# Cloudinary vs Uploadcare

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/cloudinary-vs-uploadcare/

Every value below is read from Cloudinary's and Uploadcare's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Cloudinary | Uploadcare |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Kind of free offer | Free tier | Free tier |
| What the free plan includes | 25 credits a month, across 3 users and 1 account. At the published rate that is 25,000 transformations, or 25 GB of storage, or 25 GB of delivery — whichever mix you spend it on. | 1,000 operations, 5 GB of traffic and 1 GB of storage a month, with a 500 MB file ceiling — and marked personal use only, which is a licence restriction the other three do not place on their free plans. |
| Entry paid plan | $99 a month for Plus, or $89 a month billed yearly. That buys 225 monthly credits across 3 users and 2 accounts. | $66 a month for Pro, which includes 5,000 operations, 25 GB of traffic and 10 GB of storage. |
| Pricing model | One meter for four resources. A credit buys 1,000 transformations, or 1 GB of managed storage, or 1 GB of image bandwidth, or 2 GB of video bandwidth — mixed and matched against a single monthly limit. Spending credits on one resource leaves fewer for the rest, so a plan's real capacity depends entirely on which of the four you consume. | Operations, plus traffic and storage on their own meters. An operation is any action taken on a file — uploading, an API request, an image transformation, video processing, document conversion — so the count tracks how much you do to the media rather than how much of it you serve. |
| Storage (entry plan) | No separate storage allowance. Storage is drawn from the same credit pool at 1 GB per credit, so 225 credits is up to 225 GB stored or 225,000 transformations, and never both. | 10 GB included with Pro, then billed per GB. Storage is its own meter here rather than a draw on a shared pool. |
| Included bandwidth | No separate bandwidth allowance. Delivery is drawn from the credit pool at 1 GB of image bandwidth per credit, or 2 GB of video, so the 225-credit Plus plan carries up to 225 GB of image delivery and nothing else. | 25 GB of traffic a month on Pro, and 125 GB on Business. |

## Where they differ

### What the free plan includes

- Cloudinary: 25 credits a month, across 3 users and 1 account. At the published rate that is 25,000 transformations, or 25 GB of storage, or 25 GB of delivery — whichever mix you spend it on. ([source](https://cloudinary.com/pricing))
- Uploadcare: 1,000 operations, 5 GB of traffic and 1 GB of storage a month, with a 500 MB file ceiling — and marked personal use only, which is a licence restriction the other three do not place on their free plans. ([source](https://uploadcare.com/pricing/))

### Entry paid plan

- Cloudinary: $99 a month for Plus, or $89 a month billed yearly. That buys 225 monthly credits across 3 users and 2 accounts. ([source](https://cloudinary.com/pricing))
- Uploadcare: $66 a month for Pro, which includes 5,000 operations, 25 GB of traffic and 10 GB of storage. ([source](https://uploadcare.com/pricing/))

### Pricing model

- Cloudinary: One meter for four resources. A credit buys 1,000 transformations, or 1 GB of managed storage, or 1 GB of image bandwidth, or 2 GB of video bandwidth — mixed and matched against a single monthly limit. Spending credits on one resource leaves fewer for the rest, so a plan's real capacity depends entirely on which of the four you consume. ([source](https://cloudinary.com/pricing))
- Uploadcare: Operations, plus traffic and storage on their own meters. An operation is any action taken on a file — uploading, an API request, an image transformation, video processing, document conversion — so the count tracks how much you do to the media rather than how much of it you serve. ([source](https://uploadcare.com/pricing/))

### Storage (entry plan)

- Cloudinary: No separate storage allowance. Storage is drawn from the same credit pool at 1 GB per credit, so 225 credits is up to 225 GB stored or 225,000 transformations, and never both. ([source](https://cloudinary.com/pricing))
- Uploadcare: 10 GB included with Pro, then billed per GB. Storage is its own meter here rather than a draw on a shared pool. ([source](https://uploadcare.com/pricing/))

### Included bandwidth

- Cloudinary: No separate bandwidth allowance. Delivery is drawn from the credit pool at 1 GB of image bandwidth per credit, or 2 GB of video, so the 225-credit Plus plan carries up to 225 GB of image delivery and nothing else. ([source](https://cloudinary.com/pricing))
- Uploadcare: 25 GB of traffic a month on Pro, and 125 GB on Business. ([source](https://uploadcare.com/pricing/))

## Which should you choose?

Pick Cloudinary if One bill and one currency for images, video and asset management. A credit spends the same on transformations, storage or delivery, so a month heavy on one is absorbed by spending less on another — the only member here where a shifting workload mix does not need a plan change to match it.

Pick Uploadcare if Upload-heavy products where the work is done TO files rather than served from them. An operation is every upload, API request, transformation, video job and document conversion, so the meter follows the pipeline — and traffic and storage are billed on their own meters rather than drawn from it.

Consider something else: Cloudinary — You need to forecast. A plan has no fixed capacity in anything: 225 credits is 225 GB delivered or 225,000 transformations and never both, and the pricing page does not say what happens when they run out. It is also the most expensive entry here at $99 a month.

Consider something else: Uploadcare — You serve a lot and process little. Three meters run at once and Pro is $66 a month for 5,000 operations, 25 GB of traffic and 10 GB of storage, with $1.60 per further thousand operations. The free plan is personal use only, and SOC 2 and HIPAA appear only on Enterprise.

## Documented by only one

- Credit card to start: Cloudinary: No
- Egress over allowance: Uploadcare: $0.35 per GB of traffic above the 25 GB on Pro, and $0.25 above the 125 GB on Business.
- When you exceed a cap: Uploadcare: Every meter continues past its allowance at a published per-unit rate rather than stopping — operations, traffic and storage alike.
- Storage price: Uploadcare: $0.35 per GB above the 10 GB included on Pro, and $0.25 above the 50 GB on Business.
- Operations price: Uploadcare: $1.60 per 1,000 operations above the 5,000 included on Pro, falling to $0.80 per 1,000 on Business and as low as $0.10 on Enterprise.
- Support on entry paid plan: Cloudinary: Expedited support on Plus, the entry paid plan. The free plan gets forums, tickets and email.
- SOC 2: Uploadcare: SOC 2 is listed among the Enterprise plan's options, alongside HIPAA. Nothing is claimed for Free, Pro or Business.
- HIPAA: Uploadcare: HIPAA is listed among the Enterprise plan's options. Nothing is claimed for the plans below it.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: Cloudinary or Uploadcare?**

Cloudinary: $99 a month for Plus, or $89 a month billed yearly. That buys 225 monthly credits across 3 users and 2 accounts.
Uploadcare: $66 a month for Pro, which includes 5,000 operations, 25 GB of traffic and 10 GB of storage.

**Included bandwidth: Cloudinary or Uploadcare?**

Cloudinary: No separate bandwidth allowance. Delivery is drawn from the credit pool at 1 GB of image bandwidth per credit, or 2 GB of video, so the 225-credit Plus plan carries up to 225 GB of image delivery and nothing else.
Uploadcare: 25 GB of traffic a month on Pro, and 125 GB on Business.

**Storage (entry plan): Cloudinary or Uploadcare?**

Cloudinary: No separate storage allowance. Storage is drawn from the same credit pool at 1 GB per credit, so 225 credits is up to 225 GB stored or 225,000 transformations, and never both.
Uploadcare: 10 GB included with Pro, then billed per GB. Storage is its own meter here rather than a draw on a shared pool.

**Should I choose Cloudinary or Uploadcare?**

Pick Cloudinary if One bill and one currency for images, video and asset management. A credit spends the same on transformations, storage or delivery, so a month heavy on one is absorbed by spending less on another — the only member here where a shifting workload mix does not need a plan change to match it.
Pick Uploadcare if Upload-heavy products where the work is done TO files rather than served from them. An operation is every upload, API request, transformation, video job and document conversion, so the meter follows the pipeline — and traffic and storage are billed on their own meters rather than drawn from it.