# Cloudinary Pricing: A Comprehensive Guide | Capterra > Check out the Cloudinary pricing guide to understand the cost of different pricing plans, features, and insights on how to choose the right plan. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/135074/Cloudinary/pricing --- Cloudinary Pricing Guide 2025 Last updated on June 11, 2025 Written by [Shephalii Kapoor](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/skapoor/) Writer Edited by [Mehar Luthra](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/mehar-luthra/) Editor Pricing for Cloudinary [4.7 (85)](#reviews) User rating:[ 4.7 ](#reviews) Based on (85) reviews ## Overview of Cloudinary pricing A highly-rated platform, [Cloudinary](https://www.capterra.com/p/135074/Cloudinary/) is a cloud-based software service for storing, managing, and delivering images and videos to websites and apps. Businesses can host their digital assets on Cloudinary’s servers and easily manipulate them with a simple application programming interface (API), which only requires adding or changing parameters in an image or video’s URL. Cloudinary also optimizes assets for delivery to multiple channels such as webpages, mobile apps, and social media platforms. Under the ‘Digital Asset Management’ umbrella, the platform offers two usage-based pricing tiers: Free and Enterprise. The Free plan supports up to three users for one account and offers up to 25 credits per month. For the Enterprise tier, you’ll need to contact the vendor for a bespoke quote. Under its ‘Image and Video APIs’ category, the platform offers four tiers: Advanced, Plus, Free, and Enterprise. The Free plan allows businesses to try the software’s features with a small amount of credits, which might also suffice for lower-traffic websites. Moving up to the Plus tier, you can comfortably use Cloudinary for websites and apps with normal or high traffic levels. The Advanced plan adds specialized features and supports more activity on Cloudinary’s servers. Cloudinary also offers an Enterprise tier for larger businesses that require custom features. Free (Programma Media) $0.00 * * * It Includes - 1 Account - 1 User - 25gb Storage - API and Search - Auto-Backup and Revision Tracking - High Performance Delivery Through a CDN Plus (Programma Media) $99.00 Flat Rate,Per Month * * * It Includes - 2:1 Video Bandwidth Boost - 225gb Storage - 2 Accounts - 3 Users - Allowlist/Blocklist Asset Access - Auto-Tagging Based Search Advanced (Programma Media) $249.00 Flat Rate,Per Month * * * It Includes - 3 Accounts - 5 Users - 600gb Storage - Authentication Options - Custom Domain (C ME) Support - Optional HTTPS SSL Certificate Free (Digital Asset Management) $0.00 * * * It Includes - 1 Account - 25 GB Storage - 3 Users - Auto Tagging - Video Support - Asset Variations Enterprise (Digital Asset Management) Contact vendor * * * It Includes - Streamline Content Operations - Faster Innovation - Full-team Collaboration - One-File Approach - Collaboration is Key - AI The latest information on pricing is available on Cloudinary’s website. ## Cost breakdown With its multiple pricing tiers, businesses can begin by trying Cloudinary’s features for free. The Free plan lets developers try all of Cloudinary’s basic features, but due to its usage limits, only small businesses will typically find the Free tier suitable for long-term production. However, the software offers multiple pricing tiers and various feature sets to suit different team needs and budgets.  ### Starting price Cloudinary’s pricing is based on a credit-based usage system. Credits can be used against three separate quotas: storage, bandwidth, and what Cloudinary calls ‘transformations’. One gigabyte (GB) of storage costs one credit, and one GB of bandwidth also costs one credit. A transformation is any modification to an uploaded image or video—resizing, cropping, applying a filter, or changing the format, and one credit equals 1,000 transformations.  With the Free plan, you are allocated 25 monthly credits. You can spend your credits on any combination of the three quotas. So, for example, you could split those 25 credits evenly with 5,000 transformations, 10GB of storage, and 10GB of bandwidth. Or, you could use the credits in another combination, such as 2,000 transformations, 20GB of storage, and 3GB of bandwidth. The Free plan supports a maximum image file size of 10MB and a video file size of 100MB.  The Plus plan costs $89 per month (billed annually) and provides 225 monthly credits, supporting more transformations, storage, and bandwidth. In this tier, the maximum image file size is 20MB, and the maximum video file size is 2GB. Businesses on the Plus tier also get expedited customer support and the ability to use Cloudinary add-ons. Most add-ons are priced based on usage, with a free tier. With the Advanced plan, Cloudinary provides 600 monthly credits for $224 per month (billed annually). In this pricing tier, the image and video file size limits are 40MB and 4GB, respectively. Some features only available with this plan include HTTPS SSL certificates and authentication-based protection of digital assets. Larger businesses with unique needs can use Cloudinary’s Enterprise plan. At this tier, Cloudinary provides businesses with custom features and dedicated support personnel. Pricing for this plan is only available via a customized quote. For businesses primarily interested in Cloudinary’s DAM features, there are three plans: DAM Free, DAM Custom. Both provide features for managing and organizing considerable digital asset libraries. The DAM Free plan offers 25GB of storage, while larger amounts are available via a quote on the DAM Custom tier. ### Billing options Cloudinary customers can elect to pay monthly or annually. While these options provide businesses with some flexibility, it’s important to note that annual plans offer a discount compared to monthly payments. For example, the Plus plan costs $99 per month (billed monthly) or $89 (billed annually), a savings of $10 per month. Meanwhile, the Advanced plan costs $249 per month (billed monthly) or $224 per month (billed annually), a savings of $25 per month, providing significant cost benefits for businesses on a budget. However, some businesses might still prefer Cloudinary’s monthly payment option. While going this route costs more in the long run, the monthly payments require less upfront investment and might be more budget-friendly to businesses with limited cash flow. Keep in mind that the figures discussed here are for the base subscription prices only. If you purchase Cloudinary add-ons or go over your monthly allocation of credits, your business will incur extra costs. ### Feature differentiation The Cloudinary Free plan provides nearly all of the software’s critical functionality with a relatively small amount of monthly credits. However, the paid plans increase the amount of monthly credits and add some extra features. - **Increased monthly credits**: While the Cloudinary Free plan provides 25 monthly credits, the Plus plan offers 225 credits, and the Advanced tier provides 600 monthly credits. - **Expedited support**: Customer support is available with the Free plan, but businesses on the Plus and Advanced plans receive expedited support. - **Multi-user support**: Cloudinary’s free version supports three users on the same account. The Plus tier provides a second account, and the Advanced plan supports five users over three separate accounts. - **Auto-tagging and search**: With the paid plans, Cloudinary automatically tags all uploaded images and videos, making it easier to search your digital assets later. ## What users say about Cloudinary pricing We analyzed reviews posted by verified Cloudinary users over the last two years to understand how users feel about the software’s pricing. Our analysis found mixed opinions about Cloudinary’s pricing. Most users find Cloudinary an affordable solution with an excellent API and an intuitive user interface. Many say Cloudinary’s free plan offers sufficient storage, bandwidth, and features. However, some customers find the paid plans expensive and not always worth the cost. In addition, some feel the pricing structure is unclear and unnecessarily complicated.  Here are some user review excerpts about Cloudinary pricing.[\[1\]](#footnotes) Leana Y.Marketing DirectorComputer Software2+ years We were locked into a lower legacy rate, which made using Cloudinary a really good deal. December 2, 2024 Chris C.ConsultantInternet2+ years Very expensive for what it is, though does have a good free tier for hobby projects. December 15, 2021 [Read more Cloudinary reviews here.](https://www.capterra.com/p/135074/Cloudinary/reviews/) ## Detailed breakdown of Cloudinary pricing plans ### Image and Video APIs Free plan **Ideal for**: Small businesses with lower-traffic websites or developers wanting to gain experience working with digital media APIs. Cloudinary’s Free plan allows businesses to try its features without any financial commitment. The 25 monthly credits provide enough storage and bandwidth to function as the content delivery network (CDN) for a low-traffic website’s digital assets. For medium-sized or larger companies, web development teams can use the free version to get some practice transforming digital assets via Cloudinary’s API. **Free plan features**[\[2\]](#footnotes): - **Content hosting and delivery**: Users can host images on Cloudinary’s servers for delivery to websites, mobile apps, email campaigns, and more. - **Media transformations**: The Cloudinary API adds parameters to a hosted asset’s URL. By appending a small amount of text, you can automatically crop or resize video and images or apply a filter. - **Automatic optimization**: Cloudinary automatically optimizes all images and videos for different uses, such as the web, social media, or email. - **Multiple support options**: Even on the Free tier, customers can get support via email, help tickets, or Cloudinary’s forums. ### Plus plan **Priced at**: $89 per month, billed annually; $99 per month, billed monthly **Ideal for**: Small to midsize businesses that maintain websites, apps, social media, and launch email campaigns. Cloudinary’s Plus plan increases monthly credits from 25 to 225, making it a potentially suitable CDN for many business websites and apps. In addition to everything included in the Free tier, the Plus plan adds several pro-level features such as multiple accounts, role-based user administration, and expedited customer support. The Plus plan also supports free and paid add-ons that provide additional features. **Plus plan features**[\[2\]](#footnotes):  - **Auto-tagging and search**: With the Plus plan, Cloudinary automatically tags uploaded images and videos, providing an easy way to search large asset libraries. - **Add-ons**: Cloudinary add-ons are extensions that provide extra features like removing backgrounds from images and videos and AI-powered content analysis. - **Expedited support**: Customers on paid plans receive support faster than those on the Free plan. - **S3 Bucket backup**: Plus plan users can use their own Amazon S3 Buckets for backups. ### Advanced plan **Priced at:** $224 per month, billed annually; $249 per month, billed monthly **Ideal for**: Larger organizations with significant digital media assets or complex websites. Businesses with a substantial online presence, such as eCommerce retailers, can also benefit from this plan. The Advanced plan is aimed at businesses with more extensive digital asset libraries. It offers everything included in the free and Plus plans and adds several pro-level features. Media organizations, eCommerce sellers, or large-sized companies that utilize digital marketing campaigns or host multiple websites will find the Advanced tier a good fit, as it provides 600 monthly credits. **Advanced plan features**[\[2\]](#footnotes):  - **Custom domain support**: Whereas the Free and Plus tiers deliver assets under Cloudinary’s domain, the Advanced plan supports custom domain names. - **HTTPS and SSL certificates**: The Advanced plan offers the option to deliver assets via HTTPS, secured by industry-standard secure sockets layer (SSL) certificates. - **Authentication options**: Advanced customers can secure images and videos, requiring user authentication to view them. Supported authentication schemes include third-party logins (such as Google or GitHub), two-factor authentication (2FA), and single sign-on (SSO) services. ### Enterprise plan **Priced at:** Custom pricing, based on requested features. **Ideal for:** Large corporations with specific needs or organizations that require a service level agreement (SLA). In addition to receiving all the features included in the other plans, customers on the Enterprise tier can request specific features from Cloudinary. Each business on this plan is assigned a customer success manager to oversee their requests and custom implementations. The Enterprise tier is the only one to offer an SLA, which guarantees uptime levels and clearly defines support procedures. **Enterprise plan features**[\[2\]](#footnotes): - **Custom domain support**: Enterprise customers can use Clousindary with custom domain names for their hosted assets instead of Cloudinary’s domain. - **Multiple CDNs**: Instead of a single Cloudinary CDN, Enterprise users have access to multiple CDNs. - **Single sign-on**: Users can secure digital assets and authenticate against their company’s SSO service. - **Dedicated support and an SLA**: Each Enterprise customer is assigned a dedicated Cloudinary support representative. An SLA, unavailable in lower tiers, defines support turnaround times and other service terms. ### DAM Free plan **Ideal for**: Small businesses that would like to try Cloudinary’s digital asset management features. Cloudinary’s DAM Free plan provides the app’s digital asset management functionality with a flat 25GB of storage. No credits are required with this plan, which allows businesses to tag and search image and video libraries for streamlined searching and file management. **DAM Free plan features**[\[2\]](#footnotes):  - **Auto-tagging:** Cloudinary’s AI automatically tags uploaded images and videos with relevant metadata, making managing and searching large media libraries easy. - **Asset variations:** Using Cloudinary presets, businesses can apply filters to crop, resize, or change the color scheme of images and videos. - **Fixed storage**: Instead of Cloudinary credits, the DAM free plan offers a fixed 25GB of storage for small businesses’ image and video libraries. ### DAM Enterprise plan **Priced at**: Custom pricing, available via quote only. **Ideal for:** Businesses interested only in Cloudinary’s DAM features but need more storage than the 25GB offered in the DAM Free plan. Cloudinary’s team will work with companies on their tier to develop a DAM environment tailored to their unique needs. **DAM Enterprise plan features**[\[2\]](#footnotes): - **Specialized plans**: The Cloudinary development team will develop a custom DAM plan suited to your organization’s requirements. - **AI-enhanced workflows**: Cloudinary’s DAM deploys AI algorithms to speed up content workflows with advanced features like object detection. ## Total cost of ownership As you evaluate Cloudinary and its pricing tiers, it’s important to consider more than the monthly or yearly subscription costs. While Cloudinary offers a feature-rich free version and the monthly subscriptions are generally affordable, some features are only available via add-ons. In addition, you might need additional personnel to manage Cloudinary or get the most out of it. Here’s a look at what you need to know about Cloudinary’s total cost of ownership (TCO). ### Upfront costs Upfront costs are the initial expenses you pay when you purchase software or enroll in a subscription plan. Typical software upfront costs include licensing, application hardware such as servers and storage, implementation expenses, customizations, and training. Cloudinary is a Software as a Service (Saas) application, so businesses don’t have to purchase any dedicated hardware or storage units. Therefore, Cloudinary’s upfront costs are the monthly or annual subscription price plus the purchase of any add-ons. Businesses can find these costs on the Cloudinary website. Please note, however, that the Enterprise and Custom tiers require a custom quote available upon request. ### Additional costs to consider When evaluating Cloudinary, be sure to consider any additional costs your company might incur in the course of implementing and using the software. Some additional costs might include: - **Add-ons:** Cloudinary hosts an add-on store where businesses can add optional features like image background removal or AI-assisted content analysis. If you require features only available via add-ons, add their expense to your upfront costs calculation. - **Support plans**: While Cloudinary offers support via help tickets, forums, and email at all price tiers, expedited support is only available with paid plans. Businesses using Cloudinary to host content for mission-critical websites might require this higher level of support to ensure timely problem resolution. - **Training expenses**: Most Cloudinary users say the software is easy to learn and use. However, businesses might still want to train employees who will regularly use it, especially if they are new to working with digital media APIs. As a result, external training can add a one-time expense to your upfront costs. - **Customizations**: If your business requires custom features from Cloudinary, you can sign up for the Enterprise plan. Pricing for this tier is based on your specific requirements and is only available via a quote. #### Services needed to implement or manage the platform Since support is provided for all Cloudinary customers, even on the Free tier, businesses don’t need to purchase additional services to get started with the software. As a cloud-based application, no special hardware is required, and most companies will be able to use the existing computers and devices they already own to run Cloudinary. As with other SaaS apps, Cloudinary manages all updates and maintenance windows. There is rarely downtime as Cloudinary applies updates and businesses typically don’t have to involve their IT department for long-term Cloudinary management unless they use the advanced features of the higher-priced tiers, such as custom domain names or multiple content delivery networks (CDNs). #### Internal resources needed for ongoing platform management Cloudinary customers might have to assign a few internal resources to manage the platform. Here are some of the roles typically involved in long-term platform management: - **Cloudinary administrator**: Businesses can assign Cloudinary administrative tasks to one or more employees. This includes managing backups, restoring deleted files, and retrieving different versions of digital media assets. - **Graphic designer**: Cloudinary is a product for hosting and transforming images and videos. Graphic designers typically produce images for corporate websites and marketing campaigns, and they can use Cloudinary to quickly modify these assets for various distribution channels. - **Videographer/video editor**: Similarly, video professionals will also find Cloudinary to be a useful tool for trimming, cropping, or otherwise transforming the videos they produce. - **Training coordinator**: An internal resource with training experience can be assigned to help onboard new Cloudinary users. ## How to choose the right Cloudinary pricing plan Selecting the right Cloudinary pricing plan requires careful consideration of your business needs, marketing goals, software budget, and other factors. Here’s how to make an informed decision about which Cloudinary price tier best suits your needs. _Key considerations while choosing the right Cloudinary plan_ - **Assess your business needs**: Consider your business requirements and what you need from software like Cloudinary. Suppose your organization’s website only receives minimal traffic each month, or the site contains relatively few images or videos, then the Free plan’s 25 monthly credits might meet your needs. However, most businesses with public-facing sites will likely need more credits to avoid overages. Analyze your expected usage requirements and list the features you need to help you find the right Cloudinary pricing plan. - **Consider your budget**: The final thing to consider is your budget limitations. While it would be easy to subscribe to one of the higher Cloudinary tiers and get more features than you need, the upfront cost and recurring expenses might be more than your company’s budget allows. Perform a cost-benefit analysis to help determine which pricing plan makes the most financial sense for your organization. - **Compare the features offered in each plan**: After you assess your business requirements and marketing goals, evaluate the features offered with each of Cloudinary’s pricing tiers. Businesses with minimal needs might be satisfied with the credits and features provided in the Free plan. However, if you require expedited support or advanced features like custom domain names, you will need to go with one of the paid plans. By comparing each plan’s features against your requirements, you can better understand which pricing plan is right for you. ## How to maximize the value of your Cloudinary subscription Maximizing your investment in Cloudinary is a matter of utilizing all the features available in the pricing tier you choose and taking advantage of the resources available to you. Here are a few ways to get the most out of your Cloudinary subscription: _Ways to maximize the value of your Cloudinary subscription_ ### Utilize all the features Cloudinary is partly a CDN, a DAM platform, and a tool for manipulating images and videos. To maximize your investment in Cloudinary, use all three of these components and their various features. In addition, Cloudinary’s various pricing tiers offer additional capabilities that help make your subscription a better value. For example, the Plus tier adds multi-user support and the ability to define roles for the extra users. The Advanced plan supports custom domain names, another feature that adds value to a Cloudinary subscription. ### Leverage customer support and available resources Cloudinary customers can access support via email, support tickets, and forums—even users on the free version. In addition, it provides helpful user guides and tutorial videos that can help you learn new features and make the most of your investment. ### Additional tips for getting the most out of your Cloudinary plan - Provide training to everyone in your organization who will use Cloudinary so they can effortlessly leverage the tool's capabilities. - Learn how to optimize digital assets with the Cloudinary API to help deliver images and videos appropriate for web, email, and social media. - If included in your pricing plan, utilize the role-based user administration to define specific roles in Cloudinary. For example, a web developer might need a higher level of access than a graphic designer who only needs to upload images. ## Is it worth paying for Cloudinary? Whether Cloudinary is worth the price for your business depends on your needs and budget. Here’s a breakdown to help you decide: ### Value for money Cloudinary is a top-rated cloud storage software and image manipulation service that has earned a value-for-money rating of 4.2/5 from verified users on Capterra. This rating indicates software with a compelling feature set offered for a competitive price. Here are some review excerpts from verified Cloudinary users that helped us understand its value proposition relative to its cost[\[1\]](#footnotes): Nadish H.Web DeveloperMarketing and Advertising6-12 months They provide industry's best technical support even if you're using their free service. March 18, 2021 Ken W.Ecommerce Business AnalystSporting Goods6-12 months We save money using Cloudinary and our site performs better. October 3, 2019 [Read more Cloudinary reviews here.](https://www.capterra.com/p/135074/Cloudinary/reviews/) ### Features of the Free plan If you’re unsure which Cloudinary plan is right for your organization, you can start with its Free plan to try the features and see how the software works. You can use the Free plan to: - **Try Cloudinary’s DAM and API:** With 25 free monthly credits, you can upload a small amount of images and videos to see how Cloudinary’s digital asset management system works and try its transformation APIs. - **Use Cloudinary’s CDN**: The Free plan’s 25 monthly credits can be dedicated toward bandwidth on Cloudinary’s content delivery network, allowing you to test its speed and how well it works for your website or digital marketing campaigns. ### When to upgrade Consider upgrading to a paid plan if: - You need more bandwidth, storage, or transformations than the Free plan supports - You need additional features that are only available via Cloudinary’s add-ons - You need advanced features like custom domains and SSL certificates ### Customer support options Cloudinary offers varying levels of support depending on the pricing tier: - **Free plan**: Cloudinary customers on the Free tier can support via email, help tickets, and forums. - **Plus and Advanced plans**: Businesses on the Plus and Advanced plans have access to help via the same three methods but are also eligible for expedited support for faster resolution times. - **Enterprise plan**: Cloudinary provides dedicated support personnel to customers on the Enterprise tier. ## Is Cloudinary right for you? ### Assessing your requirements Determining whether Cloudinary is the right software for your organization involves assessing your requirements and comparing them to what Cloudinary’s various pricing tiers provide. Here are some factors to consider: - **Your digital marketing needs**: Cloudinary makes it easy to transform images and videos for various distribution channels, like business websites or email marketing campaigns. Companies that run digital marketing campaigns will typically put a lot of effort into repurposing visual content, and Cloudinary’s easy-to-use API reduces the time required for digital asset management in omnichannel campaigns. - **Implementation resources**: While getting started with Cloudinary doesn’t require any extra hardware or other IT resources, it’s best to provide training for employees who will use the software. If your organization doesn’t have dedicated training personnel, the cost of external training should be considered in your upfront cost calculations. - **Budget considerations**: To successfully use Cloudinary, businesses must carefully plan their allocated credits. If, for example, your corporate website grows in traffic, you might unexpectedly use all your monthly Cloudinary credits. Therefore, it’s critical to understand your usage needs before committing to a Cloudinary subscription to ensure your company’s budget can handle the ongoing subscription costs. - **Customization needs**: Enterprise customers can request customizations from Cloudinary. Since pricing for the Enterprise tier is not publicly available, work closely with Cloudinary’s sales team to get a clear picture of what customizations will actually cost. ### Alternatives to Cloudinary Cloudinary has earned an impressive overall rating of 4.6/5 from verified users on Capterra. But would an alternative cloud storage or digital asset management tool be a better bet for your business? To help you find out, here’s a look at how some popular alternatives to Cloudinary compare in the category of value for money. Capterra users have given Cloudinary a 4.2/5 value-for-money rating, which is strong but lower than the ratings for the most popular alternatives. If you’re looking at Cloudinary for its digital asset management (DAM) features, take a look at the DAM platform **Canto** and its value-for-money rating of 4.4/5.  Another popular DAM tool is **Bynder**, which has a 4.2 rating for value for money on Capterra. If cloud storage and file management are the main reasons you’re interested in Cloudinary, you could consider **Google Workspace**, which has a value-for-money rating of 4.6. You might also be interested in Microsoft’s cloud file management/DAM tool, **OneDrive,** which has a 4.4 value for money rating. Finally, there’s the graphic design platform **Canva**, which has a 4.7 overall average rating and can transform digital assets in ways similar to Cloudinary. Each of these alternatives has its own unique combination of features to consider: **Canto** is a DAM application with an overall average rating of 4.5/5 on Capterra. Since Cloudinary also functions as a DAM, there is some crossover in functionality between the two apps. For example, both Canto and Cloudinary offer image and video management. However, Canto focuses on file management, offering robust metadata and storage optimization. Meanwhile, Cloudinary’s signature feature is its on-the-fly image and video transformation, with less of a focus on its DAM functionality. **Bynder** is a cloud-based DAM service that has earned an overall average rating of 4.5/5 from verified users on Capterra. Bynder helps businesses organize a wide range of content focusing on brand consistency. While there is some overlap in DAM functionality between Bynder and Cloudinary, the two apps aim to meet different needs. Bynder helps businesses organize and collaborate on assets, while Cloudinary focuses on image and video manipulation, optimization, and delivery. **Google Workspace** is a suite of cloud-based applications with a 4.7/5 overall average rating on Capterra. While the Google Drive component offers cloud storage similar to Cloudinary, the two tools typically serve different needs. Google Workspace provides word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation functionality, among other features,  but it doesn’t offer distinct digital asset management or anything similar to Cloudinary’s media transformation and optimization. **OneDrive** is an online file storage solution with DAM features and has a 4.5/5 overall average rating on Capterra. Users appreciate its close integration with Microsoft Windows and Office software, generous storage limits, and sharing capabilities. However, while OneDrive offers basic image editing capabilities, Cloudinary provides advanced image and video manipulation options for real-time resizing, cropping, and other transformations. **Canva** is an online graphic design platform with a 4.7/5 overall rating on Capterra. It comes with numerous templates for creating and transforming images and videos. Besides its design features, Canva is also a DAM, and offers a CDN in partnership with Cloudflare. Businesses can store, manage, and share digital assets with features like shared folders and version control. Check out the top [Cloudinary alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/135074/Cloudinary/alternatives/), comparable in terms of core features, pricing, and usability. ### Cost comparison: Cloudinary vs. popular alternatives ### Making the final decision Cloudinary offers a unique approach to digital asset hosting and manipulation. Its ability to transform images and videos via a simple API helps it stand out from other cloud-based storage and DAM software. However, while Cloudinary’s average rating of 4.2/5 in the value-for-money category is strong, it is lower than that of popular alternatives in the cloud storage and DAM market. Part of the reason for the lower rating may be the limitations of Cloudinary’s free version. Since Cloudinary credits are usage-based and website traffic can be unpredictable, businesses might unexpectedly use up the 25 monthly credits provided in the Free tier. At that point, Cloudinary will prompt the business to upgrade to a higher tier. Therefore, the Free tier is best used for testing and development or to host images and videos for very low-traffic websites. The Plus plan offers enough credits to be suitable for many small to midsize businesses, while those with greater needs can explore the Advanced and Enterprise pricing tiers. Ultimately, selecting the right Cloudinary plan involves assessing your business needs, evaluating your software budget, and finding the right balance of price and monthly credits. The Cloudinary Free tier provides a way to test the software, gauge how many credits you need for adequate storage, bandwidth, and transformations, and then subscribe to the pricing tier that meets your needs. ## FAQs Is Cloudinary free or paid? Cloudinary offers a free version that allows you to try the software and learn its API. However, the small amount of credits included with the free version limits its capability for production use. What are 25 monthly credits in Cloudinary? Cloudinary credits are used against three quotas: storage, bandwidth, and transformations. One gigabyte (GB) of storage equals one credit, and one GB of bandwidth also equals one credit. A transformation is any modification to an uploaded image or video via the Cloudinary API, such as resizing, cropping, or applying a filter, and one credit equals 1,000 transformations. Uploading each asset also counts as a transformation. The 25 monthly credits in Cloudinary’s free plan can be used in any storage, bandwidth, and transformations combination. For example, the 25 credits could support 10GB of storage, 10GB of bandwidth, and 5,000 transformations. How many images can I upload to Cloudinary for free? As one upload counts as one transformation, the theoretical maximum number of uploads per month on the Free tier is 25, since you get 25 monthly credits. However, since storage and bandwidth are required for hosting and delivering the images—and those features also use credits—the practical limit will be less and depend on what you’re using the images for. Is Cloudinary a CDN? Yes, Cloudinary is a full-featured content delivery network (CDN). However, the software offers additional features not typically included with a CDN, like its image and video transformations. Does Cloudinary offer any discounts? Yes, Cloudinary offers all customers a discount if they choose annual billing over monthly payments. For example, the Plus plan costs $99 per month if billed monthly but $89 per month if billed annually, a discount of $120 per year. In addition, Cloudinary offers discounts to nonprofit organizations. Does Cloudinary optimize images? Yes, Cloudinary optimizes images for multiple distribution channels, including the web, email, and social media. By changing the URL of an image hosted on Cloudinary, you can direct the software to perform various optimizations. Does Cloudinary host videos? Yes, Cloudinary hosts videos on its CDN. The maximum video file size with the Free version is 100MB. The Plus tier supports videos up to 2GB in size, while the Advanced plan increases this limit to 40GB. #### Methodology 1. Review excerpts are passages extracted from longer reviews written by verified reviewers. We obtain these excerpts by applying an algorithm that considers factors including, but not limited to, length, topic coverage, and thematic relevance. Excerpts are evaluated for positive or negative sentiment and receive a sentiment score. Excerpts represent user opinion and do not represent the views of, nor constitute, an endorsement by Capterra or its affiliates. Excerpts are not edited for clarity or grammar. 2. Our research team identified these features from vendor websites on February 22, 2025, based on their analysis of what users find valuable or expect from cloud storage software. This list is not exhaustive. For additional features, refer to the vendor’s website. [Shephalii Kapoor](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/skapoor/) Shephalii Kapoor is a writer at Capterra. She helps small businesses identify the right software for their needs by analyzing user reviews for top-rated software products. Prior to Capterra, she worked as an assistant content manager at InfoEdge India Ltd. She has also worked in company law, aviation, and real estate. She is a published author and has contributed to various magazines and websites. During her free time, she enjoys reading. [Mehar Luthra](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/mehar-luthra/) Mehar Luthra is a team lead at Capterra and specializes in editing reports that cover the latest trends affecting small businesses. With nearly a decade of experience, she has edited a multitude of research articles, top-rated software reports, and thought leadership articles for diverse markets such as Brazil, Japan, Canada, France, Australia, and India. She finds it particularly rewarding to produce content that provides small-business owners with practical tips and helpful advice on topics... Related reading Table of Contents - [Overview of Cloudinary pricing](#overview-of-cloudinary-pricing) - [Cost breakdown](#cost-breakdown) - [What users say about Cloudinary pricing](#what-users-say-about-cloudinary-pricing) - [Detailed breakdown of Cloudinary pricing plans](#detailed-breakdown-of-cloudinary-pricing-plans) - [Total cost of ownership](#total-cost-of-ownership) - [How to choose the right Cloudinary pricing plan](#how-to-choose-the-right-cloudinary-pricing-plan) - [How to maximize the value of your Cloudinary subscription](#how-to-maximize-the-value-of-your-cloudinary-subscription) - [Is it worth paying for Cloudinary?](#is-it-worth-paying-for-cloudinary) - [Is Cloudinary right for you?](#is-cloudinary-right-for-you) - [FAQs](#faqs)