Hot take: Most PeerTube instances shouldn’t just hand out accounts to anyone—and here’s the reality check.
Running a PeerTube server isn’t like YouTube. There’s no trillion-dollar corporation footing the bill. Instead, small community admins juggle:
The major points are:
- Storage costs (video files add up fast!)
- Moderation work (spam, trolls, and legal risks)
- Bandwidth limits
- Abuse handling (because yes, people will test boundaries)
Yet, a lot of sign-up requests sound like (at least from what I see on my instance):
"I wanna upload videos."
"I’m starting a Roblox channel."
Sorry, but that’s not enough. Admins aren’t obligated to give free hosting to strangers. A good admin looks for people who:
- Fit the community’s vibe (e.g., a coding-focused instance won’t host gaming streams).
- Show effort—like sharing a portfolio or explaining why their content adds value.
Example: If you applied with a sample of your work or a clear plan? Hell yes, I’d consider you. But if your pitch is just "I want free hosting," why should the community foot the bill?
TL;DR:
PeerTube isn’t a free-for-all. "I just wanna upload stuff" isn’t a good reason. Bring something to the table.
I've been running a Peertube instance for, I think, at least 2 years now? My registrations are open. I have some large initial limitations on upload sizes too and will adjust them up even higher as I see that videos being posted aren't violating the rules.
Why do I keep registration open in mine?
I suppose it comes down to why the site was created. My reason was simply to provide an alternative to YouTube, on principal, and as an advocate against corporate control and ownership over people and their videos. Given this, at least for my site, "I just wanna upload stuff" IS a valid reason to open an account on my site.
What I'm woried about is to have to deal with like copyrighted content had symilar issues when I worked for LBRY.
Yes, that happened once and I quickly removed the account. Because I leave the site open, I need to be prepared to put in the extra time to moderate it.
For me register is open but accounts need aproval.