Comparison

Bonsai vs Squish Video Compressor

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Bonsai

Effortlessly shrink video file sizes to reclaim storage space on your Apple devices. Compress high-resolution footage to smaller formats without sacrificing quality, making it easier to save memories and avoid paying for extra cloud storage.

Highlights
  • Compress 4K/HD videos to 1080p or 720p
  • Reduce video bitrate with presets
  • Control output frame rates
  • Utilize HEVC (H.265) encoding
  • Filter and sort videos by size/duration/resolution
  • Compress iCloud and local videos
  • View visual storage insights
Read full description

Bonsai shrinks your videos to free up storage on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and even visionOS. Compress 4K videos to 1080p or 720p (and use high-efficiency H.265) to save device and iCloud space without deleting your memories. Hey there! I’m the solo developer of Bonsai, an app I created because I was tired of deleting precious memories just to free up space. Sound familiar? Instead of choosing which videos to sacrifice when your iPhone says “Storage Full,” you can use Bonsai to make those video files smaller without losing the moments inside them. What is Bonsai? Bonsai is a video compressor & downsizing tool that gives you more storage space by shrinking your videos. It’s like pruning a bonsai tree: we carefully trim file size while keeping all the beauty of the original. - Compress 4K or HD videos to 1080p or 720p in a few taps. (A 4K video can become ~75% smaller instantly!) - Reduce Bitrate of your videos using easy and understandable presets. - Control the output frame rates of videos to optimize your videos' sizes. - Choose HEVC (H.265) encoding for even more savings – up to 50% smaller files compared to standard H.264. - Filter and sort your videos by size, duration, or resolution to find the biggest space hogs fast. - Works with your iCloud and local videos – no matter where they live, Bonsai can compress them. - Get visual storage insights – see how much space all your videos take and how much you could save. - Keep a history of everything you’ve compressed, with exact bytes saved. (Satisfying!) - Sync your data privately via iCloud so Bonsai works seamlessly across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and visionOS. Who is Bonsai for? Maybe you’ll see yourself here: - The Weekend Filmmaker: You love shooting in 4K for amazing quality. But after finishing your project, do you really need all those raw clips at full resolution? With Bonsai, you can keep your final cut in 4K but compress all the extra footage to 1080p. An 8GB weekend project can become ~2GB – that’s about 6GB saved without losing what made those shots great. - The Pet Parent: Your dog did something adorable… and you recorded it every time. Now ~200 pet videos are eating up 50GB of storage. They’re too precious to delete, but they’re clogging your phone. Bonsai can trim that ~50GB down to ~12GB. You keep every tail wag without paying for more iCloud storage. - The New Parent: All those firsts captured in glorious 4K add up quickly – you’ve got 100GB of baby videos by the first birthday. You want them all safe and synced, but you’re not ready to pay for the 2TB iCloud plan. Bonsai lets you keep every memory while drastically cutting the storage needed. - The Frugal Upgrader: The Apple Store is nudging you to buy the 256GB phone because your current device is nearly full. But wait – what if half of that space is taken up by videos you could compress? Bonsai can save you from a $200 upsell by instantly halving your video footprint. Get the cheaper phone, use Bonsai, and pocket the difference. Why pay for Bonsai? I offer a free trial (compress 10 videos on the house!) so you can see the magic for yourself. If Bonsai helps you, consider upgrading – it costs less than a cup of coffee a month, and it could save you hundreds on iCloud fees or new devices. Your support also helps an indie developer (hi, that’s me!) continue improving the app. I’m dedicated to making sure Bonsai genuinely solves your storage headaches. Ready to reclaim your storage? Download Bonsai today and keep every moment, big or small. Privacy Policy: https://bonsai.vishalvshekkar.com/privacy Terms of Service: https://bonsai.vishalvshekkar.com/terms Contact: bonsai@vishalvshekkar.com

About

Squish Video Compressor

Features
Read full description

Make a video small enough to send. Your iPhone shoots gorgeous 4K. Your email won't take it. Squish fixes that in two taps. PICK A SIZE, GET THAT SIZE Choose 25 MB for email, 16 MB for WhatsApp, 10 MB for Discord, or type your own number. Most compressors hand you a 27 MB file when you asked for 25. Squish encodes, measures the result on disk, and re-encodes until it genuinely comes in under the number you picked. OR JUST MAKE IT SMALLER Not sending it anywhere in particular? Pick a quality level instead and Squish chooses sensible settings for you. BUILT FOR WHAT YOUR IPHONE ACTUALLY RECORDS - 4K, 60 fps, HDR and ProRes all handled - Portrait video stays portrait. Squish writes upright pixels rather than a rotation flag, so your video plays the right way up everywhere, including on players that ignore rotation - HDR is tone mapped to standard colour so the result plays on any device, not only recent iPhones - H.264 by default for maximum compatibility, HEVC when you want it smaller still TRIM FIRST Cutting four seconds off the front saves more than any bitrate setting can. Scrub the filmstrip, set your in and out points, and Squish only encodes what you keep. NOTHING LEAVES YOUR PHONE No uploads. No servers. No account. No ads. No tracking. Squish cannot even read your photo library. You hand it the videos you pick, and it asks permission only to save the finished file back. FREE, WITH AN OPTIONAL UNLOCK The whole app is free, and that means the whole app: exact size targeting, 4K, trim, every option. Free use covers three videos a day. A one-time Lifetime Unlock lifts the daily limit and lets you compress up to 12 videos at once. One payment, no subscription, ever.

Screenshots

Bonsai4 screens
Squish Video Compressor4 screens

Verdict

The call

Bonsai and Squish Video Compressor are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Bonsai sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days and Squish Video Compressor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Bonsai versus Squish Video Compressor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBonsaiSquish Video Compressor
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size18 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVishal VijayashekkarAryaman Ravi

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Bonsai

Subscriptions3
  • Bonsai Unlimited | Weekly$0.997 Days
  • Bonsai Unlimited | Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Bonsai Unlimited | Annual$24.991 Year
One-time1
  • Bonsai Unlimited | Lifetime$69.99
1 purchases

Squish Video Compressor

One-time1
  • Lifetime Unlock$0.99

Questions

Is Bonsai free?
Bonsai is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Squish Video Compressor free?
Squish Video Compressor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Bonsai or Squish Video Compressor have ads?
Neither Bonsai nor Squish Video Compressor shows ads.

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