Photography · head-to-head
Lorem Picsum vs Readme typing SVG
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.
Readme Typing SVG renders an animated typewriter-effect SVG from a `lines` query parameter, meant to be dropped straight into a GitHub profile README or repo as an `<img>` tag — no signup or key required. Query options control font, colors, size, typing speed, and pause duration, and a hosted demo page lets you preview and copy the generated markdown live. The service is open source (DenverCoder1 on GitHub) and runs on a Heroku-backed host behind Cloudflare.
| Lorem Picsum | Readme typing SVG | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | None | None |
| Pricing | free | free |
| Formats | JPEG, WebP, JSON | SVG |
| CORS | yes | no |
| HTTPS | Yes | Yes |
Lorem Picsum supports CORS, while Readme typing SVG doesn't — pick Lorem Picsum for direct browser calls.