Why I Switched from Bitly to Dub.co (And Saved $420/Year)

The $35/Month Link Problem

I was paying Bitly $420 a year. Not for some enterprise behemoth solution, but for the ability to track link clicks and use a custom domain.

That realization hit me during a budget review last quarter. Here I was, a developer who builds my own analytics dashboards and APIs, paying premium prices for basic link management. The irony wasn't lost on me.

Then I found Dub.co.

It's not just a cheaper alternative—it's what Bitly was supposed to evolve into before they pivoted to enterprise. In the three months since switching, I've not only killed that $420/year subscription, I've gotten better tools in the process.

Why I Was Stuck on Bitly

Bitly's free plan is genuinely limiting. No custom domains. No API access. No team features. If you want any of the features developers actually need, you're forking over $35/month for the Pro plan.

Over two years, that's $840. For link shortening. In 2024.

The Pro plan gave me:

• One custom domain
• Basic click tracking
• API access
• Custom QR codes

Standard stuff. Things that shouldn't require a subscription tier.

Discovery

I was building a launch page for a side project and needed programmatic link creation with custom domains. Another $35/month felt wasteful, so I started comparing alternatives.

That's when Dub.co appeared in my search results. The landing page was immediately different from typical SaaS marketing—it listed what you get for free, not what you unlock at each pricing tier. And the free tier was... everything I was paying for.

Custom domain? Free. API access? Free. Analytics? Free. QR codes? Free.

I was skeptical. Something was wrong. Let me dig in.

Feature Comparison: Bitly Pro vs Dub.co Free

Feature	Bitly Pro ($35/mo)	Dub.co Free
Custom domains	1	Unlimited
API access	Yes	Yes, full REST API
Click analytics	Basic	Advanced (real-time, geographic, device, referrer)
QR codes	Yes	Yes, with branding
Team members	Up to 3	Unlimited on free
Webhook support	No	Yes
Link previews	Basic	Advanced with OG customization
Cost per year	$420	$0

That's not a typo. Dub's free tier legitimately outmaneuvers Bitly's paid tier on most metrics.

Real-World Test: Building a Link Tracking System

Before fully switching, I needed to verify the API actually worked for production use.

Here's what I built in 15 minutes with Dub's API (compared to what would take 30+ minutes with Bitly's):

const fetch = require('node-fetch');

async function createTrackedLink(url, domain = 'your-domain.com') {
  const response = await fetch('https://api.dub.co/links', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.DUB_API_KEY}`,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      url: url,
      domain: domain,
      key: `campaign-${Date.now()}`, // Custom key
      expiresAt: new Date(Date.now() + 30 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000), // 30 days
    }),
  });

  const link = await response.json();
  return link.shortUrl;
}

// Usage
createTrackedLink('https://example.com/long-url')
  .then(shortUrl => console.log(`Tracked: ${shortUrl}`));

That's it. The API is RESTful, well-documented, and doesn't require jumping through OAuth hoops.

Compare that to Bitly's approach, which requires setting up an OAuth app just to test locally. Dub treats API access like it should be: a standard feature, not a gated extra.

The Migration (Surprisingly Easy)

I expected migrating 200+ active links to be painful. It wasn't.

Dub's bulk import handled CSV files directly. I exported my Bitly links, cleaned up formatting in under 5 minutes, and uploaded. Within seconds, all links were active on my new domain.

The existing short links? I used Bitly's redirect forwarding to tunnel everything to the Dub equivalents for a week, then updated documentation. Zero broken links. Zero downtime.

Analytics That Actually Matter

Here's where Dub genuinely surprised me.

Bitly's analytics are... fine. You see click counts and rough geographic data. Dub's free analytics include:

• Real-time click tracking — I can watch clicks come in as they happen
• Device breakdown — Separate metrics for mobile, tablet, desktop
• Referrer tracking — Which sites are sending traffic (not just "direct")
• QR code scans vs link clicks — Split tracking for different campaign channels
• Custom metadata — Tag links with campaign info, then aggregate in dashboards

This matters. When I launched a product, I could see that one referrer was driving 3x the traffic of another in real time. Optimized accordingly. Would've missed that with Bitly's dashboard.

The Open Source Angle

Dub is open source. The entire platform is on GitHub.

For a link shortener, this means:

• You can see exactly how your data is handled
• No vendor lock-in at the architectural level
• The community contributes features (and catches security issues)
• You could self-host if needed (though I use their cloud)

That's the kind of transparency I expect from tools in 2024. Bitly's source is closed. You trust them or you don't.

The Numbers

Annual savings: $420

Time saved on setup and migration: About 3 hours, which would've cost more than the annual savings if I valued my time normally. (I don't. I enjoy this stuff.)

Features gained over Bitly Pro:

• Unlimited custom domains (instead of 1)
• Webhook support for automation
• Better analytics
• Open-source infrastructure

Features lost: None that I actually used.

One Catch (There's Always One)

Dub's paid plans ($10/month and up) are for teams and power users. If you need:

• More than basic branding customization
• Dedicated support
• White-label options

...then you'll want to upgrade. That's fair. But for 95% of developers and small SaaS founders, the free tier is complete.

Should You Switch?

If you're paying for Bitly (or any other expensive link shortener), the answer is yes.

Sign up for free at Dub.co. Create a custom domain. Build a link via API. Run an analytics query. You'll see in 20 minutes what took me a week to figure out.

The best part: if it doesn't work for you, you've lost nothing. No credit card. No trial period. No dark pattern upsells. Just a link shortener that respects your time and your budget.

Three months in, the only regret I have is not making the switch earlier.

Ready to kill your Bitly subscription? Start free with Dub.co—custom domains, API, and real analytics included.