Dub is the modern, open-source link attribution platform that unifies short links, real-time analytics, and affiliate management. We rate it 87/100 — a best-in-class Bitly alternative for marketing and growth teams.
Dub is the modern, open-source link attribution platform that bundles short links, real-time analytics, conversion tracking, and an affiliate program builder into one product. We rate it 87/100 — the strongest Bitly alternative on the market for growth and marketing teams that want one tool to handle the full link-to-revenue journey.
Dub is a link attribution platform built by Steven Tey, a former designer at Vercel who started Dub as a side project in to give his team a faster way to share links with rich Open Graph previews. After the project hit #1 on Hacker News and crossed 14,000 GitHub stars, Tey turned it into a full-time company and incorporated Dub Inc. The repo (github.com/dubinc/dub) now sits at roughly 18,000 stars and is used in production by teams at Framer, Perplexity, Raycast, Twilio, Buffer, and Superhuman.
The pitch: Bitly and Rebrandly only solve half the problem. They shorten and track clicks, but the moment that click becomes a sign-up or a sale, the attribution chain breaks. Dub closes the loop with first-party conversion tracking and a built-in partner program — all in an open-source product you can self-host. That combination of clean DX, modern UI, and revenue attribution is what sets Dub apart.
Sentiment is exceptionally strong. Dub holds a 5.0/5 on G2 and 4.6/5 on Trustpilot, with reviewers consistently calling out the cleanest DX and UX in the link-shortener category. The most upvoted G2 review notes setup takes "about 2 minutes" and that the team frequently fixes reported issues in under 12 minutes — a level of support speed that competitors rarely match. On Hacker News, the original Show HN thread stayed at the #1 spot for a full day; commenters specifically praised the modern UI and the fact that destination links are editable after creation, something Bitly still gates behind paid plans.
The recurring complaints are pricing-related rather than product-related. Several G2 and Trustpilot reviewers note that Dub Partners' 3–5% payout processing fee on top of the $75/month base feels steep at higher volumes, and the Pro plan at $25/month is more expensive than Rebrandly's entry tier for users who only need basic shortening. A second theme: power users want deeper segment-level analytics — Dub's funnel views are functional but not yet at Mixpanel-level granularity.
Dub uses tiered SaaS pricing with a generous free plan. Dub Partners (the affiliate platform) is a separate add-on that starts at $75/month.
| Plan | Price | Key Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/month | 25 links/mo, 1K tracked events, 30-day analytics, 1 user |
| Pro | $25/month | 1K links/mo, 50K events, 1-year analytics, link cloaking, geo/device targeting |
| Business | $75/month | 10K links/mo, 250K events, conversion tracking, Stripe/Shopify integrations, A/B testing, webhooks |
| Advanced | $250/month | 50K links/mo, 1M events, 5-year analytics, advanced workspace controls |
| Enterprise | Custom | SSO/SAML, audit logs, custom SLA, dedicated support |
Best for: Marketing, growth, and developer-relations teams at SaaS companies who need branded short links, conversion attribution, and an affiliate program in one tool. Solo creators on the free plan, agencies running multi-client campaigns, and engineering teams that want an open-source stack they can self-host.
Not ideal for: Users who only need a free, minimal URL shortener — Bitly's free tier is enough, and Dub's free 25-link cap is restrictive. Also a poor fit if you need product-analytics-grade segmentation; pair Dub with Mixpanel or PostHog instead.
Pros:
Cons:
The closest direct competitors are Bitly (older, more enterprise features but slower UI and no first-party conversion tracking), Rebrandly (cheaper at the entry tier but no affiliate platform), and Short.io (good simple shortener, weaker on attribution). For affiliate management on its own, Rewardful and PartnerStack are alternatives — but neither bundles short links and analytics into the same product. If you want a fully open-source minimal shortener with no SaaS layer, YOURLS remains the classic self-hosted option.
Yes — if your team uses short links for anything beyond casual sharing, Dub is the most modern and complete option in the category right now. The combination of polished UX, real-time analytics, conversion tracking, an affiliate program, and an MIT-licensed codebase is unique. Pro at $25/month pays for itself the first time you correctly attribute a paid sign-up to a campaign URL, and the free tier is enough to evaluate end to end. We'd skip it only if you genuinely just need a free URL shortener with no analytics depth. Final rating: 87/100.
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