Bitly built the category. Go2 is built for the next one — agent-native attribution, edge-first, and full API on the free tier. Here's the honest breakdown.
Bitly is the link-shortener that defined the category — sales-led, marketing-first, with a heavy enterprise focus. They charge for things developers expect to be free (API access, custom slugs, link-level analytics). Pricing reflects a marketer's expense account, not an indie builder's.
| Feature | Go2 | Bitly |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier link cap | 100/mo | 5/mo |
| Free tier click tracking | 5K/mo | Unlimited (basic) |
| Cheapest paid plan | $9/mo (Pro) | $8/mo (Core) |
| Custom domains on Free | 1 | |
| Developer experience | ||
| REST API on Free | ||
| MCP server | ||
| TypeScript SDK | Community | |
| OpenAPI spec | ||
| Self-host (open source) | AGPL | |
| Rate limit on Free | 100 req/min | 1K req/hour |
| Agent attribution | ||
| Per-run agent attribution | ||
| agent_id, run_id, actor_id propagation | ||
| Per-link agent metadata | ||
| Webhook on click | Pro | Enterprise |
| Edge + performance | ||
| Redirect runtime | Cloudflare Workers (<10ms) | AWS (~50ms) |
| Custom slug latency | Edge-served from KV | Origin lookup |
| Analytics retention (Free) | 30 days | 30 days |
Pick Bitly if
Pick Go2 if
Yes for indie builders. Go2's Free tier ships 100 tracked links/month and 5,000 attributed clicks/month with the full REST API and MCP server included. Bitly's Free tier is 5 links/month with no API access. If you want to call the API from code, Go2 Free is what you want; Bitly's equivalent is Core at $8/mo.
Yes — Bitly exports a CSV of your links, and Go2's import endpoint at /api/v1/links/bulk accepts that shape. Existing short URLs (bit.ly/abc) won't redirect through Go2 — you'd need to mint new go2.gg/abc links — but the destination URLs and slugs migrate cleanly.
No. Bitly tracks clicks but doesn't propagate agent identity — there's no concept of agent_id or run_id in their schema. Go2 stamps four agent fields on every link at create time and carries them onto every click event, so you can ask 'how did this Claude run perform?' and get an answer.
Yes. Go2 is licensed AGPL-3.0 and the entire stack runs on Cloudflare — Workers + D1 + KV. You can deploy your own copy in 10 minutes from a single wrangler deploy. Bitly is closed-source SaaS. A commercial license for closed-source distribution of Go2 is available at $5K/yr.
Go2 supports custom domains on every paid plan and even includes one on Free. Bitly charges $35/mo for branded domains on their Core tier and meters them above that — Go2 includes 5 on Pro at $9/mo and 25 on Business at $49/mo.
Yes. `npx @go2/mcp-server` lives in the npm registry and there's a remote Streamable-HTTP transport at mcp.go2.gg/mcp for hosted clients (Claude.ai web, ChatGPT custom GPTs, Perplexity). Bitly has no MCP integration.
The /agents/playground page lets you mint a tracked link with no signup, share it, and watch clicks land in real time — no API key, no credit card, just a public sandbox. The dashboard preview is at /dashboard/agent-runs once you sign up.
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