Looking for a Cloudinary alternative? PixelAPI is built for developers who want background removal at a fraction of the cost without losing quality.
| Feature | Cloudinary | PixelAPI |
|---|---|---|
| Background removal price | $0.10–$0.30 per AI transformation, plus storage tier | $0.010 per image |
| Free tier | varies | 500 credits, no card |
| Other image tools bundled | Image-CDN with AI-on-the-fly transformations. Bundled with hosting, billing assumes you also store images with them. | 14 tools (BG removal, image gen, upscale, face restore, object removal, edit, more) |
| API auth | API key | API key |
| Output format | Transparent PNG | Transparent PNG |
| Cold starts | varies | None — always warm |
| GST invoice (India) | varies | Yes — registered Indian business |
Cloudinary is a CDN+AI bundle. PixelAPI is pure AI — bring your own storage, pay only for the transform at $0.010/image.
curl -X POST https://api.pixelapi.dev/v1/image/remove-background \
-H "X-API-Key: $PIXELAPI_KEY" \
-F "[email protected]"
# response: { "output_url": "https://...transparent.png", "credits_used": 10 }If you're migrating from Cloudinary: same input format (image upload), same output format (transparent PNG URL), simpler pricing.
Image-CDN with AI-on-the-fly transformations. Bundled with hosting, billing assumes you also store images with them.
500 free credits, no credit card. Run your own quality benchmark on 100 of your real images, compare to Cloudinary's output, and decide.