Cloudinary surpasses three million users & launches creators hub
Cloudinary has announced that its platform is now used by more than three million developers worldwide for building and scaling visual-first digital experiences.
Cloudinary reported that it took nine years to reach its first million developer users, an additional three years to reach its second million, and only 15 months for the third million to join its platform. The company attributes this rapid uptick to the growing importance of visual content within the digital economy, where images and videos are significant drivers of consumer trust, engagement, and revenue.
Creators Community
To coincide with the milestone, Cloudinary is introducing initiatives intended to strengthen engagement and improve media literacy among its user base. The central feature is the Cloudinary Creators Community, which aims to foster structured learning, mentorship, and collaborative projects for developers.
This new programme has been developed in cooperation with international nonprofit educational organisations. Its stated objective is to provide opportunities for participants to acquire certifications and improve job prospects through a combination of coursework and practical training.
"With Cloudinary, Vets Who Code has been able to accelerate impactful visual work for all screens with ease."
This comment came from Jerome Hardaway, self-taught coder, founder of the nonprofit Vets Who Code, a supporter of Cloudinary and early member of the Creators Community.
Global reach and environmental impact
Cloudinary users span 198 countries, territories, and dependencies, reflecting the platform's international scale. In the past 15 months, the company recorded management of almost 80 billion visual assets and supported traffic totalling 427 petabytes of images and videos.
The company also highlighted its environmental contribution, stating that its optimisation techniques during this period resulted in an estimated saving of 570,000 tons of CO2, calculated using original and derived file sizes as a benchmark.
From single projects to enterprise
According to Cloudinary, its platform supports a spectrum of users, ranging from individual developers to large global enterprises. The tools offered are used to maximise the benefit of image and video content, whether for small-scale projects or broader business operations.
Examples include developers leveraging Cloudinary's MCP server to integrate AI agents that collect high-quality, licensed photos and deliver them directly into their Cloudinary accounts. At the enterprise level, global brands including Adidas, Fiverr, Grubhub, Mattel and Paul Smith have adopted the platform to manage and distribute billions of images and videos worldwide.
Sanjay Sarathy, Vice President of Developer Experience and Self-Serve at Cloudinary, commented on the company's recent momentum. "Today, every 35 seconds another developer starts building with Cloudinary," he said.
"This strong momentum has inspired us to find new ways to invest in our community's success. We are particularly excited about the Cloudinary Creator's Community, which we launched to help developers thrive in a tech ecosystem that is changing at an unprecedented rate."
Focus on AI and developer experience
Founded in 2012 by three developers, Cloudinary identifies a commitment to applying artificial intelligence in ways that support the developer community. Over the last 15 months, investment in tools, educational resources, and support materials has been supplemented by several AI-driven enhancements such as AI Vision, the Cloudinary MCP Server, OpenAPI specifications, and AI-ready documentation.
The company provides educational content through multiple channels, including YouTube, aimed at improving the developer experience and fostering a community of practice around visual content management and delivery.
Outlook and upcoming features
The company expects continued momentum in the coming 15 months, noting new planned features and process improvements. Cloudinary's Visual Studio Code Extension, which aims to streamline digital asset management within the developer's integrated development environment, is now in public beta.
Cloudinary also revealed plans to refine and accelerate its developer onboarding journey. These enhancements will be informed by feedback drawn from over 100,000 recent survey responses submitted by new registrants.
