A week of post images is queued in a folder, the compressor takes the first handful, and the rest sit waiting while the drop zone says no. The cause is rarely the quality setting. It is a count printed on the vendor’s page, or a size ceiling that one camera original quietly exceeds.
Two numbers decide the week, and neither is the compression ratio
This piece checks what free image compressors publish about two limits: how many images they accept per upload, and the largest single file they accept. A third number, a monthly quota, appears only on some vendor pages. Every limit below was read from the vendor’s own page on 2026-10-14, and nothing was taken from a review site. This concerns compression before upload to a site or a scheduler, not serving or CDN transformation, and it stays there.
What each vendor publishes
The table lists the figures as the pages state them. Where a page gives no figure, the cell says so instead of filling the gap. No vendor was dropped, because each page states at least one limit or states plainly that it has none.
| Vendor | Images per batch | Largest file | Monthly figure |
|---|---|---|---|
| TinyPNG (web) | Up to 20 | 5 MB each | None stated for web use |
| TinyPNG API (Tinify) | Not stated on the page | Not stated on the page | 500 free compressions each month |
| iLoveIMG | 30 (batch processing, Compress IMAGE) | 200 MB per task | Not stated in the plan table |
| compressjpeg.com | Up to 20 JPG photos | No size ceiling stated | None stated |
| imagecompressor.com | No count in visible text | No size ceiling stated | “No daily limits” |
| Imagify | No count stated | 2MB per image | 20MB and approximately 200 images per month |
| Kraken.io | No count stated | No size ceiling stated | 100 MB of testing quota on the free account |
A few notes on how to read it. TinyPNG’s web page carries the line “Up to 20 images, max 5 MB each.” and its FAQ adds that free users can convert up to 3 images to other file types. Its developer page is a separate product with a separate ceiling, 500 free compressions each month.
On the iLoveIMG pricing page the plan table has three columns headed Basic (Free), Premium and Business. The Compress IMAGE batch row reads 30, 120, 120 and the file size per task row reads 200 MB, 4 GB, 4 GB, so the first column, the free one, carries 30 and 200 MB. Note that the size is per task, which is a different thing from a per-file ceiling.
The compressjpeg.com page tells the visitor to choose up to 20 JPG photos and says all processing happens in the browser. It states a count and no size. The imagecompressor.com page says it is free with no daily limits and that processing happens in the browser. Its visible text gives no file count, although the upload control in the page source is configured with a maximum of 20 files. That figure comes from the source, not from the visible copy, and it was not exercised by an actual upload.
Imagify’s free plan card lists 20MB per month, approximately 200 images per month, and a max upload size of 2MB per image. Kraken.io’s free account lists 100 MB of testing quota, and its paid plans are metered in MB or GB of source data per month, not by image count.
A week of assets, run against the caps
The week below is an invented illustration, not data. It is not typical, not average, and not drawn from any survey or from any set of users. The assumptions are these: five social posts with four images each, plus three site images, 23 files in all. Of the 23, one is a 12 MB camera original, three are 4 MB phone photos, and the other 19 are under 2 MB. The 12 MB and 4 MB sizes are the examples compressjpeg.com itself gives on its page for a DSLR image and a smartphone photo.
The arithmetic for passes is files divided by cap, rounded up.
- TinyPNG web, cap 20: 23 / 20 = 1.15, rounded up to 2 passes. Its 5 MB ceiling rejects the 12 MB original and accepts the 4 MB phone photos.
- compressjpeg.com, cap 20: also 2 passes, and only if all 23 files are JPEGs, since the page speaks of JPG photos. It states no size ceiling.
- iLoveIMG, cap 30: 23 / 30 = 0.77, rounded up to 1 pass. The task total is 12 + (3 x 4) + 19 files under 2 MB, which is at most 62 MB, comfortably inside the stated 200 MB per task.
- Imagify, 2MB per image: the 12 MB original and the three 4 MB photos are all over the ceiling, so 4 of the 23 files do not qualify before any count is applied.
The monthly figure bites differently. Imagify’s approximately 200 images a month, divided by 23 files a week, is about 8.7 weeks of this workload, so the image count would last a month. The 20MB allowance is the tighter one. The four oversize files alone add up to 12 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 24 MB, which is more than 20MB before the other 19 files are counted. Spreading 20MB across 23 files leaves less than 0.87 MB per file. This is arithmetic on the vendor’s figures, and the page does not say whether the 20MB counts source files or output.
At Kraken.io, the 100 MB testing quota against a week of at most 62 MB of source files, on the same assumptions, covers one such week and part of a second. The page calls it a testing quota.
Count limits versus size limits: which one hurts which kind of week
A carousel-heavy week trips the count. Many small files arrive together, each well under any size ceiling, and a 20-image cap forces a second pass for the 21st file onward. A photo-heavy week trips the size. A handful of originals straight from a camera never reach the count at all, because the first one is refused by a 2 MB or 5 MB ceiling.
Browser-based tools change what a limit means. Both compressjpeg.com and imagecompressor.com state that processing happens locally in the browser, so their pages describe no upload to a server. For compressjpeg.com the 20 is a count on the page, with no stated service-side reason. For imagecompressor.com, the only count is in the page source.
A monthly quota is a different kind of ceiling from a per-batch one. TinyPNG’s API allows 500 compressions a month and Imagify allows approximately 200 images, so a one-person team can clear every batch cap in a week and still run out in the last days of the month. For a related look at limits that are not the headline number, see free file transfer plans where the real limit is the clock.
Sorting a batch before you upload it
The numbers above suggest a short routine, done before anything is dragged into a drop zone.
- Sort the folder by file size, largest first, so the files most likely to be refused are visible at the top.
- Split the remainder into passes sized to the lowest count among the tools you intend to use. With a 20-image cap in the mix, that means passes of 20 or fewer.
- Set aside any file above the lowest size ceiling in play, and route those to a tool whose page states a higher ceiling.
A file that exceeds every free ceiling on this list has two exits: resize it before compressing, or use a tool whose own page states a higher limit. No reduction in size or change in quality is promised by either route here. Counts like these also decide how far a content calendar stretches, as in stock video download caps, and the method of working a plausible load against published limits is the same one used in free project management tiers tested against a small content team.
What this check does not cover
Limits verified on the vendor pages on 2026-10-14. This is not Watchdog data and is not on the re-verification schedule, so any limit here may have changed since that date. The post does not rank the compressors, does not name a best one, and does not test output quality. Check each vendor’s current page before committing a week of assets to any of these tools.
followedapp is published by the team behind RecurPost, which is covered vendor #34 under the same rules as every other vendor.
FAQ
How many images can TinyPNG compress at once on the free plan?
The tinypng.com page, read on 2026-10-14, states “Up to 20 images, max 5 MB each.” The API is metered separately: tinify.com/developers states 500 free compressions each month.
Does a browser-based compressor have a file limit?
compressjpeg.com states up to 20 JPG photos per batch and no size ceiling, and imagecompressor.com states no daily limits and no count in its visible text, though its page source configures 20 files. Neither page states a file size ceiling, and none is inferred here.
Sources
- TinyPNG, fetched 2026-10-14
- Tinify developer API, fetched 2026-10-14
- iLoveIMG pricing, fetched 2026-10-14
- compressjpeg.com, fetched 2026-10-14
- imagecompressor.com, fetched 2026-10-14
- Imagify pricing, fetched 2026-10-14
- Kraken.io pricing, fetched 2026-10-14