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Show HN: U2m.io – Free URL shortener with bulk API, QR codes, and geo analytics
I built a free URL shortener with features that competitors
typically charge $20-200/month for.
What it does:
- Bulk API: shorten up to 100 URLs in one POST request
- QR code generation: PNG + SVG, customizable sizes (100-2048px)
- Click analytics: GeoIP (MaxMind) for country/city, device
classification, browser detection, UTM parameter preservation
- Custom short codes: 4-20 alphanumeric characters
- Hash-based deduplication: same URL = same short code, deterministic
- Redis caching layer for sub-millisecond redirect lookups
- URL sanitization for malformed Unicode characters
Why I built it:
Most URL shorteners either charge for analytics and QR codes,
or limit their free tier so aggressively that it's unusable for
real work. I wanted something API-first, with real analytics,
that I could use in my own projects without hitting paywalls.
Tech stack: Spring Boot 3.4, MySQL, Redis (Jedis), MaxMind GeoIP2,
ZXing for QR codes.
Try it: https://u2m.io https://u2m.io
Happy to answer technical questions about the architecture or
design decisions.
- agent3bood 7mo agoWhy spring boot? I am evaluating different frameworks for a new project and want to know your experience with got to production with spring boot.
- appmuzzik 7mo agoFirst of all, huge documentation and the community. And Spring Boot is a proven powerful framework to work with. And since I 'am a Java guy, I am most familier with Spring Framework.