Bunny.net vs Payload CMS
Ridiculously affordable CDN + video streaming + edge compute
vs. TypeScript-first open-source headless CMS — code-first, config-driven
Pricing tiers
Bunny.net
CDN Volume — 1-2 PB
$0.002/GB at 1-2 PB volume.
$0/mo
CDN Volume — First 500 TB
$0.005/GB Volume Network (10 PoPs) for high-volume.
$0/mo
CDN Standard — EU/NA
$0.01/GB. 119 PoPs Standard Network in Europe + North America.
$0/mo
CDN Standard — Asia + Oceania
$0.03/GB.
$0/mo
CDN Standard — South America
$0.045/GB.
$0/mo
CDN Standard — ME/Africa
$0.06/GB.
$0/mo
Monthly Minimum
Minimum $1/month.
$1/mo
Payload CMS
Open Source (self-host)
MIT license. Run free on any Node host. Full admin + APIs.
$0 base (usage-based)
Cloud — Standard
$35/month. 3 GB DB storage, 30 GB file storage, 40 GB bandwidth.
$35/mo
Cloud — Pro
$199/month. Higher resources + priority support.
$199/mo
Cloud — Enterprise
Custom cloud hosting with dedicated support.
Custom
Free-tier quotas head-to-head
Comparing volume-1pb-2pb on Bunny.net vs oss on Payload CMS.
| Metric | Bunny.net | Payload CMS |
|---|---|---|
| No overlapping quota metrics for these tiers. | ||
Features
Bunny.net · 14 features
- Bunny CDN — Standard + Volume networks. 119 PoPs globally.
- Bunny Database — Edge-distributed key-value DB.
- Bunny DNS — Free anycast DNS.
- Bunny Optimizer — On-the-fly image + video optimization.
- Bunny Shield (WAF + DDoS) — DDoS protection + WAF + bot defense.
- Bunny Stream — Video hosting + transcoding + HLS delivery.
- Custom Hostname — Use yourdomain.com with CDN.
- Edge Scripting — JavaScript at the edge (like CF Workers).
- Edge Storage — Object storage replicated across regions.
- Free Let's Encrypt SSL — Auto cert issuance/renewal.
- Hot-linking Protection — Block unauthorized embeds.
- Instant Purge — Global invalidation.
- Magic Containers — Serverless containers at edge.
- Real-Time Analytics — Per-zone + per-country usage stats.
Payload CMS · 18 features
- Access Control — Function-based per-collection/field access rules.
- Admin UI — React admin — fully customizable components + views.
- Authentication — Built-in JWT + HTTP-only cookies + API keys.
- Blocks — Flexible page-builder pattern via block field.
- Collections — Schema-defined content types with fields, hooks, access control.
- Drafts & Versions — Version every change. Autosave, drafts, scheduled publish.
- Field Types — Rich field library: text, textarea, richText (Lexical), upload, relation, blocks…
- Form Builder Plugin — Dynamic forms with submissions storage.
- Globals — Single-instance documents (site settings, header, footer).
- GraphQL API (auto) — Full schema auto-generated.
- Hooks — Lifecycle hooks: beforeChange/Read/Delete, afterChange, etc.
- i18n — Multi-locale field values + admin UI translations.
- Live Preview — Side-by-side editor + iframe preview of Next.js site.
- Local API (zero latency) — Direct in-process data access. Ideal for Next.js server components.
- Multi-Tenancy Plugin — Multi-tenant content isolation via plugin.
- @payloadcms/plugin-seo — Built-in SEO meta fields.
- Plugins — Official + community plugins (SEO, Stripe, Form Builder, multi-tenant, etc.).
- REST API (auto) — Auto-generated REST endpoints for every collection.
Developer interfaces
| Kind | Bunny.net | Payload CMS |
|---|---|---|
| CLI | — | create-payload-app |
| SDK | bunnycdn.js (community) | @payloadcms/next (Node) |
| REST | Bunny.net API | Payload REST API |
| GRAPHQL | — | Payload GraphQL API |
| OTHER | Bunny Dashboard, CDN HTTP base URL, Edge Scripting | Admin UI, Local API (Node.js direct) |
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Outbound links to Bunny.net and Payload CMS are plain references to their official websites. Pricing is verified against vendor pages at publication time — reconfirm before buying.
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