TinyPNG (and its sibling TinyJPG) is the tool every web developer knows: drag PNGs onto the panda, get files 60–80% smaller with no visible quality loss. Its smart lossy compression genuinely popularized the idea that images ship too heavy.
The free web tier caps you at 20 images per batch and 5 MB per file, the Pro tier is a yearly subscription with a 75 MB cap, and the API bills per image after the free 500. If you compress images in real volume — product catalogs, photo exports, client sites — the meter adds up fast. Shrinkray moves the whole job onto your own CPU for $19, once.
What TinyPNG does well
TinyPNG remains excellent at what made it famous:
- Outstanding PNG palette compression — its lossy PNG results are still reference-class.
- Dead-simple web interface anyone on a team can use.
- A rock-solid API with official plugins (Photoshop, WordPress, build tools).
- WebP and AVIF output on modern plans.
For a CI pipeline that compresses a handful of images per deploy, TinyPNG's free API tier is honestly all you need.
Where the subscription model hurts
The caps are the product. 20 images per batch on the free web tier means a 300-image shoot takes 15 tedious rounds. Web Pro removes some limits but is a recurring yearly fee; the API is free for 500 images/month, then roughly $0.009 per image — a 10,000-image catalog run costs ~$85, every time you run it. You never stop paying because you never own anything.
And every image uploads to their servers. For public web assets, who cares. For client photography, unreleased products or personal libraries, that is an upload decision being made by default. There is also the simple friction: uploading gigabytes to compress them, then downloading them again, when your own machine has a perfectly good CPU sitting idle.
Shrinkray: the pay-once alternative
Shrinkray is a $19, one-time purchase. Unlimited local batch image compression & conversion. Shrinkray is powered by sharp/libvips with mozjpeg-grade encoders — drag in JPG, PNG, WebP, AVIF or TIFF, set a 1–100 quality slider, optionally convert formats and cap the longest edge, and watch a live savings dashboard. Originals are never touched.
The source code is MIT-licensed at github.com/bensblueprints/image-compressor — free to build and run yourself, forever. Buying the packaged version on Whop gets you the signed installer, 1-click setup and updates. Either way, there is no account, no telemetry and no renewal date.
Head to head
| Shrinkray | TinyPNG | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19 once | Yearly sub + $0.009/image API |
| Cost over 3 years | $19 | Grows with volume |
| Where your data lives | Your machine / your server | Every image uploaded |
| Usage limits | None — unlimited use | 20 images/batch, 5 MB/file free; 75 MB cap |
| Works offline | Yes | No |
| Source code | MIT, on GitHub | Closed |
Who should stay with TinyPNG
Stay with TinyPNG if your volume is genuinely small (under 500 images/month, the API free tier), if you need compression inside a hosted build pipeline where no desktop exists, or if its specific PNG palette magic is measurably beating alternatives on your assets.
Switch if you batch: shoots, catalogs, exports, client sites. Local compression with no caps changes the workflow — you drop a thousand files and go get coffee.
Making the switch
Step 1 — Buy once on Whop. One-time $19 — the cheapest app in the suite, and probably the one you'll use most.
Step 2 — Install in one click. Signed Windows installer. sharp ships prebuilt — nothing to compile, nothing to configure.
Step 3 — Drop a folder, export. Set quality and format once; settings persist. Watch the savings counter climb.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/image-compressor. $19 gets you the signed installer, 1-click setup and updates.
Is the compression as good as TinyPNG?
It uses sharp/libvips with mozjpeg-grade encoders — the same engines behind most professional pipelines. At equal quality settings, results are comparable; you also get AVIF, which typically beats PNG/JPG sizes outright.
Will it overwrite my originals?
Never. Output goes to a folder you choose, or next to originals with a _compressed suffix.
The bottom line
Subscriptions make sense when a service does ongoing work for you — hosting, syncing, multi-region infrastructure, human labor. They make much less sense when the work happens on your own hardware and the monthly bill is just a toll booth. Shrinkray is our bet that for this job, most people are better served owning the tool: $19 once, pay for a few months of any subscription compressor and you've already spent more than Shrinkray costs — and you still won't own anything.
Shrinkray is part of OneTimeSuite — 56 desktop and self-hosted apps built on the same principle: your hardware does the work, so you should not pay rent on it. Every app is a one-time purchase with MIT-licensed source on GitHub, no accounts and no telemetry. Want everything at once? OneTimeSuite Complete bundles the whole suite for a single flat $997.
Try Shrinkray — $19, one time
Signed installer on Whop, or build it free from the MIT source. Your call.
Related comparisons: Kraken.io alternative — or browse the whole pay-once suite.