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 usually join a Peertube server as a viewer. Usually if I want to subscribe to channels or build playlists (I don’t keep accounts long but I don’t use much bandwidth directly through video uploads.
I’m guessing that’s why I hadn’t had this same experience of most servers not approving my account set up. Although, if any one is wanting to upload short clips on Peertube, do specific that when signing up that you’l try to keep your video length short, might improve your chances of getting approved and keep the server healthy and running (due to storage, streaming and hosting costs.
I think keeping videos between 1 to 5 minutes on average is fair. So start with that as a baseline. You might get approved more likely as an uploader.