Bunny Stream vs Cloudflare Stream
Updated November 2026 · AppBreakup editorial
Bunny Stream
Low-cost video hosting and streaming from bunny.net with free encoding and a built-in player.
Cloudflare Stream
Cloudflare's video API for uploading, encoding and streaming on-demand and live video.
The short answer
Bunny Stream and Cloudflare Stream are both low-cost video hosting APIs with free encoding and an embeddable player. Bunny Stream bills by gigabytes stored and delivered, which is very cheap for large libraries; Cloudflare Stream bills by minutes stored and watched and adds live streaming. Pick Bunny for the lowest bill on heavy on-demand video; pick Cloudflare for predictable per-minute pricing and live video.
Bunny Stream or Cloudflare Stream: our take
Both services take an upload, encode it into multiple resolutions at no extra charge, and serve it over a global network with a player you can embed. The main difference is how they bill. Bunny Stream charges for storage and CDN traffic by the gigabyte, from $0.01/GB for storage and from $0.005/GB for delivery, with a $1 monthly minimum. Cloudflare Stream charges for minutes of video: $5 per 1,000 minutes stored each month, bought in prepaid blocks, and $1 per 1,000 minutes delivered, with ingest, encoding and bandwidth included. Per-gigabyte billing rewards efficient files but needs estimating up front; per-minute billing is easier to forecast regardless of resolution or bitrate.
Feature sets lean in different directions. Cloudflare Stream handles live video in the same API, taking RTMP or SRT feeds, encoding them to HLS and DASH and optionally recording them for later playback at the same rates as uploads. Bunny Stream focuses on on-demand video and adds Media Cage token-protected playback, enterprise multi-DRM, premium encoding and AI captioning. Neither offers the depth of playback analytics and quality metrics found in Mux.
Bunny Stream has a 14-day free trial with no credit card needed but no permanent free plan. Cloudflare Stream suits teams already using Cloudflare for DNS, CDN or Workers, since it slots into the same account and network.
Course creators, small SaaS products and sites hosting a large library of on-demand video on a tight budget will usually pay less on Bunny Stream, and gain DRM options if they need them. Developers who want live and on-demand in one API, or who prefer a bill tied to minutes rather than bandwidth, should look at Cloudflare Stream.
Which should you pick?
Choose Bunny Stream if…
- Budget-conscious sites and course platforms hosting lots of video
- No transcoding fees and a free player
- Low per-GB storage and CDN prices
Choose Cloudflare Stream if…
- Developers who want predictable per-minute video hosting and already use Cloudflare.
- Encoding and bandwidth included in per-minute pricing
- Live (RTMP/SRT) and on-demand video in one API
About each app
What is Bunny Stream?
Bunny Stream is the video hosting product from CDN provider bunny.net. You upload videos through the API or a web video manager, and it transcodes them into multiple resolutions, replicates them to storage regions and serves them over bunny.net's global CDN, with a customisable embeddable player. Extras include Media Cage for token-protected playback, enterprise multi-DRM, premium encoding and AI captioning. The main draw is price: encoding and the player cost nothing, and you pay mainly for storage and CDN traffic at rates well below the big cloud providers, with a very small monthly minimum. That makes it popular with course creators, small SaaS products and websites that host a lot of video on a budget. The developer API is simpler than Mux's, with fewer analytics and AI workflows. It is a cloud service with a free trial and no credit card needed to start.
What is Cloudflare Stream?
Cloudflare Stream is a video platform API from Cloudflare. You upload files through the API or direct creator uploads, or send a live feed over RTMP or SRT, and Stream encodes it into adaptive bitrate HLS and DASH and delivers it over Cloudflare's network, with an embeddable player or your own. Pricing has two parts only: minutes of video stored, bought in prepaid blocks, and minutes of video delivered, billed by usage. Encoding, ingest and bandwidth are not charged separately, which makes costs easy to forecast compared with per-gigabyte or per-encode models. Live broadcasts can be recorded and are billed the same way as uploads. It suits developers already on Cloudflare who want straightforward video hosting. It offers fewer playback analytics and quality metrics, and less control over encoding, than Mux.
Side by side
| Attribute | Bunny Stream | Cloudflare Stream |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Open source | No | No |
| Self-hostable | No | No |
| Platforms | Web | Web |
| Best for | Budget-conscious sites and course platforms hosting lots of video | Developers who want predictable per-minute video hosting and already use Cloudflare. |
| Status | Active | Active |
Verified facts, compared
Facts both apps publish, checked on each vendor's own site.
| Fact | Bunny Stream | Cloudflare Stream |
|---|---|---|
| Encoding | Free | Free |
| Storage price | From $0.01/GB | $5 per 1,000 minutes/month |
Bunny Stream vs Cloudflare Stream pricing
Bunny Stream: paid
- Free trial: 14 days source
- Starting price: $1 monthly minimum, usage-based source
- Storage price: From $0.01/GB source
Cloudflare Stream: paid
Cloudflare Stream pricing pagePlatforms
| Platform | Bunny Stream | Cloudflare Stream |
|---|---|---|
| Web |
Bunny Stream facts
6 of 6 verified- Transcoding
- Multiple resolutions
- Checked Nov 8, 2026bunny.net(opens source in a new tab)
- “Transcode Your videos are transcoded into multiple resolutions.”
- Starting price
- $1 monthly minimum, usage-based
- Checked Nov 8, 2026bunny.net(opens source in a new tab)
- “as little as $1 per month.”
- Storage price
- From $0.01/GB
- Checked Nov 8, 2026bunny.net(opens source in a new tab)
- “Storage From $0.01/GB”
- CDN delivery
- From $0.005/GB
- Checked Nov 8, 2026bunny.net(opens source in a new tab)
- “CDN From $0.005/GB”
Cloudflare Stream facts
4 of 4 verified- Storage price
- $5 per 1,000 minutes/month
- Checked Nov 8, 2026developers.cloudflare.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “$5 per month for each 1,000 minutes of video storage capacity.”
- Delivery price
- $1 per 1,000 minutes
- Checked Nov 8, 2026developers.cloudflare.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “$1 per 1,000 minutes delivered.”
- Encoding
- Free
- Checked Nov 8, 2026developers.cloudflare.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “Ingress (sending your content to us) and encoding are always free.”
- Live ingest
- RTMP and SRT
- Checked Nov 8, 2026cloudflare.com(opens source in a new tab)
- “With RTMP/SRT ingest for live streaming”
Pros and cons of Bunny Stream
- No transcoding fees and a free player
- Low per-GB storage and CDN prices
- Token protection and DRM options
- No permanent free plan, only a trial
- Fewer analytics and AI features than Mux
- Billing by bandwidth and storage needs estimating up front
Pros and cons of Cloudflare Stream
- Encoding and bandwidth included in per-minute pricing
- Live (RTMP/SRT) and on-demand video in one API
- Delivered over Cloudflare's global network
- Fewer playback analytics and quality metrics than Mux
- Storage is prepaid in blocks of minutes
Other apps to consider
MuxInstead of Bunny Stream
Richer developer API with playback analytics and AI jobs, at higher per-minute prices.
CloudinaryInstead of Bunny Stream
Covers images as well as video, with URL transformations and asset management.
BrightcoveInstead of Bunny Stream
Enterprise video platform with a full player, analytics and monetisation, for teams that outgrow a bare storage-and-delivery API.
WistiaInstead of Cloudflare Stream
Hosted video for marketing teams, with lead capture and viewer analytics instead of a raw API.
ImageKitInstead of Cloudflare Stream
Adaptive-bitrate video streaming and transformations through URLs, alongside image optimisation and a media library in one service.
Bunny Stream vs Cloudflare Stream: common questions
Is Bunny Stream better than Cloudflare Stream?
Bunny Stream and Cloudflare Stream are both low-cost video hosting APIs with free encoding and an embeddable player. Bunny Stream bills by gigabytes stored and delivered, which is very cheap for large libraries; Cloudflare Stream bills by minutes stored and watched and adds live streaming. Pick Bunny for the lowest bill on heavy on-demand video; pick Cloudflare for predictable per-minute pricing and live video.
Is Bunny Stream free?
No. Bunny Stream is paid, though it may offer a trial.
Is Cloudflare Stream free?
No. Cloudflare Stream is paid, though it may offer a trial.
Is Bunny Stream or Cloudflare Stream open source?
Neither is open source.
Which platforms do Bunny Stream and Cloudflare Stream support?
Bunny Stream: Web. Cloudflare Stream: Web.