Yes, Kraken.io has a permanent free tier alongside its paid plans. The free plan includes 100 MB of testing quota for the free account and free API sandbox access with 100 MB of free quota for real optimizations. FreeTier.co estimates the free tier at about $1.00/mo, and no credit card is required to sign up.

About

Kraken.io is an image optimization and compression service that processes JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, SVG, AVIF, HEIC, and PDF files through a web interface and API. It supports lossy, lossless, and expert optimization modes, plus resizing, cropping, and format conversion.

The service includes a free account with 100 MB of testing quota and no credit card requirement. Paid plans add monthly image quotas, with the free allowance shared across the API, web interface, WordPress plugin, and Magento extension.

  • 100 MB testing quota
  • Shared quota across API and web tools
  • Lossy, lossless, and expert modes
  • Image resizing and cropping
  • WordPress and Magento plugins
  • Cloud storage integration
  • Supported JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, SVG, AVIF, HEIC, PDF

Free Tier Value

50
FTV score
Est. value$1.00 / month
Credit cardNot required
Feature parity95%

This free tier gives a small but real monthly allowance: 100 MB of testing quota and API sandbox access, with no credit card required. Compared with the cheapest paid Micro plan at $5/month for 500 MB, the free account provides about 20% of that starter capacity, so its practical value is roughly $1/month.

What's included in the free tier

Verified

  • 100 MB of testing quota for the free account.
  • Free API sandbox access with 100 MB of free quota for real optimizations.
  • No credit card required to sign up for the free account.

Paid plans

Micro

$5 / mo
images per month
500 MB
additional GB
$5 per additional GB
  • Full API Access
  • Web Interface PRO
  • WordPress Plugin
  • Magento Extension
  • Kraken.io Cloud Storage

Basic

$9 / mo
images per month
2 GB
additional GB
$4 per additional GB
  • Full API Access
  • Web Interface PRO
  • WordPress Plugin
  • Magento Extension
  • Kraken.io Cloud Storage

Advanced

$19 / mo
images per month
5 GB
additional GB
$3 per additional GB
  • Full API Access
  • Web Interface PRO
  • WordPress Plugin
  • Magento Extension
  • Kraken.io Cloud Storage

Premium

$39 / mo
images per month
15 GB
additional GB
$2 per additional GB
  • Full API Access
  • Web Interface PRO
  • WordPress Plugin
  • Magento Extension
  • Kraken.io Cloud Storage

Enterprise

$79 / mo
images per month
60 GB
additional GB
$1 per additional GB
  • Full API Access
  • Web Interface PRO
  • WordPress Plugin
  • Magento Extension
  • Kraken.io Cloud Storage

Pricing extracted from Kraken.io's pricing page. Always verify current pricing before committing.

Common questions

Is Kraken.io free forever?

Yes. Kraken.io has a permanent free tier alongside its paid plans, though the allowance typically resets each month.

Does Kraken.io require a credit card?

No. You can start on Kraken.io's free tier without entering card details.

What happens when you exceed Kraken.io's free tier?

You move to a paid plan. Kraken.io's cheapest paid plan is Micro at $5 / month.

What is Kraken.io's free tier worth?

Kraken.io's free tier is worth about $1.00 per month. That maps to an FTV score of 50/100. The FTV score is explained at freetier.co/ftv.