Show IH: We built a privacy-first file converter (~30 visitors so far)

Hey IH,

Launched SwapFile.io a couple months ago and just hit our 5th cornerstone blog post — figured it's time to share what we've been doing.

The problem: most free image/PDF converters on the web are either ad-stuffed (Smallpdf), require signup before showing anything (CloudConvert), or quietly keep your uploaded files indefinitely. We got tired of recommending them to friends.

So we built one that doesn't do that:

- Files auto-delete from our server in 1 hour. Not "we promise we'll delete them" — a cron job actually removes them

- No Google Analytics, no Facebook Pixel. We self-host Plausible

- 5 MB free, no signup. Most personal use fits under that

- No watermarks, ever

Stack: Go backend (hexagonal architecture, because we couldn't help ourselves), Next.js 16 frontend, ImageMagick + Ghostscript + pdfunite for the conversions, all on a Rocky Linux VPS we self-host. Plausible is self-hosted there too.

Currently free. Planning a Premium tier in Feb 2027 ($5/mo for larger files, batch processing, history). Not in a rush — the goal is sustainable, not VC-scale.

Real talk on traction: ~30 visitors a month, ~1000 GSC impressions, 3 organic clicks. So basically nobody yet. The 5 cornerstone blog posts are starting to rank in the Turkish market (we're bilingual, TR avg pos 51), so maybe there's something there. We'll see.

If you have a sec, would love takes on:

1. Does "privacy-first converter" stand out as positioning, or does it sound generic at this point?

2. Anyone successfully ranked content against Smallpdf/CloudConvert? What actually worked?

3. The Premium tier timing — earlier with a smaller feature set, or stay the course?

Building in public on DEV.to too if you're curious about the codec rabbit holes (the HEIC ecosystem is wild).

Link: https://swapfile.io

Thanks for any thoughts.

— SwapFile.io