Dub vs Shlink: which one to choose in 2026?
Both are open source alternatives to Bitly. We compare license, tech stack and features to help you decide which fits your team best.
| Dub | Shlink | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Marketing, Forms & Emailing | Marketing, Forms & Emailing |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| GitHub stars | ~24.6k | ~4.7k |
| Tech stack | Next.js, PostgreSQL, Redis | PHP, MySQL |
| Replaces | Bitly | Bitly, Rebrandly |
Dub has more GitHub stars, which usually indicates a larger community (not necessarily that it's the best option for your use case).
Dub
Link shortener with analytics, an open source alternative to Bitly.
Pros
- Real-time click analytics, custom domains and a programmatic API
Things to consider
- Self-hosting it takes more work than a simple docker-compose
Shlink
URL shortener server with API and analytics, an alternative to Bitly.
Pros
- Unrestricted MIT license
- Very lightweight, maintained by a highly active developer
Things to consider
- No official web UI bundled (uses a separate client app, Shlink Web Client)
- Requires setting up the web client separately for a visual panel
Key features
Dub
- Real-time click analytics
- Your own custom domains
- API to generate links programmatically
Shlink
- Full REST API for your own integrations
- Click analytics per link and per domain
- Supports multiple custom domains on one instance
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