Dub.co Has a Free API — Here's How to Build a Link Shortener with Analytics

A marketer told me: 'I was using Bitly for link tracking. Then they raised prices to $35/month for basic analytics. Dub.co does the same thing better — with a free tier and an open-source option.'

What Dub.co Offers for Free

Dub.co free tier:

• 25 links/month with analytics
• Custom domains — use your own domain
• Link analytics — clicks, locations, devices, referrers
• QR codes — auto-generated for every link
• Tags — organize links into campaigns
• REST API — full programmatic access
• Open source — self-host for unlimited

Quick Start

# Create a short link
curl -X POST 'https://api.dub.co/links' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://dev.to/scrapingservice/algolia-has-a-free-api",
    "domain": "dub.sh",
    "key": "algolia-api",
    "tagIds": ["clx1234"]
  }'
# Returns: https://dub.sh/algolia-api

REST API

# List links
curl 'https://api.dub.co/links?projectSlug=my-project' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'

# Get link analytics
curl 'https://api.dub.co/analytics?linkId=LINK_ID&event=clicks&interval=30d' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'

# Get clicks by country
curl 'https://api.dub.co/analytics?linkId=LINK_ID&event=clicks&groupBy=country' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'

# Update a link
curl -X PATCH 'https://api.dub.co/links/LINK_ID' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"url": "https://new-destination.com"}'

# Delete a link
curl -X DELETE 'https://api.dub.co/links/LINK_ID' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'

Node.js SDK

import { Dub } from 'dub';

const dub = new Dub({ token: process.env.DUB_API_KEY });

// Create a link
const link = await dub.links.create({
  url: 'https://yoursite.com/pricing',
  domain: 'dub.sh',
  key: 'pricing',
  externalId: 'campaign-q1-2026',
  tagIds: ['marketing', 'q1']
});

console.log(link.shortLink); // https://dub.sh/pricing

// Get analytics
const clicks = await dub.analytics.retrieve({
  linkId: link.id,
  event: 'clicks',
  interval: '30d'
});

// Bulk create links
const links = await dub.links.createMany([
  { url: 'https://yoursite.com/feature-a', key: 'feature-a' },
  { url: 'https://yoursite.com/feature-b', key: 'feature-b' },
  { url: 'https://yoursite.com/feature-c', key: 'feature-c' }
]);

UTM Builder

// Create links with UTM parameters
const campaignLink = await dub.links.create({
  url: 'https://yoursite.com/signup',
  domain: 'dub.sh',
  key: 'spring-sale',
  utm_source: 'twitter',
  utm_medium: 'social',
  utm_campaign: 'spring-2026',
  utm_content: 'cta-button'
});
// Resolves to: https://yoursite.com/signup?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&...

Webhooks

app.post('/webhooks/dub', (req, res) => {
  const { event, data } = req.body;

  if (event === 'link.clicked') {
    console.log(`${data.link.shortLink} clicked from ${data.click.country}`);
  }

  res.sendStatus(200);
});

Self-Hosted (Unlimited)

git clone https://github.com/dubinc/dub.git
cd dub
pnpm install
pnpm dev

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Need to track links in your scraping projects? Check out my web scraping actors on Apify.

Need link analytics for your marketing? Email me at [e-mail].