New billing system for ShortPixel CDN - March 2021

What is changing?

Until February 28th, 2021, we used to charge 1 credit for every image size that was optimized by our ShortPixel Adaptive Images plugin. For small sites, with low traffic and many images, this could mean a large usage of credits. After March 1st, 2021 we are charging 1 credit for every 5 MB of CDN traffic consumed, which means up to 50 images of 100 KB each.

However, the previous is only relevant if you have an old monthly plan or one-time credits. You can subscribe to our Unlimited plan and stop worrying about that!

When will this change become active?

Starting 1st of March 2021.

Who will be affected?

This change only applies to ShortPixel CDN users, e.g. ShortPixel Adaptive Images or Autoptimize.

Why this change?

We're constantly improving our products and we believe that by starting to charge by traffic instead of credits for ShortPixel's CDN, we'll be able to offer a more fair accounting system that will benefit all our current users. And this for a lower price. 

Let's take for example 2 use cases:

1. A small website with a few webpages and about 100 pictures that is visited monthly by 300 visitors.

   
   

   Up till now our free plan (100 image optimization credits/month) would not have been enough, as the 300 visitors would have probably generated between 2,000 and 3,000 different image sizes/month. And this would have exceeded the 100 free credits/month.

   
   

   With the new accounting system, the 300 visitors will most likely generate less than 300 MB of CDN traffic/month and they won't exceed the free monthly CDN traffic, which is 500 MB.

2. A medium website with 5000+ images that generate 10,000 visits/month. Currently, a customer will have to pay around $19.99 per month to be able to serve optimized images with ShortPixel Adaptive Images.

   
   

   Starting with 1st of March, a plan of $9.99 will allow 500 GB of CDN traffic, and this, from our tests, translates in about 500,000 visits/month. 

This means our customers will have to pay less for more! :-)

How much CDN traffic equals a credit? How many visits includes each plan?

• 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

What happens if I use a different CDN?

If you choose to use a different CDN than ShortPixel's then the charging by the credits will remain ( 1 credit per image optimized). Here's how you can use a different CDN with ShortPixel AI: Can I use a different CDN with ShortPixel Adaptive Images?

I only use ShortPixel Image Optimizer, will this affect me?

No, If you only use ShortPixel Image Optimizer this change will not affect you.

I got a deal on AppSumo. Does this change affect me?

No, if you've got an AppSumo deal, this will not affect you. Please check this article to know how your credits are counted then: AppSumo 2022 deal - FAQ