We’re making Bunny DNS free

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Bunny.net has announced that its authoritative, scriptable DNS service will no longer charge per query and will host up to 500 domains per account at no extra usage-based cost, positioning itself as an EU-based alternative to Cloudflare and other managed DNS providers. Many users welcome the move and praise Bunny’s fast CDN, global anycast infrastructure, and advanced features like geo routing and health checks, especially given its relatively low prices. However, several voices question the “free” branding because all accounts still incur a $1/month minimum spend, raise concerns about billing transparency and support quality, and note that Cloudflare and some registrars continue to offer DNS with no minimum fee.

What Bunny DNS Is

  • Authoritative DNS hosting service; not a public recursive resolver like 1.1.1.1.
  • Globally distributed anycast nameservers aim to reduce resolution latency.
  • Supports “smart” records: geo/latency routing, health checks, scripting with JavaScript.
  • Positioning is similar to Cloudflare’s DNS but EU-based and integrated with Bunny’s CDN, storage, and compute.

“Free” DNS vs $1 Monthly Minimum

  • DNS queries and zones (up to 500 domains) are now billed at $0, with no query limits.
  • However all accounts have a $1/month minimum spend across the platform.
  • Some see this as effectively not free, especially if DNS is the only service used.
  • Others argue it’s still a meaningful change: DNS itself no longer has per-query or per-zone pricing, and $1 is negligible for active users.

Comparisons to Other Providers

  • Several compare Bunny to Cloudflare:
    • CF DNS is free with no minimum, but CF has more lock-in and aggressive upsell at scale.
    • Bunny seen as simpler, EU-based, and good for people avoiding “big tech,” though it lacks CF’s breadth of PaaS features and a free CDN tier.
  • Paid DNS comparisons: AWS Route 53 and other clouds charge per million queries and for advanced routing. Bunny dropping query fees is welcomed.
  • Many note registrars offer free DNS, but often without anycast, DNSSEC, or geo-routing.

User Experience, Tooling & Features

  • General sentiment: Bunny services (CDN, DNS, containers, static hosting) are fast and cheap; interface is praised as clean.
  • DNS zone import is error-prone; some records (incl. HTTPS) or zone-file elements (SOA/NS) may be dropped or not exported, so users keep external zone backups.
  • AXFR-based migration is uncommon because many incumbents don’t allow transfers out.
  • Terraform provider exists; users deploy sites and APIs via CI to Bunny’s CDN/compute.
  • Missing features people want: scoped/RBAC API keys (important for security/compliance), per-zone access control, clearer/broader billing limits across all products, more robust API docs, and a Cloudflare-Pages-like one-command static deploy.

Billing, Risk & Trust Concerns

  • Prepaid model and bandwidth limits are praised for reducing runaway-bill risk, though some report small negative balances and confusing billing UX.
  • Some users dislike marketing emphasizing “free DNS” while the $1 minimum and trial/credit banners remain prominent, seeing this as trust-eroding.

EU / Privacy Angle

  • Many appreciate an EU-based alternative to US giants, but some question privacy-policy clarity and data-processing claims.