Alternatives
ShortPixel vs Imagify: the difference is where the work runs
Two WordPress image tools that compress — and bill differently. What each one charges, touches and delivers; and the row that runs it all in the cloud.
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ShortPixel Adaptive Images and Imagify solve different jobs. Imagify compresses files in your WordPress library. ShortPixel rewrites image URLs and delivers from its cloud. That distinction decides what each tool meters.
Verdict: choose Imagify if you want local compression and do not need a CDN. Choose ShortPixel if you want cloud delivery and accept a credit meter plus a 500 GB monthly traffic cap. NimboCDN, our product, puts transformation and delivery in the cloud; its paid plan charges a flat fee without usage meters.
| ShortPixel Adaptive Images | Imagify | NimboCDN | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bills by | credits/month | MB of images/month | paid plan: flat fee, nothing metered |
| The cap | 500 GB CDN traffic/month | 20 MB free · 500 MB · then unlimited | paid plan: no visit, bandwidth or image-count cap |
| Where the work runs | their cloud, via URL rewrite | your own server | our cloud, 335 cities |
| Your original files | untouched | replaced, with backup | untouched, ever |
| CDN, and whose | bunny.net (named in their own listing) | none — it doesn't claim one | our own network |
| Modern formats | WebP, AVIF | WebP, AVIF — even in the free plan | WebP free · AVIF Pro, 21.8% lighter than WebP at the median |
| Free plan | 100 credits ≈ 500 visits/month | 20 MB/month | your home page, 50 new images/month, forever |
| Paid entry | $9.99/month (Unlimited) | $5.99/month (Growth) | $9.90/month, whole site |
| Refunds | requests within 14 days | cancellation any time, no refunds | no refunds; cancel from the panel |
Why people compare these two
Both have a free plan and both make WordPress images lighter. The useful comparison is the unit: ShortPixel counts credits, while Imagify counts megabytes of new images. Price alone does not tell you which limit your site will reach first.
Method, and what we couldn't verify
Every competitor figure comes from WordPress.org, its official API, or the vendor’s pricing and policy pages. Installations, ratings and versions were checked on 4 September 2026. ShortPixel renders prices with JavaScript, so JJ Nieva verified them in a browser on 31 August 2026 and archived the capture; they were not available in the raw HTML. Imagify’s plans were present in its HTML. Claims without a first-party source were left out.
ShortPixel Adaptive Images
ShortPixel is the cloud option. Adaptive Images rewrites image URLs and serves resized, modern-format versions while the originals stay on your server. Its paid Unlimited offer publishes a 500 GB monthly CDN cap. When quota runs out, the plugin says it will serve the original images from your server, without compression or resizing, until the quota resets.
What it does well
- It never touches your originals. The library stays exactly as it was on your server.
- The work runs in their cloud. Your server answers an image request by not answering it — the URL points elsewhere.
- It names its network. bunny.net, right in its own WordPress.org listing — a CDN with over 90 edge locations by that listing's words.
- Both modern formats. WebP and AVIF support, verified.
Where it falls short
- A credit is a vendor-specific unit. The free plan equates 100 credits with 500 MB of CDN use, or about 500 visits; the paid conversion is not published.
- 500 GB of CDN traffic a month. Traffic is capped even on the Unlimited plan — the name says one thing, the cap says another.
- Refund requests have a deadline. The published window is 14 days after purchase.
Imagify
Imagify is the library compressor. It optimizes files at upload or in bulk, then your server delivers them without a CDN. Its listing says originals move to a backup folder, provided the Backup option stays active. The free plan includes WebP and AVIF conversion within 20 MB a month.
What it does well
- AVIF in the free plan. Modern formats are not held back for paying users — rare in this category.
- The most installed of the pair. 1,000,000+ active installations, verified on the official API today.
- Plans are cheap and legible. Starter free, Growth $5.99/month, Infinite $11.99/month, $5 per additional GB.
- Your originals can be restored. A backup folder exists — provided you keep the option active.
Where it falls short
- The work runs on your server. Compression, bulk jobs, re-compression — your hosting does all of it.
- No CDN. The optimized files are served from your own server, to every visitor, on every view.
- Your originals are replaced. The optimized file takes their place; the backup is a setting you must not turn off.
- The meter counts your library. 20 MB a month of new images goes fast for a store.
NimboCDN — the row that does a different job
NimboCDN handles a third job: transformation and delivery. The connector rewrites image URLs; each image is prepared once for the requested screen and format, then served from our network in 335 cities across more than 125 countries. A cached image makes zero requests to the transformation service, which we measured. The original files stay unchanged, and deactivating the connector restores the original URLs.
ShortPixel also moves delivery off your server. Imagify concedes something we do not offer free: AVIF in its free plan. NimboCDN’s free plan covers the home page in WebP, up to 50 new images a month. The paid plan covers the whole site with AVIF for a flat $9.90 a month and does not meter visits, MB, GB or image count.
What it does well
- Cached images bypass transformation. A cache hit makes zero requests to the transformation service. Measured.
- Born as an image CDN. Not a compressor that added delivery; delivery is the product.
- Transformation and delivery leave your server. After the first image request, the network serves the cached result.
- The paid plan has no usage meter. Ten visitors or ten thousand, the flat monthly fee is unchanged.
- Originals stay unchanged. Deactivate the connector and the original URLs return right away.
Where it falls short
- The free plan covers the home page only. Categories and product pages — where a store's photos actually live — are the Pro plan.
- AVIF is the paid format. The free plan delivers WebP; Imagify gives you AVIF for free within 20 MB.
- WordPress only, for now. Other platforms are planned with no date — we don't promise what we can't ship.
How to leave each one without losing anything
The exit story is part of the choice, not a footnote.
- Leaving Imagify: restore from the backup folder, and check the option is active before you uninstall — their own listing says originals “can be restored at any time,” provided the Backup option stayed on. Then your server serves the original files again.
- Leaving ShortPixel Adaptive Images: deactivate. The addresses revert to your own, and the untouched originals were always the ones being served from your server anyway.
- Leaving NimboCDN: deactivate the connector. Every address goes back as it was, instantly, with nothing to clean up — verified in our own uninstall test: no leftover options, no temporary data, no scheduled tasks.
Which one fits which site
- If your pages are mostly photos uploaded once and never re-uploaded, and you want them optimized where they live: Imagify does that job, honestly and cheaply — count your MB first.
- If your site regenerates thumbnails often or you want delivery off your server with a metered plan: ShortPixel Adaptive Images — read the credit arithmetic and the 500 GB cap against your traffic before committing.
- If you want size, format and delivery handled elsewhere under a flat paid plan: install the NimboCDN connector. No account or credit card is required for the free home-page plan, and it starts serving right away.
And if you're not comparing tools yet — you're still weighing whether images are the problem at all — that question has its own piece, with the diagnostic and the measurements behind it. If it's a store full of product photos, the WooCommerce piece separates what images fix from what they don't. To weigh a specific page of yours before deciding anything, the website image size checker takes any URL and measures what its images really weigh — or read what that Lighthouse line about modern formats actually meant. And if the tool you are leaving is a third one, the five plugins compared by what each of them meters covers Optimole, Smush and EWWW as well.
Questions
Is one of them free?
All three have a free tier, and they measure different things: Imagify gives 20 MB of images a month, ShortPixel gives 100 credits (about 500 visits), and NimboCDN covers your home page — up to 50 new images a month, forever, no credit card.
Do any of them touch my original image files?
ShortPixel Adaptive Images and NimboCDN don't — both serve by changing addresses, and the originals stay as they are. Imagify replaces them with the optimized version and keeps the originals in a backup folder, as long as the Backup option stays active.
Which one serves AVIF?
All three support WebP and AVIF. The differences are elsewhere: Imagify includes AVIF even in its free 20 MB tier; NimboCDN delivers AVIF on the Pro plan (WebP is the free format), 21.8% lighter than WebP at the median and equal perceived quality, by our measurements.
Can I use two of them at once?
Nothing good comes from it. Two image optimizers fighting over the same addresses is its own classic failure mode — pick one, and if you're torn, the decision tree above is written for exactly that.
Which is cheapest for a big catalogue?
There is no universal answer because the units differ. Imagify bills the megabytes of new images, ShortPixel uses credits and publishes a 500 GB traffic cap on Unlimited, and NimboCDN’s paid plan is flat. Compare your image uploads and delivery traffic before choosing.
What happens if I go over the limit?
Imagify: your plan's MB ceiling applies, extra GB is $5. ShortPixel, in their own words, serves “the original images from your server, without compression or resizing, until the quota resets.” NimboCDN has no traffic meter to go over — the flat fee is the whole bill.
My site isn't WordPress — do these still apply?
All three are WordPress plugins, so the comparison is a WordPress question. The measurement tool works on any platform, and NimboCDN's connector exists for WordPress today with other platforms planned and no date promised.