Cloudinary vs StackPath
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Cloudinary and StackPath.
Quick Verdict
4.0/5
Cloudinary
0 reviews
1.0/5
StackPath
0 reviews
Cloudinary is rated higher (4.0 vs 1.0). Cloud-based media platform that handles image/video storage, optimization, and delivery. For developers building apps that need responsive images and video without managing infrastructure. Defunct edge platform. StackPath closed all products and began liquidating assets in June 2024; its CDN line had already ceased in November 2023. Not purchasable.
 Cloudinary Image and video management with built-in CDN and automation | StackPath Defunct edge platform (closed 2024) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.0 (0 reviews)✓ | 1.0 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | freemium | discontinued |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Best for | Web and mobile teams whose product surface is media — e-commerce catalogs, listings, user uploads — who want on-the-fly image and video optimization and global delivery without building and operating their own transformation pipeline. | Nobody in 2026 — StackPath was dissolved in June 2024. For the same CDN + WAF + DDoS + edge compute combination, look at Cloudflare, Fastly, or Akamai. |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | Global — multi-CDN (Akamai, Fastly, Cloudflare); AWS storage worldwide, EEA selectable on Enterprise | — |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tierapi access | free tierddos protectioneu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenter |
| Visit Cloudinary → | Visit StackPath → | |
Cloudinary
Pros
- + URL-parameter transformations with automatic AVIF/WebP format negotiation remove the need for a home-grown image processing pipeline
- + Single credit meter (1 credit = 1,000 transformations or 1 GB storage or 1 GB bandwidth) keeps pricing understandable, and the Free plan (25 credits/month, no card) is enough for real evaluation
- + Multi-CDN delivery through Akamai, Fastly and Cloudflare, with dynamic multi-CDN routing on Enterprise and IPv6 at the edge
- + Published, third-party-measured uptime and a 99.9% availability commitment for the console and API
- + Strong compliance posture: SOC 2 Type II, DPA with SCCs and EU-US Data Privacy Framework, published sub-processor list, bug bounty and annual pen tests
Cons
- - Usage-based credits scale with traffic; heavy image or video delivery outgrows the fixed tiers with no flat-rate option below Enterprise
- - SLA remedy is weak: credits only below 99.6% availability, paid as a three-day subscription extension capped at 10% of the monthly fee, and delivery is excluded from the availability definition
- - EEA data residency is Enterprise-only; standard plans use default (US-based) AWS infrastructure
- - Proprietary transformation URL syntax and admin API create lock-in; the storage API is not S3-compatible (S3 appears only as a backup target)
- - Shared credit pool across transformations, storage and bandwidth makes monthly costs hard to predict from plan limits alone
StackPath
Pros
- + Historically bundled CDN, WAF, DDoS, and edge compute under one account
- + Large final footprint (73 edge locations across 43 metro markets, company's own count)
- + Edge compute with VMs and containers in the same PoPs as content delivery
- + Backing from Juniper, Cox, and ABRY gave it enterprise credibility while it lasted
Cons
- - Company defunct since June 2024 — all products closed, assets liquidated, support switched off
- - CDN business sold to Akamai in 2023; customers stranded through three platform migrations in five years
- - Conflicting PoP counts across its own marketing pages (45 / 50+ / 73)
- - Any pricing or feature list found online is historical, not purchasable
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