# External Storage - Best Practices and Options? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ask for Help\ **Created:** [October 6, 2025, 1:27am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/external-storage-best-practices-and-options/84750 "2025-10-06T01:27:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Erika\_Howard](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/erika_howard/32/68446_2.png) [@Erika\_Howard](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Erika_Howard)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 1:27am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/external-storage-best-practices-and-options/84750/1 "2025-10-06T01:27:27Z")
Hi Glide Community, I’d appreciate some guidance on the best long-term storage strategy for a new app we’re building on the **Maker plan** as a nonprofit. **App Context:** The app is a document management system. The workflow is: 1. Users upload policy documents (PDFs) via a File Picker. 2. An admin approves the document. 3. The approved document becomes available for other users to search and download. **The Challenge:** We’re using Glide’s native storage, but I am concerned we will eventually exceed the **20 GB limit** included in the Maker plan. We want to build this on a scalable foundation from the start. **My Research So Far:** I’ve read some helpful forum posts about using **Make (or Zapier)** to watch for new file uploads and automatically copy them to a designated Google Drive folder. This seems like a viable workaround, but I was thinking there must be a simpler way to manage storage. **My Questions for the Community:** 1. **Is the Make/Zapier-to-Google-Drive method the most reliable and recommended solution for our use case?** Are there any hidden complexities with this, like managing download links back in the app once the file is in Google Drive? I was having trouble finding detailed guides 2. **Has anyone successfully purchased additional cloud storage directly from Glide while on a Maker plan?** I want to confirm if this is an option before setting up an external integration. 3. **Are there any other clever solutions** you’ve discovered for managing larger (50-100 gb) amounts of file storage? Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and advice! ---
**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 11:39pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/external-storage-best-practices-and-options/84750/2 "2025-10-06T23:39:06Z")
> [@Erika\_Howard](#): > > **Is the Make/Zapier-to-Google-Drive method the most reliable and recommended solution for our use case?** Are there any hidden complexities with this, like managing download links back in the app once the file is in Google Drive? I was having trouble finding detailed guides Do you mean a direct link to download here, or you can just share the link to access the Drive file, and on the file’s link, they have the download button there? I don’t have any info on the other two questions, I think it’s best to ask their Sales team. ---
**Author:** ![Erika\_Howard](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/erika_howard/32/68446_2.png) [@Erika\_Howard](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Erika_Howard)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2025, 4:11pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/external-storage-best-practices-and-options/84750/3 "2025-10-07T16:11:52Z")
For example, a way for a user to use the native file picker to upload a file, but for it to be stored in a private google drive. I believe I read a couple posts maybe even by you depicting a solution utilizing Make as a solution for this. I just haven’t seen any resources from Glide or exact solutions for this. Re: other questions. That’s a good idea, I will reach out to sales. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2025, 11:44pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/external-storage-best-practices-and-options/84750/4 "2025-10-07T23:44:33Z")
Yeah, my go-to solution for this is always use some sort of a workflow afterwards to send the file link to Make, then upload them somewhere and get the link/ID of the file back to show users in the app. Make sure you remove the original link afterwards so it qualifies for Glide deleting it from your storage. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Murphy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/darren_murphy/32/47326_2.png) [@Darren\_Murphy](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Darren_Murphy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 1:31am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/external-storage-best-practices-and-options/84750/5 "2025-10-08T01:31:45Z")
> [@Erika\_Howard](#): > > **Is the Make/Zapier-to-Google-Drive method the most reliable and recommended solution for our use case?** I would look into Amazon S3. I’ve not looked at pricing lately, but I believe it’s very affordable, and certainly reliable.