How we built our URL shortener (Monstrator) as a replacement for Bitly

In the early days of the internet, sharing links was a struggle. They were long, clunky, and hard to remember. URL shortener services like TinyURL, Bitly, and Google Link (goo.gl has been shut down) emerged to save the day, offering tidy, shortened links perfect for social media, SMS, and other platforms where character limit is precious.

Bitly quickly established itself as the industry standard, overtook TinyURL and became the  leading URL shortening service. However, like many startups, Bitly eventually felt the squeeze as venture capital funds dried up. They increased prices and dramatically reduced the features on the free tier that many users relied on. Suddenly, the once-beloved service was out of reach for many users.

The search for an alternative URL shortener

As a rapidly growing lending platform, Lendsqr serves millions of customers. Each customer interacts with our platform through unique links for loan applications, repayments, and wallet funding.  Relying on Bitly was becoming unjustifiably expensive. The question was clear: What were our alternatives?

Our requirements went beyond simple link shortening. We need answers to deeper concerns:

• Click-through tracking: Which customers were engaging with our links, and which weren’t? This was more than knowing which URL was clicked and from where
• Independent data control: How could we analyze our massive database of links without being tied to Bitly’s dashboard for every piece of information?

Our search for solutions led us to an open source URL shortener: Serverless Teeny URL by Evan Chu.  Curious about its potential, we forked the codebase and began customizing it to our specific needs. Through dedicated development, we transformed the project into something special, a tool fittingly named ‘Monstrator’ – derived from the Latin word ‘Monstrato,’  meaning “to indicate, show, or point out.”

Monstrator is now the beating heart of Lendsqr’s loan management software. Every social media post, every repayment reminder, even those cleverly worded text messages encouraging customers to complete their loan applications – they’re all powered by our very own, highly capable URL shortener.

Some of the coolest features of our URL shortener Monstrator include:

Link previews

A standout feature of our system is how it shows those tantalizing link previews across mobile devices. Customers get a glimpse of the destination before they even click, making the experience so much smoother. This allows us to know messages that were delivered but not clicked or actioned.

Detailed analytics

We didn’t stop at shortening links. We built in detailed analytics, so we know where clicks are coming from, which links truly drive engagement, which ones are important, and which are not.

Lessons learned and future plans

The development of Monstrator has been a resounding success.  Soon, we’ll integrate it directly with the Mailer we have previously built, allowing our team to manage every aspect of our customer messaging from a single, unified hub.

We’re so happy with the results that we want to give back to the community. Our plan is to release Monstrator as an open-source project, letting others benefit from our work.

Until then, Monstrator stands as a testament to our in-house development capabilities, demonstrating our ability to solve critical business problems with custom-built solutions. In our opinion, Monstrator is the best URL shortener.

As always, our friendly team at [email protected] is ready to answer any questions you have and help you get set up.