Why Trelae is a Better Alternative to S3 for Developers

When it comes to file storage and delivery, Amazon S3 has been the default choice for years. But let’s be honest: using S3 alone is not enough. Developers end up stitching together CloudFront, Lambda functions, and third-party tools just to achieve what should be simple: uploading, storing, transforming, and delivering files.

That’s why we built Trelae — a modern, all-in-one files API that removes the complexity. Here’s why Trelae is the better choice for developers.

S3 is Just Storage — Trelae is the Whole Pipeline

• S3: Gives you raw object storage. Everything else (CDN, transformations, optimizations) requires separate services.
• Trelae: Handles upload, storage, transformations, and global delivery in one platform.

Feature-by-Feature Comparison

Developer Experience Matters

With S3, you spend hours writing glue code and configuring infrastructure. With Trelae, you install our JavaScript SDK and start building immediately.

import { Trelae } from "trelae-files";

const client = new Trelae({ apiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY" });

const namespace = trelae.namespace('f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6')

// Upload a file
const file = namespace.upload(fileToUpload, mimeType, {location: '/', name: 'hello.txt'})

// Transform an image
await file
  .resize({
    width: 800,
    height: 600,
  })
  .save();

That’s it — no bucket policies, no CDN configs, no headaches.

Cost of Ownership

While S3 looks cheap upfront, the hidden costs (CDN, compute, external APIs, dev time) add up fast. Trelae gives you a single, predictable solution designed for modern apps.

Final Verdict

If you just need raw storage, S3 works. But if you want a developer-first, all-in-one file infrastructure, Trelae saves you weeks of setup and ongoing maintenance.

Try Trelae today