Forward is a simple, privacy-focused alternative to free URL shorteners. Using human-readable links that only track the amount of times it's been visited, never collecting any data, with URL-screen checking against a curated deny-list.
π Hey folks! It's great to be back - haven't made a product in a while!
On Friday, I sent out a tweet where I challenged myself to build a side project in 24 hours over the weekend. Super happy to announce, after 17 hours the result: Forward, a privacy-focused URL shortener.
π€ Privacy matters, you shouldn't be tracked
I regularly use URL shorteners, especially in tweets & emails but I found that many free URL shorteners:
β Randomly generated a shortened URL
β URLs simply redirect, but you don't know if they are safe
β Free means your potentially giving up your data via tracking
π Forward changes this!
With Forward, it's built with privacy in mind and has a host of features:
β Custom URL aliases (not randomly generated)
β Redirect screen that lasts 1s that presents users with the URL they are being redirected to
β URLs are checked against a human curated deny-list
β Easily see how many clicks your URL has received (we collect no data other than when a URL has been clicked)
β Super-easy, clean, URL dashboard for you to manage
β Hosted outside of the US & UK (we host in Germany, read more here on why you should avoid US/UK/Five Eyes)
π Get started for free; upgrade to Pro
Get started with 2 active URLs for free and upgrade to pro for unlimited. Upgrading helps to keep the service running and enables me to pour my time into improving.
I'm working on adding more Pro features and in the future a Business plan that will include custom domains, branded redirect pages & more!
Thanks & looking forward to chatting in the comments π
@jackabox Thanks Jack. Fathom has been some of my inspiration, both building the product & the simplicity of the landing page. The original Hey.com landing page was also my inspiration with keeping it simple.
@matteing Thanks for the support Sergio, much appreciated. Makerlog & it's community has been a huge encouragement for continuing to ship so thank you for building ML π
Made such a Service for myself for a project some time ago. Never thought that it would bring any value when publishing it as a product. Great that you think different π€£. Nice work!