Transloadit
Comparisons/Shotstack

Transloadit vsShotstack

A source-backed, feature-by-feature comparison of Transloadit and Shotstack. Shotstack is a cloud video editing and rendering API focused on programmatic video creation at scale, with a no-code visual workflow builder.

Switching Notes

If you are evaluating a switch from Shotstack, 100% of its features are available in Transloadit, including Video encoding, Video concatenation, and Video subtitles, with 69 additional capabilities. All features offered by Shotstack are covered by Transloadit.
Transloadit's free tier (5GB processing/mo) makes it easy to evaluate the platform hands-on before committing to a switch.

Key Differentiators

Only in Transloadit69

Show 59 more features
All Shotstack features are also in Transloadit

Feature Coverage by Category

TransloaditShotstack
8/11
6/11
Video
6/6
1/6
Audio
6/6
2/6
Image
9/10
0/10
Document
16/16
3/16
AI
17/18
4/18
File Mgmt
9/11
1/11
Security
5/6
1/6
Compliance
10/10
1/10
Infra
6/6
4/6
Dev Tools

Overview

Across the 92 capabilities we compare, Transloadit offers 92 while Shotstack offers 23. The two platforms share 23 features in common (100% of Shotstack's set), while Transloadit offers 69 additional features that Shotstack does not, including Adaptive streaming, Audio concatenation, and Audio waveform.

Transloadit leads in Audio (6/6) and Image (6/6), while Shotstack shows particular strength in Dev Tools (4/6) and Video (6/11).

Deep Dive Analysis

Transloadit covers the Document category where Shotstack has no comparable features yet, including Document conversion, Document merging, and Document thumbnails.

Active since 2009 (17 years), Transloadit has a significantly longer track record than Shotstack, which launched in 2019. 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. Shotstack's commercial stack is typically more integrated end-to-end.

Both platforms offer free tiers: Transloadit (5GB processing/mo); Shotstack (10 free credits (valid 30 days)). Transloadit uses tier-based pricing while Shotstack uses usage-based pricing.

Transloadit offers official SDKs for Java, Go, Swift, Android, Kotlin, iOS, and .NET that Shotstack does not.

Need help comparing?

Our engineering team can help you map your specific Shotstack workflow to Transloadit's architecture.

Contact Support

Full Feature Comparison

FeatureTransloaditShotstack
Company
Years active17
7
Source Availability
Starting price$9/mo$39/mo
Uptime SLA99.9%99.9%
SDKs11
4
Supported formats688
16
Employees11–50
11–50
Fundingbootstrapped$2.8M
Free tier5GB processing/mo10 free credits (valid 30 days)
Pricing modeltier basedusage based
GitHub stars41K
300
npm downloads/wk9.7M
1K
Video
Adaptive streamingSupportedNot supported
On-demand video processingSupportedNot supported
Picture-in-pictureSupportedSupported
Video concatenationSupportedSupported
Video encodingSupportedSupported
Video overlaysSupportedSupported
Video subtitlesSupportedSupported
Video thumbnailsSupportedSupported
Audio
Audio artworkSupportedNot supported
Audio concatenationSupportedNot supported
Audio encodingSupportedSupported
Audio loopingSupportedNot supported
Audio mixingSupportedNot supported
Audio waveformSupportedNot supported
Image
AI image descriptionSupportedNot supported
Image analysisSupportedNot supported
Image optimizationSupportedNot supported
Image resizingSupportedSupported
Spritesheet generationSupportedNot supported
WatermarkingSupportedSupported
Document
Document analysisSupportedNot supported
Document auto-rotationSupportedNot supported
Document conversionSupportedNot supported
Document mergingSupportedNot supported
Document thumbnailsSupportedNot supported
PDF optimizationSupportedNot supported
PDF splittingSupportedNot supported
Webpage screenshotsSupportedNot supported
Webpage to PDFSupportedNot supported
Artificial Intelligence
AI chatSupportedNot supported
AI image generationSupportedSupported
AI recognitionSupportedNot supported
AI-powered automationSupportedNot supported
Background removalSupportedNot supported
Content moderationSupportedNot supported
Document data extractionSupportedNot supported
Face detectionSupportedNot supported
MCP serverSupportedNot supported
Object recognitionSupportedNot supported
Speech analysisSupportedNot supported
Speech transcriptionSupportedSupported
Speech translationSupportedNot supported
Text recognition (OCR)SupportedNot supported
Text to speechSupportedSupported
Text translationSupportedNot supported
File Management
Automated file deletionSupportedNot supported
Custom metadataSupportedNot supported
File access controlSupportedNot supported
File compressionSupportedNot supported
File decompressionSupportedNot supported
File exportingSupportedNot supported
File filteringSupportedNot supported
File hashingSupportedNot supported
File importingSupportedSupported
File previewSupportedNot supported
File type verificationSupportedNot supported
File upload handlingSupportedSupported
Media catalogingSupportedNot supported
Metadata extractionSupportedSupported
Metadata writingSupportedNot supported
Resumable uploadsSupportedNot supported
Thumbnail generationSupportedSupported
Security
Custom security policiesSupportedNot supported
Encrypted storageSupportedNot supported
File encryptionSupportedNot supported
File virus scanningSupportedNot supported
Sandboxed encodingSupportedNot supported
Secure API accessSupportedSupported
Secure file handlingSupportedNot supported
Signature authenticationSupportedNot supported
Two-factor authenticationSupportedNot supported
Compliance
CCPA complianceSupportedNot supported
GDPR complianceSupportedSupported
HIPAA complianceSupportedNot supported
PCI DSS complianceSupportedNot supported
SOC 2 complianceSupportedNot supported
Infrastructure
Adaptive file deliverySupportedNot supported
Disaster recoverySupportedNot supported
Global file deliverySupportedNot supported
High uptimeSupportedNot supported
Multi-cloud supportSupportedNot supported
Multi-region supportSupportedNot supported
Rate limitingSupportedNot supported
Real-time monitoringSupportedNot supported
Region-specific processingSupportedNot supported
Scalable infrastructureSupportedSupported
Developer Tools
Custom encoding presetsSupportedSupported
Custom workflowsSupportedSupported
Developer APISupportedSupported
Media analysisSupportedSupported
Playlist generationSupportedNot supported
Script executionSupportedNot supported
Overall Score98%
29%

The right choice depends on your needs

Shotstack 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, Shotstack may be the better fit.

Best for

  • ✓Developers building automated video generation pipelines via API
  • ✓Teams needing programmatic bulk video rendering with JSON templates
  • ✓No-code users automating creative media workflows with generative AI

Not ideal for

  • •Teams needing adaptive bitrate streaming (HLS/DASH) output
  • •Document-centric processing (PDF, Office conversion)
  • •Users needing on-premise or self-hosted deployment

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.

View full comparison matrix with all competitors

Shotstack's Perspective

As far as we know, Shotstack 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.

Testimonials

Loved by Developers Worldwide

Transloadit is used by developers all over the world to handle file processing. Don't take our word for it, see what they have to say.
Dave Perrett
Dave PerrettCTO / Shuttlerock
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.
Mike ReidDirector of Engineering / Signed
Top notch support — better than top notch.
Elio CapellaHead of Development / Filestage
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.
Jon Wong
Jon WongStaff Software Engineer / Coursera
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.
Braden SchaefferLead Engineer / Biginterview
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.
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Enterprise-grade security
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Supporting all file formats
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