Image cache storage refers to the space used to store your original images on Imgix's servers. When an image is requested, we fetch the original image from your Origin into our cache storage. This optimizes requests and reduces your egress cost for subsequent requests. Additionally, we also store AI renders to save on AI transformations. This storage counts toward your Management credit usage at 2 credits per GB.
Cache reads occur when your cached images are accessed and delivered to end users. Every time someone views an image on your website or app, it's "read" from our cache and delivered through our CDN. These reads are part of your delivery bandwidth and count toward your Delivery credit usage at 1 credit per GB.
Transformations are any changes or enhancements applied to your images or videos through Imgix. This includes standard adjustments such as resizing, cropping, and format conversion, as well as advanced and premium features such as background removal, upscaling, face detection, and video encoding. Each transformation uses a specific amount of credits depending on its complexity - from standard renders (1 credit per 500 operations) to premium AI-powered features (1 credit per operation). You can apply multiple transformations to a single image, and they can be combined in a single request. Please see the chart below for a full breakdown of credit costs per transformation type.
Each Imgix feature uses a specific amount of credits based on the type of action or transformation. Here's a breakdown of how credits are consumed:
| Operations Included | Credits |
|---|---|
|
Management Media Management Includes image cache storage and metadata |
2 per GB |
|
Delivery Media Delivery Delivery bandwidth including cache reads and CDN delivery |
1 per GB |
|
Transformation Standard Render* Auto, Brightness, Contrast, Exposure, Gamma, Highlight, Hue shift, Invert, Saturation, Shadow, Sharpen, Unsharp Mask Radius, Unsharp Mask, Vibrance, Compress, Blend, Border, Padding, Color Palette Extraction, CSS Prefix, Palette Color Count, Device Pixel Ratio, Expiration Timestamp, Background Color, Fill Color, Fill Gradient, Fill Mode, Grid Colors/Size, Transparency, Focal Point Crop, Image Format, Image Masking, Noise Reduction, PDF Rendering, Rotation, Aspect Ratio, Crop Mode, Image Height/Width, Maximum Height/Width, Minimum Height/Width, Resize Fit, Duotone Alpha, Duotone, Gaussian Blur, Halftone, Direct-to-Film Halftone, Monochrome, Pixellate, Sepia Tone, Text Overlay, Trim, Typesetting, Watermarks, Face Blur, Face Index, Face Padding, Face Pixelation, JSON Face Data, License Plate Detection and Blur |
1 credit per 500 renders |
|
Advanced Render Cloud Vision, Animated GIF Alt Text Generation |
1 credit per 50 renders 1 credit per 10 generations |
|
Premium Render Background Removal/Replacement, Object Removal/Replacement, Super Resolution, Generative Fill, Text-to-Image |
1 per render |
|
Video Standard Render (Video) Includes any combination of: Bitrate, Codec, Clip, Scale, Quality, Crop, Watermark, Subtitles, Spritesheets, Audio Waveforms, Overlay Captions and Text, PiP, Video Overlay, Chroma-key for PiP, Directional crop gravity, User-controlled rotation & flip, Bring-your-own subtitle, Background music overlay, Percentage / fraction trim offsets, Ken Burns motion, Independent in/out transition control, Burned-in progress bar, Custom background / underlay, Audio as a source, Captioned audiograms, Video VFX, Multi-Asset Assembly, HLS/DASH |
2 per minute of mp4 output 6 per minute of HLS/DASH output Credits are calculated per second. |
|
Advanced Render (Video) Smart Cropping, Automated Previews, Enhanced Auto Quality (VMAF), Video Stabilization, Audio-Only Output |
1 per minute of input for previews. 1 per minute of output for smart cropping, VMAF, and video stabilization. 2 per 5 minutes of audio output. Credits are calculated per second and added to any standard credits used. |
|
Premium Render (Video) Playback Speed & Frame Interpolation |
10 per minute of output Credits are calculated per second and added to any standard credits used. |
|
Specialized Render (Video) Image-to-Video |
25 per request Credits are calculated per request and added to any other credits used. |
|
Cache Layer (Video) Cache storage of derivative video renders to reduce re-render costs and improve performance / UX. |
Free for 90 days after creation. 1 credit per GB per month after 90 days. |
* A standard render may include multiple transformations as a single operation. For example, one standard render may include contrast, sharpen, crop and compress as part of a single operation that would be charged at 1/500th credit.
Note: There are no partial credit charges. So, 1 credit allows up to 500 standard renders or up to 50 advanced renders. For example, 120 advanced renders = 3 credits
You can view your current credit usage and balance directly in your dashboard. We also plan to provide customers on contract-based subscriptions monthly usage statements in the future.
Yes. Different transformations and actions use varying amounts of credits. Please see the chart above for the full breakdown.
You'll automatically receive email alerts when your credit usage reaches 80%, 90%, and 100%. These notifications help you stay ahead of your usage and avoid surprises.
Running out of credits should never be a surprise. When your usage reaches 80%, 90%, and 100% of your credit balance, we’ll email the admin and billing users on your account so you know you’re getting close.
For self-serve subscriptions, any usage beyond 100% counts as overages. We’ll send additional alerts at 125%, 150%, 200%, 250%, and 300% so you can decide whether to adjust usage or upgrade your plan. You can upgrade anytime at a prorated rate to access more credits. Overage charges follow our standard payment terms. See our payment policy for more details.
For contract customers, your customer success manager will reach out as you approach your credit limits, and you can contact them anytime to request additional credits.
We have a credit calculator on our pricing page that you can use to estimate credits. Alternatively, you can make use of our free trial to see how many credits you use, or you can reach out to us at any time and we will help you calculate.
For the purposes of delivering an estimate, we have used data from across all our customers to determine median volumes of image transformations.
There are a few best practices that can help you maximize performance while minimizing credit usage. Please see our Best Practices Guide for more information on how you can get the most out of Imgix.
Credit prices vary based on your bundle size. Smaller bundles start at $0.25 per credit, and the price decreases with larger bundles.
AI transformations are only counted on when we generate the first AI output. After that, the result is cached internally so that you can apply additional transformations without using more Premium Renders.
For example, background removal on an image will count as a single Premium Render. If you then generate several sizes of the background removal output, those will be counted as Standard Renders.