Billing and plans

This guide explains Cloudinary's plans and billing model, how usage is measured, and how to manage your plan from Console Settings > Billing. For Enterprise plan changes, contact sales.

Plan types

Free plan

• No credit card required to sign up
• 25 credits per month for transformations, storage, and bandwidth
• Access to core Cloudinary features

Paid plans

Self-service paid plans (Plus, Advanced, Advanced Extra, and Pro PAYG (pay as you go)) offer larger monthly credit allocations and additional features. Plan management is self-service via the Console.

View plan comparisons and pricing

Pro PAYG

Pro PAYG combines a fixed monthly payment with an included credit quota for your billing cycle. Usage above that quota is charged in addition to your fixed subscription. Quota Usage pages in Console Settings > Billing show how much of your included quota you've used in the current cycle and a history of previous billing cycles.

Enterprise plans

Enterprise plans provide custom resource allocations, volume-based pricing, and flexible payment terms including bank transfer. Contact sales to discuss options.

Credits (Free plan and self-service paid plans)

Cloudinary uses credits as the standard unit of measurement for resource consumption on the Free plan and self-service paid plans (Plus, Advanced, Advanced Extra, and Pro PAYG). Your monthly plan includes a specific number of credits that you can use across any combination of resources.

One credit equals:

• 1,000 transformations, OR
• 1 GB of storage, OR
• 1 GB of image bandwidth, OR
• Video bandwidth: 1 GB on the Free plan, or 2 GB on self-service paid plans (Plus, Advanced, Advanced Extra, and Pro PAYG)

In practice, credits are consumed across all three resource types simultaneously. For example, a month with 250,000 transformations, 25 GB of storage, and 50 GB of image bandwidth would consume 325 credits (250 + 25 + 50).

How credits are calculated

Transformations: Transformation credits are consumed when Cloudinary generates a derivative asset, a new version of an asset that you didn't have before, by resizing, cropping, format conversion, effects, or other URL-driven processing.

These bullets describe typical cases for images and video:

• Image transformations, including complex chained transformations, count as a single transformation.
• Video transformations are counted per second of video processed, with the rate depending on resolution.

Some advanced transformations are counted differently. Learn more in Special transformation counts.

Storage: Includes your main asset storage, a cached copy of each derived asset (from delivered transformations), and any revisions backed up to Cloudinary backup storage.

Bandwidth: Based on the delivered file size of successfully delivered assets.

For full details and examples, see How do Cloudinary credits work?

Enterprise units

Enterprise plans, along with other custom plans, use a different measurement system called units. You can flexibly utilize units across any combination of resources based on your use case.

One unit equals:

• 1 million transformations, OR
• 1 TB of storage, OR
• 1 TB of bandwidth (image or video)

How units are calculated

Transformations: Transformation units are consumed when Cloudinary generates a derivative asset, a new version of an asset that you didn't have before, by resizing, cropping, format conversion, effects, or other URL-driven processing.

These bullets describe typical cases for images and video:

• Image transformations, including complex chained transformations, count as a single transformation.
• Video transformations are counted per second of video processed, with the rate depending on resolution.

Some advanced transformations are counted differently. Learn more in Special transformation counts.

Storage: Includes your main asset storage, a cached copy of each derived asset (from delivered transformations), and any revisions backed up to Cloudinary backup storage.

Bandwidth: Based on the delivered file size of successfully delivered assets.

Alternative delivery metrics

Some Enterprise contracts replace bandwidth with alternative delivery metrics for more predictable pricing:

• Image impressions (for contracts signed or renewed after Jan 1, 2024): Replaces image bandwidth — counted each time an image is successfully delivered. Learn more.

• Video seconds delivered (available to certain accounts as an alternative to video bandwidth): Replaces video bandwidth — counted as the seconds of video successfully delivered. Learn more.

Refer to your contract for specific unit definitions for your account.

For full details, see How do Cloudinary units work?

Usage calculation period

Storage is the same on every plan: a current snapshot of how much you store at any moment, not a rolling sum and not bucketed by billing month.

How transformations and bandwidth count toward your plan depends on the plan:

Rolling 30-day window (Free plan, Plus, Advanced, and Advanced Extra)

For the Free plan and self-service paid plans Plus, Advanced, and Advanced Extra, Cloudinary uses a rolling 30-day window for transformations and bandwidth:

• Transformations: Counted over the last 30 days
• Bandwidth: Calculated over the last 30 days

This means those metrics update daily. As each day passes, activity from 31 days ago drops out and today's activity is added. Your usage can go up or down each day, and never resets to zero at the start of a calendar month.

The rolling window smooths out day-to-day variations and gives you flexibility to handle occasional spikes without immediately exceeding your plan limits.

For more information and examples, see How the 30-day window works.

Billing usage month (Pro PAYG and Enterprise)

Pro PAYG credits and Enterprise units don't use a rolling 30-day window. Transformations, bandwidth, and any contract-specific delivery metrics on Enterprise are counted according to your billing usage month, the usage period aligned with your billing cycle, which resets each billing period.

Add-ons

Cloudinary offers add-ons for additional processing, storage, and delivery capabilities. Add-ons are billed separately from your base plan. Each add-on has its own pricing tiers, but add-on billing follows your account’s billing cycle (there's no separate calendar used only for add-ons). If you subscribe partway through a billing period, the charge is prorated for the remainder of that period, and the quota for that period is prorated as well.

Add-on charges don't consume your base plan credits.

This includes:

• Feature and processing add-ons (such as AI Vision, Rekognition Auto Tagging, Google Auto Tagging, and others): Extend what Cloudinary can do with your assets. Most add-ons offer a free tier. Paid add-on tiers require a paid Cloudinary base plan. Learn more

  To register for or change an add-on plan, go to Console Settings > Add-ons.

• Additional user subscriptions: Increase your account's user limit beyond what your base plan includes. Learn more

  When you've reached your plan's maximum, a banner appears on the User Management page in Console Settings with a Change user limit option.

• Additional product environment subscriptions: Increase the number of product environments beyond your base plan limit. Learn more

  When you've reached your plan's maximum, a Change Limit button appears on the Product Environments page in Console Settings.

You can view your active add-on subscriptions and their next billing dates in the Add-on Plans section of the Plans Details page.

Payment methods

The payment method you choose covers both your base plan and any add-on subscriptions:

• Credit card (self-service paid plans): Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club, UnionPay, and JCB are accepted.
• Digital wallet (self-service paid plans): Google Pay and Apple Pay (where available) are accepted.
• Bank transfer (Enterprise plans): Contact your Customer Success Manager to set this up.

To update your payment method, billing address, or tax identification information, go to Console Settings > Billing > Payment Method.

Payment methods FAQ

Monitoring your usage

Billing Dashboard

The Billing Dashboard is available only on Enterprise plans and Pro PAYG. It summarizes consumption in the terms your plan uses: units on Enterprise and credits on Pro PAYG.

• Usage breakdown: How your units or credits are split across transformations, storage, bandwidth, and add-ons
• Plan details: Your current plan, included allocation, and renewal date
• Usage percentage: How much of your plan allocation you've used in the current billing period
• Invoice access: Quick links to view and download past invoices
• Payment information: Current payment method and status

Usage and delivery reports

On Enterprise and Pro PAYG, the Billing Dashboard highlights which resource type uses the largest share of your units or credits. For the underlying delivery and usage data behind those numbers, every plan can use the reports available from Console Home:

• Usage Reports: Track whether transformations, bandwidth, or storage are trending toward your plan limits. The Usage Reports section includes tips on What to look for.
• Delivery Reports: Identify unoptimized assets and redundant transformations that are driving up unit or credit usage against your plan. The Delivery Reports section includes tips on What to look for.
• Error Reports: Persistent errors, especially 404s, can indicate broken delivery URLs. The Error Reports section includes tips on What to look for.

Receive monthly account usage reports

The monthly account usage report provides a consolidated summary of transformations, storage, and bandwidth in the terms your plan uses (credits on self-service paid plans such as Pro PAYG, units on Enterprise where applicable) so you can review trends over time, compare months, or share a periodic snapshot with finance or operations without pulling the numbers from the Console each time.

To receive it by email:

1. Go to Console Settings > My Profile
2. In the Email Preferences tab, select Send me the monthly account usage report
3. Verify your email address is correct and billing emails aren't filtered to spam
4. Ensure account administrators are also subscribed

Managing your plan

The Plans Details page shows your current plan name, credit allocation, usage against that allocation, and renewal date.

Upgrading your plan

To upgrade, select a higher-tier plan from the Plans Details page. Upgrades take effect immediately. If you upgrade mid-billing cycle, you're charged a prorated amount for the remainder of the current period — for example, upgrading halfway through a 30-day cycle charges half the price difference between the two plans.

Consider upgrading if:

• You consistently use 80% or more of your monthly allocation
• Your usage is growing month-over-month
• You need features available on higher-tier plans

If you're not sure whether your usage reflects a spike or sustained growth, troubleshoot the spike first before upgrading. If you're approaching your limits but not ready to upgrade, you can also reduce storage by deleting unused assets (takes effect immediately). On the Free plan and on Plus, Advanced, and Advanced Extra, older transformation and bandwidth activity can also age out of the rolling 30-day window over time. Pro PAYG and Enterprise usage follows the billing usage month instead (see Usage calculation period).

For more information, see How do I upgrade or downgrade my Cloudinary account?

Downgrading your plan

To downgrade, select a lower-tier plan from the Plans Details page. By default, the downgrade takes effect immediately. However, you can schedule the downgrade for the end of your current billing cycle so you keep your current allocation and features until the cycle ends.

If you can't downgrade

When you try to downgrade, the Plans Details page shows you the specific reason you can't proceed — for example, usage overages, too many users or product environments, unsupported features, active add-ons, or unpaid invoices. See Why can't I downgrade my plan? for an explanation of each blocker and how to resolve it.

When you exceed your plan limits

Cloudinary won't immediately disable your account or disrupt production without warning. When your usage approaches or exceeds your plan's allocation:

1. You receive warnings: Cloudinary sends email notifications as you approach your plan limits.
2. You're prompted to upgrade: If you exceed your allocation, you'll receive repeated notifications asking you to upgrade.
3. Your account is disabled: If no action is taken after multiple notifications, your account will eventually be automatically disabled.

To re-enable a disabled account, select an appropriate plan from Console Settings > Billing > Plans Details. Your account is re-enabled automatically once you switch to a suitable plan.

Learn more about account disabling and recovery

Cancelling your account

Before cancelling, consider whether downgrading to the Free plan better meets your needs. It lets you keep your assets as well as your existing account configuration at no cost.

If you do want to cancel, make sure to:

1. Download your assets: After cancellation, your account enters a disabled state and stored media is no longer accessible.
2. Save your invoices: Download any invoices you need from the Invoices page.
3. Review active integrations: Disable or update any applications relying on your Cloudinary account to avoid disruptions.

How to cancel your account

Invoice history

The Invoices page (paid plans) provides access to monthly invoices, payment confirmations, and downloadable PDFs.

Each invoice includes:

• Base plan charge: Your monthly subscription cost
• Usage charges: Any additional charges for exceeding your plan's included allocation
• Add-on charges: Charges for any active add-on subscriptions
• Taxes: Applicable VAT or sales tax

Common scenarios

These examples show about one month of credit usage each. Totals use self-service paid plan credit rules, including 2 GB of video bandwidth per credit; on the Free plan, video bandwidth counts 1 GB per credit instead (see Credits above).

• Transformations apply only when Cloudinary creates a new derivative. That includes uploads with eager or incoming transformations, and the first time a given transformation URL is generated. Cached repeats of the same derivative don't add transformations.
• Bandwidth is counted within your plan's usage period: a rolling 30-day window on the Free plan and on Plus, Advanced, and Advanced Extra, or your billing usage month on Pro PAYG and Enterprise (Usage calculation period).
• Storage is your current total stored size. It's not a rolling sum.

Scenario 1: Image-heavy website

A photo gallery site with 10 million monthly page views in a month when you're launching or doing a large catalog refresh: many renditions are produced eagerly and/or on the fly while traffic discovers new URLs.

• Transformations: 5 million images newly derived that month = 5,000 credits.
  Note

  After those derivatives exist, repeat page views don't add transformations. In later months, counts mostly reflect new work. That includes assets you upload or replace, transformation parameters you change, or sizes and variants requested for the first time.
• Storage: 100 GB of original images = 100 credits
• Bandwidth: 500 GB delivered = 500 credits
• Total: 5,600 credits/month

Scenario 2: Video streaming platform

A video learning platform with 50,000 users and a mature catalog: most streaming renditions were generated in earlier months, and learners mostly hit cached derivatives.

• Transformations: 40,000 new video transcodes in the month = 40 credits (for example new courses, re-encoded sources, or adaptive profiles you had not built before).
  Note

  Day-to-day viewing of existing lessons adds bandwidth, not new transformation counts.
• Storage: 2 TB of video content = 2,000 credits
• Bandwidth: 10 TB video delivery = 5,000 credits
• Total: 7,040 credits/month

Scenario 3: E-commerce site

An online store with 100,000 products in a steady month with no major platform migration: PDP traffic mostly delivers URLs that were derived long ago.

• Transformations: 450,000 new product image transformations = 450 credits (new SKUs, seasonal photo swaps, marketing crops, or other first-time URLs). Bulk catalog browsing reuses existing derivatives.
• Storage: 500 GB of product images = 500 credits
• Bandwidth: 1 TB image delivery = 1,000 credits
• Total: 1,950 credits/month

Getting help

• Billing questions: Contact support
• Plan upgrades or custom requirements: Contact support
• Enterprise plans: Contact sales