# imgix vs ImageKit

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/imgix-vs-imagekit/

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

## At a glance

| Criterion | imgix | ImageKit |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Kind of free offer | Free trial | Free tier |
| Entry paid plan | $25 a month for Starter, or $250 a year. That is 100 credits a month at $0.25 each. | $9 a month for Lite, plus pay-as-you-go on every meter above its allowance. |
| Pricing model | Credits sold as currency, not as a resource equivalence. Starter prices them at $0.25 each falling to $0.21 annually, and each bundle also states a media and a delivery ceiling — 100 credits comes with up to 50 GB of media and up to 100 GB of delivery bandwidth. imgix moved to this from a model tied to origin images. | Four separate meters rather than one. Bandwidth, DAM storage, video units and extension units each carry their own monthly allowance and their own overage rate, so a workload heavy on one is unaffected by the others. The video unit is itself two rates: one unit is a second of SD or half a second of HD. |
| Included bandwidth | Up to 100 GB of delivery bandwidth on Starter, rising to 375 GB on Basic. | 40 GB a month on Lite, rising to 225 GB on Pro. ImageKit puts a figure on what that buys: roughly 2 million images, or 2,000 minutes of HD video. |

## Where they differ

### Free tier

- imgix: No ([source](https://imgix.com/pricing))
- ImageKit: Yes ([source](https://imagekit.io/plans))

### Kind of free offer

- imgix: Free trial ([source](https://imgix.com/pricing))
- ImageKit: Free tier ([source](https://imagekit.io/plans))

### Entry paid plan

- imgix: $25 a month for Starter, or $250 a year. That is 100 credits a month at $0.25 each. ([source](https://imgix.com/pricing))
- ImageKit: $9 a month for Lite, plus pay-as-you-go on every meter above its allowance. ([source](https://imagekit.io/plans))

### Pricing model

- imgix: Credits sold as currency, not as a resource equivalence. Starter prices them at $0.25 each falling to $0.21 annually, and each bundle also states a media and a delivery ceiling — 100 credits comes with up to 50 GB of media and up to 100 GB of delivery bandwidth. imgix moved to this from a model tied to origin images. ([source](https://imgix.com/pricing))
- ImageKit: Four separate meters rather than one. Bandwidth, DAM storage, video units and extension units each carry their own monthly allowance and their own overage rate, so a workload heavy on one is unaffected by the others. The video unit is itself two rates: one unit is a second of SD or half a second of HD. ([source](https://imagekit.io/plans))

### Included bandwidth

- imgix: Up to 100 GB of delivery bandwidth on Starter, rising to 375 GB on Basic. ([source](https://imgix.com/pricing))
- ImageKit: 40 GB a month on Lite, rising to 225 GB on Pro. ImageKit puts a figure on what that buys: roughly 2 million images, or 2,000 minutes of HD video. ([source](https://imagekit.io/plans))

## Which should you choose?

Pick imgix if A media library that is large relative to the traffic it serves. Starter is $25 a month for 100 credits with up to 50 GB of media and 100 GB of delivery, and the per-credit price falls as bundles grow — $0.25 on Starter, $0.20 on Basic, $0.18 on Midrange.

Pick ImageKit if Costs you can predict per resource, at the cheapest paid entry here. Bandwidth, storage, video units and extension units are four separate meters with published rates, so a workload heavy on one is not charged against the others — and the bandwidth overage falls from $0.50 to $0.45 a GB as the plan grows.

Consider something else: imgix — You want to start free, or to know what a credit actually is. There is no free plan, only 30 days and 100 credits, and the page prices credits without ever defining one — it states the media and delivery ceilings attached to each bundle and leaves the unit itself undescribed.

Consider something else: ImageKit — You are running the free plan in production. Its limits are hard stops in ImageKit's own words: media delivery stops at 20 GB and new uploads stop at 3 GB. The failure is images not loading rather than a larger bill, and overage only becomes possible from Lite at $9 a month.

## Documented by only one

- What the free plan includes: ImageKit: 20 GB bandwidth, 3 GB of DAM storage, 500 video units and 650 extension units a month. Both of the first two are hard stops, not overages.
- Credit card to start: imgix: No
- When the free offer ends: imgix: 30 days with 100 credits to spend in them. It is the only free access — the plan table starts at Starter.
- Egress over allowance: ImageKit: $0.50 per GB above the 40 GB on Lite, and $0.45 per GB above the 225 GB on Pro — the rate falls as the plan rises.
- When you exceed a cap: ImageKit: On the free plan there is no overage — media delivery stops when the bandwidth limit is hit and uploads stop at the storage limit. From Lite upward, overage is allowed on bandwidth and storage and billed per GB.
- Storage (entry plan): imgix: Up to 50 GB of media on Starter — the volume on your site rather than an entire library, by imgix's own definition.
- Storage price: ImageKit: $0.10 per GB above the 10 GB of DAM storage included with Lite.
- Support on entry paid plan: ImageKit: Email support on Lite, the entry paid plan. The free plan gets community support only.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: imgix or ImageKit?**

imgix: $25 a month for Starter, or $250 a year. That is 100 credits a month at $0.25 each.
ImageKit: $9 a month for Lite, plus pay-as-you-go on every meter above its allowance.

**Free tier: imgix or ImageKit?**

imgix: No
ImageKit: Yes

**Included bandwidth: imgix or ImageKit?**

imgix: Up to 100 GB of delivery bandwidth on Starter, rising to 375 GB on Basic.
ImageKit: 40 GB a month on Lite, rising to 225 GB on Pro. ImageKit puts a figure on what that buys: roughly 2 million images, or 2,000 minutes of HD video.

**Should I choose imgix or ImageKit?**

Pick imgix if A media library that is large relative to the traffic it serves. Starter is $25 a month for 100 credits with up to 50 GB of media and 100 GB of delivery, and the per-credit price falls as bundles grow — $0.25 on Starter, $0.20 on Basic, $0.18 on Midrange.
Pick ImageKit if Costs you can predict per resource, at the cheapest paid entry here. Bandwidth, storage, video units and extension units are four separate meters with published rates, so a workload heavy on one is not charged against the others — and the bandwidth overage falls from $0.50 to $0.45 a GB as the plan grows.