The archive · Developer & Business Tools · Strategic decision · 2022–2026
Bunny.net bets free DNS is the on-ramp: drops query fees, keeps CDN and Shield
Edge platform bunny.net eliminates DNS query fees, giving free DNS for up to 500 domains and betting it pulls developers into its paid CDN and Shield stack.
Bunny.net
What the business is
Bunny.net is an edge platform offering CDN, video streaming and storage from a network spanning 119 locations and powering over 1.5 million websites; its DNS product now carries no query fees, includes smart and scriptable records plus health monitoring free, and hosts up to 500 domains per account.
How it started
Bunny DNS started as the internal routing engine that decides which bunny.net server should serve each request. About four years ago (2022, per coverage) the company turned it into a customer product: basic record hosting was free, while Scriptable DNS - JavaScript-controlled responses that route by latency, region or health - was charged per query like traditional DNS providers.
What happened
On 2026-06-24 bunny.net announced it was eliminating DNS query charges entirely: free DNS hosting for up to 500 domains per account, no query limits, no per-request billing, and smart records and health monitoring no longer hidden behind enterprise plans. The announcement reached the front page of Hacker News with 927 points and 270 comments, and Gigazine's independent coverage on 2026-06-25 confirmed the change, the free features, and the remaining $1-per-month minimum spend on bunny.net accounts.
No ending yet — it is still running.
Background
On June 24, 2026, bunny.net announced it was eliminating DNS query charges entirely: Bunny DNS now includes free DNS hosting for up to 500 domains per account, with no query limits, no per-request billing and no features gated behind enterprise plans - smart records, scriptable DNS and health monitoring included. The standard $1 per month minimum spend for bunny.net accounts remains; DNS itself no longer incurs usage-based charges.
Bunny DNS started as the internal routing engine behind bunny.net's edge network, which today spans 119 locations and powers over 1.5 million websites. About four years ago the company productized it: plain DNS hosting was free, but Scriptable DNS - JavaScript-controlled responses that could route by latency, region or health - was billed per query like traditional DNS providers. The company says the product now powers over 300,000 domains and handles nearly 200 billion queries per month.
The change is a bet on DNS as the entry point to the rest of the stack rather than a profit center: the announcement describes it as the starting line for everything else, with one-click acceleration spinning up a CDN Pull Zone directly from a DNS record and one-click security enabling Bunny Shield at the edge. The announcement hit the front page of Hacker News with 927 points and 270 comments, and independent coverage from Gigazine on June 25, 2026 confirmed the pricing change and the positioning.
What has to be true
- DNS is the natural front door of a web project, so making it genuinely free - including scriptable records and health checks - removes the price comparison shoppers do before any paid product is seen.
- The revenue logic is legible: DNS income is a small slice of the platform, so sacrificing it to pull signups into CDN, Shield and storage, which carry the margin, can be net positive.
- Per-query billing punishes exactly the customers developers admire - sites with sudden traffic spikes - so removing it removes a predictable complaint, a surprise bill and a reason to leave.
- Switching is nearly effortless: automatic zone scanning reconstructs a domain's records and BIND files import directly, so a free offer can move domains off incumbents in minutes.
What can be applied
Freeing the entry point can work when higher-margin products sit right behind it - but the giveaway only pays if the free product genuinely routes users into the paid stack.
Aftermath
As of September 2, 2026, the pricing change is live and un-reversed: Bunny DNS hosts up to 500 domains per account free with no query limits, while bunny.net accounts keep the $1 monthly minimum. The company frames DNS as the on-ramp to one-click CDN acceleration and Shield security, reports over 300,000 domains and nearly 200 billion queries per month across a 119-location network, and the Hacker News launch thread (927 points, 270 comments) shows the announcement landed with its developer audience; whether free DNS converts into paid CDN, Shield and storage revenue is still playing out.
Sources
- We're making Bunny DNS free
- Bunny DNS has eliminated query charges and is now free for up to 500 domains, with smart routing and monitoring also available at no extra cost
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