Azul Zulu vs Cloudinary comparison

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Azul Zulu

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Azul Zulu and Cloudinary based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two AI Content Creation solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Azul Zulu vs. Cloudinary Report (Updated: January 2026).

Azul Zulu vs. Cloudinary

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Helped 881,082 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Azul Zulu

Ranking in AI Content Creation

58th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Infrastructure (11th), AI Customer Experience Personalization (21st)

Cloudinary

Ranking in AI Content Creation

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Digital Asset Management (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the AI Content Creation category, the mindshare of Azul Zulu is 1.0%. The mindshare of Cloudinary is 1.4%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

AI Content Creation Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cloudinary	1.4%
Azul Zulu	1.0%
Other	97.6%

AI Content Creation

Featured Reviews

BasilJiji

System Engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

Standardized our Java estate and have reduced licensing costs while maintaining strong support

Azul Zulu's ability to allow us to standardize our Java estate on a single and well-supported platform stands out as one of its best features. This standardization simplifies our compliance audits and ensures all our applications receive timely security updates.Azul Zulu positively impacts our organization by providing a platform that allows us to standardize Java on a well-supported platform. Without the high cost associated with other proprietary vendors, Azul Zulu provides an excellent platform for running our applications.

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Josue BYIRINGIRO

ATLP Technical Mentor at Andela

Saves time and resources and has a clear dashboard

I like the tool best because it's straightforward and doesn't have too many complicated options like AWS. The dashboard is clear - you create a directory, get credentials, and then use those in your Node.js or Java application to access resources. With AWS, you have to consider many things, like bucket policies and user permissions. It doesn't have these complications. Everything on Cloudinary is clearer than other platforms I've seen. It is very easy to use. It's easier than the AWS platforms I've seen. Even general developers can use it, while AWS needs more experience. The solution saves time and resources in several ways. It's easy to get started with, saving time from the beginning. You can implement file uploads in about thirty minutes without complications. The SDK and APIs provided to access their resources are simple and not complicated. Cloudinary is also a popular platform with good documentation and community support, making it easy to find solutions to problems.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"We achieved specific outcomes from using Azul Zulu by reducing our Java licensing and support costs by approximately 70% when compared to our previous Oracle contract."

"As a developer, I find Cloudinary valuable because it provides many opportunities for building applications. For example, I recently created an AI application that can read images and automatically generate captions, which helps in describing images or videos without manual input. Cloudinary's APIs support this functionality and enhance my development process. One of the most beneficial features of Cloudinary is its asset management capabilities. I can tag and categorize images and videos based on their content, such as tagging videos where a person is wearing glasses. This helps in organizing and managing media effectively. I have experimented with Cloudinary's automation capabilities, but I am still learning and haven't fully explored its potential. Currently, I want to use Cloudinary to improve user engagement with my videos, such as tracking who is viewing and interacting with my media. This is a feature I plan to explore more in the future."

"The automation tools were used most often. They are quite convenient and cover our requirements."

"I have not seen any bugs or breakdowns. The tool's performance when the site loads up is good."

"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."

"I like its ease of implementation. I can easily call the API into my platform and use it to upload images from the machine to the server."

"The most valuable features of the solution revolve around image storage."

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

"The tool has tools designed for the average user, and the onboarding process is very easy, especially for aspiring junior developers. I love Cloudinary's automation feature. It automatically optimizes assets, so I don't have to do anything. When I store an image, their system already optimizes it. Its CDN is very powerful. The solution also has a default configuration that makes images load faster without losing quality. We haven't faced any issues in integrating the tool with other platforms."

More Cloudinary pros

Cons

"Improvements for Azul Zulu could include more automated tools for unused code visibility integrated directly into the standard portal to help further optimize our cloud footprints."

"I think Cloudinary has room for improvement, depending on the project you're working on. Changes might not be needed if your project fits what Cloudinary already offers. But if your project needs some changes, you can make them."

"When you open the product's management console, it can just be a little bit overwhelming at first until you figure it out."

"I haven't really thought about what improvements I’d like to see in Cloudinary recently. One thing that comes to mind is the capability for hosting very large video files, similar to platforms like YouTube. Cloudinary is not as widely known for video uploads as other platforms, and it would be great if it had a larger user base for this purpose. Apart from marketing and video uploading, I haven't identified specific features or functionalities that need improvement. It’s been a while since I actively used Cloudinary, and I’m just starting to get back into it. Once I’m more familiar with it again, I’ll have a better idea of any gaps or areas for enhancement. I’ll need to think more about this and might provide feedback later."

"The main issue with the package is how it handles errors. It swallows errors and throws its own, but without preserving the stack trace, making debugging nearly impossible."

"The AI can't edit the image. If Cloudinary can add a way or a module that can generate the image, then you won't need to upload images to it."

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

"It blocked our account, prevented us from uploading files, and showed a message about file adjustments."

"I believe there is some scope for improvement in areas like the dashboard, specifically the user dashboard and the browser where you can navigate the platform."

More Cloudinary cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"If you are just starting out, the tool is actually free. You don't have to pay any fee, except if you have a large volume of files and documents you want to host."

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

"I am using the free version."

"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."

"We decided to quit using Cloudinary after two years because we were getting a lot of users, and it was becoming expensive. Cloudinary had fixed charges, so if we agreed to pay 500 USD per month, it would be the same whether we used high or low resources. They would notify us if we exceeded our limit, but not if we used less—however, AWS charges according to usage, which became more cost-effective for us as we grew. With AWS, you might pay 100 one month and 200 the next, depending on your usage."

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

"For us, the price is okay."

"From what I've used, it's actually cheap compared to other options like AWS."

More Cloudinary pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

30%

Retailer

18%

Computer Software Company

11%

Real Estate/Law Firm

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Azul Zulu?

Improvements for Azul Zulu could include more automated tools for unused code visibility integrated directly into the standard portal to help further optimize our cloud footprints. The other core J...

What is your primary use case for Azul Zulu?

Azul Zulu serves as our primary Java runtime, providing a stable, 100% open-source, and certified solution for our production microservices. We utilize it to ensure cross-platform compatibility acr...

What advice do you have for others considering Azul Zulu?

My advice for others looking into using Azul Zulu is to perform a pilot migration with one non-critical application first. You will likely find that it is truly a drop-in replacement, which will gi...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cloudinary?

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

What needs improvement with Cloudinary?

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 numero...

What advice do you have for others considering Cloudinary?

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 cur...

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Product Reports

Application Infrastructure

Download Azul Zulu product report

Download Cloudinary product report

Overview

Zulu is a 100% open source certified build of OpenJDK, running on Linux, Windows, and OS X. Zulu complies with the Java SE standard for Java SE 8, 7, and 6. Free to download and use, Zulu is available on Azure, AWS, Canonical’s Charm Store and the Docker hub. Zulu Enterprise subscriptions deliver 24 x 7 x 365 access to Azul’s Support team.

Azul Systems

Cloudinary provides a comprehensive API for image transformation, offering easy integration and a user-friendly interface. With automated asset optimization and robust media management, it enables seamless image storage and retrieval, making it a preferred choice for websites and applications.

Cloudinary is a leading platform in image management, featuring tools for image transformation, storage, and hosting. Its user-centric design simplifies processes like automated image optimization and media validation. Users benefit from a versatile CDN and a generous free tier, facilitating efficient development and deployment. The ability to handle image uploads and retrievals without complex configurations aids in quick time to market, while intuitive search and manageable media organization enhance user experience. Despite its strengths, users call for improvements in user-friendliness, API functionality, and clearer documentation. Pricing remains a concern, and additional advanced AI capabilities for image generation are desired. There's interest in better video hosting and integration with existing storage solutions.

What features does Cloudinary offer?

API for Image Transformation: Offers broad capabilities for customizing images.
Automated Asset Optimization: Ensures images are delivered in optimal formats.
Media Validation: Verifies media integrity and quality.
Intuitive Search: Allows easy retrieval of media assets.
CDN Power: Boosts content delivery speed globally.

What benefits do users find in Cloudinary?

Seamless Development: Facilitates quick development and deployment.
Efficient Image Management: Simplifies image storage and retrieval.
User-Friendly Interface: Aids in easy platform navigation.
Time-Saving Processes: Reduces time in image handling and delivery.

Cloudinary finds applications across sectors such as e-commerce, where image optimization for different devices significantly enhances user experience. In the web and app development fields, it enables automated management of image sizes and formats, supporting functions like user uploads and profile picture handling. Organizations utilize its media management capabilities for storing and handling documents, videos, and other assets. The API integration streamlines backend operations, making it an appealing choice for developers in diverse industries.

Sample Customers

Microsoft, Kyocera, OKI, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, Voya Financial

Information Not Available

Azul Zulu vs. Cloudinary