The quick answer is Uploadcare, because its Pro plan at $66 per month covers uploads, storage, processing and delivery in one place. Filestack is still a sound choice if you want one key for uploads, transforms and delivery, but its free plan is small at 500 uploads, 1 GB of bandwidth and 1 GB of storage. Cloudinary and ImageKit suit image heavy sites, while Transloadit and Bytescale suit teams that process many files.
Filestack covers uploads, transforms and delivery through one API, so a good alternative must cover at least two of those three jobs well. The tools below do that in different ways, with different meters for cost. Read the limits in each block, then match the meter to the way your app actually uses files.
On this page
Filestack alternatives: comparison table
Swipe the table sideways on a phone to see every column.
| # | Name | Best for | Starting price | Free plan / trial | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Filestack | All in one uploads and transforms | $69 per month | Yes | Visit |
| 2 | Uploadcare | Production apps with user content | $66 per month | Yes | Visit |
| 3 | Cloudinary | Image and video management | $89 per month | Yes | Visit |
| 4 | Transloadit | File processing by volume | $29 per month | Yes | Visit |
| 5 | Bytescale | Low cost uploads and processing | $7 per month | Free trial (14 days) | Visit |
| 6 | ImageKit | Image delivery on a budget | $9 per month | Yes | Visit |
| 7 | Gumlet | Video hosting and delivery | $6 per month | Yes | Visit |
| 8 | Uppy | Open source upload widget | $0 per month | Yes | Visit |
The 8 best filestack alternatives, in detail
Filestack
Best for: All in one uploads and transforms
Filestack Start costs $69 per month and includes 20,000 uploads, 75 GB of bandwidth, 50,000 transformations and 50 GB of storage. Grow costs $199 per month and Scale costs $379 per month, with video conversion and a document viewer added at Grow. The free plan includes 500 uploads, 1 GB of bandwidth, 1,000 transformations, 1 GB of storage and one team member, so it fits a prototype or a small internal tool.
- One detail most roundups skip is that a chained transformation counts as one transformation during the cache period, which is 30 days by default, whil
- Bandwidth is counted only when a file is viewed or downloaded, not when it is uploaded.
- Choose Filestack if you want a single vendor for the whole file flow.
- Do not choose it if your volume is low and the $69 entry price is more than your file budget allows.
Pros
- One API for uploads, transforms and delivery
- Wide range of cloud sources for user uploads
Cons
- Free plan is small at 500 uploads and 1 GB of bandwidth
- Many useful features are add-ons at $49 per month each
Uploadcare
Best for: Production apps with user content
Uploadcare Pro costs $66 per month and includes 5,000 operations, 5,000 AI operations, 25 GB of traffic, 10 GB of storage, a 1 GB max file size and 3 team members. Business costs $166 per month and includes 50,000 operations, 25,000 AI operations, 125 GB of traffic and 50 GB of storage. Extra operations on Pro cost $1.60 per 1,000, extra traffic costs $0.35 per GB and extra storage costs $0.35 per GB.
- The free plan includes 1,000 operations per month and a 500 MB max file size.
- One useful billing detail is that storage counts only the original files in your account, not transformed versions, and the storage counter does not r
- Choose Uploadcare if you run a production app with user uploaded content.
- Do not choose it if you need large file uploads on the free plan or you want storage that clears each month.
Pros
- Clear operation based billing with overage rates
- Built in malware filtering and signed uploads on Pro
Cons
- Free plan caps file size at 500 MB and is for personal use only
- Storage counts only original files and does not reset each month
Cloudinary
Best for: Image and video management
Cloudinary Plus costs $89 per month billed annually, or $99 per month billed monthly, and includes 225 monthly credits, 3 users and 2 accounts. Advanced costs $224 per month billed annually and includes 600 monthly credits, 5 users and 3 accounts. The free plan costs $0, includes 25 monthly credits, 3 users and 1 account, with no credit card required.
- One credit covers 1,000 transformations, 1 GB of managed storage, or 1 GB of image bandwidth, and subscription plans get 2 GB of video bandwidth per c
- One fact that changes budgeting is that Free, Plus and Advanced are fixed tiers with no automatic overage billing, so crossing your credit limit bring
- Choose Cloudinary if you manage many images and videos.
- Do not choose it if you need a simple per GB price or you want overage billing that lets a busy month run without a plan change.
Pros
- One credit pool covers transforms, storage and bandwidth
- Free plan needs no credit card and includes 25 credits
Cons
- Plus costs $89 per month on annual billing and $99 per month billed monthly
- Fixed plans do not bill overages, so high use can lead to account limits
Transloadit
Best for: File processing by volume
Transloadit Lite costs $29 per month and includes 15 GB each month, a 1 GB file size limit, full length audio and video and overage at $2 per GB. Pro costs $54 per month billed annually and includes 40 GB each month, a 5 GB file size limit and overage at $1.80 per GB. The free Community plan includes 5 GB each month, 2 collaborators and a 0.5 GB file size limit, with no overage, so processing stops at 5 GB.
- One billing rule worth knowing is that most processing steps count both input and output file sizes, so an 800 MB input turned into a 224 MB output us
- Choose Transloadit if you process images, video, audio and documents and you want one GB meter for all of them.
- Do not choose it if you need a hosted upload widget and storage in the same plan.
Pros
- Simple GB based pricing across file types
- Free Community plan includes 5 GB each month
Cons
- Community outputs are watermarked for images and trimmed for audio and video
- Pro is $54 per month billed annually, not $29
Bytescale
Best for: Low cost uploads and processing
Bytescale Basic costs $7 per month and includes 10 GB of storage, 10 GB of download bandwidth, 20,000 upload requests and 1 CPU hour per month. Plus costs $35 per month and includes 50 GB of storage, 50 GB of download bandwidth, 100,000 upload requests and 5 CPU hours. Advanced costs $195 per month and includes 300 GB of storage, 300 GB of download bandwidth, 500,000 upload requests and 30 CPU hours.
- One CPU hour covers about 6,000 image optimizations or 40 minutes of converted video.
- One useful detail is that you can bring your own AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, DigitalOcean Spaces, Azure Storage or Google Storage as primary storage, and B
- Choose Bytescale if you want a low entry price and you already store files in your own cloud bucket.
- Do not choose it if you need a free plan for a long test.
Pros
- Low entry price at $7 per month
- Can use your own S3, R2 or Google storage with no Bytescale storage charge
Cons
- No free plan, only a 14 day trial
- Processing is metered in CPU hours, which is harder to forecast than a flat count
ImageKit
Best for: Image delivery on a budget
ImageKit Lite costs $9 per month and includes 40 GB of bandwidth per month and 10 GB of storage. Pro costs $89 per month and includes 225 GB of bandwidth, 225 GB of storage, 5 users and a custom domain. The free plan includes 20 GB of bandwidth per month, 3 GB of storage and 2 users.
- Overages on Lite are $0.50 per GB for bandwidth and $0.10 per GB for storage, while overages on Pro are $0.45 per GB for bandwidth and $0.09 per GB fo
- One limit to plan around is that if you pass the free tier bandwidth mid-month, ImageKit stops serving images until the next billing cycle, so a traff
- Access control, draft assets, shared links and media library backups start on the $89 Pro plan.
- Choose ImageKit if your main need is fast image delivery with URL transforms.
Pros
- Free plan includes 20 GB of bandwidth and unlimited transformations
- Lite is only $9 per month for 40 GB of bandwidth
Cons
- Free storage is only 3 GB
- Pro jumps to $89 per month, with no middle plan between Lite and Pro
Gumlet
Best for: Video hosting and delivery
Gumlet Creator costs $6 per month billed annually, or $9 per month billed monthly, and includes 2 seats, 1,000 storage minutes, 3,000 GB of bandwidth and 1,000 minutes of live streaming. Growth costs $19 per month billed annually and includes 5 seats, 3,000 storage minutes and 2,000 minutes of live streaming. Business costs $99 per month billed annually and includes 10 seats, 15,000 storage minutes and 4,000 minutes of live streaming.
- The free plan includes 60 storage minutes, 100 GB of bandwidth and 60 minutes of live streaming.
- One detail that matters for budgeting is that a storage minute equals one minute of uploaded video, whatever the file size or resolution, and only the
- Streaming overages range from $0.50 per GB on Free to $0.06 per GB on Business.
- Choose Gumlet if your files are mainly video.
Pros
- Free plan includes 100 GB of bandwidth per month
- Creator is only $6 per month billed annually
Cons
- Pricing is video first, with storage counted in minutes
- Image delivery is a separate product from video hosting
Uppy
Best for: Open source upload widget
Uppy costs $0 per month as open source software, and every part is included, with no subscription edition to buy. It is a modular JavaScript file uploader for the browser, made by Transloadit, and it works with many upload backends, including tus, Amazon S3, HTTP endpoints and Transloadit. Companion is the server part that handles remote sources and secrets, and you can run it on your own hardware free of charge, apart from your own hosting costs.
- Uppy supports resumable uploads and imports from Google Drive, Dropbox, Box and OneDrive.
- One point to weigh is that Uppy on its own does not store, transform or deliver files, so the $0 price covers only the browser upload experience and y
- Choose Uppy if you want full control of the upload interface and you already have a backend.
- Do not choose it if you want a hosted service that handles storage and delivery without extra setup.
Pros
- Free open source code under the MIT license, with no subscription price
- Resumable uploads and imports from Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive
Cons
- No hosted storage, processing or delivery is included
- You must run Companion yourself or pair Uppy with a backend service
How we chose
We did not test any tool hands-on. We compared tools that cover uploads, transforms, storage or delivery, and we kept only tools with a live product page and a listed price or a clear free open source offer. Prices in this article come from official vendor pricing pages opened 2026-11-12, including Filestack, Uploadcare, Cloudinary, Transloadit, Bytescale, Gumlet and Uppy, with ImageKit checked against vendor supplied listings on the same date. We ranked tools by fit for a Filestack replacement, not by brand size, and we noted the meter each vendor uses.
What to check before you buy
Check your monthly upload count against the free plan, because Filestack free stops at 500 uploads, Uploadcare free stops at 1,000 operations and Transloadit Community stops at 5 GB with no overage. Check bandwidth and storage separately, because Cloudinary charges both from one credit pool, while Uploadcare storage counts only original files and does not reset each month. Check the max file size, because Filestack free caps files at 20 MB and Uploadcare free caps files at 500 MB. Check what happens past the limit, because Cloudinary fixed plans warn and can limit the account, ImageKit free stops serving images, and Transloadit Community stops processing until the next month.
| Monthly volume | Pick first | Why it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Under 500 uploads | Filestack free plan | 500 uploads, 1 GB bandwidth, 1 GB storage, 1,000 transforms |
| Under 1,000 operations | Uploadcare free plan | 1,000 operations, 500 MB max file size, CDN delivery |
| Under 20 GB bandwidth | ImageKit free plan | 20 GB bandwidth, 3 GB storage, unlimited transforms |
| 15 GB processing | Transloadit Lite at $29 per month | 15 GB each month, 1 GB file size limit, $2 per GB overage |
| 40 GB processing | Transloadit Pro at $54 per month billed annually | 40 GB each month, 5 GB file size limit, $1.80 per GB overage |
| Low budget start | Bytescale Basic at $7 per month | 10 GB storage, 10 GB bandwidth, 20,000 uploads, 1 CPU hour |
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest Filestack alternative?
Bytescale Basic at $7 per month is the cheapest subscription entry in this list, with 10 GB of storage, 10 GB of download bandwidth, 20,000 upload requests and 1 CPU hour. ImageKit Lite at $9 per month is next, with 40 GB of bandwidth and 10 GB of storage. Uppy costs $0 per month as open source code, but you still need storage and processing behind it.
Which Filestack alternative is best for image heavy websites?
ImageKit is best for image heavy websites on a tight budget, because its free plan includes 20 GB of bandwidth and unlimited transformations, and Lite costs $9 per month for 40 GB of bandwidth. Cloudinary is best if you also need video, a media library and many add-ons, with Plus at $89 per month billed annually for 225 credits.
Does Filestack have a free plan?
Yes, Filestack has a free plan with 500 uploads, 1 GB of bandwidth, 1,000 transformations, 1 GB of storage and one team member. It fits a prototype or a small internal tool. Move to Start at $69 per month when you pass any of those limits, because Start includes 20,000 uploads, 75 GB of bandwidth and 50,000 transformations.
Can I use Uppy without Transloadit?
Yes, you can use Uppy without Transloadit, because Uppy is open source under the MIT license and works with tus, Amazon S3, HTTP endpoints and custom plugins. Transloadit is the official processing backend for Uppy, but it is not required. You will still need storage and, if you want transforms or video encoding, a processing service behind the uploader.
What should I check before I switch from Filestack?
Check three numbers first: monthly uploads, monthly bandwidth and monthly transformations, then match them to the new vendor meter. Filestack Start includes 20,000 uploads, 75 GB of bandwidth and 50,000 transformations for $69 per month, so a tool that looks cheaper can cost more if its meter counts the same work twice. Also check file size limits and whether your current transform URLs will need to change.
Is Cloudinary a good Filestack alternative?
Cloudinary is a good Filestack alternative if your work is mainly images and video, with upload, transforms, a media library and CDN delivery in one place. Its free plan includes 25 credits and 3 users, and Plus costs $89 per month billed annually for 225 credits. It is less direct if you need general file uploads or document conversion, which Filestack covers through its own plans and add-ons.
Sources
- https://www.filestack.com/
- https://www.filestack.com/pricing/
- https://uploadcare.com/
- https://uploadcare.com/pricing/
- https://cloudinary.com/
- https://cloudinary.com/pricing
- https://transloadit.com/
- https://transloadit.com/pricing/
- https://www.bytescale.com/
- https://www.bytescale.com/pricing/
- https://imagekit.io/
- https://www.gumlet.com/
- https://www.gumlet.com/pricing/
- https://uppy.io/
Prices and features were read on each company’s own website in November 2026. They change often, so confirm the current offer on the official site before you sign up or buy.