Problems with Proxying Images


programming

Let’s face it. Serving images on the web sucks. You have to manage endless formats, dimensions, variants, and more. What are some of the solutions we have at the moment?

Let’s discuss some flaws that affect each of these services.

imgproxy is a self-hosted solution for proxying images. The core is open source but advanced features are paid. One major downside is that you must pay for concurrency, making it not suitable for real-time image transformations. Moreover, it can be expensive to self-host multiple image proxies, making it hard to deploy image proxies to the edge, increasing latency to your users.

imgix and ImageKit are cloud services for proxying images. Both services offer unlimited image transformations and requests. However, they limit the number of images that can be proxied. imgix limits the number of source images. ImageKit limits the total size of the source images.

Optimole is similar to previously mentioned cloud offerings, but instead of limiting the number of images that can be proxied, it limits the total monthly visits. If your website exceeds the monthly limit, you have to pay for more expensive plans that increase very steeply.

Can we do better?

Yes! Why not combine the freedom of self-hosted solutions with the ease of cloud-based solutions?

Introducing Imglabs.io

Disclaimer: I’m one of the co-founders of Imglabs.io

Imglabs.io is an image proxy service that utilizes edge computing to decrease the latency of serving images to users all around the globe.

It is written as a highly optimized serverless function that aims to pass the cost savings to users using the service.

Why Imglabs.io?

Here are some of the benefits of using Imglabs.io:

  • Feature-full: Imglabs.io supports a large number of image transformations and formats

  • Concurrency is included: Imglabs.io is designed to scale up and down effortlessly through the power of serverless computing; you’ll never have to worry about irregular request patterns or pay for reserving concurrency

  • Minimal latency: Imglabs.io’s image proxy workers run physically close to each user in +250 edge locations, decreasing the latency of proxying images

  • Engineered for performance: Imglabs.io’s image proxy workers are hosted in lightweight isolates, instead of heavyweight containers, allowing for blazingly fast cold starts and efficient resource usage in constrained compute environments

  • Global CDN: images are cached with a global CDN at no extra cost

  • DDoS protection: powered by Cloudflare, Imglabs.io and your proxied images are protected by best-in-class DDoS protection

  • Bandwidth included: whether you are serving images large or small, you’ll never be charged for extra bandwidth usage

  • Cost-effective: nothing is truly “unlimited”, but because millions of transformations and requests only cost a few dollars, it’s pretty darn cheap

  • Unlimited source images: use as many source images as you want, the number of requests is all that is counted for

Imglabs.io is now in beta, and is open to anyone who wants to try out the service! If you have any questions please direct them to [email protected].

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