At a Glance:
Dub is an open-source link attribution platform offering short links, conversion tracking, and affiliate program management, designed for self-hosting and used by marketing teams to process over 100 million clicks monthly.
Overview:
Dub is an open-source link attribution platform designed for managing short links, tracking conversions, and running affiliate programs. It provides a centralized system for creating branded short links and analyzing their performance. The platform serves marketing teams and is built on a modern web stack including Next.js, TypeScript, Prisma, and PlanetScale. Dub is designed both as a managed service and for self-hosting, giving users the option to deploy the full platform on their own infrastructure. It is currently used to power a high volume of link traffic for companies such as Twilio, Buffer, and Vercel.
Key Decision Points:
Self-Hosting Capability: The platform can be deployed on your own infrastructure, offering direct control over data and design.
Analytics Stack: Built-in analytics are powered by Tinybird, with a database layer on PlanetScale, providing real-time and relational data processing for click events.
Authentication and SSO: User authentication is handled by NextAuth.js, with enterprise-grade SSO and SAML support provided through BoxyHQ.
Operational Scale: The reference architecture is proven at scale, handling over 100 million clicks and 2 million links per month.
Core Features:
Short Links: Create and manage branded, shortened URLs.
Conversion Tracking: Track and attribute conversions driven by links.
Affiliate Programs: Manage and operate affiliate marketing initiatives directly from the platform.
SSO/SAML: Single Sign-On and SAML support for team-based access.
Use Cases:
Marketing teams managing a high volume of branded short links and needing to attribute downstream conversions.
Organizations running an affiliate program that requires link attribution and partner tracking.
Developers or system administrators wanting to self-host a link management and attribution platform on their own infrastructure.
Open-Source Alternative Value:
Dub provides a self-hostable alternative to proprietary link management and attribution services, giving users direct control over their data and platform design. The codebase, built with TypeScript and Next.js, is available for teams to customize and deploy independently. This approach allows for integration into existing data pipelines without being dependent on an external SaaS vendor's uptime or data handling policies.
