The $35/Month Wake-Up Call
Last year, I needed to track clicks on a few marketing links. Simple enough, right? I signed up for Bitly, created my links, and everything was great until I hit their free tier limits.
Want custom aliases? Pay up.
Want to see which countries your clicks come from? Pay up.
Want QR codes? You guessed it.
The cheapest plan that included basic analytics was $35/month. For a URL shortener. That is $420/year just to see where people are clicking.
So I did what any frustrated developer would do: I built my own.
Introducing knu.day
knu.day is the URL shortener I wished existed. Everything is free:
- Unlimited short links with custom aliases
- Real-time analytics (country, device, browser, referrer)
- QR code generation for every link
- A/B testing to optimize your links
- Link-in-bio pages like Linktree
- Password-protected links
- Full API access
No credit card. No upgrade to unlock nonsense. No catches.
The Tech Stack
For those curious about what is under the hood:
- Backend: FastAPI (Python)
- Database: SQLite with WAL mode
- Hosting: Fly.io with persistent volumes
- Analytics: Custom tracking with GeoIP
- QR Codes: Generated server-side with Python
The entire thing runs on a single $5/month server and handles thousands of redirects without breaking a sweat.
Why Free?
I am not trying to build the next unicorn. I built this because:
- URL shortening is a solved problem, it should not cost $35/month
- I wanted a tool I would actually use
- The marginal cost of serving another user is basically zero
Try It Out
Head over to knu.day and create your first short link. No signup required.
If you find it useful, I would love to hear about it in the comments. And if you find bugs, please let me know!
What tools do you think are overpriced? I am always looking for my next side project.
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