How are the credits counted when using Autoptimize?

Autoptimize has an image optimization feature provided by ShortPixel that processes and serves images on the fly via a fast CDN with a global presence. Unlike ShortPixel Image Optimizer, Autoptimize does not optimize the physical files on your server.

Autoptimize only optimizes your images if they are viewed at least once from your front-end. Until that happens, the image will remain un-optimized. Here's more information about how Autoptimize's image optimization works: How does Autoptimize and its Image Optimization + CDN service work?. Note that unlike ShortPixel Adaptive Images (SPAI), Autoptimize doesn't smart-crop nor resize the images. That's why Autoptimize usually spends less credits. This can be good if serving adaptive images is not a priority for you, but if is and you care about your SEO, we recommend checking out SPAI.

Once the image is optimized, it is stored on the ShortPixel CDN servers and it can be served to your clients using the CDN traffic quota you purchased from ShortPixel. As long as there is enough CDN traffic quota available, your optimized images will be served from our CDN.

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, in 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, 1 credit will be used per every image optimized per month (and if you choose to deliver WebP/AVIF, another extra credit will be used as well).

Here's how you can use a different CDN with Autoptimize: Can I use a different CDN with Autoptimize?