What is the image impressions metric?

What is an image impression?

An image impression occurs when an image is successfully delivered (loaded) in a web page or application. All images that load are considered successful image impressions. If an image doesn't load, it's not counted as an image impression.

This metric is an alternative to counting the bandwidth delivered for images. Thus, if your account uses image impressions, then your bandwidth metric is not impacted at all by those image deliveries.

Why is Cloudinary making this change?

Image impressions support more predictable and simplified pricing. We're using it to align with your success. When you deliver images with Cloudinary, you create more engaging moments with your customers.

What is the benefit to me/my business?

With this update, you'll gain access to our latest format support and more advanced optimization algorithms (e.g., support for AVIF (.avif) and JPEG-XL (.jxl) formats in your f_auto deliveries and our latest q_auto algorithms) to support your engaging experiences with even faster load times.

You'll now also be able to forecast image impressions for easier-to-understand and easier-to-predict pricing usage.

How are image impression credits calculated?

One credit equals 20,000 image impressions. In your dashboard, you'll see usage data calculated for you and converted into credits consumed.

Will this change make me reach my account limits faster? / Will I have to upgrade my account due to this change?

You may consume your credits slightly faster or slower, but will not likely need a plan change.

Are all delivered image formats counted as image impressions?

Almost all image formats are equally counted as image impressions.

Currently, 3D and animated images are excluded from the image impressions metric, and are measured based on delivered bandwidth (as they have been until now).

How will video count towards my consumption of credits?

Your video delivery continues to be measured by bandwidth used. This update does not change the video bandwidth metric in any way.

Can I just keep my current plan?

We aim to be transparent about our pricing, and this is a change that is being gradually rolled out to everyone as it aligns better with the value you receive from Cloudinary.

Soon, all existing and new customers will use the image impressions metric. Accordingly, we are not switching accounts back to using the bandwidth metric for images.

Will there be additional modifications to pricing?

As part of our commitment to enhancing our product and delivering maximum value, we continuously refine our pricing structure to align with our value proposition and improve its simplicity and predictability. Any forthcoming changes will adhere to these principles and will be communicated well in advance, as demonstrated in this instance.