Why Pay for Bonsai?

Hey there! I'm thrilled you're checking out Bonsai. I built this app because I was tired of constantly deleting precious memories to free up space. Sound familiar?

What Bonsai Actually Does

Bonsai shrinks your videos without destroying what matters. Simple as that. It:

• Reduces 4K videos to 25% of their original size
• Works with any video dimension (even the weird ones)
• Supports both H.264 and H.265 codecs
• Shows you exactly how much space you've saved
• Syncs your stats between all your Apple devices

Who is Bonsai for

The Weekend Filmmaker

You love shooting in 4K. The quality is amazing for editing. But do you really need all those raw clips at full resolution after you've finished your project? With Bonsai, keep your final cut in 4K but convert all the source material to 1080p. A weekend shoot that took up 8GB can become 2GB. That's 6GB saved without losing what matters.

The Pet Parent

Your dog did something adorable. Then they did it again. And again. Now you have 200 videos of Rex being "the goodest boy" taking up 50GB of storage. These memories are too precious to delete, but they're eating your storage alive. Bonsai can shrink these to 12.5GB. Keep every single tail wag without buying more iCloud space.

The Baby Documenter

Those first steps, first words, first everything—all captured in glorious 4K. By their first birthday, you've got 100GB of baby videos. You want them all synced across devices (what if your phone dies?), but you don't want to pay for the 2TB iCloud plan. Bonsai lets you keep the memories while cutting the storage tax.

The Storage Fire Drill

You're 4GB away from maxing out your iCloud storage. Apple just sent that dreaded "Storage Almost Full" notification. You're on vacation for another three days and know you'll take more videos. Grab Bonsai's weekly plan for $0.99, shrink your existing videos, and continue capturing memories without stress.

The Device Upgrader

Your phone is almost full. The Apple Store suggests buying the model with more storage for an extra $200. But wait—50% of your storage is video files. Bonsai can slash that in half, saving you from an expensive upgrade.

The Math Makes Sense

Let's talk real numbers:

Scenario 1: Staying on Free iCloud (5GB)

• Without Bonsai: Forced to upgrade to 50GB ($0.99/month = $11.88/year)
• With Bonsai Annual: $19.99 once, $0 ongoing iCloud costs
• Break-even: 20 months
• Year 2 savings: $11.88
• Year 5 savings: $47.52

Scenario 2: Currently on 200GB Plan ($2.99/month)

• Without Bonsai: Upgrade to 2TB ($9.99/month = $119.88/year)
• With Bonsai Annual: $19.99 once, stay on 200GB plan
• Immediate savings: $84/year
• 5-year savings: $400

Scenario 3: The Big Spender (Currently on 2TB)

• Without Bonsai: Forced to upgrade to 6TB ($29.99/month = $359.88/year)
• With Bonsai Annual: $19.99 once, stay on 2TB plan
• Immediate savings: $240/year
• 3-year savings: $700

But What About "Free" Alternatives?

Let's be honest about the alternatives:

Compressing Videos Manually

• Time cost: 2-3 minutes per video to find settings, convert, check quality
• Learning curve: Understanding codecs, bitrates, resolution settings
• Quality inconsistency: Easy to over-compress and ruin videos
• Device limitations: Most phones can't efficiently batch-process videos

Reality check: If you have 100 videos to compress and value your time at $20/hour, the "free" option costs you $66-100 in time alone.

Third-Party Online Services

• Privacy concerns: Uploading your family videos to unknown servers
• Quality loss: Most free services heavily compress to save their own server costs
• Upload time: Sending 4K videos to the cloud takes forever
• Data costs: Your cellular/internet usage for uploads

Reality check: Your personal videos deserve better than being processed on random servers with questionable privacy policies.

The Real Value: Time & Peace of Mind

Beyond the storage savings, Bonsai gives you:

Time Savings

• Automated processing: Set it and forget it
• Batch operations: Convert dozens of videos while you sleep
• Smart recommendations: The app tells you which videos to compress first
• Cross-device sync: Settings and history sync across all your Apple devices

Peace of Mind

• Privacy-first: Everything happens on your device
• Quality preservation: Intelligent algorithms maintain visual quality
• Undo capability: Keep originals until you're satisfied
• Professional results: Consistent, high-quality compression every time

Pricing That Makes Sense

I designed Bonsai's pricing to be flexible because everyone's situation is different:

Free Tier (10 conversions)

Perfect for trying Bonsai and handling small cleanup jobs. Many users find this sufficient for periodic maintenance.

Weekly ($0.99)

Ideal for vacation trips, big cleanup sessions, or trying the full features before committing to a longer plan.

Monthly ($1.99)

Great for regular users who want ongoing access without a big upfront commitment.

Annual ($19.99) - Most Popular

Best value for regular users. Less than two months of the smallest iCloud upgrade, but potentially saves you hundreds in storage costs.

Lifetime ($59.99)

For power users and those who want to buy once and own forever. Pays for itself in 3 years compared to iCloud upgrades.

When Bonsai Might Not Be Right for You

I believe in honest marketing, so here's when you probably shouldn't buy Bonsai:

• You rarely take videos (less than 5 per month)
• You already have unlimited cloud storage through work/school
• You primarily use Android devices (though the Mac version works great)
• You're comfortable with manual video compression workflows
• Storage space has never been an issue for you

The Bottom Line

Bonsai isn't just about compressing videos—it's about giving you the freedom to capture life without constantly worrying about storage. It's about not having to choose between keeping memories and taking new ones.

The math is simple: if you're spending more than $20/year on extra storage because of videos, or if you've ever deleted a memory to make space, Bonsai pays for itself immediately.

But beyond the money, there's something valuable about never having to think "I should delete this" when you see a perfect moment worth capturing.

Try It Risk-Free

Still not sure? Start with the free tier. Compress 10 videos, see the quality for yourself, check the space savings. If it's not amazing, you haven't lost anything.

If it saves you even one iCloud storage upgrade, it's already worth more than its cost.

Ready to give your memories the space they deserve?