How to Replace Cloudinary with AuraImage in 10 Minutes

If you are on Cloudinary and tired of the dashboard, the pricing model, or the enterprise-weight SDK — here is the fastest way out.

Before you start

You need:

• An AuraImage account and a project (create one at auraimage.com)
• The AuraImage CLI: npm install -g aura
• Your project's Secret Key (run aura keys create --project <name>)

Step 1 — Replace serve URLs

Cloudinary serve URLs look like this:

https://res.cloudinary.com/demo/image/upload/w_800,h_600,c_fill/avatar.jpg

AuraImage serve URLs look like this:

https://imagedelivery.net/<project>/avatar.jpg?w=800&h=600&fit=cover

The transformation syntax maps nearly one-to-one:

No f_auto or q_auto needed — AuraImage auto-selects the best format and quality per browser.

Step 2 — Replace the upload flow

Cloudinary requires a signature server-side. AuraImage works the same way but with a smaller API surface.

// Before (Cloudinary)
const signature = cloudinary.utils.sign_request(params, { api_secret });

// After (AuraImage)
import { createUploadToken } from '@auraimage/sdk/server';
const token = await createUploadToken({ projectName: 'my-app' });

The client upload is identical in shape — pass the file and the signed token.

Step 3 — Replace the React component

Cloudinary gives you <AdvancedImage>. AuraImage gives you <AuraImage>.

// Before
<AdvancedImage cldImg={image} />

// After
<AuraImage src={img.mdUrl} alt='' width={800} height={600} fit='cover' />

The mdUrl comes from the upload response. It is the signed serve URL with transform parameters baked in.

Step 4 — Remove the Cloudinary dependency

npm uninstall @cloudinary/url-gen @cloudinary/react
npm install @auraimage/sdk

That is it. Four steps, ten minutes. The hardest part is remembering to cancel your Cloudinary subscription.

Next: How AuraImage's edge CDN works under the hood.