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Hosting & Infra

Cloudinary vs Scaleway: Pricing Comparison 2026

Side-by-side pricing comparison of Cloudinary and Scaleway. See all plans, features, and costs at a glance.

Bottom line: Scaleway starts at $4.99/mo, making it $94/mo cheaper than Cloudinary ($99/mo). Cloudinary offers a free plan.

Last updated: March 16, 2026

Data compiled by Arthur Jacquemin
Updated March 16, 2026

Cloudinary vs Scaleway: Quick Pricing Facts

FeatureCloudinaryScaleway
Starting Price$99/mo$4.99/mo
Number of Plans413
Free TierYesNo
Pricing Modelfreemiumusage-based
Annual DiscountN/AN/A

Scaleway is the more affordable option, starting at $4.99/mo compared to Cloudinary's $99/mo. Both are Hosting & Infra tools with 17 combined pricing plans and 63 features compared.

Cloudinary stands out with a free plan for getting started. Cloudinary uses freemium pricing while Scaleway uses usage-based pricing, which may affect your total cost at scale.

Review the detailed tier-by-tier comparison above to see exactly which features are included at each price point and find the best fit for your Hosting & Infra needs.

Pricing Plans
Cloudinary
Cloudinary
Try it free
Scaleway
Scaleway
Try it free
Tier 1
FreePopular
$0/monthCheapest
Includes
  • Upload widget, API, and search
  • Remote fetch, auto-backup, and revision tracking
  • Image and video transformations
  • Video transcoding and adaptive streaming
  • High performance delivery through a CDN
  • Support — forums, tickets, and email
  • Access to free add-ons
  • Upload widget, API, and search
  • Remote fetch, auto-backup, and revision tracking
  • Image and video transformations
  • Video transcoding and adaptive streaming
  • High performance delivery through a CDN
  • Support — forums, tickets, and email
  • Access to free add-ons
  • Access to MCP servers
Start with Free
Dedibox VPS
$5/month
$0 / year
Includes
  • 60 locations worldwide
  • Affordable servers
  • Best price-performance ratio
Start with Dedibox VPS
Tier 2
PlusPopular
$99/monthCheapest
Includes
  • Backup to your own S3 bucket
  • Auto-tagging based search
  • Access to free and paid add-ons
  • Expedited support
  • Allowlist/Blocklist asset access
  • Video Bandwidth Boost 2:1
  • Role-based multi-user administration
  • Backup to your own S3 bucket
  • Auto-tagging based search
  • Access to free and paid add-ons
  • Expedited support
  • Allowlist/Blocklist asset access
  • Video Bandwidth Boost 2:1
  • Role-based multi-user administration
Start with Plus
Start
Custom pricing
Includes
  • Affordable servers with the best price-performance ratio on the market
Start with Start
Tier 3
AdvancedPopular
$249/monthCheapest
Includes
  • Custom domain (CNAME) support
  • Optional HTTPS SSL Certificate
  • Authentication Options
  • Custom domain (CNAME) support
  • Optional HTTPS SSL Certificate
  • Authentication Options
Start with Advanced
Pro
Custom pricing
Includes
  • Perfect balance of processing power, memory and storage
Start with Pro
Tier 4
EnterprisePopular
Custom pricing
Includes
  • Backup to your own S3 bucket
  • Auto-tagging based search
  • Access to free and paid add-ons
  • Expedited support
  • Allowlist/Blocklist asset access
  • Video Bandwidth Boost 2:1
  • Role-based multi-user administration
  • Security and compliance review
  • Multi-CDN and enterprise grade infrastructure
  • Enterprise SLAs and support
  • Designated customer success manager
  • Custom contracts and invoicing
  • User management (SSO, provisioning API)
Start with Enterprise
Core
Custom pricing
Includes
  • High performance backbone of your mission-critical infrastructure
Start with Core
Tier 5
Store
Custom pricing
Includes
  • For mission-critical data, fast storage, backup and streaming
Start with Store
Tier 6
GPU
Custom pricing
Includes
  • Dedicated GPU power with reliable performance and stability
Start with GPU
Tier 7
Dedirack
Custom pricing
Includes
  • Host your Hardware in our secured French datacenters
Start with Dedirack
Tier 8
Aluminium
Custom pricing
Includes
  • Fully dedicated bare metal servers with native cloud integration
Start with Aluminium
Tier 9
Beryllium
Custom pricing
Includes
  • Powerful, balanced and reliable servers for production-grade applications
Start with Beryllium
Tier 10
Iridium
Custom pricing
Includes
  • Powerful dedicated server designed to handle high-workload applications
Start with Iridium
Tier 11
Lithium
Custom pricing
Includes
  • Designed with huge local storage to keep, back up, and protect your data
Start with Lithium
Tier 12
Titanium
Custom pricing
Includes
  • Power and stability of dedicated GPU hardware integrated into the Scaleway ecosystem
Start with Titanium
Tier 13
RISC-V (Labs)
Custom pricing
Includes
  • The world's first RISC-V servers available in the cloud.
Start with RISC-V (Labs)

Swipe to compare plans →

Cloudinary

Cloud-based image and video management platform

View all Cloudinary plans

Scaleway

European cloud provider focused on developers

View all Scaleway plans
Our Pick

Cloudinary

Cloudinary offers a free plan.

Based on pricing data only. Review the full comparison below for your specific needs.

Best value: Cloudinary

Try Cloudinary free

Which Should You Choose?

Choose Cloudinary if:

  • You need a free plan with Upload widget, API, and search, Remote fetch, auto-backup, and revision tracking—Cloudinary offers no-cost access with no credit card required
  • You want more features built-in—Cloudinary offers 33 additional features across its plans
  • You want Cloudinary's approach to incremental feature unlocking across its 4 pricing tiers

Choose Scaleway if:

  • You want lower per-user costs—Scaleway starts at $4.99/mo, saving $94.01/mo compared to Cloudinary at $99/mo
  • You need 13 pricing tiers for flexible team sizing—more options mean less overpaying for features you don't need
  • You need predictable billing — Scaleway's usage-based model avoids surprise overages

Cloudinary offers a free plan [1], eliminating the cost barrier for evaluation, while Scaleway requires paid subscription from the start. This gives Cloudinary a significant advantage for teams with budget constraints or extended trial periods. Once you outgrow Cloudinary's free tier, upgrading to a paid plan at approximately Free provides substantial additional functionality. Compare this pricing path against Scaleway's tiering starting at $4.99/mo to assess total cost of ownership over 12 months. Cloudinary's 4 tiers provide flexibility at different budgets, while Scaleway's 13 tiers structure may force you into higher-cost plans than necessary for your use case. If evaluation cost matters to your decision, Cloudinary is the obvious starting point with zero financial commitment. Use the free tier to validate core functionality before committing to paid plans from either tool.

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Frequently Asked Questions: Cloudinary vs Scaleway

Which is cheaper, Cloudinary or Scaleway?
As of March 2026, Scaleway starts at a lower price point. Cloudinary starts at $99/mo while Scaleway starts at $4.99/mo. However, the best value depends on the features you need at each tier.
How many pricing plans does Cloudinary have vs Scaleway?
Cloudinary offers 4 pricing plans, while Scaleway offers 13 plans. More plans typically means more flexibility to match your exact needs and budget.
Does Cloudinary or Scaleway offer a free plan?
Cloudinary offers a free plan, while Scaleway does not. If budget is a concern, Cloudinary lets you get started at no cost.
Can I save money by paying annually for Cloudinary or Scaleway?
Both Cloudinary and Scaleway offer annual billing options. Check each plan's yearly pricing for potential savings compared to monthly billing.
What is the most popular Cloudinary plan?
The Free plan is Cloudinary's most popular tier, priced at Free. Key features include Upload widget, API, and search, Remote fetch, auto-backup, and revision tracking, Image and video transformations.
Does Cloudinary or Scaleway offer custom enterprise pricing?
Yes, both Cloudinary and Scaleway offer custom enterprise pricing tiers with quote-based pricing. Contact each vendor for a tailored quote.
What pricing models do Cloudinary and Scaleway use?
Cloudinary uses a freemium pricing model, while Scaleway uses usage-based pricing. The right model depends on your team size and usage patterns.

Sources

  1. Cloudinary Official PricingVendor pricing page
  2. Scaleway Official PricingVendor pricing page

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