ShortPixel Adaptive Images - How are the credits counted?

Note: If you are using Autoptimize instead of ShortPixel Adaptive Images, please have a look at this version of this article.

ShortPixel Adaptive Images (SPAI) processes and serves images on the fly via a fast CDN with a global presence. Unlike ShortPixel Image Optimizer, SPAI does not optimize the physical files on your server.

SPAI only processes your images if they are viewed at least once from your front-end. Until that happens, the image will remain un-processed. Here's more information about how SPAI works: How does ShortPixel Adaptive Images work?

Processing an image means smart-cropping (if chosen), resizing, and optimizing it. Once the image is processed, it is stored on the ShortPixel CDN servers and it can be served to your clients using the CDN traffic quota you purchased. As long as there is enough CDN traffic quota available, your optimized images will be served from our CDN.

Both one-time and monthly credits can be used to process images.

How much CDN traffic equals a credit?

  • 1 credit = 5 MB of CDN traffic
  • Free plan = 100 credits = 500 MB of CDN traffic = ~500 visits/month
  • $4.99/month plan = 7,000 credits/month = 35 GB of CDN traffic = ~35,000 visits/month
  • $9.99/month plan = 16,000 credits/month = 80 GB of CDN traffic = ~80,000 visits/month
  • $29.99/month plan = 55,000 credits/month = 275 GB of CDN traffic = ~275,000 visits/month
  • $49.99/month plan = 100,000 credits/month = 500 GB of CDN traffic = ~500,000 visits/month
  • $99.99/month plan = 220,000 credits/month = 1.1 TB of CDN traffic = ~1,100,000 visits/month

Please note that you can opt for purchasing a year in advance, you will get 2 months for free! For more information, check our Pricing page.

Example 1

Say you own a small website with about 100 pictures distributed between your pages, and it is visited monthly by 300 visitors.

The 300 visitors will most likely generate less than 300 MB of CDN traffic per month, and they won't exceed the free monthly CDN traffic, which is 500 MB.

If tomorrow your website goes from having 100 pictures to 300, and you keep having the same number of visitors, you will use, on average, 900 MB of CDN traffic per month, and you will probably have to upgrade to a paid plan.

Example 2

Say you own a medium website with 5000+ images that gets 10,000 visits per month. 

A monthly plan of $4.99/month will allow 35 GB of CDN traffic, and this, from our tests, translates in about 35,000 visits per month.

What happens if I use my own CDN?

If you choose to use a different CDN than ShortPixel's, then no traffic will be counted. Instead, every 30 days you will use the following:

  • 1 credit per every image size optimized. The optimization happens when at least one visitor sees the image.
  • Another credit if the image is delivered in WebP format.
  • Another credit if the image is delivered in AVIF format.

That means a maximum of 3 credits per image size, every 30 days.

Here's how you can use a different CDN with ShortPixel AI: Can I use a different CDN with ShortPixel Adaptive Images?

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