An image CDN for the images you already host

Lighter images, faster pages. No files to move.

Change the image URL and every visitor gets AVIF or WebP, sized for their screen, at the lowest quality that still looks like the original. Your dashboard shows exactly how many bytes it saved.

No upload, no SDK, no rebuild. Free tier: 5 GB a month, no card.

Image
w
q
f
The sample image as stored at the origin The sample image, as delivered with the parameters above
Original …
Delivered to this browser …

Works with what you have Next.js Nuxt Astro Any <img> tag Framework guides

How the image CDN works: three steps, and no images to move

01

Name your origin

Any server that answers HTTPS: your website, or the public address of a storage bucket. Nothing is uploaded.

02

Swap the hostname

Your images keep their paths. Use the hostname you are given, or your own domain with a CNAME.

03

Add parameters

Width, format and quality to start. The console shows what every image weighed before and after.

<!-- before -->
<img src="https://shop.example.com/products/sofa.jpg" alt="Grey sofa">
<!-- after -->
<img src="https://a3f9c21b.zwcld.net/v1/products/sofa.jpg?w=800&f=auto&q=auto"
width="800" height="533" alt="Grey sofa">

Moving from another image service? Parameter maps for imgix , Cloudinary and Cloudflare Images .

Image transformations, by URL parameter

Every parameter, in the API reference

Resize and fit

Box sizes, four ways to fill them, pixel density, and the width the browser says it needs.

w h fit dpr w=auto

The smallest format accepted

AVIF where the browser takes it, then WebP, then JPEG or PNG. Your markup does not change.

f=auto

Quality chosen by measurement

The lowest quality that still looks like the original, decided per image by a similarity score.

q=auto

Placeholders and dimensions

Width, height, colours and a tiny preview as JSON or CSS, so the layout does not jump.

info blurhash thumbhash

Signed URLs

An HMAC signature and an expiry, so nobody can change the parameters or reuse a link forever. Optionally bound to one visitor's address.

exp kid sig cip

AI editing

Crop around the subject or faces, remove the background, upscale, or correct tone and colour. A paid add-on, with monthly credits.

ai_crop ai_remove_bg ai_upscale ai_enhance
All 15 features

Crop where the subject is

Cut a rectangle, keep a focal point in frame, or trim a uniform border away.

crop fp trim

Bot and hotlink shield

Refuse other sites and the crawlers you choose, from the console. On the paid tiers.

A console setting

Metadata removed

EXIF and other metadata, location included, taken out by default, with wide-gamut colours converted to sRGB first so they survive. Turn it off to keep them.

strip=false

Turn and adjust

Rotate, mirror, and correct brightness, contrast, saturation and gamma, or blur, sharpen and turn grey.

rotate flip bri con sat gam blur sharpen grayscale

Rounded, circular, bordered

Rounded corners, a circle cut from the image, or a solid border in the colour you set.

radius mask border

Logos and watermarks

A line of text or a second image from your origin, placed in a corner at the opacity you set.

watermark overlay

Presets

Name a set of parameters in the console and use the name in the URL. Anything written in the URL still wins.

preset

Lighter on slow connections

When the browser asks to save data, automatically sized images go out at a lower density and quality.

Save-Data dpr=auto w=auto

Purge from your deploy

Drop every cached size and format of an object, or of a whole prefix, with an API key. The console's Cache tab clears every node at once.

POST /v1/purge

Image savings, measured not claimed

What the edge recorded over the last 30 days, across every account. A figure with nothing behind it is left out.

53% average payload saving
4,252,195 images delivered
37 ms average time to transform an image
2 edge nodes online now

Measure your own page instead

The image audit loads a page, weighs every image on it, and works out what each would weigh as AVIF and WebP. No account needed.

Image CDN pricing

Pay for bandwidth and transformations. Start on the free tier.

Developer Starter

$0 a month, no card

  • 5 GB delivered a month
  • 1,000 transformations
  • The platform hostname
  • Not included: AVIF Output, Custom Domains (CNAME), Bot & Hotlink Shield, AI Neural Suite (including add-ons)
Start free

Indie Developer

$9 a month

  • 100 GB delivered a month
  • 100,000 transformations
  • 1 custom domain
  • Not included: AI Neural Suite (including add-ons)
Choose Indie Developer

Pro Team

Most chosen

$29 a month

  • 500 GB delivered a month
  • 1,000,000 transformations
  • 5 custom domains
Choose Pro Team

Scale Business

$99 a month

  • 1.5 TB delivered a month
  • 5,000,000 transformations
  • 15 custom domains
Choose Scale Business

AI add-ons

Added to a paid plan from the console's billing page, on the same invoice. Every AI parameter works with each; they differ in monthly credits. A smart crop or tone correction is 1 credit, a background removal 5, an upscale 5 per doubling, and serving a result that is already cached costs nothing.

AI Neural Starter Add-On

$15 a month, on top of the plan

25,000 credits a month

For sites that crop a lot of photographs: smart cropping and automatic tone correction.

AI Neural Pro Add-On

$49 a month, on top of the plan

100,000 credits a month

For catalogues that need cut-outs or larger images: background removal and upscaling.

AI Enterprise Neural Add-On

$199 a month, on top of the plan

500,000 credits a month

The largest allowance, for high-volume workloads.

Charged when added, for the rest of the month. Past the credits, AI requests are refused rather than billed, and removing an add-on credits nothing back. Terms.

Which plan fits?

Every image served counts, from the cache or not. Your console shows both figures for the month so far.

Need more than the largest tier, or an invoice instead of a card? Ask about Enterprise Global.

What it does not do

So nobody finds out after signing up.

  • It is not storage. There is no upload. Your images stay at an origin you already run.
  • Still images only. Video and animation are not transcoded.
  • It is not a whole-site CDN. It delivers images. Your pages and scripts stay where they are.
  • AI editing is not in any plan. It is a paid add-on with a monthly credit allowance. Results are automated: a crop can miss the subject and a cut-out can have rough edges, so check them before relying on them.

What you can check before you sign up

Where the edge is, right now

Nodes checked in during the last 90 seconds, by region: EU-PL , US-OR . Each request goes to the nearest one.

Card payments by Stripe

Checkout and the billing portal are Stripe's own pages. Card numbers never reach this site.

Leave when you like

Cancel from the Billing tab. Delete the account, with its keys, domains and logs, yourself from the Security tab, as the privacy policy describes.

No trackers on this site

No analytics, advertising or session-recording scripts are loaded on these pages.

Open interfaces

The delivery API is a public OpenAPI document, and the framework package is MIT-licensed.

Abuse is reportable

Anybody can report an image delivered through the service, without an account.

Questions about the image CDN

Do I have to move my images?

No. ZawCloud fetches each image from your origin the first time it is asked for, transforms it, and caches the result. Your files stay where they are.

What if a browser does not support AVIF?

With f=auto the edge reads the browser's Accept header and sends AVIF, then WebP, then JPEG or PNG. AVIF output is on the paid tiers; the free tier stops at WebP.

How do signed URLs stop hotlinking?

A signed URL carries an expiry in exp and an HMAC-SHA256 signature in sig, made with a key from your console. Change a parameter, or use the URL after it expires, and the edge answers 403. The exact recipe is in the API reference.

Can I use my own domain?

On the paid tiers. Point a CNAME such as img.example.com at your hostname; the certificate is issued and renewed for you.

What does a cache purge clear?

A purge from the console reaches every node, and reports how many answered and how many cached variants each one removed, so a partial purge shows as partial.

Does it work with Next.js, Nuxt or Astro?

Yes, without changing your components. One package, @zawcloud/images, gives each framework's image component a loader that points at the edge: Next.js , Nuxt and Astro . Anything else that writes an <img> tag only needs the URL changed.

What does AI editing cost, and what is a credit?

AI editing is an add-on to a paid plan, from $15 a month with a monthly allowance of credits. A smart crop or a tone correction costs 1 credit, a background removal 5, and an upscale 5 for each doubling. A result that is already cached costs nothing, and past the allowance AI requests are refused rather than billed. The add-ons are under Pricing.

I use imgix, Cloudinary or Cloudflare Images. How hard is moving?

Usually a hostname change and some renamed parameters, because the edge fetches from an origin you already run. Each guide maps the other service's parameters to these: imgix , Cloudinary and Cloudflare Images . Images that live only in Cloudinary have to be exported to storage you host first.

How do I cancel?

From the Billing tab in the console. The plan stays active until the end of the period already paid for.

Try it on your heaviest page

The free tier is enough to see the difference before anyone signs off on a plan.