Cloudflare Polish vs Cloudflare Images vs Cloudflare Zaraz — Full Comparison
Cloudflare now offers several products that touch image optimization, delivery and performance: Cloudflare Polish, Cloudflare Images, and Cloudflare Zaraz. They sound similar, but each solves a very different problem.
This 2026 comparison breaks down how they work, what they optimize, pricing differences, and which one you should use depending on your website or app.
1. What each service actually does
Cloudflare Polish
Polish is an on-the-fly image optimization layer. It automatically:
- Compresses images (lossy & lossless)
- Strips metadata
- Converts images to WebP (if supported)
- Applies smart caching
It does NOT host images — it only optimizes them when delivered through Cloudflare CDN.
Cloudflare Images
This is a full image hosting + transformation platform. It provides:
- Image storage
- Automatic resizing
- CDN delivery
- On-demand transformations
- Signed URLs and security
You upload images to Cloudflare Images — it becomes your image CDN.
Cloudflare Zaraz
Zaraz is NOT an image tool. It is a browser resource optimization and third‑party script manager. It helps reduce:
- Slow JS dependencies
- Tracking scripts
- Pixel loads
- Client-side bloat
This indirectly helps image performance because overall page weight drops.
2. Direct comparison
Feature Comparison Table
- Image hosting: Polish ❌ | Images ✅ | Zaraz ❌
- WebP / AVIF conversion: Polish ✅ | Images via variants | Zaraz ❌
- Real-time resizing: Polish ❌ | Images ✅ | Zaraz ❌
- Third-party script reduction: Zaraz ✅ (Polish/Images ❌)
- Full CDN delivery: All three provide benefits, but via different mechanisms
3. When to use Cloudflare Polish
Choose Polish if:
- You already host your images somewhere else (WordPress, Shopify, S3)
- You just want automatic compression and WebP conversion
- You want a simple toggle‑and‑forget optimization
4. When to use Cloudflare Images
Choose Cloudflare Images if you need:
- A dedicated global image CDN
- On-demand resizing via URL parameters
- Consistent image transformation rules
- Secure, tokenized delivery
5. When to use Cloudflare Zaraz
Use Zaraz when your bottleneck is:
- Third‑party tracking scripts
- Analytics libraries
- Chat widgets
- Marketing pixels
Zaraz improves overall performance, not image-specific tasks.
6. Pricing overview (2026)
- Cloudflare Polish: Part of Pro/Business plans (simple add-on)
- Cloudflare Images: Pay‑as‑you‑go storage + delivery pricing
- Zaraz: Included free with Cloudflare; advanced controls require paid tiers
7. Performance impact comparison
Polish: Reduces image weight 20–40% on average.
Images: Reduces weight AND allows perfect sizing for every device.
Zaraz: Cuts unused JS, improving TTFB, LCP & reducing main thread pressure.
Final Recommendation
- Most websites should start with Polish — easiest improvement.
- Apps, ecommerce stores, SaaS should use Cloudflare Images for scalable transformations.
- Zaraz should be added when third‑party scripts slow down your pages.
Together, these three tools can dramatically improve your site's performance.
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