Slink

Slink is a self-hosted image sharing platform built around the principles of privacy, ownership, and transparency. In an era where commercial image hosting services scan uploaded content for advertising targeting, claim broad license rights, or implement arbitrary content policies, Slink provides a privacy-respecting alternative that ensures users maintain complete control over their visual content. The platform has gained adoption among photographers protecting client work, creative professionals managing portfolios, and privacy-conscious users who refuse to accept the terms of service imposed by commercial image hosts that monetize uploaded content.

Common Use Cases

Photographers use Slink to share high-resolution images with clients through password-protected galleries without compression or watermarking imposed by commercial services, maintaining image quality and professional presentation. Web developers leverage the platform for hosting website images and assets with reliable URLs that won't break due to service policy changes or business model pivots common with free image hosting. Privacy-focused users share personal photos with family and friends knowing that EXIF metadata containing GPS coordinates, device information, and timestamps is automatically stripped to prevent unintentional privacy leaks. Creative professionals maintain portfolio collections on Slink to showcase work samples through curated galleries with custom URLs, avoiding the advertising and content recommendations that clutter commercial portfolio platforms. Organizations handling sensitive visual information deploy Slink for internal image management, ensuring confidential product photos, security camera captures, or proprietary design materials never leave controlled infrastructure.

Key Features

• Support for wide range of image formats including modern high-efficiency types
• Automatic EXIF metadata stripping to protect privacy and location information
• Configurable image compression with quality control for balancing size and clarity
• User management system with optional approval requirements for new accounts
• Password strength policies and configurable security requirements
• Upload size limits to maintain server stability and resource control
• Unique URL generation for each image with simple sharing mechanisms
• Image organization and management interface for tracking uploads
• Local storage provider ensuring images remain on your infrastructure
• Clean, modern web interface optimized for ease of use
• Image format conversion settings for processing control
• Storage usage monitoring and reporting

Why deploy Slink on Hostinger VPS

Deploying Slink on Hostinger VPS eliminates the privacy compromises inherent in commercial image hosting services like Imgur, Flickr, or Google Photos that scan uploaded content for advertising purposes, implement content moderation algorithms that may flag false positives, or bury terms of service granting broad sublicense rights to uploaded images. The VPS environment provides dedicated storage capacity without the upload limits or compression imposed by free image hosting tiers that degrade image quality to reduce storage costs. With self-hosted infrastructure, you control image retention policies rather than accepting arbitrary deletion schedules or service shutdown risks that have destroyed user content when commercial image hosts pivoted business models or discontinued free tiers. The automatic EXIF metadata stripping feature becomes particularly valuable on self-hosted infrastructure where you can verify the privacy protection operates as claimed rather than trusting commercial services that may preserve metadata for internal analytics despite public privacy claims. For professional photographers and creative agencies, VPS deployment ensures client deliverables and portfolio work remain accessible indefinitely with stable URLs that won't break when commercial platforms implement link rot through expired free tiers or domain changes, protecting the professional image and client relationships that depend on reliable visual content delivery.