Last updated: September 2026
What Dub Actually Is
Dub is a link management platform built for teams that treat their links as data, not as throwaway strings. Think of it as a modern, open-source take on the old link shortener: you get branded short links on your own domain, but underneath sits a real analytics engine, a conversion tracker, and a full API. It is the tool marketers reach for when they have outgrown a free Bitly account and want to actually understand what happens after someone clicks.
The project is open source under the AGPL license, so you can read the code, self-host it, or let the Dub team run it for you. That openness matters: you are not locked into a black box, and the hosted version stays honest about what it does with your data.
Try Dub Get started →The Feature That Sets It Apart: Conversion Tracking
Most link tools stop at the click. Dub keeps going. With Dub Conversions you can connect a click to a signup and then to a paid sale, using webhooks from Stripe or Shopify, so you finally see which link, campaign, or partner actually drove revenue rather than just traffic. For anyone running paid acquisition or affiliate deals, that closed loop is the whole point.
What Else It Does
Branded Links and QR Codes
Every link can live on your own custom domain, and each one comes with an auto-generated QR code you can style and drop into print or slides. Deep links route mobile users straight into an app instead of a browser tab.
Real-Time Analytics
You get clicks broken down by country, city, device, browser, operating system, and referrer, updating in real time. It is enough to see which channel is pulling weight without opening a separate analytics suite.
Dub Partners
If you run a referral or affiliate program, Dub Partners handles the tracking links, the dashboards for your partners, and automated payouts through Stripe or PayPal. It turns link management into a small partner platform.
API and SDKs
There is a clean REST API plus SDKs for TypeScript, Python, Go, and more, so engineers can mint and track links programmatically. This is where Dub pulls ahead of consumer shorteners: it was built to be automated.
Pricing
Dub has a genuinely usable free tier that covers a solo creator or a small side project. Paid plans add more links, longer analytics retention, extra domains, higher API limits, and the conversion and partner features. Because it is open source, self-hosting is also on the table if you would rather run it yourself.
New users who start through the link on this page get 20% off for the first three months, which takes the sting out of trying a paid plan while you migrate your links.
Who It Is For
Dub fits growth marketers, developers, and founders who send a lot of links and want attribution behind them. If you only need to shorten the occasional URL, a free shortener is simpler. If links are part of how you acquire and measure customers, Dub is one of the few tools that treats them that seriously.
Is Dub a good Bitly alternative?
Yes. It covers the core Bitly use cases, branded short links, QR codes, and click analytics, and then adds conversion tracking, a partner program, and an open-source codebase that Bitly does not offer.
Can I self-host Dub?
Yes. Dub is open source under the AGPL license, so you can run it on your own infrastructure. Most teams still choose the hosted version to skip the maintenance.
Does Dub track sales, not just clicks?
Yes. Dub Conversions links a click to a signup and then to a paid conversion using Stripe or Shopify webhooks, so you can attribute revenue to specific links and campaigns.
