Short.io is the quietly capable link shortener — custom domains on every paid plan, link cloaking, geo- and device-targeted redirects, A/B splitting, and a solid API. It is a favorite of affiliate marketers and growth teams who need links that do more than redirect.
Its pricing follows the SaaS ladder: a limited free tier, then roughly $19/month (Personal) to $99/month (Team) as your link counts, clicks and features grow. That is $228–1,188 per year, forever, largely for infrastructure that fits comfortably on the smallest VPS money rents. Trimly is that VPS version: $29 once, no meters.
What Short.io does well
Short.io packs in real capability:
- Geo and device targeting — send iOS users to the App Store and Germans to the .de site from one link.
- A/B redirect splitting for landing-page tests.
- Custom domains on all paid plans with managed SSL.
- A developer-friendly API and browser extensions.
If conditional redirects are core to your funnel — affiliates, app marketing — Short.io's cleverness genuinely earns money.
Where the subscription model hurts
The ladder is steep for what most users actually do (create links, count clicks): $19/month tightens quickly on links and click analytics retention, and teams land at $59–99/month. Over three years the Personal tier alone is $684. The free tier, as ever, is a demo with the good parts — meaningful analytics, more links, more domains — held back.
Click data lives in their cloud, retention is plan-dependent, and your redirect layer — the thing between every ad you buy and every landing page you own — is a third party's uptime and pricing decisions. That is a lot of strategic surface area to rent monthly.
Trimly: the pay-once alternative
Trimly is a $29, one-time purchase. Your own branded link shortener with full click analytics. Trimly covers the everyday shortener completely: custom or auto slugs on your domain, 301/302 per link, editable destinations that keep printed QR codes alive, a built-in UTM builder, CSV import/export, and click analytics (uniques via privacy-friendly daily hashing) stored in your own SQLite file.
The source code is MIT-licensed at github.com/bensblueprints/link-shortener — free to build and run yourself, forever. Buying the packaged version on Whop gets you the signed installer, 1-click setup and updates. Either way, there is no account, no telemetry and no renewal date.
Head to head
| Trimly | Short.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $29 once | $19–99/mo |
| Cost over 3 years | $29 | ~$684–3,564 |
| Where your data lives | Your machine / your server | Their cloud |
| Usage limits | None — unlimited use | Links & analytics retention by tier |
| Works offline | Yes | No |
| Source code | MIT, on GitHub | Closed |
Who should stay with Short.io
Stay with Short.io if you need geo/device targeting or A/B splits — Trimly redirects every visitor to one destination per link, full stop. Those conditional features are Short.io's real moat, and if you use them, pay for them happily.
Switch if your links just need to redirect, look branded, carry UTMs and report honest analytics. That is the whole job for most businesses, and it should not cost $228 a year.
Making the switch
Step 1 — Buy once on Whop. One-time $29 — installer, updates and setup support included.
Step 2 — Point your domain. Deploy to a $5 VPS with Docker, point go.yourbrand.com at it, put free Cloudflare in front for country analytics.
Step 3 — Create links, watch clicks. Custom slugs, UTM builder, QR codes, and a full analytics dashboard you own.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/link-shortener. The $29 buys the packaged 1-click installer, updates and setup support.
Do I need a server for public links?
Yes — public short links need a public host, so budget a $5/mo VPS. Desktop mode works fully offline for QR generation and campaign planning. Even VPS + Trimly year one costs less than 3 months of Bitly.
Can I migrate from Bitly?
Yes — bulk CSV import is built in. Export from Bitly, paste, done. Printed QR codes keep working because destinations stay editable.
The bottom line
Subscriptions make sense when a service does ongoing work for you — hosting, syncing, multi-region infrastructure, human labor. They make much less sense when the work happens on your own hardware and the monthly bill is just a toll booth. Trimly is our bet that for this job, most people are better served owning the tool: $29 once, one month of Bitly's custom-domain plan costs the same as Trimly does once.
Trimly is part of OneTimeSuite — 56 desktop and self-hosted apps built on the same principle: your hardware does the work, so you should not pay rent on it. Every app is a one-time purchase with MIT-licensed source on GitHub, no accounts and no telemetry. Want everything at once? OneTimeSuite Complete bundles the whole suite for a single flat $997.
Try Trimly — $29, one time
Signed installer on Whop, or build it free from the MIT source. Your call.
Related comparisons: Bitly alternative · Rebrandly alternative — or browse the whole pay-once suite.