Cloudinary vs esm.sh
Cloudinary
cloudinary.comesm.sh
esm.shSide by side
| Figure | Cloudinary | esm.sh |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 1 |
| Spec score · CDN services | 8.7 (#4) | 7.7 (#22) |
| Spec score · CDN Software | 8.5 (#4) | 7.9 (#18) |
Plans
Cloudinary
- FreeFree
- PlusPrice not published
- Advanced$224 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Cloudinary
Cloudinary is a media platform for managing images and video through APIs, from ingestion and storage to moderation, search, transformation and delivery. It also supports workflow automation and digital asset management through Cloudinary Assets, which uses AI agents to organize, find and moderate assets. Listed media tools include image and video transformations, video transcoding, adaptive streaming, CDN delivery, smart crop, intelligent optimization, AI vision, generative fill and restore, background replacement and image generation.
The Free plan is billed forever at free and includes three users, one account and 25 monthly credits. It also includes an upload widget, API, search and MCP server access. The stated limits are 20 MB per file and 225 GB of bandwidth. Plus is listed at $89 per month (yearly) or $99 per month (monthly); Advanced is $224 per month (yearly) or $249 per month (monthly). Enterprise pricing is custom. Platforms are API, extension and web.
esm.sh
esm.sh is an open-source service for importing JavaScript modules through HTTP URLs, so developers can use packages in browser apps or Deno without build tools. It serves packages from npm, JSR, GitHub and pkg.pr.new, and can transform TypeScript, TSX, Vue and Svelte files for direct imports. Modules are bundled by default; URL options let developers alter bundling, request raw content, set dependency versions or aliases, and select exports. Export selection does not work with CommonJS modules. The service supports CSS imports when a package imports CSS directly from JavaScript, and it can load modules as web workers. Build targets include es2015 through es2024, esnext, Deno, denonext and Node. A lightweight TSX script can compile and cache TSX written directly in HTML. The FAQ describes compatibility with modern browsers that support ES6 modules, including Deno. The public CDN does not support private npm packages; the project directs those users to self-hosting and provides a Docker image and deployment instructions. The project is MIT-licensed, with bug reports directed to GitHub issues.