CloudConvert Conversion Minutes: The Real Limit

CloudConvert's free tier is 10 conversion credits per day, resetting daily — not "10 conversion minutes", which is how most third-party write-ups describe it. The distinction matters: a credit is roughly one minute of conversion time plus a base cost per conversion type, and a "General" conversion has a base of 1 credit. So ten credits is about ten minutes of processing at best, and noticeably less for expensive conversion types. All of this is as of September 2026; check CloudConvert's pricing page for the current figures before you plan around them.

If the job is one that fits on a phone, Convertlix removes the metering question by removing the upload: it is an Android app (8.0 or later) that converts on the handset, opening the file through Android's own picker so no copy is sent anywhere and there is no retention window to reason about. Sign-in is required once, with no guest mode; after that the tools run with the network off. Free files are capped at 25 MB (50 MB audio and ZIP, 100 MB video), batches at 5 items, and the monthly conversion count is a server-set allowance shown in the app. That is a smaller size ceiling than CloudConvert's, and the trade is deliberate — more on that below.

Credits, not minutes: how the free tier is actually metered

You are not miscounting. Two people can run what looks like the same number of conversions and hit the daily wall at different points, because the unit is not the file and it is not quite the minute either.

As documented on CloudConvert's pricing page (September 2026), a conversion consumes credits made up of two parts: a base cost tied to the conversion type, and then roughly one credit per minute of conversion time. A General conversion carries a base of 1 credit. So a fast, cheap conversion still costs you something before any processing time is counted, and a conversion type with a higher base eats the daily 10 faster than the clock alone would suggest.

The practical consequences:

• Ten short jobs may finish your day. If each one carries a base credit, you're at the ceiling on base cost alone with no processing time to speak of.
• One long job can also finish it. Ten minutes of processing time is ten credits before the base is added.
• The reset is daily, not monthly. A wall you hit at 4pm clears; you don't lose the rest of the month.

The other free caps, as of September 2026

The daily credit count is the one people search for, but it is not the last ceiling on the free tier.

Two of those rows are worth reading carefully rather than skimming. The 5 minute max processing time is a separate wall from the credits: a conversion that would take longer is cut off regardless of how many credits you have left. And Low processing priority means your job queues behind paying customers at busy times, which is wall-clock time you wait rather than credits you spend.

What CloudConvert does better, plainly

A page that only lists a competitor's limits is an advert. So, the parts where CloudConvert straightforwardly wins:

• The free file ceiling is 1 GB. That is far above any free tier a phone app offers, including Convertlix's 25 MB. If your file is 400 MB, this comparison is over and CloudConvert is your answer.
• Around 200 formats, including whole families an on-device Android app will never touch — CAD, ebook formats, obscure and legacy video codecs. Breadth of format support is a genuine reason to use a server.
• A real API, plus Zapier and cloud-storage integrations. Conversion as a step in an automated pipeline is something a phone app cannot be.
• Server-grade CPU. For a large job, a data-centre machine beats a handset on encode time. It still has to receive the file first, which on a phone connection is often the longer half — but on a fast desktop connection with a big file, the server wins outright.
• An explicit manual delete button. Their privacy page describes files being deleted immediately and irreversibly when you press it. That is a genuinely good privacy affordance, and better than services that only offer a timer. It deserves credit.

What their retention policy actually says

As of September 2026, CloudConvert's privacy page describes: files deleted immediately and irreversibly via a manual delete button, and automatic deletion "at the latest after 24 hours". The policy does not separate input files from output files, so the honest reading is 24 hours as the ceiling for both. Separately, logs — IP address, user agent, referrer — are deleted after 180 days, and account data is purged within 72 hours if you delete your account.

Those are reasonable numbers, and stating them is not a criticism. The architectural point is narrower, and it is the one worth making: a retention policy exists because a file was received. The reason Convertlix has no equivalent clause is not a stricter policy, it is that there is nothing to write one about — the conversion runs on the phone and no copy is created on a server. A file tool you can trust never receives the file. That's a mechanism you can check in thirty seconds with airplane mode, not a promise about deletion schedules.

Which one you want depends entirely on the file. For a 700 MB video in an unusual codec, a 24-hour retention window is a sensible price. For a payslip, a passport scan or a signed contract, the calculation is different, and the same reasoning runs through Merge PDFs Without Uploading Them Anywhere.

How to work inside CloudConvert's free daily credits

1. Check the size and the format first. Under 1 GB and in one of their supported formats, you're inside the structural limits; the credits are the only thing left to manage.
2. Estimate the processing time before you start. Roughly a credit a minute plus the base cost for the conversion type means a job you expect to take four minutes will cost about five credits — half your day.
3. Do the important job first. Priority is Low on free, so at busy times your job waits. Front-load the conversion you actually need rather than testing with throwaways.
4. Watch the 5-minute processing ceiling separately. A long video may be cut off by that wall while you still have credits in hand. Trim or split the source first.
5. Press the delete button when the download finishes. Their policy says a manual delete is immediate and irreversible, rather than waiting for the 24-hour automatic sweep. It takes one click and it is the strongest privacy control they offer.
6. If the file is phone-sized, do it on the phone instead. Under 25 MB — or 100 MB for video — there is no credit to spend and no upload to wait through. Open the file in Convertlix through Android's picker and the conversion happens locally.

When a phone is the wrong answer

Being fair about this is the point of the page:

• Files over 100 MB of video, or 25 MB of anything else. That is the free Convertlix ceiling, and Premium's 2 GB — from $9.99/mo or $99.99/yr (USD base; local price shown at checkout) — is a paid step, whereas CloudConvert's 1 GB is free.
• Formats a phone toolkit doesn't cover. CAD, ebooks, legacy video containers, and anything outside the 24 tools Convertlix ships. A converter that doesn't support your format is not a converter.
• PDF to Word. Convertlix has no such tool. Its Document Converter goes into PDF, DOCX or TXT, and OCR pulls text out of scans; neither rebuilds an editable layout from a finished PDF.
• Automation. If the conversion needs to happen without a human holding a phone, you want an API.
• You're on a desktop and don't own an Android phone. Convertlix is Android only. For local desktop conversion, HandBrake for video and LibreOffice for documents are both free and both keep the file on your machine.

FAQ

Is CloudConvert's free tier 10 minutes or 10 credits a day?

Ten conversion credits per day, with a daily reset, as of September 2026. Credits are roughly one per minute of conversion time plus a base cost per conversion type, and a General conversion has a base of 1 credit — so ten credits is about ten minutes of processing at minimum and less for expensive conversion types. Sources describing it as "10 minutes" are approximating one half of the formula.

What is CloudConvert's free file size limit?

1 GB per file as of September 2026, alongside a 5-minute maximum processing time, 5 concurrent tasks, and Low processing priority. The 1 GB ceiling is generous and well above what phone-based free tiers offer. Check their pricing page for the current numbers, since free-tier limits move.

How long does CloudConvert keep my files?

Their privacy page, as of September 2026, describes files being deleted immediately and irreversibly when you use the manual delete button, and automatically "at the latest after 24 hours" otherwise. The policy does not distinguish inputs from outputs, so treat 24 hours as the ceiling for both. Logs such as IP address and user agent are kept for 180 days, and account data is purged within 72 hours of account deletion.

Does Convertlix upload my file?

No. The file is opened through Android's own file picker or photo picker, converted on the phone, and written back to storage, so no copy is sent anywhere and there is no retention window at all. Its network calls carry identity, licence, quota, configuration and payment data only, and the app asks for no storage permission. Sign in once, turn on airplane mode, and the conversion still completes — that is the test.

Is a phone slower than CloudConvert's servers?

For anything up to a few hundred megabytes it is often faster overall, because the file never makes two trips across your connection and there is no Low-priority queue. For a genuinely large file a data-centre CPU wins on encode time, and on a fast fixed connection that advantage survives the upload. The crossover depends far more on your connection than on the phone.

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If your file is under 25 MB — or a video under 100 MB — the daily credit arithmetic stops being something you need to do at all; Extract the Audio From a Video on Android is the same job with no upload in it.