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 | $0.009 per image |
| Free tier | varies | 5,000 credits (24-hour trial), 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.
5,000 free credits (24-hour trial), no credit card. Run your own quality benchmark on 100 of your real images, compare to Cloudinary's output, and decide.