vs Short.io
Lua vs Short.io
Short.io took the right lesson early: the branded domain is the product, not the upgrade. Its free tier has long been unusually generous about domains, which is the opposite of how most shorteners are priced, and it deserves credit for that. Where the two part company is ownership. Short.io is a hosted service, so the click record lives on their infrastructure and the roadmap is theirs.
Why switch
Why people leave Short.io
You can run it yourself
Lua is open source, so the record of who clicked what can stay on infrastructure you control. That is not something a hosted-only product can offer at any tier.
The pricing is not usage-metered per click
Lua meters five numbers and none of them is a per-click charge. Read both pricing pages against your actual volume, because this is where the two diverge most.
An MCP server, not just an API
An assistant can create a link, tag it and read its analytics directly, without a scraping layer or a custom integration in between.
Feature by feature
How Lua compares
| Feature | Lua | Short.io |
|---|---|---|
| Custom domains | Included | Included, generous free tier |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Not offered |
| Click analytics | Country, region, city, device, browser, OS, referrer, UTM | Comparable |
| REST API | Included | Included |
| MCP server | Included | Not offered |
| Link expiry and password | Included on every plan | Available |
Pricing
Pricing, side by side
| Tier | Lua | Short.io |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started | Free, 5 links | Free, domain-friendly |
| Growing volume | Paid plans by volume | Paid plans by volume |
| Keeping the data yourself | Self-host at cost | Not offered |
Honest fit
Who each one actually suits
Switch if you
- Want the click record on your own infrastructure
- Want to read the source of the thing resolving your links
- Want an assistant to drive it over MCP
Stay on Short.io if you
- Are inside their free domain allowance and happy there
- Rely on an integration they have and we do not
- Have no interest in ever running infrastructure
Ask AI
Still deciding on a shortener?
Ask a neutral AI to weigh Lua against the alternatives. The comparison pages are public, so it has something real to read.
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