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Cloudinary: Pricing, Features & Alternatives

Cloudinary is the long-standing media API: upload assets, transform them through URL parameters (resize, crop, format conversion, AI background removal) and serve the result from a CDN with automatic format and quality. Pricing is in credits, each worth 1,000 transformations, 1 GB of storage or 1 GB of bandwidth. Free gives 25 credits a month. Plus is $99/month ($89 annually) for 225 credits, Advanced $249/month ($224 annually) for 600 credits, and Enterprise is custom.

Category

Image & Media Optimization

Pricing

Free tier available

Free tier

Yes

Best for

Image & Media Optimization — image-cdn, transformations

Cloudinary Pricing Plans (2026)

PlanPrice
Free$0
PlusPopular$99 / month ($89 annual)
Advanced$249 / month ($224 annual)
EnterpriseCustom

Pricing summary: Free · paid from $99/mo. Always confirm current pricing on the official site.

Key Cloudinary Features

  • 225 credits / month
  • S3 backup
  • Auto-tagging

Pros

  • +The deepest transformation and AI feature set
  • +Covers video as well as images
  • +Mature SDKs for every major framework

Cons

  • −Credits make costs hard to predict
  • −Big jump from Free to $99/month
  • −Overkill if you only need resizing and WebP

Best Cloudinary Alternatives

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Cloudinary Compared

Cloudinary FAQ

What is Cloudinary used for?⌄

Cloudinary is a image & media optimization tool. Upload, transform and deliver images and video through URL parameters and a global CDN. Free plan with 25 credits a month.

Is Cloudinary free?⌄

Yes — Cloudinary has a free tier you can start with, and paid plans for more usage and features.

How much does Cloudinary cost?⌄

Cloudinary offers a free tier, with paid plans starting at $99/month. Some plans are usage-based (pay-as-you-go).

What are the best Cloudinary alternatives?⌄

Popular Cloudinary alternatives include Uploadcare, ImageKit, imgix. Compare pricing and features on our Cloudinary alternatives page.

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