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Vendor profile · DAM

Cloudinary

Cloudinary is an API-first media platform that combines a DAM with automated image and video processing and optimised delivery. It is widely used by e-commerce and developer teams that need product imagery rendered and served at scale across channels.

RefDAM-US-2012Reviewed 16 October 2026

Overview

Cloudinary was founded in 2012 by three developers and grew from an image delivery API into a broader media platform. Its main US office is in San Jose, California, with European offices in London and Kraków and engineering in Israel. Blackstone Growth made an investment in 2022 that valued the company at two billion US dollars.

The platform has several products. Assets is an AI-powered DAM for organising, tagging and sharing media. Image provides automated cropping, format conversion and optimised delivery, VideoScale automates video processing and streaming, and MediaFlows offers low-code workflow automation. Cloudinary AI covers auto-tagging, background removal, generative image edits and content moderation, and the company provides AI agents and an MCP server for developers. Delivery runs on a multi-CDN set-up, including an Akamai partnership.

Cloudinary fits product content use cases where one master image must be rendered into many sizes, crops and formats for webshops, marketplaces and apps. URL-based image operations remove the need to store every derivative. Marketing teams that need brand portals, rights management and approval workflows may find Cloudinary Assets less extensive than marketing-led DAMs, and some organisations pair a marketing DAM with Cloudinary for delivery. Usage-based pricing tied to image operations and bandwidth should be modelled carefully.

Key capabilities

  • URL-based image and video processing
  • Optimised multi-CDN media delivery
  • AI-powered DAM (Assets)
  • AI tagging, background removal and moderation
  • Low-code media workflows (MediaFlows)
  • Developer APIs, SDKs and MCP server

Strengths and considerations

Strengths

  • Cloudinary renders and serves product imagery in many formats and sizes from one master, which suits high-SKU e-commerce.
  • Extensive APIs and SDKs make it straightforward for developer teams to embed media processing in commerce stacks.
  • Built-in AI for tagging, background removal and moderation reduces manual image preparation.

Check before buying

  • Marketing-oriented features such as brand guidelines and complex approval workflows are less extensive than in marketing-led DAM platforms.
  • Usage-based pricing linked to image operations, storage and bandwidth needs careful forecasting for large catalogues.
  • Implementation typically requires developer resources, which can limit self-service adoption by non-technical teams.

Best for

Fit summaryE-commerce and digital teams that need automated image and video processing and fast delivery for large product catalogues.

Regulatory and compliance data

EU timeline →

Cloudinary offers enterprise customers the option to store data in the EEA, otherwise data sits on AWS servers worldwide; it reports SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 and covers transfers with Standard Contractual Clauses and the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.

Integrations

  • Salesforce Commerce Cloud
  • Adobe Commerce
  • Shopify
  • commercetools
  • Contentful
  • Akeneo

Frequently asked questions about Cloudinary

Is Cloudinary a DAM or an image CDN?

Cloudinary is both. Its Assets product provides AI-powered digital asset management, while its Image and VideoScale products handle automated processing and optimised delivery over a multi-CDN set-up. Many organisations use it mainly for delivery and processing of product media at scale.

How does Cloudinary support product imagery?

Cloudinary stores one master image and generates crops, sizes and formats on request through URL parameters. This suits webshops and marketplaces that need many derivatives per product. AI features such as background removal and auto-tagging reduce manual image preparation work.

Who owns Cloudinary?

Cloudinary is a privately held company founded in 2012. It grew for years without outside funding and in 2022 received a growth investment from Blackstone Growth that valued the business at two billion US dollars. No acquisition or public listing had been announced as of October 2026.

Sources

SOURCES
  1. cloudinary.com/about
  2. www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220215005829/en/Blackstone-Growth-Invests-in-Cloudinary-V
  3. cloudinary.com/trust

Profile compiled from public information. Vendors can submit corrections via the methodology page.