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Best Firebase Dynamic Links Alternative in 2026

Firebase Dynamic Links shut down in August 2025. Compare replacements by features and pricing, with a free tier and a 30-minute migration path.

WarpLink Team··23 min read

TL;DR: Firebase Dynamic Links shut down on August 25, 2025. Every Firebase short link now returns HTTP 404, so any deep linking, install attribution, or analytics your app inherited from FDL is already broken. WarpLink is the best Firebase Dynamic Links alternative for developers and small teams. It covers everything Firebase offered (universal links, deferred deep links, install attribution, analytics) and adds sub-10ms edge redirects, open source SDKs with zero dependencies, and transparent pricing starting at $0/month. No sales calls, no contracts. Create a free account and have deep links working in five minutes.

There are four realistic paths after the shutdown. Here is the decision at a glance, with an honest assessment of each option below.

AlternativeBest forFree tierEntry priceDeferred deep linksMigration effort
WarpLinkIndie devs and small teams10,000 clicks/mo$19/moYesAbout 30 minutes
BranchTeams above roughly $100K/mo ad spendRetired July 2025Sales-quoted, roughly $199 to $499/moYesSales-led onboarding
AppsFlyerMulti-channel marketing orgs12,000 lifetime conversionsRoughly $0.03 to $0.07 per conversionYesMMP onboarding
Self-hosting (DIY)Total control$0 in feesEngineering timeBuild it yourselfWeeks of engineering

WarpLink is built for developers and small teams, the audience Firebase Dynamic Links actually served. It covers universal links, app links, deferred deep links, install attribution, and real-time analytics, with sub-10ms edge redirects and open source SDKs. The free tier includes 10,000 clicks per month, paid plans start at $19 per month, and migration takes about 30 minutes for most apps.

Branch

Branch is a mobile measurement partner built for performance marketers running paid acquisition at scale. Multi-touch attribution, fraud detection, and ad network integrations are real features, and above roughly $100K per month in ad spend they earn their price. Branch retired its free tier in July 2025, and plans are sales-quoted, starting in the $199 to $499 per month range.

AppsFlyer

AppsFlyer is the largest MMP and fits multi-channel marketing orgs that need attribution data feeding back into ad networks. It charges per attributed conversion, roughly $0.03 to $0.07 each, and its free tier caps at 12,000 lifetime conversions. For a small team replacing a free linking service, per-conversion pricing is the wrong axis.

Self-hosting (DIY)

Self-hosting gives you total control and costs $0 in fees. In exchange, you build AASA and assetlinks.json hosting, redirect infrastructure, deferred deep linking, and bot detection yourself. Honest estimate: weeks of engineering to reach parity with what Firebase gave you for free, plus ongoing maintenance as Apple and Google change platform requirements.

Google shut down Firebase Dynamic Links on August 25, 2025. Every Firebase short link, including page.link subdomains and custom domains, now returns HTTP 404. The deprecation was announced in 2023, the ecosystem got two years to migrate, and the cutoff was clean and complete: no graceful degradation, no extension, no first-party successor.

Google's official guidance is to migrate to a third-party solution. There is no migration tool and no recommended vendor.

If you have not migrated yet, every Firebase Dynamic Link in your app, your emails, your marketing campaigns, your QR codes, and your social posts is already broken. The links did not gradually degrade; they redirected one day and returned errors the next. Install attribution and re-engagement deep links stopped working without you deploying anything.

Why did Google kill a popular free service? It had no revenue model, deep linking is expensive to maintain well as Apple and Google change platform requirements, and Firebase was consolidating around its revenue-generating products.

Before comparing specific solutions, it helps to define what "good" looks like. Firebase Dynamic Links had real limitations, so a replacement should do more than just replicate it. Here's a framework for evaluating any Firebase Dynamic Links alternative.

The most basic requirement: links should work. Every click should resolve to the correct destination with minimal latency. This sounds obvious, but it's where many solutions fall short.

Firebase Dynamic Links had variable latency depending on server location and load. A modern replacement should resolve redirects at the edge, as close to the user as possible. Target: under 10 milliseconds for any redirect, anywhere in the world.

Questions to ask:

  • Where do redirects resolve? Origin servers or edge network?
  • What's the p95 redirect latency?
  • What happens during traffic spikes?
  • Is there a cold start penalty?

Platform Coverage

A single URL should work across iOS, Android, and web. When a user taps a link:

  • iOS: Open the app via Universal Links, or fall back to the App Store
  • Android: Open the app via App Links, or fall back to the Play Store
  • Web: Open the destination URL in the browser if no app is installed

Firebase Dynamic Links handled this with a single link format. Any replacement needs the same capability. Bonus points if the solution handles the platform-specific configuration files (AASA for iOS, assetlinks.json for Android) automatically.

This is the feature that separates real deep linking from basic URL shortening. Deferred deep links preserve context through the app install flow:

  1. User taps a link to a specific product in your app
  2. User doesn't have the app installed, gets redirected to the App Store
  3. User installs the app
  4. App opens and navigates directly to that specific product

Without deferred deep links, the user installs the app and lands on the home screen. The context of why they tapped the link is lost. For referral programs, content sharing, and onboarding flows, this is a dealbreaker.

Attribution Accuracy

Attribution answers the question: "Where did this user come from?" After Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework effectively killed IDFA-based tracking, attribution accuracy depends on alternative signals:

  • Referrer matching: Using the HTTP referrer when available
  • Device ID matching: IDFV (Identifier for Vendor) for deterministic re-engagement
  • Fingerprinting: Combining device signals (model, OS version, screen size, language) with IP address for probabilistic matching

A good solution uses a cascade of these strategies, falling back from most accurate to least accurate. It should also be transparent about which strategy matched each attribution, so you can gauge confidence.

SDK Quality

The SDK is what your app ships with. It runs on every user's device. SDK quality matters more than dashboard features because it directly affects your app's performance and your users' experience.

Evaluate SDKs on:

  • Size: Every kilobyte adds to download time and storage. Firebase's SDK was already large because it bundled the full Firebase framework.
  • Dependencies: Third-party dependencies are attack surface. They can introduce vulnerabilities, licensing conflicts, and unexpected behavior. Zero dependencies is the gold standard.
  • Open source: Can you read the code? Can you audit what data the SDK collects? Can you file issues and contribute fixes?
  • Platform support: Native SDKs for iOS (Swift) and Android (Kotlin) at minimum. React Native and Flutter support for cross-platform teams.

Pricing Transparency

This is where the Firebase alternatives diverge most sharply. Firebase Dynamic Links was free. Most alternatives are not, and many hide their pricing entirely.

There are three pricing models in the deep linking market:

  1. "Contact sales": You fill out a form, get a demo, negotiate a contract. Typical minimums: hundreds of dollars a month, often with annual commitments. This is how enterprise platforms operate.
  2. Usage-based with visible pricing: You can see the tiers, understand the costs, and sign up without talking to anyone. This is the model that works for developers and small teams.
  3. Free/open source: You run everything yourself. Full control, but significant maintenance burden. No support for deferred deep links or attribution without building it from scratch.

If you're coming from Firebase (free), the jump to "contact sales" pricing is steep. Look for solutions with transparent, published pricing and a free tier that lets you evaluate without commitment.

Migration Effort

How hard is it to switch? Migration effort depends on:

  • Link format: Can you use custom domains to maintain your existing URL structure?
  • SDK integration: How many lines of code need to change?
  • API compatibility: Can you recreate your existing links programmatically?
  • Feature parity: Does the replacement cover everything you used in Firebase?

A 30-minute migration is realistic for most apps. A multi-week migration is a red flag.

The following table compares what Firebase Dynamic Links offered, what WarpLink provides, and what enterprise deep linking platforms typically include.

FeatureFirebase Dynamic LinksWarpLinkEnterprise Platforms
Universal Links (iOS)YesYesYes
App Links (Android)YesYesYes
Deferred deep linksYesYesYes
Install attributionBasicMulti-strategy cascadeAdvanced (multi-touch)
Social previews (OG tags)LimitedAutomatic bot detection + OG/Twitter CardYes
Custom domainsYesYes (1 free for 3 months, then paid tiers)Yes
Edge redirectsNo (origin server)Yes (sub-10ms globally)Varies
UTM parameter supportManualBuilt-inYes
Password-protected linksNoYesVaries
Click analyticsBasicReal-time with deduplicationAdvanced
API accessYesFull REST API + MCP serverYes
Open source SDKsNoYes (MIT licensed)No
SDK dependenciesFirebase frameworkZeroMultiple
SDK sizeLarge (full Firebase)Under 200KBLarge
PricingFreeFree tier, $0-149/moHundreds/mo
Setup time15-30 minutes5 minutesDays to weeks
Sales call requiredNoNoYes

For developers and small teams, WarpLink is the best Firebase Dynamic Links alternative. It covers Universal Links, App Links, deferred deep links, install attribution, and real-time analytics, adds sub-10ms redirects and open source SDKs, and starts free with 10,000 clicks per month, with paid plans from $19 per month.

Let's walk through each evaluation criterion and show how WarpLink addresses it.

Sub-10ms Edge Redirects

Every WarpLink redirect resolves at the global edge network. There is no origin server in the redirect path. When a user taps a link, the nearest edge node reads the link configuration and returns the redirect in under 10 milliseconds.

This matters because redirect latency is user-facing latency. A 200ms redirect is noticeable. A 500ms redirect feels broken. Firebase Dynamic Links resolved through origin servers with variable latency depending on geography and load. WarpLink eliminates that variable entirely.

There is no cold start. Redirects stay fast even under traffic spikes. The edge network scales horizontally across hundreds of locations.

Full Platform Coverage with Automatic Configuration

WarpLink handles iOS Universal Links, Android App Links, and web fallbacks from a single URL. Register your app in the dashboard with your bundle ID (iOS) and/or package name (Android), and WarpLink automatically generates and serves the required configuration files:

  • Apple App Site Association (AASA): Served at /.well-known/apple-app-site-association on your link domain
  • assetlinks.json: Served at /.well-known/assetlinks.json on your link domain

These files are regenerated automatically whenever you update your app configuration. No manual JSON editing, no server configuration, no forgetting to update after a team ID change.

Fallback behavior follows a clear priority chain: per-link fallback URL, then app-level fallback (store URLs), then organization default. You set it once and it works for every link.

WarpLink's deferred deep linking preserves context through the entire install flow. Here's the technical implementation:

  1. User taps a WarpLink URL
  2. WarpLink captures device signals at the edge and stores them with the link context
  3. User gets redirected to the app store
  4. User installs and opens the app
  5. The WarpLink SDK calls the attribution endpoint with the device's signals
  6. The server matches the signals against stored click data and returns the original deep link context
  7. Your app navigates to the intended screen

The matching uses a multi-strategy cascade for accuracy:

  1. Referrer matching: Most accurate when available
  2. Device ID (IDFV): Deterministic matching for re-engagement
  3. Fingerprint matching: Combines device model, OS version, screen dimensions, language, and IP address

This cascade runs in order from most to least accurate. Each attribution includes which strategy matched, so you always know the confidence level.

Open Source SDKs with Zero Dependencies

All WarpLink SDKs are MIT-licensed and open source. You can read every line of code, audit the data collection, and contribute improvements.

More importantly, every SDK has zero third-party dependencies:

  • iOS SDK: Swift, distributed via Swift Package Manager
  • Android SDK: Kotlin, distributed via Maven Central
  • React Native SDK: TypeScript bridge to native SDKs, distributed via npm

The total SDK size is under 200KB. Compare this to Firebase's SDK, which required the full Firebase framework and added megabytes to your app bundle.

Zero dependencies means zero supply chain risk. No transitive vulnerabilities, no license conflicts, no unexpected breaking changes from upstream packages. Your deep linking integration depends on exactly one thing: the WarpLink SDK.

Full REST API and MCP Server

Every feature available in the WarpLink dashboard is also available through the REST API. Create links, manage apps, query analytics, and configure domains programmatically.

WarpLink also includes an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, free on all plans. This means AI agents and coding assistants can create and manage deep links directly through your existing AI workflows. The MCP server connects with a one-time browser sign-in (OAuth) or an existing API key, and shares the same rate limit as the REST API.

Social Preview Handling

When someone shares a WarpLink URL on social media, bots (Twitter/X, Facebook, Slack, iMessage, etc.) need to fetch Open Graph and Twitter Card metadata to render a rich preview. Real users need a fast redirect to the destination.

WarpLink handles this automatically. It detects bot user agents and serves full HTML with OG and Twitter Card tags. Real users get an instant 302 redirect. You configure the preview metadata (title, description, image) when creating the link, and it works everywhere.

Firebase Dynamic Links had limited social preview support. Enterprise platforms handle it but charge for the privilege. With WarpLink, rich social previews work on every plan, including free.

Here's a design decision that matters: WarpLink redirects always work, even if you exceed your plan's click limit.

When you hit your click limit on the free tier, your analytics dashboard is gated behind an upgrade prompt. But every link continues to redirect correctly. Your users never see an error page or an interstitial ad. Your links in emails, social posts, and QR codes keep working.

You'll get email warnings at 50%, 80%, and 90% of your click limit, giving you time to upgrade if needed. But the links themselves are never blocked.

Firebase Dynamic Links pricing was simple: it was free. That is also why it was shut down. The real question in 2026 is what replacing it costs.

OptionFree tierEntry priceCost at 100K clicks/moCost at 2M clicks/moContract
WarpLink$0 for 10,000 clicks/mo$19/mo$19/mo$99/moNo
Enterprise MMPsNoneSales-quoted, roughly $199 to $499/moVariesVariesUsually annual
Self-hosting (DIY)Free plus infrastructureEngineering timeScaling costScaling costNo

Enterprise platforms start at hundreds of dollars per month. WarpLink sits in between, with a generous free tier and transparent paid tiers.

PlanPriceClicks/monthLinksAppsTeam membersCustom domainsData retention
Free$0/mo10,000100111 (free for 3 months)90 days
Starter$19/mo100,0001,000533180 days
Growth$49/mo500,00010,000201051 year
Scale$99/mo2,000,000UnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited103 years
Unlimited$149/moUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited3 years

Annual billing is available on every paid plan and gives you two months free.

Every plan includes:

  • Unlimited redirects (clicks count toward analytics, not redirect blocking)
  • Full API access
  • MCP server access
  • Social previews
  • Deferred deep links
  • Install attribution

No per-link fees. No feature gating. No "contact sales" for pricing information.

How This Compares

Pricing modelFirebase Dynamic LinksWarpLinkEnterprise Platforms
Starting priceFreeFreeHundreds/mo
Pricing visibleYesYesNo ("contact sales")
Free tierUnlimited10K clicks/moNone
Annual contractNoNoUsually required
Credit card for trialNoNoOften required
Price per 100K clicks$0$0-19$50-200+ (estimated)

If you're a solo developer or small team, WarpLink's free tier covers most early-stage apps. The jump from free to $19/month is manageable when your app grows beyond 10,000 clicks per month. And $99/month for 2 million clicks is a fraction of what enterprise platforms charge for similar volume.

The "enterprise platforms" line in the comparisons above isn't abstract. The two names you'll keep running into when you search for a Firebase Dynamic Links replacement are Branch and AppsFlyer. Both will solve your linking problem. Both will also send you to a sales call before you can see a price. That's where the conversation starts to diverge.

Here's the honest comparison across all three product pillars. Linking is table stakes (every alternative ships universal links and deferred deep links), so the real differences live in attribution (where the pricing model diverges sharply) and real-time analytics (where the data freshness diverges).

Linking

Branch and AppsFlyer both handle universal links, app links, and deferred deep linking. So does WarpLink. The implementation differences live at the edges.

Branch and AppsFlyer treat deep linking as a feature of their attribution products, not a standalone capability. Their SDKs ship with the full attribution framework and the dependency tree that comes with it. WarpLink's SDKs are MIT-licensed, zero-dependency, and under 200KB. You can read every line. You can integrate deep linking without also shipping an attribution platform you didn't ask for.

Redirect speed is a quieter difference. WarpLink resolves every redirect at the edge in under 10 milliseconds, anywhere in the world. Branch and AppsFlyer route through their own infrastructure with variable latency. Your users feel the difference on slow connections.

Attribution

This is where the pricing model becomes obvious. Branch and AppsFlyer are MMPs (mobile measurement partners). They were built for performance marketers running paid acquisition at scale, where attribution data feeds back into ad networks for optimization.

AppsFlyer's published rate is roughly $0.07 per attributed conversion. At 100,000 monthly conversions, that comes to $7,000 a month. Branch's pricing requires a sales call, but the conversations on Hacker News and the indie forums put it in the same range. As one Show HN comment put it, "Branch.io's pricing structure being 'call sales'" was reason enough to build an alternative.

WarpLink runs the same multi-strategy attribution cascade (referrer, IDFV, fingerprint, raw signals) but charges on click volume rather than conversions. Two million clicks for $99 a month, with attribution included on every plan. You don't pay a per-conversion premium for the privilege of knowing where your users came from.

If you're scaling paid acquisition past $100K/month in ad spend, an MMP earns its keep. Multi-touch attribution, fraud detection, and ad network integrations are real features WarpLink doesn't replicate. If you're an indie team trying to figure out whether last week's TikTok push drove installs, WarpLink does that without an MMP-tier invoice.

Real-Time Analytics

Branch and AppsFlyer dashboards aggregate on a delay. Most data lands in roughly 24 hours, which is fine for weekly reporting and not fine when you're shipping a new campaign and want to know within minutes whether it's working.

WarpLink's analytics are real-time. Click events flow through the same edge pipeline that handles redirects, get deduplicated in the database, and show up in your dashboard within seconds. You can watch a launch happen.

When to Choose Which

If you're an indie developer or a small team migrating off Firebase, WarpLink is the closest analog to what you had: free to start, no sales call, full feature set on day one. If you're scaling paid user acquisition past six figures of monthly ad spend and need ad-network-side integrations, an MMP starts to earn its keep.

For a deeper breakdown, we have full comparison posts on WarpLink vs. Branch for indie developers and WarpLink vs. AppsFlyer for small teams.

The full migration process is covered in our guide to replacing Firebase Dynamic Links step by step, with a condensed migration reference in the docs. Here's the overview.

Step 1: Create Your Account and Register Your App

Sign up at warplink.app (free, no credit card). Create an organization and register your app with your iOS bundle ID and/or Android package name. WarpLink generates the AASA and assetlinks.json files automatically.

Firebase (before):

WarpLink (after):

Step 3: Replace SDK Integration

Firebase iOS (before):

WarpLink iOS (after):

Use the WarpLink API to batch-create links that match your existing Firebase Dynamic Links. Map your Firebase link parameters to WarpLink's link creation API. The migration guide includes a complete parameter mapping table.

Step 5: Update Your Domain Configuration

If you're using a custom domain, point your DNS to WarpLink and configure the domain in the dashboard. WarpLink handles SSL and the well-known configuration files automatically.

The full migration takes about 30 minutes for most apps. The Firebase Dynamic Links Migration Guide walks through every step in detail.

Frequently Asked Questions

WarpLink is the closest analog to Firebase Dynamic Links for developers and small teams. It covers universal links, deferred deep links, install attribution, and real-time analytics, then adds sub-10ms edge redirects and open source MIT SDKs. Pricing is transparent from a $0 free tier, with no sales calls or contracts.

Google shipped no first-party successor to Firebase Dynamic Links and officially recommends migrating to a third-party deep linking service. For small teams, WarpLink is the closest like-for-like replacement, covering short links, deferred deep links, and install attribution, with a free tier and a migration that takes about 30 minutes for most apps.

Firebase Dynamic Links shut down on August 25, 2025, and every Firebase short link now returns HTTP 404. WarpLink replaces it directly, restoring universal links, deferred deep links, install attribution, and analytics. Migration takes about 30 minutes for most apps, and the free tier requires no credit card.

WarpLink is the most affordable Firebase Dynamic Links alternative for indie developers. The free tier costs $0 per month and includes 10,000 clicks, full API access, deferred deep links, attribution, and real-time analytics. Paid plans start at $19 per month, far below enterprise platforms that charge hundreds of dollars a month.

No. Every Firebase Dynamic Links URL has returned HTTP 404 since August 25, 2025, including links on page.link subdomains and links served from custom domains. Any deep linking, deferred deep links, or install attribution your app relied on through Firebase Dynamic Links stopped working on the shutdown date.

On WarpLink, replacing Firebase Dynamic Links costs $0 on the free tier for up to 10,000 clicks per month, then $19 to $149 per month as volume grows. Enterprise platforms are sales-quoted, typically starting in the hundreds of dollars per month. Self-hosting is free in fees but costs engineering time to build and maintain.

Getting Started

WarpLink was built from the ground up to be the Firebase Dynamic Links alternative that developers actually want to use. Not the cheapest enterprise platform. Not a DIY hack. Purpose-built link infrastructure: deep linking, install attribution, and real-time analytics, with transparent pricing, open source SDKs, and sub-10ms edge redirects.

Here's how to get started:

  1. Create a free account at warplink.app. No credit card required.
  2. Follow the quickstart guide to create your first deep link in under five minutes.
  3. If you're migrating from Firebase, read the Firebase Dynamic Links Migration Guide for a step-by-step walkthrough.
  4. For deep linking fundamentals, the Complete Guide to Deep Linking covers universal links, app links, deferred deep links, and attribution from the ground up.

The free tier includes 10,000 clicks per month, full API access, deferred deep links, install attribution, and real-time analytics. That's enough for most apps in development and early production.

Firebase Dynamic Links is gone. Your links don't have to be.

WarpLink Team

Building affordable, reliable link infrastructure for mobile teams. Deep linking, install attribution, and real-time analytics in one SDK.

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