Dub Review

Most "link shorteners" stop at a branded URL and a click chart. Dub kept going: conversion events, then partner payouts on the same data. That is why we put Dupple partner links on it. One system issues the link, attributes the click, and (on Business and above) pays the person who earned it.

This review is written from that use, plus Dub's published plans as of September 2026. I am not pretending we ran a lab against Bitly's entire enterprise catalog. I am telling you what the tiers actually include, where payout caps matter, and when Bitly, Rebrandly, Rewardful, or PartnerStack is the cleaner buy. Partner disclosure: 20% off for three months at https://refer.dub.co/louis-dupple-com.

A second reason we stayed: the API. Partner links at our volume are created from a script, not from a human in a dashboard. If your affiliate program is 12 people and a spreadsheet, Rewardful on Stripe may still be less software. If your program is a link graph plus payouts, Dub's one database is the point.

Dub is an open-source link and partner platform started by Steven Tey (the open-source project dates to 2022; the company followed). You create short links on your own domains, attach UTM and preview metadata, and watch clicks, QR scans, and conversion events.

On Business and Advanced, Dub Partners turns those same links into an affiliate or referral program: partners, reward rules, and payouts, with a 5% payout fee on the self-serve partner tiers (3% on Enterprise).

The product split confuses people who land on dub.co/pricing. The homepage often leads with Partners (Business $90, Advanced $300). Link-only teams live on Free and Pro. If you only need branded links and click analytics, you should not be comparing yourself to PartnerStack. If you need to pay affiliates, you should not stop at Bitly.

Because we use Dub for partner links, the part I care about is boring: the link works, the event shows up, and the partner dashboard is something we can hand to a human without a training deck. Open source plus a hosted app means you can read the code and still not self-host unless you enjoy that kind of weekend.

Dub Partners is not PartnerStack. There is no marketplace on self-serve where thousands of publishers discover you. You recruit, you invite, you pay. The $2,500 and $15,000 caps are payout volume, not how many links you may create.

Blow the cap and you are on the phone for Enterprise or you are delaying payouts. Model that before a campaign month, not after.

You add a workspace, connect a domain, and create links. Each link can carry UTM templates, a custom preview, deep-link behavior, cloaking, expiration, and password protection on paid plans. Clicks and custom conversion events count against the monthly event quota.

If you blow past the quota, existing links keep working and Dub keeps tracking, but you need to upgrade to see the analytics. Dub does not currently bill event overages; if you exceed a threshold (4x on Free, 2x on paid) it can refuse to reset the counter until you upgrade.

Partners start at Business. You invite affiliates, set reward structures, and pay out up to the plan cap ($2,500 a month on Business, $15,000 on Advanced, unlimited on Enterprise). Tax forms and global payouts are part of that product.

Advanced adds richer rewards, an embedded referral dashboard, email campaigns, a messaging center, and risk monitoring. Enterprise adds SSO, audit logs, marketplace placement, and a lower 3% payout fee.

The API and SDKs are first-class, which is why we can mint partner links from our own flows instead of living in the UI. Rate limits go from 1,200 requests a minute on Business to 3,000 on Advanced. MCP is there if you want an agent to create links. None of that replaces deciding whether you are buying links, or links plus payouts.

Domains are the other quota people ignore. Free includes 3, Pro 10, Business 100, Advanced 250. If every newsletter and mini-site needs its own hostname, you will feel that before you feel the link cap. Retention is the same story: 30 days on Free is a demo window.

We would not run partner reporting on 30 days of clicks. Pro's year is the minimum for a program you have to explain to finance in January.

Dub's self-serve prices, as used in September 2026 tool reviews and the live pricing pages:

Free is $0. 25 new links a month, 1,000 tracked events, 1 user, 3 custom domains, 30-day retention. Fine for a personal site or a trial workspace. Not a partner program.

Pro is $30 a month (about 10% off on yearly). 1,000 new links, 50,000 events, 3 users, 10 domains, 1-year retention, folders, deep links, a free .link domain. This is the link-management plan. It does not include partner payouts.

Business is $90 a month. 10,000 links, 250,000 events, 10 users, 100 domains, 3-year retention, conversion tracking, A/B tests, webhooks, and Dub Partners with $2,500 in partner payouts per month (5% payout fee, 500 partners, basic rewards). This is the first plan we would put a real affiliate program on.

Advanced is $300 a month. 50,000 links, 1 million events, 20 users, 250 domains, 5-year retention, higher API limits, and $15,000 in partner payouts per month with advanced rewards, email campaigns, messaging, risk monitoring, and an embedded referral dashboard.

Enterprise is custom (annual): unlimited links, events, payouts, SSO, audit logs, marketplace access, 3% payout fee. All paid plans include a 14-day trial. Partner offer: 20% off for 3 months at https://refer.dub.co/louis-dupple-com.

Yearly billing is about 10% off, which is milder than the old 17% some write-ups still quote. Use the live checkout, not a 2025 screenshot. The 20% for three months on the partner link is the better first-quarter deal if you are starting paid.

After month three you are on list (or on yearly). Payout fees (5% on Business/Advanced, 3% on Enterprise) sit on top of the subscription. A $2,000 payout month on Business costs $100 in fees plus $90 for the seat. That is still cheaper than a PartnerStack quote for most early programs, and more than Rewardful if Stripe already did the job.

Dub is a strong fit if you want one vendor for branded links and, later, partner payouts. That is us. We already mint Dupple partner links here, so the E-E-A-T line is not a slogan.

Pro at $30 is the plan if you only need links and a year of analytics. Jump to Business at $90 the moment you need to pay people against those links, and watch the $2,500 payout cap. Advanced at $300 is for programs that have already outgrown that cap or want the partner CRM features.

It is a weaker fit if you only ever needed five branded links a month (Bitly Free or Core may be enough, with a much worse event story).

It is also a weaker fit if you sell SaaS through Stripe and want the most boring affiliate setup on earth (Rewardful still wins that niche) or if you need a publisher marketplace to recruit partners you do not have (PartnerStack). Rebrandly is the branded-link specialist if you do not want payouts in the same bill.

Creators who only needed a branded short link should look at Pro or even Free, not Business. Agencies that need client workspaces and no payouts should look at Rebrandly. We are on Dub because the partner link and the payout are the same object.

If those are two different teams in your company (brand vs partner ops), you may still want two tools. Do not buy Advanced for the logo.