Transloadit vsFastly Image Optimizer
A source-backed, feature-by-feature comparison of Transloadit and Fastly Image Optimizer. Edge-based image optimization integrated into Fastly CDN, transforming images on-the-fly via URL query parameters with automatic format negotiation.
Switching Notes
Key Differentiators
Only in Transloadit78
- Video encoding
- Adaptive streaming
- Video concatenation
- Video subtitles
- Video thumbnails
- Audio encoding
- Audio concatenation
- Audio waveform
- Audio looping
- Audio artwork
Show 68 more featuresShow fewer
- Spritesheet generation
- AI image description
- Image analysis
- Object recognition
- Text recognition (OCR)
- Speech transcription
- Text to speech
- Text translation
- Speech translation
- Speech analysis
- AI recognition
- Document conversion
- Document merging
- Document thumbnails
- Document analysis
- File compression
- File decompression
- File virus scanning
- File type verification
- File hashing
- File preview
- File filtering
- File upload handling
- File importing
- File exporting
- Metadata writing
- Metadata extraction
- Custom metadata
- Thumbnail generation
- Media cataloging
- Automated file deletion
- File access control
- File encryption
- Secure file handling
- Signature authentication
- Sandboxed encoding
- Encrypted storage
- Two-factor authentication
- Custom security policies
- CCPA compliance
- Region-specific processing
- High uptime
- Scalable infrastructure
- Multi-cloud support
- Multi-region support
- Disaster recovery
- Custom encoding presets
- Script execution
- Custom workflows
- Playlist generation
- Media analysis
- Background removal
- MCP server
- AI chat
- Document data extraction
- Content moderation
- AI-powered automation
- Audio mixing
- Document auto-rotation
- PDF optimization
- PDF splitting
- Webpage screenshots
- Webpage to PDF
- AI image generation
- Picture-in-picture
- Video overlays
- On-demand video processing
- Resumable uploads
Overview
Across the 92 capabilities we compare, Transloadit offers 92 while Fastly Image Optimizer offers 14. The two platforms share 14 features in common (100% of Fastly Image Optimizer's set), while Transloadit offers 78 additional features that Fastly Image Optimizer does not, including Video encoding, Adaptive streaming, and Video concatenation.
Transloadit leads in Audio (6/6) and Image (6/6), while Fastly Image Optimizer shows particular strength in Compliance (4/6) and Image (3/6).
Deep Dive Analysis
Transloadit covers Video, Audio, Document, File Mgmt where Fastly Image Optimizer has no comparable features yet, including Video encoding, Adaptive streaming, and Video concatenation.
Active since 2009 (17 years), Transloadit has a significantly longer track record than Fastly Image Optimizer, which launched in 2017. As a bootstrapped company, Transloadit is not subject to external investor pressure to change pricing or pivot. The founders still love the product, actively contribute to it, and are committed to running the company for at least another 17 years.
Transloadit uses an open-stack ingestion model built on tus, Uppy, Companion, and tusd. You can self-host uploads and keep that ingestion layer independent of processing vendor choice. Fastly Image Optimizer's commercial stack is typically more integrated end-to-end.
Both platforms offer free tiers: Transloadit (5GB processing/mo); Fastly Image Optimizer (100,000 image requests/mo). Transloadit uses tier-based pricing while Fastly Image Optimizer uses usage-based pricing.
Transloadit advertises a 99.9% uptime SLA, compared to Fastly Image Optimizer's 100%.
Transloadit offers official SDKs for Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, Swift, Android, Kotlin, iOS, and .NET that Fastly Image Optimizer does not, while Fastly Image Optimizer offers SDKs for Rust that Transloadit does not.
| Feature | Transloadit | Fastly Image Optimizer |
|---|---|---|
| Company | ||
| Years active | 17 | 9 |
| Source Availability | ||
| Starting price | $9/mo | $0.50/10K requests |
| Uptime SLA | 99.9% | 100% |
| SDKs | 11 | 3 |
| Supported formats | 688 | 10 |
| Employees | 11–50 | 501–1K |
| Funding | bootstrapped | public |
| Free tier | 5GB processing/mo | 100,000 image requests/mo |
| Pricing model | tier based | usage based |
| GitHub stars | 41K | 13K |
| npm downloads/wk | 9.7M | 5K |
| Video | ||
| Adaptive streaming | Supported | Not supported |
| On-demand video processing | Supported | Not supported |
| Picture-in-picture | Supported | Not supported |
| Video concatenation | Supported | Not supported |
| Video encoding | Supported | Not supported |
| Video overlays | Supported | Not supported |
| Video subtitles | Supported | Not supported |
| Video thumbnails | Supported | Not supported |
| Audio | ||
| Audio artwork | Supported | Not supported |
| Audio concatenation | Supported | Not supported |
| Audio encoding | Supported | Not supported |
| Audio looping | Supported | Not supported |
| Audio mixing | Supported | Not supported |
| Audio waveform | Supported | Not supported |
| Image | ||
| AI image description | Supported | Not supported |
| Image analysis | Supported | Not supported |
| Image optimization | Supported | Supported |
| Image resizing | Supported | Supported |
| Spritesheet generation | Supported | Not supported |
| Watermarking | Supported | Supported |
| Document | ||
| Document analysis | Supported | Not supported |
| Document auto-rotation | Supported | Not supported |
| Document conversion | Supported | Not supported |
| Document merging | Supported | Not supported |
| Document thumbnails | Supported | Not supported |
| PDF optimization | Supported | Not supported |
| PDF splitting | Supported | Not supported |
| Webpage screenshots | Supported | Not supported |
| Webpage to PDF | Supported | Not supported |
| Artificial Intelligence | ||
| AI chat | Supported | Not supported |
| AI image generation | Supported | Not supported |
| AI recognition | Supported | Not supported |
| AI-powered automation | Supported | Not supported |
| Background removal | Supported | Not supported |
| Content moderation | Supported | Not supported |
| Document data extraction | Supported | Not supported |
| Face detection | Supported | Supported |
| MCP server | Supported | Not supported |
| Object recognition | Supported | Not supported |
| Speech analysis | Supported | Not supported |
| Speech transcription | Supported | Not supported |
| Speech translation | Supported | Not supported |
| Text recognition (OCR) | Supported | Not supported |
| Text to speech | Supported | Not supported |
| Text translation | Supported | Not supported |
| File Management | ||
| Automated file deletion | Supported | Not supported |
| Custom metadata | Supported | Not supported |
| File access control | Supported | Not supported |
| File compression | Supported | Not supported |
| File decompression | Supported | Not supported |
| File exporting | Supported | Not supported |
| File filtering | Supported | Not supported |
| File hashing | Supported | Not supported |
| File importing | Supported | Not supported |
| File preview | Supported | Not supported |
| File type verification | Supported | Not supported |
| File upload handling | Supported | Not supported |
| Media cataloging | Supported | Not supported |
| Metadata extraction | Supported | Not supported |
| Metadata writing | Supported | Not supported |
| Resumable uploads | Supported | Not supported |
| Thumbnail generation | Supported | Not supported |
| Security | ||
| Custom security policies | Supported | Not supported |
| Encrypted storage | Supported | Not supported |
| File encryption | Supported | Not supported |
| File virus scanning | Supported | Not supported |
| Sandboxed encoding | Supported | Not supported |
| Secure API access | Supported | Supported |
| Secure file handling | Supported | Not supported |
| Signature authentication | Supported | Not supported |
| Two-factor authentication | Supported | Not supported |
| Compliance | ||
| CCPA compliance | Supported | Not supported |
| GDPR compliance | Supported | Supported |
| HIPAA compliance | Supported | Supported |
| PCI DSS compliance | Supported | Supported |
| SOC 2 compliance | Supported | Supported |
| Infrastructure | ||
| Adaptive file delivery | Supported | Supported |
| Disaster recovery | Supported | Not supported |
| Global file delivery | Supported | Supported |
| High uptime | Supported | Not supported |
| Multi-cloud support | Supported | Not supported |
| Multi-region support | Supported | Not supported |
| Rate limiting | Supported | Supported |
| Real-time monitoring | Supported | Supported |
| Region-specific processing | Supported | Not supported |
| Scalable infrastructure | Supported | Not supported |
| Developer Tools | ||
| Custom encoding presets | Supported | Not supported |
| Custom workflows | Supported | Not supported |
| Developer API | Supported | Supported |
| Media analysis | Supported | Not supported |
| Playlist generation | Supported | Not supported |
| Script execution | Supported | Not supported |
| Overall Score | 98% | 26% |
The right choice depends on your needs
Fastly Image Optimizer and Transloadit were built to solve real production problems. Both are used in serious systems, and both have strengths.
Choose based on your workload: file types, delivery targets, and how much control you need over upload and processing. If you need broad file processing with a self-hostable upload stack and an API that has been stable for 17 years, Transloadit is worth a trial. If your needs are narrower, Fastly Image Optimizer may be the better fit.
Best for
- ✓Teams already using Fastly CDN who want zero-latency image optimization at the edge.
- ✓Websites needing automatic format negotiation (WebP/AVIF) without separate processing infrastructure.
Not ideal for
- •Projects requiring video encoding, audio processing, or document conversion beyond images.
- •Teams needing standalone file processing without a CDN dependency.
This page is maintained and updated over time. If you spot something wrong or missing, let us know and we actively welcome feedback from competitors and users alike.
Fastly Image Optimizer's Perspective
As far as we know, Fastly Image Optimizer does not currently publish a first-party comparison page against Transloadit. If they add one and we miss it, please let us know and we will link to it here.
Loved by Developers Worldwide
I'm not usually one for fanboy-ism but Transloadit is one service I would recommend without hesitation. Their product and customer support is outstanding.
Top notch support — better than top notch.
We wouldn't be able to be here without your support. Your service is the best video transcoding service out there and I'm happy about the reliability.
Having a solution for both uploading and transcoding has been a godsend for the current scale that we are at five years after first choosing Transloadit.
I absolutely love you people. From the support to the technology, performance and APIs... you've taken what could have been the most painful process of my entire development career and turned it into an absolute joy. I cannot thank or recommend you enough.
I love it. Very easy, lots of options, everything works really well.
Using Transloadit saves development and maintenance. Being able to focus on our product instead of reinventing the wheel cannot be understated.
Superbly simple and one of the most popular features on Gitter. Even supports cat gifs!
After nearly a week of testing various AI image processing tools, Transloadit stood out as the clear winner. Its well-designed API is both intuitive and powerful, making integration seamless. The speed and performance exceeded expectations.
It was very pleasant, and the docs are great! For the rest amazing, I love the service.
I'm not usually one for fanboy-ism but Transloadit is one service I would recommend without hesitation. Their product and customer support is outstanding.
We wouldn't be able to be here without your support. Your service is the best video transcoding service out there and I'm happy about the reliability.
I absolutely love you people. From the support to the technology, performance and APIs... you've taken what could have been the most painful process of my entire development career and turned it into an absolute joy. I cannot thank or recommend you enough.
Using Transloadit saves development and maintenance. Being able to focus on our product instead of reinventing the wheel cannot be understated.
After nearly a week of testing various AI image processing tools, Transloadit stood out as the clear winner. Its well-designed API is both intuitive and powerful, making integration seamless. The speed and performance exceeded expectations.
Top notch support — better than top notch.
Having a solution for both uploading and transcoding has been a godsend for the current scale that we are at five years after first choosing Transloadit.
I love it. Very easy, lots of options, everything works really well.
Superbly simple and one of the most popular features on Gitter. Even supports cat gifs!
It was very pleasant, and the docs are great! For the rest amazing, I love the service.
I'm not usually one for fanboy-ism but Transloadit is one service I would recommend without hesitation. Their product and customer support is outstanding.
Top notch support — better than top notch.
We wouldn't be able to be here without your support. Your service is the best video transcoding service out there and I'm happy about the reliability.
Having a solution for both uploading and transcoding has been a godsend for the current scale that we are at five years after first choosing Transloadit.
I absolutely love you people. From the support to the technology, performance and APIs... you've taken what could have been the most painful process of my entire development career and turned it into an absolute joy. I cannot thank or recommend you enough.