Compare
DL2App and Bitly compared
Bitly is a general link manager for marketing teams. DL2App is narrower: it is built for links that open a mobile app, carry someone through an install, and keep working for years.
If you only need short branded links to web pages, Bitly is built for that and this page will not change your mind. If your links are meant to open an app, the differences below matter.
Side by side
| Bitlyas recorded October 2026 | DL2Appas built today | |
|---|---|---|
| Price to open apps from a link | Deep linking starts on the $199 a month plan. | Included on every plan, including Free. Free, then $19, $49 or $99 a month, flat. Public on the pricing page. |
| Deferred deep linking (the link survives an install) | None documented. Bitly says it does not currently track app installs (from a search-engine summary of its support article). | On every plan. Exact on Android through the Play Install Referrer; on iOS a short-window match with an optional clipboard hand-off. Limits are documented and no match rate is quoted. |
| QR codes | Capped at 2 to 200 codes a month depending on plan. | One per link with no monthly cap, a designer with 16 module shapes, and a scan test before you download. |
| Click history | 30 days to 2 years depending on plan. | Click-by-click history for 30 days on Free and about 13 months on paid plans; daily totals are kept for the life of the project. |
| Bots in the numbers | Says reports may still contain some clicks generated by bots, and does not revise past numbers. | Every click is classed as a person, a bot or a scanner, and past clicks can be reclassified. |
| Webhooks | Listed under Enterprise. | Signed webhooks with retries and a delivery log. |
| Changes to links you already shared | In February 2025 Bitly put an interstitial with ads in front of existing links on its free plan. | A written promise: no ads or interstitials on any plan, and published links keep their behaviour. |
| If you stop paying | Not recorded in our research. | Links keep redirecting; the dashboard becomes read-only; export stays available. |
| Sign-in security | Two-factor on all plans; single sign-on on Enterprise. | Two-factor and Google or GitHub sign-in. No single sign-on (SAML). |
When Bitly is the better choice
- You manage large volumes of plain web links for marketing, not app links.
- You want link-in-bio pages or an AI assistant inside the product (Bitly Assist). DL2App has neither.
- You need single sign-on. Bitly offers it on Enterprise; DL2App does not have it.
- Bitly has had a hosted MCP server for AI assistants since August 2025 and publishes its abuse process in a Trust Center.
What is different about DL2App
- Opening the app is the product, not a top-tier feature.
- A link carries someone through an install to the right screen.
- A custom domain on every plan, so links and printed codes can leave with you.
- An export that includes files to serve the links yourself.
What we are not sure of
- Our researchers could not read review sites such as G2 or Capterra, and some of Bitly's per-plan feature checkmarks were lost when its pricing table was captured, so the plan a feature starts on may be off by one tier.
- Rows marked “not recorded” mean our research has no information, not that the feature is missing.
Start with one link
The free plan has no time limit and needs no card. Create a project, add your app, and send yourself the link.