This is one of our top picks in the category so we recommend it over others (you're on the right page), read below to learn why we love and recommend it! ⤵
This is one of the better tools in its category, see below if this tool is right for you! ⤵
Dub is our top pick in the link shortening/tracking software category—no other tool on the market comes close to Dub's features. Dub offers real-time link tracking, reliable analytics, and even deep conversion data for marketers (first of its kind—if you’re a fellow marketer, this is drool-worthy, so keep reading after you grab yourself a free account).
After trying various link shorteners, I found Short, which was basic but met my needs.
But I didn’t switch to Short.io because it was a great solution – I did it because it was just adequate enough to do the most basic of redirects. Case in point: I never once used it for reporting because it was a complete mess.
Then I tried Dub and was drawn to how simple/clean the UI/UX was. I switched over from Short and haven't look back. Oh, and I now regularly check my reporting/analytics in Dub now as they have much more user-friendly dashboards.
Dub is the modern link attribution platform for you to create short links, track conversions, and run affiliate programs.
There has been little innovation in the link shortening space over the past decade—trust us, we've tried every link shortening tool on the market (including even having a self-hosted solution at one point).
Tools like Bitly (2008), Rebrandly (2015), Short.io (2015), and TinyURL (2002) have been quite stagnant in terms of user experience or innovating with features.
Enter Dub. In 2022, a talented developer (ex-Vercel) named Steven Tey initially created Dub as a side project. Quickly, he saw the demand for marketers creating better tools in the link shortening space, quit his job at Vercel, and went all in on Dub (thank goodness for us!).
Dub is the only modern link shortening/analytics tool on the market today. Their features, which we will cover below, don't come close to any of the other incumbent tools!
We rarely say this, but in this software category, whether you’re a marketer, creator, or company looking for any type of link tracking (affiliate or link infrastructure), you can confidently stop your research and jump into using Dub as it’s the best on the market by a long shot. But let us tell you why ⤵️
If you're sharing content on any social platform, you will at some point run into the need to use a link shortening tool. Dub is the best for creators because it provides reliable real-time analytics (e.g. when you post on social media, you can see IMMEDIATELY when someone clicks your link, where they are from, and what platform referred them).
More than that, even on the free tier, Dub allows you to add your own custom domain to your short links (highly recommended—don't get fooled by other brands (ahem, Bitly) that get free marketing from you sharing their domain everywhere).
Marketers—Dub is THE tool you've been dreaming about.
Every other link shortening service on the market will give you basic analytics, but YOU are left to create your own custom reports to try your best to see your conversion data.
Not Dub. Integrate your Stripe account with Dub and get REAL-TIME conversion tracking from Click → Sale 🤯 Did your jaw just drop? Yep, ours did too!
Meta campaign? Email newsletter? Special offer? Influencer partnership? Yep, you can track it ALL if you use Dub analytics. Imagine being able to present marketing efforts to your team with Dub's dashboard moving forward. Your team will LOVE the simplicity. No other tool does this on the market!
More than that, Dub is the only tool that allows you to filter down by UTM parameters so you can see the source of where your traffic is coming from. What do other tools like Bitly do? Oh, they tell you to go check your Google Analytics console for this information... again making you do more work.
Clearly, Dub thought it's time for us marketers to get a bit of a break 🙏
If you're looking to start an affiliate program (or move over from PartnerStack, Impact, Cello, Rewardful, or any of the others), Dub Partners is Dub's full affiliate platform and it's fantastic.
Dub Partners supports cost-per-click, cost-per-lead, and conversion programs. They handle all the link infrastructure, provide your company and each creator with a dashboard, and even handle all the payouts.
If you're a company that is looking for link infrastructure, Dub is your best bet. They've already attracted some top companies, like Cal.com (creating 200K+ links per month via Dub's link infrastructure for their SMS workflows feature) and Raycast (tracking link analytics when customers use their code screenshotting tool, ray.so).
On the most basic level, Dub allows for the most user-friendly experience to set up short links. We recommend setting up your own custom domain so that all of your links are branded (e.g., all of our short links start with efficient.link).
Easily set up UTM parameters in Dub and ACTUALLY see analytics based on where traffic is coming from.
For example, if you’re curious whether that link in your YouTube description or your YouTube comments is driving more traffic, you can now easily see with Dub.
Want a link to expire after a certain amount of time? Easy peasy. Write the timeframe in natural language, and Dub will do the rest 👌
Use the geo-targeting feature if you want to redirect your users to different links based on their location.
For example, say you have a landing page for Australia and another for the US. You use the same short link but have it redirect based on the user's IP address.
Use password protection if you want only specific people to access your link. We use this feature when we are editing a video for our YouTube channel but want to share it team members before it's published.
QR codes are used to connect offline and online content, but now that many people watch YouTube on TV, more YouTube videos are including QR codes.
You'll see QR codes in our videos, and we use Dub to power them.
What's a good link shortening tool if you don't have analytics that are easy to reference?
Prior to Dub, no matter what link shortening tool we used, we literally dreaded going into the analytics tab—it was an overwhelming mess. Dub keeps it simple and useful 🙌
See the country, city, region, or continent of your traffic, device or browser, and referring domain within one easy view.
The best feeling? Sending out a newsletter, or posting a fresh piece of content and seeing the link traffic roll in 🏎️ 💨
Marketers, you need to upgrade to the Business Tier to take advantage of Dub's Conversion Tracking, but trust us, it's worth every penny and more.
❗Warning: Dub will reduce the time you need to spend in Excel or Google Sheets.
Dub Conversion Tracking is a marketer's dream—this is the tool we've been begging for!
Dub Conversions is super simple to set up if you're using Shopify. Connect your store, and Dub will immediately start tracking clicks and sales.
As a heads up, if you're running a SaaS business the integration with your payment gateway (e.g. Stripe or Polar) will take some engineering resources to configure initially, but once your set up, the data is invaluable.
Dub Partners is Dub's full affiliate platform. Dub Partners connect link tracking to conversion from publishers and creators.
You might have checked out Partnerstack, Impact, Cello, or Rewardful but we're huge advocates of Dub because of how deep they go with link tracking in comparison to other tools. Dub allows creators to see which of their content is performing best, and therefore empowers them to create more of it (which is what you want).
With Dub Partners, you can set up agreements with various publishers and creators—cost-per-click, cost-per-lead, and conversion programs. Once you’re set up on the platform, Dub will handle all the reporting and payouts.
Modern companies like Cal and Framer are using Dub for their Affiliate Program. Not to mention, Dub Partners is a more cost-effective solution than many of the other affiliate platforms out there, and we (affiliate partners) will love you 100 times more if you prioritize a modern affiliate platform that gives us reliable data!
Dub has a robust API that allows for proper integration. For example, at times we offer a bonus to users who use our affiliate links to sign up for software (e.g., a free course or an extended discount). Dub enables us to do this because of their API.
This is where companies like Raycast, and even email sending/social media scheduling tools, use Dub as their infrastructure. They have perfected links and attribution.
Dub is fully open-source, meaning if you're technical, you can self-host it for greater control over data, privacy, and customization.
Is Dub worth it? 100000% it is. We can't run our business without it. If you need any type of link shortening or tracking, Dub is the best tool on the market.
If you give it a shot, be sure to use this link to lock in a discount when you sign up.
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We've tracked and verified the above companies are using this software in their team's stack.
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