Small Pics vs Bunny Optimizer
Bunny Optimizer bundles image optimization into its CDN. Small Pics is a dedicated image transform service. Here is how they compare.
| Feature | Small Pics | Bunny Optimizer |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $9/mo (Lite) | $9.50/mo per Pull Zone + CDN bandwidth |
| Pricing model | Flat tiers: origins + transforms | Per Pull Zone + per-GB bandwidth |
| Multi-site (10 sites) | $19/mo (Starter, 10 sources included) | $95/mo (10 Pull Zones) + bandwidth |
| Bandwidth charges | None | Yes, per GB (varies by region) |
| Images per plan | 2,500 to 52,000 origins | Unlimited per Pull Zone |
| Transforms per plan | 17,500 to 364,000 | Unlimited per Pull Zone |
| AVIF | Yes (default) | Yes (capped at 4 MP) |
| JPEG XL | Yes | No |
| Output formats | AVIF, WebP, JPEG, PJPG, PNG, GIF, JPEG XL | AVIF, WebP, JPEG, PNG, GIF |
| URL transform API | Full (resize, crop, fit, watermark, format, quality) | Full (resize, crop, face crop, colour, blur, sharpen, format, quality) |
| CSS/JS minification | No | Yes |
| Imgix URL compatibility | Built-in | No |
| Craft CMS (Imager X) | Dedicated transformer plugin | Dedicated transformer plugin |
| Custom domains | Included (5 to 120) | Custom hostname per Pull Zone |
| Free trial | 14 days, no credit card | 14-day trial |
How does Small Pics compare to Bunny Optimizer?
Bunny Optimizer is an add-on to Bunny CDN's Pull Zone infrastructure. Small Pics is a standalone image transform service. Both offer a broad URL-based transform API, and the feature gap between them is narrower than it used to be: Bunny shipped AVIF output in 2026 and covers crop modes, colour adjustment, blur, sharpen, and face-detection cropping.
The real difference is the billing model, not the feature list. Bunny charges per Pull Zone plus bandwidth, so cost scales with the number of sites you run and how much you serve. Small Pics charges per origin image and transform, so cost scales with your catalogue and is flat against traffic.
Bunny's advantage is simplicity for single sites. You get unlimited images and transforms per Pull Zone, plus CSS and JS minification bundled in. If you run one site and you are already on Bunny CDN, enabling the optimizer is a toggle.
How does pricing work?
Small Pics has four flat tiers. Lite is $9/mo for 2,500 origins and 17,500 transforms. Starter is $19/mo for 5,000 origins and 35,000 transforms. Standard is $59/mo for 16,000 origins and 112,000 transforms. Extended is $189/mo for 52,000 origins and 364,000 transforms. CDN delivery is included with no bandwidth charges.
Bunny Optimizer costs $9.50 per month per Pull Zone. Each site typically runs on its own Pull Zone, so costs scale linearly with the number of sites. On top of the optimizer fee, CDN bandwidth is billed separately. Bunny's bandwidth pricing varies by region (starting around $0.01/GB for EU/NA, higher for Asia-Pacific and South America). For a site serving 100 GB/month of images, bandwidth alone could add $1 to $5+ depending on your audience location.
For a single site, the costs can be comparable. For multiple sites, the math shifts significantly in Small Pics' favor.
Does Bunny Optimizer support AVIF?
Yes. Bunny shipped AVIF output on 30 April 2026 and promoted it to general availability on 26 June 2026, alongside AVIF, HEIC, and HEIF as input formats. Anything written before then (including earlier versions of this page) saying otherwise is out of date.
One limit is worth knowing: Bunny caps AVIF output at 4 megapixels and falls back to WebP, JPEG, or GIF above that, to keep encode latency down. That covers most web delivery sizes but not large hero or print-resolution assets. Small Pics has no such cap and serves AVIF by default at any size.
In our testing AVIF needed 14-41% fewer bytes than WebP to reach the same measured visual quality, so this is a gap that mattered. It is now closed for the sizes most sites actually serve.
Which is better for agencies with multiple sites?
Small Pics is significantly cheaper for multi-site setups. An agency with 10 client sites would pay $95/mo just for Bunny Optimizer (10 Pull Zones at $9.50 each), plus bandwidth for each zone. With Small Pics Starter at $19/mo, you get 10 sources and 10 custom domains, all within one plan. That is a 5x cost difference before bandwidth charges.
Small Pics also offers Imgix parameter compatibility, which is useful for agencies migrating sites off Imgix. Each source can have its own origin (S3, R2, DO Spaces, Hetzner, any HTTP) and its own custom domain for branded image delivery.
When should you use Bunny instead?
Bunny Optimizer makes sense when you run a single high-volume site. Unlimited images and transforms per Pull Zone mean you never think about origin or transform counts, and a large catalogue costs the same as a small one. With AVIF now shipped, the format gap is down to JPEG XL and the 4 MP AVIF cap.
Bunny is also the better choice if you need CSS and JavaScript minification bundled with your CDN. Small Pics does not handle non-image assets. And if you are already using Bunny CDN for your site delivery, adding the optimizer is a one-click toggle with no additional infrastructure to manage.
See also: Pricing, Small Pics vs Imgix, Small Pics vs Cloudinary, Small Pics vs ImageKit.
Frequently asked questions
- Does Bunny Optimizer support AVIF?
- Yes. Bunny added AVIF output in April 2026 and promoted it to general availability in June 2026. It caps AVIF at 4 megapixels and falls back to WebP, JPEG, or GIF above that. Small Pics serves AVIF by default at any size and also supports JPEG XL, which Bunny does not.
- How much does Bunny Optimizer cost per site?
- Bunny Optimizer costs $9.50 per month per Pull Zone. Each site typically needs its own Pull Zone. CDN bandwidth is billed separately based on region. For multiple sites, costs add up quickly compared to Small Pics.
- Does Bunny Optimizer have a URL-based transform API?
- Yes, and it is a broad one. Bunny covers resize, crop, aspect ratio, crop gravity, focus and face cropping, saturation, hue, contrast, tint, sepia, brightness, gamma, blur, sharpen, flip, rotate, quality, and format. Face-detection cropping is something Small Pics does not offer. Small Pics covers watermarks, which Bunny does not document.
- Is Bunny cheaper for a single site?
- It depends on your bandwidth. Bunny at $9.50/mo includes unlimited images and transforms for one Pull Zone, which is competitive for a single high-traffic site. But CDN bandwidth is extra. Small Pics Lite at $9/mo includes delivery with no bandwidth charges.
- Can Bunny Optimizer do CSS and JS minification?
- Yes. Bunny Optimizer includes CSS and JavaScript minification as part of its Pull Zone optimization. Small Pics is focused on images only and does not handle CSS or JS. If you need asset minification, Bunny covers more ground.
- Which is better for agencies with 10+ client sites?
- Small Pics. At 10 sites, Bunny Optimizer costs $95/mo just for the optimizer (plus bandwidth). Small Pics Starter at $19/mo includes 10 sources and 10 custom domains. The savings grow with each additional site.
- Does Small Pics offer a free trial?
- Yes. Every Small Pics plan includes a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. You get access to the full feature set during the trial. Bunny offers a 14-day trial as well.
- Can I use my own domain with Small Pics?
- Yes. Every Small Pics plan includes custom domains, from 5 on Lite to 120 on Extended. Each site can have its own branded image domain at no extra cost. Bunny supports custom hostnames per Pull Zone.