Is there an open-source alternative to Cloudinary for Rails?

Yes — Active Storage Dashboard. It mounts into an application you already run, so there is no second deployment and no second database.

How do I replace Cloudinary in a Rails app?

Add active_storage_dashboard to your Gemfile, mount it in config/routes.rb at /active-storage-dashboard, and run its migrations. The whole integration is two lines and a migration.

How much does replacing Cloudinary save?

Cloudinary is priced free tier, paid from $89/mo. The engines here are open source, so the cost becomes the time to mount one and the resources it uses inside your existing application.

Replace Cloudinary

Uploads, derivatives and a browsable media library — the last of which is often the only part a team actually opens.

Cloudinary website Free tier, paid from $89/mo Admin and internal tools

Why teams move off Cloudinary

Cloudinary is three products in one bill — storage, transformation and a media library. Active Storage already does the first two.

What you give up

The CDN and the transformation pipeline. Only the media library is replaced.

This directory says so when an engine only covers part of the job. A replacement that needs a caveat is still worth knowing about — it just should not surprise you in week three.

Drop-in replacement

Cloudinary → active_storage_dashboard

# Gemfile
gem "active_storage_dashboard"

# config/routes.rb
mount ActiveStorageDashboard::Engine, at: "/active-storage-dashboard"

Read about Active Storage Dashboard →

1 Rails engine that replaces Cloudinary

Active Storage Dashboard
Covers the core of Admin and internal tools

The media-library half — browsing what you have stored, with metadata and relationships. Not the CDN or the transformation pipeline.

Cloudinary → active_storage_dashboard

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Questions

Is there an open-source alternative to Cloudinary for Rails?: Yes — Active Storage Dashboard. It mounts into an application you already run, so there is no second deployment and no second database.
What do I give up by replacing Cloudinary?: The CDN and the transformation pipeline. Only the media library is replaced.
How do I replace Cloudinary in a Rails app?: Add active_storage_dashboard to your Gemfile, mount it in config/routes.rb at /active-storage-dashboard, and run its migrations. The whole integration is two lines and a migration.
How much does replacing Cloudinary save?: Cloudinary is priced free tier, paid from $89/mo. The engines here are open source, so the cost becomes the time to mount one and the resources it uses inside your existing application.

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