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Cloudinary pros and cons

Vendor: Cloudinary

4.2 out of 5

16 reviews
100% willing to recommend

Pros & Cons summary

Cloudinary offers automation, efficient media handling, and a user-friendly API for seamless image uploads and quick URL retrievals. Its asset management excels in organization. While it provides clear documentation and a free plan, non-technical users might struggle initially, and the console can be overwhelming. The first paid plan is pricey, and error handling needs improvement. Enhancements are needed for API robustness, affecting its cost-effectiveness compared to competitors.

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Cloudinary efficiently automates asset optimization and media-specific tasks like re-encoding uploads.

The platform's integration is seamless and provides easy-to-use APIs for media management and storage.

Cloudinary supports ease of implementation and quick API integration, beneficial for both new and experienced developers.

The asset management capabilities, including tagging and categorizing images and videos, enhance media organization and management.

Cloudinary's automation features support advanced functionality, such as generating captions for images using AI.

CONS

Cloudinary's first paid plan is quite expensive, around one hundred dollars, which is more expensive than competitors like Dropbox.

The AI can't edit images; adding a module to generate images could be beneficial.

There are issues with how Cloudinary handles errors, as it throws its own errors without preserving the stack trace, complicating debugging.

The platform's API features need enhancement.

Cloudinary should support the hosting of very large video files, similar to platforms like YouTube, to improve its standing in the video upload space.

Cloudinary Pros review quotes

Product Engineer at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

Jun 10, 2024

I use the solution for posting images.

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UI/UX Developer at adlicious

Jun 14, 2024

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

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Java Software Engineer at Art vs War Gallery

Jun 17, 2024

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

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System Analyst/Software Engineer at Axxis Systems

Jun 21, 2024

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.

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Mobile Application Developer at Uamuzi Foundation

Jul 17, 2024

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

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Staff Mobile Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Jul 8, 2024

Unlike Firebase Storage, Cloudinary handles media-specific tasks like re-encoding uploads. For example, when users upload a video from an Apple device, it's often encoded in a proprietary Apple codec.

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Chukwu Innocent

Software Developer at Softnotch Technology

Jul 18, 2024

One of the best features of the platform is that we have a generous free tire that I can use for some of my projects without worrying about the platform's cost.

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Josue BYIRINGIRO

ATLP Technical Mentor at Andela

Jul 18, 2024

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.

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Abd-Elrahman Abbas

Senior Software Engineer at Growxcel

Jul 22, 2024

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

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Full Stack Engenieer at Shaper GAP

Jul 24, 2024

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.

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Cloudinary Cons review quotes

Product Engineer at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

Jun 10, 2024

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

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UI/UX Developer at adlicious

Jun 14, 2024

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

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Java Software Engineer at Art vs War Gallery

Jun 17, 2024

There are some things the product can improve in its UI.

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Free Report: Cloudinary Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about Cloudinary. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.

879,711 professionals have used our research since 2012.

System Analyst/Software Engineer at Axxis Systems

Jun 21, 2024

For non-technical users, the initial setup could be made easier.

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Mobile Application Developer at Uamuzi Foundation

Jul 17, 2024

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.

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Staff Mobile Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Jul 8, 2024

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.

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Chukwu Innocent

Software Developer at Softnotch Technology

Jul 18, 2024

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.

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Josue BYIRINGIRO

ATLP Technical Mentor at Andela

Jul 18, 2024

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.

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Abd-Elrahman Abbas

Senior Software Engineer at Growxcel

Jul 22, 2024

Cloudinary's first paid plan is quite expensive, around one hundred dollars, which is more expensive than competitors like Dropbox

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Full Stack Engenieer at Shaper GAP

Jul 24, 2024

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

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Product Categories

Product Categories

Digital Asset Management

AI Content Creation

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Product Categories

Product Categories

Digital Asset Management

AI Content Creation

Popular Comparisons

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OpenText Digital Asset Management vs Cloudinary

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