The Dub alternative that scans what your links point at
Last updated: August 29, 2026 · Written by URLVIS — yes, we are one of the two products on this page. Sources and methodology are at the bottom.
Dub is the most impressive engineering in this category — open-source, fast, beautifully built. If you want a developer-grade link platform and are happy metering tracked events, pick it with our blessing. URLVIS competes on a different axis: every destination is security-scanned before publication, clicks and their tracking are never metered, and Pro costs $15/mo for 5,000 links against Dub Pro's $25/mo (billed annually) for 1,000.
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Why teams pick URLVIS over Dub
Dub is genuinely good, so the differences that matter are structural, not quality:
Events are metered; attention is spiky
Dub meters tracked events per month on every tier (reported 1,000/mo Free, 50,000/mo Pro, as of August 2026). One viral day can outrun the meter mid-campaign. URLVIS never meters clicks or their tracking on any plan — plans meter link creation only, because traffic spikes are the moment analytics matter most.
Volume pricing favors us at the tier that matters
Dub Pro (reported $25/mo billed annually) includes 1,000 new links/mo; URLVIS Pro is $15/mo for 5,000 links/mo and 5 domains. If your team ships campaigns weekly, the link budget is five times deeper at a lower price.
Nobody scans the destination
Dub, like every general-purpose shortener, does not list pre-publication destination scanning as a plan feature (as of August 2026). URLVIS inspects every destination — blocklists, Safe Browsing, domain age, brand impersonation, AI content analysis — before the link exists, and re-scans it afterwards. That is the product, not a feature.
URLVIS vs Dub, feature by feature
| Feature | URLVIS | Dub |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-publication security scan of every destination | Yes — multi-layer, then periodic re-scans | Not offered as a listed plan feature |
| Click / event metering | None on any plan | Tracked events metered per tier (1k free / 50k Pro reported) |
| Pro-tier value | $15/mo · 5,000 links · 5 domains | $25/mo (annual) · 1,000 links · 10 domains |
| Free plan | 1 domain · 5 links/mo · 7-day analytics | 3 domains · 25 links/mo · 30-day retention — more generous on domains and retention |
| Open source / self-hostable | No | Yes — the strongest portability story in the category |
| Edit destination after publishing | Every plan, including Free | Included |
| Analytics retention (paid) | Pro 2 years · Business 3 years | Pro 1 year (reported) |
| Developer surface | API on Business; deliberately small | API-first across tiers, SDKs, webhooks |
Dub figures are from public pricing breakdowns, as of August 29, 2026; reviewed quarterly. Spot an error? Email [email protected] and we will fix it.
Which tool fits which job?
The honest split — and what each trade actually costs:
- A developer-grade, API-first platform is the job: Dub fits it better than we do today, full stop. What the API surface does not include is a verdict on where each link points — shipping links faster is not the same as shipping safe ones.
- Self-hosting for ultimate control is the job: Dub is open-source and that is a real portability story — respect. Ours takes no servers: the domain and DNS are already yours, and repointing a CNAME needs no DevOps team.
- A roomier free tier for tinkering is the job: Dub’s free 3 domains and 30-day retention beat our free tier, plainly. Our free tier is a proof of the security filter, not a workspace — the full scan runs on every link from day one, which is the part no tier of Dub includes.
- Event-level analytics depth is the job: Dub’s tracking is excellent — and metered. Ours answers fewer questions with no meter running during the exact spikes you built the campaign for.
Migrating from Dub in an afternoon
- Export your links from Dub (CSV).
- Your custom domains are already yours — repoint the CNAMEs to URLVIS; SSL is automatic.
- Bulk-import the CSV (Pro and Business): same domains, same slugs, zero dead links.
- Every imported destination is scanned on arrival — a security audit of your whole estate on day one.
Both products do own-domain links right, so this migration keeps every printed QR working. The move buys you uncapped tracking and the scan — not new addresses.
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Other alternatives worth considering
- Bitly — Biggest brand and integrations catalog in the category.
- Short.io — Most generous mainstream free tier; analytics-first.
- Rebrandly — Branded-link specialist; free custom domain, tracked-click caps.
Common questions when comparing with Dub
Dub is open source — isn’t that safer than trusting you?
It is a different safety. Self-hosting protects you from the vendor; it does not scan a single destination for your visitors. Our portability answer is the domain itself: export your data, repoint the CNAME, and the addresses survive us.
What exactly is uncapped on URLVIS?
Clicks and their tracking, on every plan. Plans meter link creation (5/5,000/50,000 per month) and analytics retention windows — never traffic.
Is the security scan a paid add-on?
No — it is the product. Every plan, including Free, runs the full multi-layer scan on every destination. Try the same engine free on our link checker.
Try the free link safety checker
More comparisons
- URLVIS vs Bitly
- URLVIS vs Rebrandly
- URLVIS vs TinyURL
- URLVIS vs Short.io
- URLVIS vs Cutt.ly
- URLVIS vs BL.INK
- URLVIS vs T2M
- All comparisons
Methodology & disclosure
How this comparison was made: URLVIS figures come from our pricing engine. Dub figures were compiled on August 29, 2026 from public pricing breakdowns; Dub also publishes vendor comparisons of its own — read both sides. URLVIS wrote this page; corrections to [email protected].