Compare
Car image APIs compared
Car Image API beside IMAGIN.studio, CarsXE, CarImages API, VinAudit and Vehicle Imagery: how each charges and whether the price is public, the free tier, transparent PNG, camera views, 3D, agent tooling and the license. Every fact about another vendor links the page it came from.
The short version
Car Image API publishes a price per image: 1 credit, cached or new, and extra credits at $1 per 100 on any plan, so $0.01 an image beyond a plan's allowance. IMAGIN.studio and Vehicle Imagery quote their prices through sales; CarsXE, CarImages API and VinAudit publish theirs, as monthly plans with a quota or a price per call, and the table shows each one next to ours.
Side by side
| Feature | Car Image API | IMAGIN.studio | CarsXE | CarImages API | VinAudit | Vehicle Imagery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Plans with a monthly credit allowance; 1 credit per image, cached or new; extra credits on any plan, Free included | Quote-based subscriptions (Limited, Premium, Enterprise or custom), each with a minimum monthly commitment; every plan starts with a call to sales | Monthly plans with a quota for each API, then a price per call; images are one API beside VIN decoding, history, values and recalls | Monthly or yearly plans with a request quota; cars and motorcycles are separate libraries; every image served and every REST call counts as a request | A monthly subscription plus a price per query; one image per request | Quote-based subscriptions (Startup for early-stage companies, Basic) priced by catalog and volume |
| Public price | Pro $29 a month for 25,000 images; Business $99 a month for 150,000; extra images $0.01 each ($1 per 100 credits) | Quote-based, no public price list | Starter $49 a month ($490 a year): 1,000 image calls a month, then $0.15 each. Pro $249 a month ($2,490 a year): 15,000, then $0.10 each | Pro Cars $49 a month ($490 a year) for 25,000 requests; Business $149 a month ($1,490 a year), unlimited | $100 a month plus $0.10 a query (Self-Service) | Quote-based, no public price list |
| Free tier | 100 credits at signup, full quality, no card | No self-serve tier; a sandbox after the introduction call | Sandbox: 100 API calls once, shared by every API, no card | 5,000 requests a month, watermarked WebP | Trial: up to 100 queries | 7-day trial: 1 view, 3 manufacturers, a limited model range |
| Transparent PNG | YesPNG or WebP up to 1024 px, or on a solid background you choose | YesPremium and above; Limited is JPEG only | UnknownA filter prefers transparent photos; results are third-party photos | YesPNG on paid plans; Free is WebP on white | NoBackgrounds are white or gallery; background removal is a separate API | Yes |
| Camera views | 8: front, rear, both profiles and all four three-quarter corners, in 15 named colors or any hex | Angles: 13 on Limited, up to 45 on Premium and Enterprise, plus 360° spins | Angles: front, side or back, as a filter on the photos found; also interior and engine shots | Angles: 8 per car (front, side, rear, three-quarters and mirrored) | Poses: front, back, both sides and the four corners, in 13 named colors, up to 6000 × 4000 px | Angles: up to 11 on Basic (exterior and interior), 1 to 3 on Startup; 360° spins as an add-on |
| 3D models | GLB, USDZ and FBX of any catalog vehicle in any color, 100 credits per vehicle and color, charged once | 360° spins; no 3D model files listed | None | GLB models of car generations, included in paid car plans | None | 360° spins (API v2 add-on); no 3D model files listed |
| MCP and SDK | Remote and local MCP servers, a TypeScript SDK, a CLI and OpenAPI 3.1 | An MCP server that searches its documentation; images are CDN URLs with a customer key | A hosted MCP server; SDKs for Node.js, Python, PHP, Ruby, Go, Java, Swift and C#; a CLI | A JS loader and REST with signed URLs; its docs name no MCP server or SDK | REST returning JSON, XML or HTML; no MCP server or SDK on the pages read | An MCP server, a TypeScript SDK on npm and an OpenAPI spec |
| License | Commercial on a paid plan while it is active; keep copies on your own servers or CDN | A micro use license per requested image, served from its CDN; no server-side caching unless the agreement allows it | Not granted for the photos: they come from public sources, each linked; a filter reads each source's usage-rights labels | For the life of an active subscription, inside your own applications; cached copies go when it ends | Set by its platform terms and your order form | For the life of a paid subscription, in your own products; caching on your own infrastructure allowed |
| Checked on | Live: the figures /pricing shows | against imaginstudio.com/plans | against carsxe.com/pricing | against carimagesapi.com/pricing | against data.vinaudit.com/vehicle-images-api | against vehicleimagery.com/pricing |
Other vendors' facts as their public pages stated them on October 1, 2026; the last row links each source. Prices and plans change: tell support@carimage.dev if one has, and we will correct this page. Car Image API is not affiliated with any company named here.
One at a time
VinAudit and Vehicle Imagery appear in the table above only.
How this page is written
- Names only
- Each vendor is named in plain text to say which product a fact is about. No logos, marks or images of theirs, and no suggestion that they endorse or are affiliated with Car Image API.
- Sourced and dated
- Every fact about another vendor comes from its public pages, linked in the table with the date we read them. We did not sign up, submit forms or test their output.
- No verdicts on others
- Nothing here rates another vendor's image quality, uptime or customers.
- Credit where due
- Where another vendor is ahead, the table and its page say so.
Frequently asked questions
- Which car image APIs publish their prices?
- Car Image API, CarsXE, CarImages API and VinAudit publish prices on their sites. IMAGIN.studio and Vehicle Imagery quote a price through sales. The table shows each price as published, with the page it came from and the date we read it.
- What does an image cost on Car Image API?
- 1 credit per image, cached or freshly rendered. Pro is $29 a month for 25,000 images and Business $99 a month for 150,000; beyond that, and on the Free plan, credits cost $1 per 100, which is $0.01 an image. Every account starts with 100 free credits.
- Is Car Image API the same as CarImages API?
- No. Car Image API (carimage.dev) is made by Meter. CarImages API (carimagesapi.com) is a different company with a similar name, and the two are not affiliated.
- How were the other vendors' facts collected?
- From each vendor's public pricing, product, documentation and terms pages, read on October 1, 2026 and linked from the table. We did not sign up, submit forms or test their images, and this page makes no claim about their quality, uptime or customers. If a fact has changed, write to support@carimage.dev and we will correct it.
- Which one should I pick?
- If a published price, self-serve access, a license that lets you keep copies on your own CDN, 3D files or agent tooling matter most, start with the free credits here. If you need many camera angles, 360° spins or very large images and buy through sales, look at IMAGIN.studio; for real photographs next to VIN, history and market-value data, CarsXE; for a script-tag loader with 3D models inside the plan price, CarImages API.
See the price before you talk to anyone
Every plan and credit pack is on the pricing page, and 100 free credits let you render your own vehicles first.