How we picked these tools
We focused on tools that actually compress PNGs well — measuring file savings against visible quality loss — and then weighed privacy, price, batch limits, and whether each one suits a quick one-off, a big folder, or an automated pipeline. Some links to third-party products are affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you sign up — at no extra cost to you. See our affiliate disclosure for the details. It never changes which tools we recommend or the order they appear in.
1. PNGifier Compress PNG — best free, private, unlimited
Our own Compress PNG tool is the most direct answer to TinyPNG's limits. It runs entirely inside your browser using the canvas and the UPNG codec, so your image is never uploaded — there is no 20-image cap, no 5MB ceiling, no signup, and no monthly credits to ration. You get both lossy and lossless modes: the lossy slider applies palette quantization (the same family of technique behind TinyPNG's smart lossy), while lossless mode strips overhead without touching a single pixel.
The honest trade-off is that it is a browser tool, not a server farm. For everyday compression — screenshots, exports, web assets, a folder of images you drop in at once — it is fast and excellent. It is not built to be a headless bulk pipeline crunching tens of thousands of files unattended; for that, the command-line tools below are a better fit. If you want to understand what is happening under the hood, our guide to how PNG compression works walks through it.
2. Squoosh — best open-source visual compressor
Squoosh is Google's free, open-source image compressor, and like PNGifier it does everything in the browser with no upload. Its standout feature is the side-by-side preview with a draggable divider, so you can dial in exactly how much quality you are willing to trade before downloading. Under the hood it ships OxiPNG for lossless PNG optimization, MozJPEG for JPG, and can even re-encode to WebP or AVIF for far bigger savings.
Where it lags TinyPNG is dedicated lossy palette reduction — its PNG path leans lossless, so for aggressive lossy PNG shrinking you may prefer a quantizing tool. There is also no batch mode: it handles one image at a time. For carefully tuning a single hero image, though, it is hard to beat.
3. pngquant & ImageMagick — best for batch and automation
If you need to compress entire folders or wire compression into a build, the command line wins. pngquant is the free, open-source library that performs lossy palette quantization — reducing a 24-bit PNG to an optimised indexed palette with dithering. It is, in effect, the same engine that powers TinyPNG's lossy mode, so you get comparable results with no limits, no uploads, and no cost. A single command compresses a whole directory.
ImageMagick is the broader Swiss-army knife: it can quantize colours, strip metadata, resize, and convert formats across thousands of files in one pass, and it scripts cleanly into CI or cron jobs. The catch for both is the learning curve — there is no friendly interface, and you will spend time getting flags right. If you process PNGs at volume, that investment pays off quickly. Our guide to reducing PNG file size covers the trade-offs in plain terms.
4. ShortPixel — best hosted alternative with an API
ShortPixel is the closest like-for-like alternative to TinyPNG's paid offering. It is an online optimizer with a developer API and a popular WordPress plugin, supporting lossy, glossy, and lossless modes plus optional WebP and AVIF delivery. The free tier gives you a monthly allotment of image credits to start, after which you move to a paid plan — but those credits and the per-image pricing tend to stretch further than TinyPNG's for many sites.
Like TinyPNG, it is upload-based, so it is best for non-sensitive web assets rather than private files. If you run a content site and want compression baked into your media library or your CDN, it is a genuinely strong pick.
5. Compressor.io & Optimizilla — simplest online tools
Compressor.io and Optimizilla are the no-fuss web compressors. Drop a file in, get a smaller one back. Optimizilla in particular offers a small batch queue (up to around 20 images) with a per-image quality slider and a preview, which mirrors what a lot of people use TinyPNG for in the first place. Both are free for casual use.
The catch is the same one that sends people looking for TinyPNG alternatives: they cap batch size and file size, and every image is uploaded for processing. For a quick one-off they are perfectly fine; for volume or privacy, the browser-based and command-line options above serve you better.
How to choose a TinyPNG alternative
Start with privacy: if the images are confidential, pick a tool that compresses on your device — PNGifier or Squoosh — so nothing is ever uploaded. Next, think about volume. A handful of images at a time suits any in-browser tool; thousands of files or an automated build call for pngquant or ImageMagick. Then consider whether you need an API or a CMS plugin — that is where ShortPixel earns its keep. Finally, decide between lossy and lossless: lossy palette reduction (TinyPNG's speciality) gives the biggest savings on flat graphics and UI exports, while lossless is the safe choice when every pixel must stay exact. For most people, a free in-browser tool with no limits covers the job.
Why a browser-based compressor
The single biggest frustration with TinyPNG — the upload — disappears entirely with a tool that runs in your browser. Modern browsers can quantize palettes and re-encode PNGs locally, which means your file never travels across the internet, there is no batch cap to count against, no account, and no monthly credits. It is faster for everyday jobs and far safer for anything you would rather not hand to a third party. That is exactly why we built PNGifier's Compress PNG this way — and if you also need to convert a PNG to JPG or to WebP for even smaller files, those run in the browser too. Browse every tool to see the full set.
Frequently asked questions
- Why look for a TinyPNG alternative?
- TinyPNG's free web app is limited to 20 images per batch and 5MB per file, and every image is uploaded to its servers for processing. The developer API and Pro features are paid. If you compress more than a handful of images, need to keep files private, or want to avoid a monthly bill, an alternative often fits better.
- Is there a TinyPNG alternative that keeps my files private?
- Yes. Browser-based tools like PNGifier's Compress PNG and Google's Squoosh do all the compression on your own device using the canvas and WebAssembly codecs, so the image is never uploaded. For sensitive screenshots, client work, or anything confidential, that is a meaningful difference from upload-based services like TinyPNG.
- Do any free alternatives match TinyPNG's lossy quality?
- They get very close. TinyPNG's smart lossy compression is essentially palette quantization plus dithering — the same technique the open-source pngquant library uses. PNGifier and Squoosh expose similar quality controls, and pngquant itself is the engine behind many of these tools, so the underlying results are comparable.
- What is the best alternative for compressing thousands of PNGs?
- For bulk and automation, command-line tools like pngquant and ImageMagick are the strongest choice because they run over entire folders, plug into build scripts, and have no per-batch limit. If you want a hosted pipeline with an API, ShortPixel is a paid alternative to TinyPNG's API with monthly credits.