spinning disk (HDD) for storing data

CashPilot will handle the container creation with proper volume mounts.

Docker Configuration

  • Image: storj/storagenode
  • Platforms: linux/amd64, linux/arm64

Environment Variables

Variable Label Required Secret Description
WALLET Wallet address Yes No ERC-20 wallet address for STORJ token payouts (or zkSync)
EMAIL Email Yes No Email address for operator notifications
ADDRESS External address Yes No Public IP or DDNS hostname with port (e.g. mynode.ddns.net:28967)
STORAGE Storage allocation Yes No Maximum disk space to allocate (e.g. 2TB) (default: 1TB)
IDENTITY_DIR Identity directory Yes No Host path where identity files are stored (ca.cert, identity.cert, etc.)
STORAGE_DIR Storage directory Yes No Host path on a spinning disk (HDD) for Storj data storage

Important Notes

  • No signup required: Storj nodes are permissionless since mid-2025. No auth token, no account creation.
  • Escrow period: First 9 months of operation have held-back escrow (75% of storage fees held, released gradually). This incentivizes long-term operation.
  • One node per public IP: Storj recommends one node per public IP for optimal satellite allocation. Nodes on the same /24 subnet share data allocation.
  • Uptime matters: Nodes with poor uptime get less data. Aim for 99.5%+ uptime.
  • Disk selection: Always use spinning disks (HDD). Storj data is cold storage — IOPS don't matter, capacity does. SSDs offer no advantage and cost more per TB.
  • QUIC: UDP port 28967 enables the QUIC protocol for faster transfers. Forward both TCP and UDP.