Can uploadcare-widget be used without using the upload care service?
The goal:
Yes, it can. It's open source!
Although you will have to either replicate or get rid of functionality that relies on Uploadcare infrastructure:
So unless you're moving enormous amounts of files, most cost efficient way is to use Uploadcare as it is. BTW, you can use your own S3 storage and even upload directly to your S3 buckets.