Side-by-side comparison of free tiers, pricing changes, and stability. Catalogue dates here run to 2026-11-07.
Quick Verdict: Both are media optimization CDNs, but they're sized differently. ImageKit offers 20 GB bandwidth + 20 GB storage free. Cloudinary uses a credit system (25 credits = 25 GB bandwidth OR 25 GB storage). ImageKit is simpler to understand; Cloudinary has richer transformation features.
Media management — 25 credits/month (1 credit = 1 GB storage OR 1 GB bandwidth OR 1K transformations), up to 3 users
Cloudinary's Free plan needs no credit card. (From cloudinary.com/pricing, read 2026-10-23.)
Cloudinary launched Claimable Clouds on August 5, 2026. Its docs say: "A Claimable Cloud is a working Cloudinary environment that an AI agent can provision on a user's behalf, with no signup and no existing credentials." A Claimable Cloud expires in 24 hours if unclaimed and is deleted. Media delivery is limited to the provisioning machine's IP and up to three others, and usage caps are lower until a person claims it. Claiming converts it to a Free plan account with the same credentials. (From cloudinary.com/documentation/claimable_cloud_provisioning, read 2026-11-06.)
Cloudinary's usage limits are soft: warnings come near 90% of a quota, and an account that stays over after repeated notices may be disabled. A disabled account cannot upload or create new transformations; delivery may continue for a time but can also be blocked. (From cloudinary.com/documentation/programmable_media_asset_usage_data, read 2026-11-06.)
The Free plan caps image and raw files at 10 MB, video files at 100 MB, images at 25 megapixels, and the Admin API at 500 requests an hour. (From cloudinary.com/pricing/compare-plans, read 2026-11-06.)
One credit also equals 500 seconds of SD or 250 seconds of HD video processing. A transformation is counted when a derived asset is first created; later views of it do not add to the count. (From cloudinary.com/pricing/compare-plans, read 2026-11-06.)
Free tier clarity: ImageKit gives clear limits: 20 GB bandwidth, 20 GB storage, unlimited transformations. Cloudinary uses 25 credits/month where 1 credit = 1 GB storage OR 1 GB bandwidth OR 1K transformations — confusing at first.
Transformations: Cloudinary has a deeper transformation API (AI-based cropping, background removal, video effects). ImageKit covers the core transformations well but with less AI.
Video support: Both handle video, but Cloudinary's video transformation capabilities are more mature.
CDN performance: ImageKit uses a multi-CDN approach (AWS CloudFront + others). Cloudinary uses its own CDN infrastructure.
Pricing Change History
Cloudinary
No recorded pricing changes for Cloudinary.
ImageKit
reducedeffective 2025-08-03medium impact
Between July 13 and August 3, 2025, ImageKit cut its Free plan's DAM storage from 5 GB to 3 GB and its media delivery bandwidth from 25 GB to 20 GB a month. Video processing units stayed at 500 a month. Source ↗
Our Recommendation
Choose Cloudinary if you need advanced AI-powered transformations, rich video processing, or have complex media workflows.
Choose ImageKit if you want straightforward pricing, generous bandwidth, and unlimited image transformations without worrying about credit math.
Both are media optimization CDNs, but they're sized differently. ImageKit offers 20 GB bandwidth + 20 GB storage free. Cloudinary uses a credit system (25 credits = 25 GB bandwidth OR 25 GB storage). ImageKit is simpler to understand; Cloudinary has richer transformation features.
What is Cloudinary's free tier?
Cloudinary offers a Free plan: Media management — 25 credits/month (1 credit = 1 GB storage OR 1 GB bandwidth OR 1K transformations), up to 3 users. Cloudinary's Free plan needs no credit card. (From https://cloudinary.com/pricing, read 2026-10-23.) Cloudinary launched Claimable Clouds on August 5, 2026. Its docs say: "A Claimable Cloud is a working Cloudinary environment that an AI agent can provision on a user's behalf, with no signup and no existing credentials." A Claimable Cloud expires in 24 hours if unclaimed and is deleted. Media delivery is limited to the provisioning machine's IP and up to three others, and usage caps are lower until a person claims it. Claiming converts it to a Free plan account with the same credentials. (From https://cloudinary.com/documentation/claimable_cloud_provisioning, read 2026-11-06.) Cloudinary's usage limits are soft: warnings come near 90% of a quota, and an account that stays over after repeated notices may be disabled. A disabled account cannot upload or create new transformations; delivery may continue for a time but can also be blocked. (From https://cloudinary.com/documentation/programmable_media_asset_usage_data, read 2026-11-06.) A disabled Cloudinary account can be restored within 30 days by choosing a plan that covers its usage. After 30 days, its environments, assets, metadata and settings are permanently removed. (From https://cloudinary.com/documentation/ts_why_is_my_account_disabled_and_how_can_i_recover_my_disabled_account, read 2026-11-06.)
What is ImageKit's free tier?
ImageKit offers a Free plan: Real-time image and video optimization with CDN — Forever free $0 / mo. Includes: 20 GB bandwidth Monthly limit, 3 GB DAM storage Fixed limit, 500 video units Monthly limit, 650 extension units Monthl...
Should I choose Cloudinary or ImageKit?
Choose Cloudinary if you need advanced AI-powered transformations, rich video processing, or have complex media workflows. Choose ImageKit if you want straightforward pricing, generous bandwidth, and unlimited image transformations without worrying about credit math.