Lorem Picsum vs PlaceKeanu

Lorem Picsum serves placeholder photos by encoding the size, and optionally a specific image ID or a seed, directly into the request URL — no signup or key required. Every photo comes from Unsplash's library, and query parameters can request a grayscale or blurred variant, a JPEG or WebP file extension, or a random cache-busting suffix for multiple images at one size. A companion /v2/list JSON endpoint returns the full photo catalog with author and dimension metadata for browsing before you hotlink.

PlaceKeanu generates novelty placeholder images of Keanu Reeves sized entirely from the request path (/[width]/[height]/[options]), with no signup or API key needed. Each photo is served as an inline base64-encoded SVG and cached client-side for a day, so repeat requests at the same dimensions return the same image rather than a fresh random one. Optional y and g path suffixes request a younger-Keanu or grayscale variant.