Cloudinary vs Uploadcare
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Cloudinary and Uploadcare built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- 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.
- 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.
5 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Cloudinary 0
Uploadcare 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Cloudinary | Uploadcare |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| 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. |
| Limits | ||
| 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Cloudinary Pricing ↗
“3 users / 1 account 25 monthly credits”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Uploadcare Pricing ↗
“1,000 operations per month [...] 500 MB max file size uploading widget, api basic image transformations adaptive bitrate streaming delivery through a cdn signed uploads webhooks personal use only”
Read 2026-09-15 · official 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.
- Uploadcare
- $66 a month for Pro, which includes 5,000 operations, 25 GB of traffic and 10 GB of storage.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Cloudinary Pricing ↗
“$99 per month $89 per month 3 users / 2 accounts 225 monthly credits”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Uploadcare Pricing ↗
“pro $66 / mo for production apps and websites with the option to scale”
Read 2026-09-15 · official 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Cloudinary Pricing ↗
“one credit can be used interchangeably on all our services. mix and match across these resources up to your plan's monthly credit limit. 1 credit = 1,000 transformations image and video processing or 1GB managed storage for all digital assets or 1GB image bandwidth high-performance CDN or paid plans only 2GB video bandwidth boosted 2:1 for video delivery”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Uploadcare Pricing ↗
“operations total number of actions performed with your files through uploadcare apis, including everything from file uploading, image optimization, and transformations to video processing, document conversion, and more.”
Read 2026-09-15 · official 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.
- Uploadcare
- 10 GB included with Pro, then billed per GB. Storage is its own meter here rather than a draw on a shared pool.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Cloudinary Pricing ↗
“1 credit = 1,000 transformations image and video processing or 1GB managed storage for all digital assets”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Uploadcare Pricing ↗
“1 gb 10 gb included then $ 0.35 per gb 50 gb included then $ 0.25 per gb”
Read 2026-09-15 · official 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.
- Uploadcare
- 25 GB of traffic a month on Pro, and 125 GB on Business.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Cloudinary Pricing ↗
“or 1GB image bandwidth high-performance CDN or paid plans only 2GB video bandwidth boosted 2:1 for video delivery”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- Uploadcare Pricing ↗
“5 gb / mo 25 gb / mo included then $ 0.35 per gb 125 gb / mo included then $ 0.25 per gb”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.
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.