Firebase Dynamic Links Alternatives in 2026: An Honest Comparison

Google shut down Firebase Dynamic Links on August 25, 2025. If you're still looking for a replacement, this guide compares every serious option available today, honestly, without affiliate links or paid placements. For a Flinku-specific walkthrough, see the migration guide and published pricing. Need to move today? Start with Migrate to Flinku in 5 minutes or the Flutter migration walkthrough.

What You Actually Need

Before comparing tools, it's worth being clear about what Firebase Dynamic Links actually did:

Deferred deep linking, if a user doesn't have your app installed, they get sent to the App Store or Play Store. After install, the app opens the correct screen automatically.

iOS Universal Links and Android App Links, so tapping a link opens your app directly instead of a browser.

Deepview pages, a branded interstitial page that previews the content and prompts the user to open or install the app.

Analytics, tracking which links drive installs and opens.

Not every alternative does all of these. That distinction matters.

The Alternatives

Flinku

Full disclosure: this is our product, so weigh this section accordingly and check the claims against the docs.

Flinku was built specifically after the Firebase Dynamic Links shutdown. It covers deferred deep linking, iOS Universal Links, Android App Links, deepview pages, and analytics, plus features Firebase never had: password protected links, scheduled links, a link health monitor that alerts you when your App Store URL breaks, smart fallback chains, and geo routing on every plan.

SDKs cover Flutter, iOS, Android, React Native, Unity, and Capacitor. All six are open source, so when a deferred match behaves unexpectedly you can read the matching logic rather than filing a ticket.

Pricing is flat and based on links and clicks rather than monthly active users. The free tier includes 3 projects, 300 links per month, and 10,000 clicks a month, with deferred deep linking and the referral system included rather than gated. Paid plans are $12 and $39 a month.

Best for: indie developers and small teams who want deep linking without MAU billing and want to read the SDK source when something misbehaves.

Trade off: the 300 link cap on the free tier is lower than ChottuLink's unlimited links, so an app minting a link per user share while staying under 25,000 MAU will get further on ChottuLink's free plan. Flinku is also a smaller operation than the measurement platforms, without their ad network integration catalogue.

Branch.io

Branch is the enterprise standard for mobile deep linking. It has deep attribution, paid ad integrations (Meta, Google, TikTok), and a large feature set. The tradeoff is price — no public rate card; custom quote and a sales contact required — and complexity. For most indie developers and small teams, it's overkill. For a dedicated Flinku vs Branch writeup, see Branch alternative and Branch.io alternatives for indie developers.

Best for: Large teams who need paid ad attribution and are willing to pay enterprise prices.

ChottuLink

ChottuLink is a newer entrant targeting the same post-Firebase gap. It offers deferred deep linking on all plans. Its docs list SDKs for iOS, Android, Flutter, React Native, Capacitor / Ionic, and Unity. Pricing is MAU-based: free up to 25k MAU, then $19/month up to 100k MAU. If your app grows, costs grow with it.

Best for: Developers who prefer MAU-based pricing.

AppsFlyer

AppsFlyer is the largest mobile measurement platform by market share, and one of the seven services Google pointed to in its own deprecation notice. Deep linking is delivered through OneLink, a feature inside a much larger attribution product covering ad network integrations, fraud detection, and cross channel measurement. Pricing is custom and quoted through sales.

Best for: apps running significant paid acquisition where attribution data drives real spend decisions.

Trade off: you are buying an attribution suite to get link routing. Substantial cost and complexity if routing is the actual requirement.

Airbridge

A mobile measurement platform with a DeepLink plan separated from the full attribution product. The free DeepLink tier covers 10,000 monthly active users but caps links at 3,000, which apps generating links programmatically tend to hit before the MAU limit. Paid plans start at $199 a month.

Best for: teams in Korea and the wider APAC region where local support matters.

Trade off: the jump from free to $199 a month is abrupt, and the link cap makes the free tier restrictive for share driven apps.

Dub

An open source link management platform, strongest on web campaign links, branded short links, and conversion tracking. The free tier covers 25 new links a month and 1,000 tracked events with 30 day retention. Pro is $25 a month, Business is $75, and conversion tracking sits behind the Business tier.

Best for: marketing teams whose links mostly point at web destinations, or as a companion to a mobile specific tool.

Trade off: not built primarily for mobile deferred deep linking, and 25 new links a month rules out any app minting a link per user share.

HopLinks

Built with Indian developers in mind at $3.99 a month, with UPI payment links and WhatsApp intent links that no other tool in this comparison offers out of the box.

Best for: apps serving the Indian market where UPI and WhatsApp flows are core to the product.

Trade off: narrower SDK coverage and a narrower feature set outside that regional focus.

Smler

Smler sells deep linking and install attribution on flat monthly plans. Deferred deep linking, unlimited clicks, unlimited re-engagement opens, and links that never expire are included on every plan, including Free. The free tier covers 25,000 attributed installs a month on one app, with 30-day analytics retention. Paid plans are Builder at $19 a month, Team at $49, Scale at $129, and Enterprise from $299. Custom domains and removing Smler branding start at Builder. Pricing verified against Smler's public pricing page in August 2026.

Best for: teams who want deferred deep linking on a recurring free attributed-install allowance, billed on plan capabilities rather than MAU.

Trade off: custom domains and unbranded links start at Builder ($19 a month). Free is one app with 30-day analytics retention. Going over the attributed-install allowance is $1.50 per 1,000 rather than a hard stop.

Building Your Own

Some developers build a custom redirect server. This gives full control but means maintaining SSL, AASA files, assetlinks.json, fingerprinting logic for deferred deep linking, and analytics yourself. It's a significant ongoing maintenance burden.

Best for: Teams with specific requirements that no existing tool meets.

Feature Comparison

Flinku, Branch, ChottuLink, Dub, and Smler pricing and published SDK lists verified against public pages in August 2026. Airbridge, AppsFlyer, and HopLinks pricing rows are from the same earlier pass; their SDK inventories were not re-checked for this edit. Where open-source status is not published on the pages checked, the cell is "Not published" rather than No.

Which one fits your situation

Deep linking is the whole requirement, and you are a solo developer or small team. Flinku, ChottuLink, or HopLinks if you are India focused. All three cost less per year than one month of a measurement platform.

You run significant paid acquisition and need attribution to justify spend. Branch or AppsFlyer. The price is defensible when the data changes what you spend.

Your links mostly point at web destinations. Dub, possibly alongside a mobile specific tool.

You are worried a viral week will spike your bill. Look at the pricing model rather than the sticker price. Link and click based billing (Flinku, Dub, HopLinks) and MAU based billing (ChottuLink, Branch, Airbridge, AppsFlyer) fail under different growth patterns. Model your own numbers against both.

You want to read the code. Flinku and Dub publish open source SDKs. Branch states that all of its SDKs are open source on GitHub. Whether other vendors publish readable SDK source is not listed on the pages checked for this post.

FAQ

Is Firebase Dynamic Links really gone? Yes. The shutdown was August 25, 2025. Link creation, analytics, and deferred deep linking stopped working. Some existing page.link URLs still redirect inconsistently, but they no longer preserve install context, so deferred routing is broken even when a redirect happens to resolve.

What is the cheapest Firebase Dynamic Links alternative? HopLinks at $3.99 a month is the lowest paid entry point here. For free options, ChottuLink covers 25,000 monthly active users with unlimited links, and Flinku covers 300 links per month and 10,000 clicks a month with deferred deep linking included.

Do I need a mobile measurement platform to replace Firebase? Only if you were using Firebase for paid ad attribution, which it did not do well. If you were using it for link routing, a dedicated deep linking platform covers the requirement at a fraction of the cost.

Which alternatives support Flutter? Flinku, ChottuLink, Airbridge, AppsFlyer, and Branch all ship Flutter SDKs. Flinku publishes flinku_sdk on pub.dev with open source code.

How long does migration take? Configuring a new platform usually takes under an hour, with SDK integration a few hours more. The longer tail is auditing everywhere your old links were embedded, particularly links hardcoded in backend push notification payloads, and testing deferred deep linking on genuinely clean device installs.

Flinku is a Firebase Dynamic Links replacement built for indie developers and small teams. Start for free at app.flinku.dev.