If you're on Membership.io right now, you've probably thought this at least once:
"Searchie is great but at $99/mo it's just too expensive. I need a cheaper way to host my videos."
So let's do the math. Not the vague "you might save money" math — the actual, line-item, here's-what-you'll-pay math.
The True Cost of Membership.io at Scale
Membership.io's pricing is simple on the surface but gets expensive fast:
| MIO Plan | Monthly Cost | Upload Limit | What You Get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | $49/mo | 50 hours | 1 hub, AI tools, custom domains, analytics |
| Grow | $119/mo | 250 hours | 3 hubs, content automations, badges, embeds |
| Scale | $219/mo | 500 hours | 10 hubs, API access, custom CSS, success advisor |
And storage isn't unlimited — it's measured in upload hours (50/250/500 by tier), with overages at $7-9/month per additional 50 hours. You're paying $588 to $2,628 per year for video hosting that costs a fraction of that elsewhere.
What BunnyCDN Actually Costs
BunnyCDN is pay-as-you-go video hosting. No tiers. No plans. You pay for exactly what you use.
| Component | Rate | What It Covers |
|---|---|---|
| Video Storage | $0.01/GB/mo | Raw storage for your video files (base region) |
| Video Delivery (CDN) | $0.005/GB | Bandwidth when members watch videos |
| Encoding | Free (Tier 0) | Standard encoding on upload — no per-minute fee |
| Transcription | $0.01/min | Optional — disable immediately if you don't need it |
That's it. No monthly minimum. No per-hub fees. No "upgrade to get custom domains."
Side-by-Side: Real Libraries, Real Costs
Here's what creators actually pay based on real library sizes we've migrated:
| Library Size | Storage (GB) | MIO Monthly | BunnyCDN Monthly | Annual Savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 videos | ~50 GB | $49 | ~$2 | $564/yr |
| 500 videos | ~250 GB | $119 | ~$5 | $1,368/yr |
| 1,000 videos | ~500 GB | $119-219 | ~$8 | $1,332-2,532/yr |
| 2,500+ videos | ~1.5 TB | $219+ | ~$15 | $2,448+/yr |
The $0.65 Invoice: We migrated 2.6 TB of video — 10,177 files across 95 hubs — from Membership.io to BunnyCDN. When the first BunnyCDN invoice arrived, we had to read it twice. $0.65. Not $65. Not $6.50. Sixty-five cents. That same library on MIO's Scale plan costs $219/month — $2,628/year. That one invoice is why we built MIOExit.
But What About Features?
Fair question. Membership.io isn't just video hosting — it includes AI-powered video search, hub/playlist organization, member access control, and analytics. Here's what you keep, what you lose, and what you replace:
| Feature | Membership.io | BunnyCDN + Your Stack |
|---|---|---|
| Video hosting | Included | BunnyCDN ($0.005/GB) |
| Global CDN | Included | BunnyCDN (114 PoPs worldwide) |
| AI video search | Built-in | Transcript search via WordPress plugin |
| Hub/playlist UI | Built-in | Your own site (WordPress, custom, etc.) |
| Member access control | Built-in | MemberPress, Circle, or custom auth |
| Analytics | Basic built-in | BunnyCDN analytics + Google Analytics |
| Custom domain | All plans (included) | Free (it's your site) |
| Embed player | Searchie player | BunnyCDN player (fully customizable) |
So here's the question only you can answer: are you paying $119/month because MIO's AI search is genuinely irreplaceable for your members? Or because moving 500 videos sounds so painful that it's easier to keep paying?
If it's the first reason, stay on MIO. If it's the second, keep reading.
The Walled Garden Tax: The Hidden Cost Nobody Mentions
"I feel trapped. I don't own the files in a way that's easy to move. It's a 'walled garden'."
Membership.io's biggest hidden cost isn't on your invoice. It's what we call The Walled Garden Tax — the invisible switching cost that grows every month you stay:
- Every video you uploaded last month? That's one more file you'll have to extract by hand — because there's no bulk download.
- Every hub page you've carefully organized? It vanishes the day you cancel — and you'll be rebuilding it from memory.
- Every embed link your members bookmarked? Dead. Broken. 404. The moment your MIO subscription ends.
- And here's what nobody tells you: it gets worse every month you wait. Thirty new videos this quarter means thirty more files to extract next quarter.
With BunnyCDN, your videos are standard MP4 files stored on infrastructure you control. Want to switch to Cloudflare Stream tomorrow? Download your files and re-upload. Want to use Vimeo instead? Same thing. There's no lock-in because there's no proprietary format.
The one exception: if you have fewer than 20 videos and MIO's AI search is genuinely mission-critical for your members, the $99/month may make sense. For everyone else — especially on the Growth or Pro plan — here's what the switch actually looks like.
What the Migration Actually Looks Like
Moving from MIO to BunnyCDN isn't just "download and re-upload." Here's the real process:
- Audit — Catalog every file, folder, hub, and playlist in your MIO account
- Extract — Download all videos as MP4 files, plus transcripts (VTT/SRT)
- Upload — Push all files to your BunnyCDN video library with collection structure preserved
- Verify — Compare source and destination file counts, sizes, and playability
- Embed — Replace Searchie embeds with BunnyCDN iframe embeds on your site
- Test — Verify member access, playback quality, and transcript search
- Cancel MIO — Only after everything is confirmed working
See exactly how much MIO is overcharging you.
Your free Migration Audit includes a complete file inventory, your total storage in GB, and a side-by-side cost comparison showing what you'd pay on BunnyCDN. Delivered within 24 hours. If we miss a single file during migration, we re-run it free.
Request Free AuditWe take on 5 new migrations per month. The Walled Garden Tax compounds every month you wait.