# imgix vs Uploadcare

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

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

## At a glance

| Criterion | imgix | Uploadcare |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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. | $66 a month for Pro, which includes 5,000 operations, 25 GB of traffic and 10 GB of storage. |
| 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. | 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) | Up to 50 GB of media on Starter — the volume on your site rather than an entire library, by imgix's own definition. | 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 | Up to 100 GB of delivery bandwidth on Starter, rising to 375 GB on Basic. | 25 GB of traffic a month on Pro, and 125 GB on Business. |

## Where they differ

### Free tier

- imgix: No ([source](https://imgix.com/pricing))
- Uploadcare: Yes ([source](https://uploadcare.com/pricing/))

### Kind of free offer

- imgix: Free trial ([source](https://imgix.com/pricing))
- Uploadcare: Free tier ([source](https://uploadcare.com/pricing/))

### 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))
- 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

- 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))
- 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)

- imgix: Up to 50 GB of media on Starter — the volume on your site rather than an entire library, by imgix's own definition. ([source](https://imgix.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

- imgix: Up to 100 GB of delivery bandwidth on Starter, rising to 375 GB on Basic. ([source](https://imgix.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 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 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: 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: 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

- What the free plan includes: 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.
- 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: 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.
- 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: imgix or Uploadcare?**

imgix: $25 a month for Starter, or $250 a year. That is 100 credits a month at $0.25 each.
Uploadcare: $66 a month for Pro, which includes 5,000 operations, 25 GB of traffic and 10 GB of storage.

**Free tier: imgix or Uploadcare?**

imgix: No
Uploadcare: Yes

**Included bandwidth: imgix or Uploadcare?**

imgix: Up to 100 GB of delivery bandwidth on Starter, rising to 375 GB on Basic.
Uploadcare: 25 GB of traffic a month on Pro, and 125 GB on Business.

**Should I choose imgix or Uploadcare?**

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 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.