Kutt

From main contributing dev on GH: "Hey guys, really sorry for that. Unfortunately the number of phishing and malware links have been increasing a lot and it's really hard for me, one person, to put hours every day to take care of the reports. And if I don't, the server provider would shut the website down, not to mention that people would potentially lose money over these phishing links. I'm already using Google Safe API to detect spams but it's not enough, so until the number of spam links gets decreased and I find a better way to prevent spams and handle the reports I'm gonna keep the sign-in disabled for a short while."

Seems like the dev has switched to freemium model, joining hundreds of other URL shorteners with pricing geared towards professionals & marketers, not viable towards hobbyists unless self-hosted.

Free user now limited to a measly 10 links/mo & 100 tracked views/mo. What if my links suddenly gain popularity?

What if I suddenly need to generate tons of links for my work or project? I still want them tracked. These kinds of pricing model are just terrible.

$9/mo paid plan is already too expensive just to have a cool custom link using a domain I've bought, yet it still limits to just 100 links/mo & 5k tracked views/mo.

I'd gladly pay $10-15/yr to have unlimited links & tracking. At this point, might as well grab a cheap VPS that can run both URL shorteners & stat counters, both of which are overrun with products too expensive for hobbyist. I just want to look see how many people visiting my stuff & feel a bit proud, but it's not worth the price.

Also, HTTPS is a "Premium" feature. Yep, you heard that right: in the age of free Let's Encrypt certificates handed out like candies, if you don't pay up your links will be stuck in HTTP. Even free Bitly give out this standard minimum security feature.