Fastly Image Optimizer vs imgproxy

Fastly Image Optimizer automates image processing and delivery for image-heavy sites and apps. It resizes, adjusts quality, crops or trims, changes orientation, converts formats, and serves images on demand at the edge. Transformations are made in real time from request parameters, avoiding the need to pre-generate and store multiple variants. Processed images are cached for reuse. Supported formats are WebP, AVIF, JPEG, and PNG; developers control resizing, quality, format, and cropping through query parameters and configuration. The service integrates with existing asset pipelines and CMS platforms while teams keep their current image sources. It can be enabled through the Fastly control panel or API, while Compute SDK access is available through a beta program. Pricing includes 100,000 image requests per month at free. Paid rates are billed per 10,000 image requests and vary by monthly volume, from $0.50 a month for 100,000–10 million requests to $0.01 a month beyond 5 billion. Every request sent to Image Optimizer, including through the SDK, counts as billable.

imgproxy is a self-hosted HTTP server that transforms images on demand using a source URL and processing options. It can resize, crop, trim, rotate, pad, watermark, apply filters and color adjustments, and chain processing steps. Sources include HTTP(S), local files, Amazon S3-compatible storage, Google Cloud Storage, Azure Blob Storage, and OpenStack Swift. Supported formats include JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, JPEG XL, GIF, SVG, ICO, HEIC, BMP, TIFF, and animated GIF and WebP. Optimization can remove metadata and ICC profiles, quantize PNGs, and serve WebP, AVIF, or JPEG XL when a browser supports the format. imgproxy can run in Docker, Kubernetes with Helm, cloud environments, or on a local machine. Security options include signed URLs, authorization headers, source and file-size limits, dimension checks, URL expiration, and SVG sanitization. Pro adds video, PDF, and Photoshop previews, advanced compression and watermarking, object detection and cropping, automatic format selection, and priority support. The open-source version uses the MIT license. A free plan and 14-day trial are listed; Pro starts at $49 a month.