Show HN: U2m.io – Free URL shortener with bulk API, QR codes, and geo analytics(u2m.io)
u2m.io
Show HN: U2m.io – Free URL shortener with bulk API, QR codes, and geo analytics
https://u2m.io
2 comments
Why spring boot? I am evaluating different frameworks for a new project and want to know your experience with got to production with spring boot.
First 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.
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
Happy to answer technical questions about the architecture or design decisions.