Cloudinary vs imgix

Which should you choose?

imgix has the lower estimated bill wherever both list a self-serve price, from 5K unique source images / month, 50K transformations / month, 200 GB image bandwidth / month to 10K unique source images / month, 100K transformations / month, 400 GB image bandwidth / month. From about 25K unique source images / month, 250K transformations / month, 1,000 GB image bandwidth / month, Cloudinary is over its self-serve plan limits.

Based on estimated list-price bills and the facts above. Features, performance and support aren’t scored.

Cloudinary pricing

Published rates converted using workload assumptions. Read the notes. Shared storage, transformation and bandwidth credits; assumes 1 MB per original image. Stored originals accumulate over time.

Credit-based. Free 25 credits/month, Plus $99/month ($89 billed yearly) for 225 credits, Advanced $249/month ($224 yearly) for 600 credits; Enterprise is custom. One credit = 1,000 transformations OR 1 GB managed storage OR 1 GB image bandwidth (2 GB video bandwidth on paid plans). Self-serve plans have no metered overage: above the credit allowance you are asked to upgrade or move to Enterprise, so the plans are modelled as hard caps. Credits are one shared pool; the calculator checks the sum of storage, transformations and image bandwidth (e.g. 200 GB + 50k transformations = 250 credits, above Plus's 225). Source images are stored in Cloudinary, so they use storage credits for as long as they are kept (cumulative, not per month). source_k limits assume ~1 MB per original (1,000 images = 1 GB = 1 credit). There is no per-image fee. EEA data residency is available to Enterprise customers only (cloudinary.com/trust). The DPA applies to all subscription customers.

Cloudinary plan limits, full rates and cheaper alternatives · official pricing page

imgix pricing

Published rates converted using workload assumptions. Read the notes. Converts credits to images and bandwidth assuming 1 MB per origin image; origin-cache retention changes storage cost.

CURRENT (credit) PRICING: bundles of Starter $25/100 credits, Basic $75/375, Midrange $150/830, Growth $300/1,875, Growth Plus $500/3,570 (about $0.25-$0.14 per credit; 15% off annually). Overage credits cost 120% of the plan's per-credit price ($0.30/$0.24/$0.22/$0.19/$0.17 per docs.imgix.com/en-US/references/billing-overview; the pricing page shows $0.12 for Growth Plus, but 500/3,570 = $0.14 and the docs list $0.14 / $0.17 overage). Consumption: delivery 1 credit/GB, management (cache storage and metadata) 2 credits/GB/month, standard renders 1 credit per 500 (advanced renders 1 per 50, premium/AI 1 per render). Conversion: per_gb = 1 credit and per_1k_transformations = 2 credits, both at the overage rate. Credits are one shared pool; this model puts the included credits against bandwidth, so it overstates the bill when bandwidth is below the bundle size. There is NO per-origin-image fee any more; the remaining per-source cost is cache storage. per_1k_source assumes ~1 MB per origin image held in the origin cache (1 GB per 1,000 = 2 credits/month); the default Origin Cache Retention is 45 days since last access, so the real figure scales with your file sizes. Renders are only billed on cache misses, so transformations_k should count unique renders, not page views. HISTORY (imgix.com/pricing via the Wayback Machine): 2014 plans billed renders ($50/month for 50k renders, then $2.50 per 1,000, $0.12/GB). By 2016 to January 2021 it was pay-as-you-go at $3 per 1,000 master (origin) images accessed each month plus $0.08/GB, with unlimited derivatives free. From about mid-2021 there were tiered plans counted in origin images per month: Free (1,000), Basic $75 (5,000), Growth $300 (25,000), with bandwidth "included" (later capped at 100 GB / 500 GB / 2.5 TB). By 2025 the self-serve overage was $15 per 1,000 origin images on Basic and $12 on Growth ($9 at the $600+/month Standard tier). That model charged every unique source image, which is why user-generated content dominated bills. The credit model replaced it between July and September 2025 (Wayback snapshots of 29 Jun 2025 show origin images, 7 Sep 2025 show credits); imgix says the old origin-image model "made it difficult to offer newer capabilities like video and AI". UGC preset (1M sources, 5M renders, 20 TB): about $5,300/month on Growth Plus with overage now, vs about $4,600 under the $3/1,000 + $0.08/GB model (65% of it origin images) and $12,000+ in origin-image overage on 2021-2025 Growth. Legal entity Zebrafish Labs, Inc.; standard DPA incorporated automatically (imgix.com/privacy). No EU-only processing option is published.

imgix plan limits, full rates and cheaper alternatives · official pricing page

Frequently asked questions

Is Cloudinary cheaper than imgix?

imgix has the lower estimated bill wherever both list a self-serve price, from 5K unique source images / month, 50K transformations / month, 200 GB image bandwidth / month to 10K unique source images / month, 100K transformations / month, 400 GB image bandwidth / month. From about 25K unique source images / month, 250K transformations / month, 1,000 GB image bandwidth / month, Cloudinary is over its self-serve plan limits. Estimates use list prices and leave out features, support and operating costs.

Do Cloudinary and imgix offer EU data residency?

Neither documents EU data residency on a self-serve plan.

Do Cloudinary and imgix have a free tier or trial?

Cloudinary: 25 credits/month (e.g. 25k transformations or 25 GB bandwidth), no credit card. imgix: 30-day trial with 100 credits, no credit card.

Where are Cloudinary and imgix based?

Cloudinary is headquartered in the United States. imgix is headquartered in the United States.