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Azmir Uddin Alif - PeerSpot reviewer
Full-stack Developer at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Reliable image hosting and storage improve organization but setup complexity challenges new users
Pros and Cons
  • "I can create folders in the Cloudinary interface using the front end, allowing me to store profile pictures, post pictures, cover pictures, and other media files."
  • "The user interface of Cloudinary needs improvement."

What is our primary use case?

I use Cloudinary primarily for hosting and storing images. It's a tool I use when it's required by the company's needs, such as hosting media files.

What is most valuable?

Cloudinary is valuable for storing and hosting images, especially because it allows for easy storage and organization of media files. This feature is particularly useful when dealing with large amounts of images. Additionally, Cloudinary offers capabilities to create folders and organize images effectively under user-specific folders, which enhances usability for social media purposes.

What needs improvement?

The UI needs improvement because it has become quite messy recently, making it difficult to locate the media library and images. Additionally, the initial setup process is complex due to the numerous options available, which can be challenging for new users.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used Cloudinary for around one year, or less.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Cloudinary is stable and reliable. It does not break down or have noticeable bugs.

How are customer service and support?

I have not needed to contact customer service. I rely on Cloudinary's documentation for any help needed.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

Cloudinary is hard to set up because it requires converting base64 URLs to blob URLs and other technical steps before implementation. The setup process can be challenging without proper documentation guidance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I did not research Cloudinary's pricing, as I am using it for free. In the free service, it performs well.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise new users to read the documentation thoroughly to understand how to upload and store images effectively. For those using Cloudinary for the first time, be prepared for a learning curve, but it is beneficial to adapt to new tools. Overall, I would rate the solution as seven out of ten due to its complexity in implementation but its effectiveness in image storage.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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reviewer2518332 - PeerSpot reviewer
Full stack engineer at a media company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Top 10
Easy for beginners but comes at a high price
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool's support team is very prompt."
  • "The high price of the tool is an area of concern where improvements are required."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution in my company while developing an app. I use it as a way to store our company's images for the websites that I made.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that I like that the tool takes care of transforming the images. For example, you can have an image that is 15 MB in size, and Cloudinary can take that image, upload it to the servers, and compress it. When developing the websites, I can get the images stored in Cloudinary in any format that I want and resize them as I wish.

What needs improvement?

The high price of the tool is an area of concern where improvements are required.

Cloudinary's documentation part has certain shortcomings when compared to the ones provided by the other tools on the market, so I think it needs to be improved. The documentation part is not that easy to follow, especially for beginners.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cloudinary for a year. I am a customer of the tool.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I haven't faced any stability issues with the product over the year that I have used it. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I don't remember about the product's scalability part, but I think the tool has limits. When you go through the tool's plans, you will see that the solution has plans like 250 credits, which accounts for 250 GB or something. After that, you have to contact the tool's support to scale more. I am not sure about the tool's scaling ability. If one day, my business had 600 GB of storage, and I needed to scale it up, then it wouldn't be easy for me. I have to contact the solution team and figure it out. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

Around six people in my company use the product.

How are customer service and support?

The tool's support team is very prompt. When I gave the tool's support team a clear description of my problem, they gave me the help I wanted and directed me to the solution to my issue. The team is good when it comes to response time and knowledge. I rate the tool's support a ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used AWS, but it was not focused on specializing in images. It is just a storage tool.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The tool's pricing is very high. If you are an established company, I think it is worth the money since getting images on the web with the highest quality is very hard, but Cloudinary is good at handling such areas.

What other advice do I have?

To use the integration capabilities of the product, I use the product's documentation to integrate it with my other tools, like Node.js.

I have not used or integrated with the AI capabilities of the product.

I would recommend the tool to people who are starting out because Cloudinary has initial plans in which it gives you 25 GB of storage, which is very good for someone who is just starting out and needs to assess their business.

Considering the expensive nature of the product, I rate the tool a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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July 2025
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Prince Onukwili - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Writer at Medium
Real User
Top 20
An online platform to manage images and ffers a free-tier to benefit beginners
Pros and Cons
  • "Cloudinary provides a free plan for developers wanting to get started or explore its capabilities."
  • "It blocked our account, prevented us from uploading files, and showed a message about file adjustments."

What is our primary use case?

I use Cloudinary to create an online platform to manage images. I’ve handled over a thousand images. Additionally, I use Cloudinary to store similar components, treating them as object storage.

What is most valuable?

A developer who wants to work with an automated demo project might typically store images as blobs in the database or an external folder. However, this approach can lead to issues with managing and retrieving the images. Cloudinary offers a solution by providing an easy-to-use platform for managing media files. It’s user-friendly and accessible, making it a good choice for new and experienced developers.

Unlike other object storage platforms like Google Cloud Storage or IBM Cloud Object Storage, Cloudinary offers a more straightforward and often more affordable solution. While other platforms can have a steep learning curve and may charge based on the number of requests or storage used, Cloudinary provides a free tier that is quite generous.

For instance, I worked with a client to set up an online auction platform and uploaded many files. Despite the substantial data, I received no issues or notifications from Cloudinary about overuse, highlighting their effective and scalable service.

What needs improvement?

It blocked our account, prevented us from uploading files, and showed a message about file adjustments. It wasn't well integrated with the project's storage and didn't streamline the application. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cloudinary for over a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the solution’s stability an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

While developing my application, I was able to easily scale to multiple instances, and this scaling did not negatively affect my Cloudinary account. I can effectively store and manage my application’s media. However, when integrating the Cloudinary API, I must ensure proper installation and configuration.

I rate the solution’s scalability a ten out of ten.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Cloudinary provides a free plan for developers wanting to get started or explore its capabilities. The free plan includes access to the app's API, which is useful for developers looking to experiment and understand the platform's potential.

What other advice do I have?

Cloudinary provides an API that can be integrated into server- and client-side applications. You can connect the API to your server-side application for backend operations, and for front-end developers, Cloudinary also offers a way to integrate directly into client-side applications. You don't need to create a new website or backend system to use Cloudinary; you can seamlessly incorporate it into your existing client-side code.

I recommend using Cloudinary. For one, it offers a generous free tier that can benefit beginners and small projects. Cloudinary's free plan provides ample resources for managing and optimizing media, which can be ideal when working with a low budget.

Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Abd-Elrahman Abbas - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Growxcel
Real User
Top 20
An easy to use and stable solution for website assets
Pros and Cons
  • "Cloudinary is very easy to use, especially for users or for developers."
  • "Cloudinary's first paid plan is quite expensive, around one hundred dollars, which is more expensive than competitors like Dropbox"

What is our primary use case?

I worked for an e-commerce agency, and we used to use Cloudinary for our website assets.

How has it helped my organization?

Cloudinary is very easy to use, especially for users or for developers.

What is most valuable?

The most important advantage of using Cloudinary is that it is very easy to integrate with the SDK, especially with Node.js.

It's a very stable application and can be more stable with Nord.js. Js developers like to use Cloudinary instead of other inventories.

What needs improvement?

We have been using the free plan for a long time. Cloudinary's first paid plan is quite expensive, around one hundred dollars, which is more expensive than competitors like Dropbox. Dropbox's first plan is cheaper than Cloudinary's.

The only challenge was the security token. I faced some challenges that were harder than the usual integrations. There is a type of integration in Cloudinary that allows you to make your URLs secure and accessible only with a specific token.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cloudinary for three years.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We use Dropbox, DigitalOcean in Ventura.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy. It's also easy to set up the SDK and manage the account.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend Cloudinary for easy integration. Cloudflare is a competitor for a small business.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Jurgen Geitner - PeerSpot reviewer
UI/UX Developer at adlicious
Real User
Top 20
Offers good AI features to users
Pros and Cons
  • "I have not seen any bugs or breakdowns. The tool's performance when the site loads up is good."
  • "When you open the product's management console, it can just be a little bit overwhelming at first until you figure it out."

What is our primary use case?

I used the solution just to learn about the platform, and I used it for a couple of personal websites. Mainly, the websites have a lot of images or galleries. What I liked was that previously, when I was making websites, I had to create a lot of images manually to a certain size to be responsive for screens of different sizes. Then I learned about Cloudinary and how it does it all for you. You can upload your assets to Cloudinary, and it automatically detects the user's browser and sets up the image in the right format to optimize the right size, which is amazing.

What needs improvement?

When you're starting off, it can be a little bit overwhelming. I am just gonna look at the screen now. Once you log in, you have a management console and many different things, so you won't really know where to go. The onboarding could be made a bit easier. I did Cloudinary's courses. If you use the tool's UI, there are different icons on the left screen, and you won't know where to go first and what is important. The UX can be improved a bit.

When you open the product's management console, it can just be a little bit overwhelming at first until you figure it out. Cloudinary just needs to relook at how to simplify the tool or use the tool's guidance walkthroughs for new users.

The product needs to get noticed, it is important to have someone from Cloudinary on Stack Overflow or Syntax.fm and talk with the developer community.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cloudinary for six months. I am a customer of the tool.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not seen any bugs or breakdowns. The tool's performance when the site loads up is good. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I am using the tool for myself. In my organization, where I work, they don't use Cloudinary. In our company, we do have a kind of CDN, but it is not the same sort of use as Cloudinary. All our assets are of a fixed size and dimension.

How was the initial setup?

The ease or difficulty of the product's initial setup phase depends on what you are doing. I think it is fairly easy because there are a lot of samples to show you how things work in the tool. For instance, in my case, I use Netlify to deploy sites, and then there is a plug-in there that integrates with your project, so those kinds of plug-ins are great. I think it is easy enough since there are enough samples to get you going.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I use the free plan, and that is enough for one or two websites. Though I felt that the product price is reasonable, I don't have any price details of any tools to help me make comparisons.

What other advice do I have?

The tool's automation features save time and resources. Previously, images used to have watermarks, especially the ones in Photoshop, and that was very tedious, but Cloudinary is a huge time saver. Cloudinary automatically optimizes the images for the browser, so instead of making a choice yourself for images like JPEG, PNG, AVIF, or WEBP, the client or end user's browser might support them, but Cloudinary takes that decision for you, and it just serves the right image or the best-optimized image, which is sort of safe. You don't have to go through the steps manually to optimize the size of an image.

When integrating with other tools, the hectic part is just really the time or laboriousness of the process. First of all, you've got to have some sort of image editing tool, and then you have got to be comfortable using it, but luckily, I have a background. I have used Photoshop for many years, but I think it is not so easy for many developers since you may be used to working with codes but not necessarily optimizing images unless you are a designer. I think it solves the aforementioned problem very nicely because you are just focusing on using the API.

It is a really good product. It has some features that I struggled to find elsewhere since you automatically crop your image. It can use AI to determine that there is a person in the image, and we can make that person the focus of the image.

I have only played around with the tool's AI part.

I recommend the tool to others.

I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Juan Bosque - PeerSpot reviewer
Full Stack Engenieer at Shaper GAP
Real User
Top 10Leaderboard
Scalable platform providing an efficient way to manage images
Pros and Cons
  • "The product's most valuable feature is the ability to upload images quickly and retrieve URLs. It integrates well with code, providing a seamless experience."
  • "The product could be improved by being more user-friendly for beginner programmers."

What is our primary use case?

I primarily use Cloudinary to upload images to the cloud and retrieve URLs.

How has it helped my organization?

The platform has improved my projects by providing a fast and efficient way to manage images. It has been practical and has worked well every time I use it.

What is most valuable?

The product's most valuable feature is the ability to upload images quickly and retrieve URLs. It integrates well with code, providing a seamless experience.

What needs improvement?

The product could be improved by being more user-friendly for beginner programmers.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was a bit complicated. However, after some time and research, I found it manageable.

What about the implementation team?

I implemented the product myself. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product's free tier licensing plan is beneficial for individual developers to learn about its functionality. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Cloudinary a ten out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Full stack developer at Student
Real User
Easy-to-use product with efficient documentation
Pros and Cons
  • "The platform is very easy to use. The documentation is excellent, and the implementation involves only a few simple steps. It is accessible to users with varying levels of expertise."
  • "The platform's API features need enhancement."

What is our primary use case?

I use the product for all of my web development projects. For instance, I used it to create a photo-sharing website.

How has it helped my organization?

Cloudinary's AI features, like ad copy and image transformation, have significantly streamlined my projects.

What is most valuable?

The platform is very easy to use. The documentation is excellent, and the implementation involves only a few simple steps. It is accessible to users with varying levels of expertise.

What needs improvement?

The platform's API features need enhancement. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cloudinary for about a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the product stability an eight.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I have not used the product's paid subscription, as the free tier is sufficient for most users.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend Cloudinary to others and rate it a nine. 

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Ankit-Yadav - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Engineer at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Easy to set up and used for posting images
Pros and Cons
  • "I use the solution for posting images."
  • "The solution should be made more user-friendly because sometimes it's hard to understand."

What is most valuable?

I use the solution for posting images.

What needs improvement?

The solution should be made more user-friendly because sometimes it's hard to understand.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Cloudinary for two months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have faced many bugs while using the solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Around five people are using the solution in our organization.

How was the initial setup?

The solution’s initial setup is easy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution’s pricing is moderate.

What other advice do I have?

The solution is deployed on the cloud in our organization. I didn't have to use my card to use Cloudinary. I recommend Cloudinary to other users because Amazon is a bit expensive for me. It is easy for somebody new to learn to use Cloudinary for the first time.

Overall, I rate the solution eight and a half out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
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Updated: July 2025
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