No ad-tech beacons. No cookie banner on the redirect. No paid-tier wall around your own data. The boring, useful version of a link platform, built by one developer who still uses it every day.
Short links tell you where someone went.
Attr tells you why.
The name comes from “attribute” - the hidden information attached to every digital interaction.
We believe links shouldn't be anonymous.
They should carry context, attribution, and insight.
That's Attr.
Three things I kept running into. Three problems that turned a weekend hack into the product.
It started as a personal tool. I had links scattered everywhere and no simple way to see what got clicked. Every “free” shortener I tried wanted a sales call before it would do the basics: custom domains, CSV export, an API.
So I built the small thing I actually wanted, and drew a line: paid plans unlock more, never the basics.
Then I started using it for client links at my software dev agency, Apptimistic.com. The moment other people's campaigns ran through it, the “free” model most shorteners use - cookies on click, ad-tech beacons, aggregated data on-sold - was a non-starter.
So I rebuilt the redirect to carry nothing: no cookies, no third-party scripts, IP truncated after 30 days.
To use it across agency projects I needed a real API, not one hidden behind a paywall or a five-step onboarding that ends with “contact us to enable.” I wanted to curl in a link in 60 seconds.
So every signup gets a token and the docs on day one. No quotas. No gatekeeping.
When two product paths fight each other, these three pick the winner. Always.
Visitors should never be the product. Cookie-free redirects, no third-party trackers, IP truncation after 30 days. Your audience never gets profiled to make our analytics richer.
Real REST API, signed webhooks, OpenAPI spec, server-to-server postbacks. No SDK lock-in, no five-step onboarding to get a token, no enterprise call to enable the API.
A free tier you can actually use. Custom domains on every plan. No "starting from $X" pages that hide the real cost. Attr.so stays sustainable on subscription revenue, not by selling visitor data.
Attr.sostarted as a personal tool and grew up inside Apptimistic, my software dev agency, where client privacy was non-negotiable.
If you have a question, a bug, or a feature idea, the fastest path is the support form. I read every message myself.
No funding round. No pivots. The unglamorous version.
I built it for my own software development agency, Apptimistic. One place to keep track of our client and project links and see what actually got clicked.
I run a boutique software dev agency, Apptimistic. Once it was handling client links, privacy stopped being optional, so I rebuilt it properly: no trackers, custom domains, analytics, campaigns, bio pages, REST API.
OpenAPI spec, signed webhooks, server-to-server postbacks. Available on every paid plan from day one.
Roadmap is public. Changelog is honest. Pricing fits in one screen.
The metrics that tell you whether the manifesto is real.
Two doors in. Both opened by a real person within a day.
Free forever. No credit card required. Your first short link takes about 60 seconds.