OctoSqueeze vs ShortPixel
ShortPixel is one of the most popular WordPress image optimizers: install the plugin and it compresses your media library, thumbnails included.
OctoSqueeze is API-first — built for developers compressing images from their own app, build pipeline or CMS integration.
ShortPixel pricing read from shortpixel.com/pricing, ShortPixel: what a credit is on 22 September 2026. Their plans may have changed since — check before you decide.
At a glance
Prices checked 22 September 2026.
| What | OctoSqueeze | ShortPixel |
|---|---|---|
| Free each month | 500 images | 100 credits (a credit per image or thumbnail optimised by at least 5%) |
| Paid pricing | $9 / $29 / $49 per month by volume | Unlimited monthly plan from $9.99; one-time credit packs, which never expire |
| Formats | JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF (+ PDF and SVG, ICO on higher plans) | JPEG, PNG, GIF, PDF; converts to WebP and AVIF |
| Counts | Images you send | Credits, including one per generated thumbnail |
| Best fit | Apps and pipelines calling an API | WordPress sites |
Read the credit before you compare the price
- •ShortPixel spends a credit per optimised thumbnail as well as per image, and one WordPress upload commonly makes five to ten thumbnails.
- •So 100 free credits is not 100 photos on a typical WordPress install — check their plugin page for how your sizes are counted.
Their one-time packs never expire, which suits a site that optimises a library once and then adds little.
Both products make images smaller and neither published a fair head-to-head benchmark, so this page compares what you get and what it costs, not compression ratio. Run your own images through both before you commit.
Choose ShortPixel if
you run WordPress and want a mature plugin that handles every thumbnail size for you, or you want credits that never expire.
Choose OctoSqueeze if
you are building on Laravel, PHP or your own stack and want an API with per-plan limits, webhooks, and all four modern formats from one upload.
Not yet — the released integrations are the PHP client and the Laravel package. If you want images compressed inside WordPress today, ShortPixel is the more complete answer.
Yes. Some teams optimise the WordPress library with a plugin and call an API from the app that generates images outside WordPress.
Other comparisons
How OctoSqueeze sits next to the rest of the field.