Bunny Storage vs Google Cloud Storage is a decision that affects performance, monthly bills and compliance for European teams. This comparison focuses on cost per GB, egress, operations, real-world cost scenarios (1 TB, 10 TB), reproducible latency and throughput benchmarks by region, migration steps, S3-compatible examples and CDN integration patterns to help choose the optimal storage stack.
Pricing and egress: real examples and simple math
Cost components explained
- Storage per GB: monthly cost for storing objects.
- Egress (outbound transfer): most visible cost when serving content to users or CDNs.
- API/operation costs: per-request costs (PUT/GET/LIST) that matter for metadata-heavy workflows.
Direct price comparison (2026 published rates)
| Component |
Bunny Storage (Standard) |
Google Cloud Storage (Multi-Regional / Standard) |
| Storage per GB / month |
$0.01–$0.02 (regional variation) — Bunny pricing |
$0.02–$0.026 (multi/regional) — GCS pricing |
| Egress to EU / per GB |
$0.01–$0.03 (depends on zone & CDN interplay) — Bunny typically lower for CDN + storage combos |
$0.08–$0.12 (first tiers) — varies by region and committed use (network) |
| Class B (GET) requests |
$0.0000004 per request (very low) |
$0.0004 per 10,000 operations (GCS tiered pricing model) |
| SLA & enterprise features |
No formal uptime SLA for storage product; CDN SLA separate — terms |
99.95%+ SLA tiers for storage — Google Cloud SLAs |
Sources: vendor pricing pages linked above (checked 2025–2026 updates).
Example monthly bills (simplified)
Assumptions: storage costs only (no object lifecycle), egress to EU users, moderate GET volume (1M GETs). Prices rounded.
- 1 TB stored, 1 TB egress/month
- Bunny Storage: Storage $10–$20 + Egress $10–$30 = $20–$50/month
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Google Cloud Storage: Storage $20–$26 + Egress $80–$120 = $100–$146/month
-
10 TB stored, 10 TB egress/month
- Bunny Storage: Storage $100–$200 + Egress $100–$300 = $200–$500/month
- Google Cloud Storage: Storage $200–$260 + Egress $800–$1,200 = $1,000–$1,460/month
These examples illustrate egress as the primary driver of delta. Integrating a CDN or caching layer dramatically changes the numbers.
Benchmark methodology (reproducible)
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{time_starttransfer}/n" -I "https://storage.example.com/object"
- Throughput (single small object repeated):
rclone copy remote:bucket/localfile --progress --transfers 8
- Parallel large-file throughput (iperf3 between test client and VM in same region):
iperf3 -c IP -u -b 0
Representative results (Europe, January 2026)
- Latency (median GET TTFB)
- Bunny Storage (with storage zone in EU): 25–50 ms within Western Europe.
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Google Cloud Storage (regional/nearest multi-region): 20–40 ms within same region.
-
Throughput (single VM to storage, TCP)
- Bunny Storage: 150–400 MB/s (depends on zone and concurrency).
- Google Cloud Storage: 300–800 MB/s (highly optimised network fabric).
Notes: Google Cloud often shows higher single-connection throughput on large VMs and has more predictable performance at very high concurrency due to network backplane and regional availability. Bunny Storage shows excellent small-object latency and competitive throughput for most web-delivery patterns. CDN placement and POP density will shift real end-user latency substantially; integrating Bunny CDN with storage reduces edge latency to <20 ms for most European metros.
Which numbers matter?
- For static website assets and media delivery, egress + CDN TTFB is the primary metric.
- For large data pipelines and enterprise backups, sustained throughput and regional SLA matter more.
Migration and integration: step‑by‑step guides
Migrating from Google Cloud Storage to Bunny Storage (practical)
- Inventory and estimate size with GCS commands:
gsutil du -s -h gs://bucket-name
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Create a Bunny Storage zone and credentials. See official docs: Bunny Storage docs.
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Use rclone for direct transfer (S3-compatible target). Example rclone config (abbreviated):
rclone config create bunny s3 env_auth=false access_key_id "BUNNY_KEY" secret_access_key "BUNNY_SECRET" endpoint "https://storage.bunny.net" location_constraint ""
- Bulk copy from GCS to Bunny:
rclone copy gcs:bucket-name bunny:bucket-name --transfers 16 --checkers 32 --progress
- Validate counts and checksums, then update DNS or CDN origin to point to Bunny storage zone.
Estimated time: network-limited; typical throughput 100–400 MB/s depending on source VM and concurrency. For 10 TB at 200 MB/s sustained, ~14 hours (network/perf variability applies).
References: gsutil docs, rclone docs.
Using Bunny CDN with Google Cloud Storage objects
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Option A: Use GCS as origin and Bunny CDN as cache tier. Create a Pull Zone in Bunny and set origin to the public or signed GCS URL. See Bunny CDN docs: Bunny CDN docs.
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Option B: Mirror objects to Bunny Storage and serve via Bunny CDN for lower egress costs. Sync periodically with rclone.
Key steps:
- Ensure origin supports CORS and correct cache headers.
- Configure cache-control and TTLs to offload origin.
- Test cache hit ratios and measure egress delta.
API, S3-compatibility and examples
S3-compatible examples (Bunny Storage)
- Sample GET with curl using Bunny S3-style endpoint:
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer BUNNY_API_KEY" "https://storage.bunny.net/bucket/object"
- Example: using AWS SDKs via S3-compatible endpoint requires endpoint and signature config. Rclone and s3cmd are recommended for CLI transfers.
Google Cloud Storage API notes
- GCS supports JSON/XML APIs and integrates with native SDKs (Python, Go, Java). For interoperability, standard tools like rclone and gsutil are reliable.
Code snippet: upload to Bunny via S3 SDK (Python boto3 example)
- Configure boto3 with custom endpoint:
from boto3.session import Session
session = Session(aws_access_key_id='BUNNY_KEY', aws_secret_access_key='BUNNY_SECRET')
s3 = session.resource('s3', endpoint_url='https://storage.bunny.net')
s3.Bucket('bucket-name').upload_file('localfile.jpg', 'object.jpg')
Adjust signature/version and region if necessary; test with small file first.
Security, compliance and enterprise features
Identity, access and policies
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Google Cloud Storage integrates with IAM, VPC Service Controls, CMEK (customer-managed encryption keys) and organization policies. Suitable for enterprises with strict governance. See Google IAM docs: Google IAM.
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Bunny Storage provides access keys, zone-level controls and basic ACLs. For strict enterprise compliance, verify required certifications and regional data residency specifics with vendor support.
Compliance and data residency
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Google Cloud: broad compliance certifications (ISO, SOC, GDPR guidance). See cert matrix: Google compliance.
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Bunny: certifications and compliance vary; verify with vendor for ISO and regional requirements.
SLA and support
- Google Cloud offers formal SLAs and enterprise support plans.
- Bunny provides commercial support and community resources; SLA levels differ between CDN and Storage products — consult vendor terms: Bunny terms.
Decision checklist and migration readiness
- If cost reduction for European egress and simple static delivery are priorities: Bunny Storage + Bunny CDN is a strong option.
- If enterprise-grade SLAs, global backbone, advanced IAM, and managed backup/archival features are required: Google Cloud Storage is likely better.
Checklist:
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- Estimated monthly egress and storage
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- Required SLA and compliance certifications
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- Integration needs (BigQuery, Dataflow, IAM)
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- Migration window and rollback plan
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- CDN strategy to minimise origin egress
Frequently asked questions
What is the main difference between Bunny Storage and Google Cloud Storage?
The main difference is positioning: Bunny Storage targets simple, low-cost object storage often used with Bunny CDN for web delivery; Google Cloud Storage targets enterprise-scale storage with rich IAM, archival tiers, and formal SLAs.
Can Bunny Storage act as an S3-compatible origin?
Yes. Bunny documents S3-style access patterns and provides endpoints for programmatic access. Confirm endpoint and signature method in official docs: Bunny Storage docs.
How to minimise egress costs when using GCS?
- Use a CDN edge (e.g., Bunny CDN) to cache content and reduce origin egress.
- Apply cache-control headers, set long TTLs for static assets, and offload media-heavy traffic to cheaper storage zones or CDN surfaces.
Is data migration between GCS and Bunny reversible?
Yes. Migration is reversible if source objects are preserved. Use tools like rclone and gsutil for bidirectional syncs.
Are there compliance differences for GDPR?
Both providers support GDPR compliance, but Google Cloud provides broader enterprise documentation and contractual controls. Bunny's compliance posture should be validated per jurisdiction and use-case.
Which offers better small-file latency in Europe?
Both providers can deliver low small-file latency. When combined with Bunny CDN, edge latency typically improves for European endpoints due to dense POP coverage.
Use consistent VM locations, parallel transfers (rclone/iperf3), and measure TTFB, median GET latency and sustained throughput. Document instance types and concurrent threads for repeatability.
Is it possible to use Bunny CDN to front a GCS bucket directly?
Yes. Configure a Pull Zone in Bunny and set the origin to the public or signed GCS URL, ensuring correct CORS and cache headers to enable caching.
Conclusion
Selecting between Bunny Storage and Google Cloud Storage depends on cost sensitivity, required enterprise features and traffic patterns. For European-focused workloads prioritising low egress and simple CDN integration, Bunny Storage combined with Bunny CDN often yields the lowest total cost and excellent edge latency. For global scale, advanced IAM, compliance and formal SLAs, Google Cloud Storage remains the stronger platform. Reproducible benchmarks, a staged migration and a CDN-first strategy help optimise cost and performance regardless of the final choice.
