Analytics and monitoring decision
Dub
A competent developer can build a useful short-links-plus-basic-attribution replacement, but Dub’s scale, enterprise features, partner network, and polished ecosystem make a full replacement impractical for one person.
Visit website↗$90/mo
$1,080/yr
Read off the official pricing page.
$100one-off50 h to build
$120/mo6 h/mo upkeep
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 2 seats.
Open-source builds that already do this
Every project below is open source and already does this job today. Fork one, self-host it, or take the parts you need - the build prompt further down assumes an empty file, and this is the shortcut past that. Licences differ; check the one on each card before you ship. All Dub alternatives, with the arithmetic →
What a replacement has to do
- Create branded short links, redirect and log clicks, record conversion events, run basic attribution to map clicks→conversions, manage partner records and simple payouts/export.
What it still won’t have
- battle-tested, high-scale infrastructure and SLAs
- built-in partner network and marketplace exposure
- enterprise features (SAML/SSO, audit logs, custom SLA)
- polished multi-language SDKs and integrations ecosystem
- priority support and migration services
What remains hard
- Infrastructure at scale
Our powerful, battle-tested infrastructure handles hundreds of millions of links & events monthly and can scale infinitely with your business needs.
- Brand trust
Join 100,000+ customers who use our link attribution platform to take their marketing efforts to the next level.
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 2 seats.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a self-hosted minimal link attribution service using Node.js (Express), Postgres, Redis, and Docker. In scope: API to create/manage short links with custom domain support; redirect endpoint that logs clicks; event ingestion API for conversion events; background worker (Bull/Redis) that attributes conversions to prior clicks and computes simple metrics (clicks, conversions, revenue) stored in Postgres; a lightweight React admin UI to create links, view per-link metrics, and manage partner records (CSV export); REST endpoints and a simple token-based auth for API use. Out of scope: multi-region scale, SAML/SSO, tax-compliant payouts, marketplace features, polished SDKs. Include error handling, input validation, automated tests for core APIs, and Docker Compose for local dev and deployment.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Partly verdict base52
- An open-source build was found+5
- 4 cited sources+3
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- 3/3 assessment runs agreed+4
- Hard moats found in the evidence-3
- Evidence score64
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 4
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productDub - product
- official pricingPricing | Dub
- official docsDocumentation - Dub
- open sourcedubinc/dub
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
