About cakt.us
cakt.us is a custom URL forwarder and QR code service built by Caktus Group to replace our dependency on Bitly for creating short, branded links.
What is cakt.us? #
This service provides:
- Short URL forwarding: Create memorable short links using our
cakt.usdomain - QR code generation: Automatically generate QR codes for any shortened URL
- Simple redirect management: Easy-to-manage URL redirects for presentations, marketing campaigns, and documentation
How We Built It #
We built cakt.us as a simple static site to minimize the hosting cost (free!) and development maintenance burden:
- Hugo: Static site generator for fast, reliable performance
- GitHub: Version control and continuous integration / continuous deployment (CI/CD)
- Cloudflare Pages: Hosting platform with global CDN and HTTP redirect support
The entire system is open source and designed to be lightweight, fast, and maintainable. You can read the full story of how we built this service and why we moved away from Bitly in our detailed blog post: How We Replaced Bitly with Our Own URL Shortener
Benefits #
By building our own URL shortener, we achieved:
- Brand consistency: All short links use our company domain
- Data ownership: Complete control over our link analytics and data
- Cost savings: No subscription fees for URL shortening services
- Customization: Tailored features that meet our specific needs
cakt.us is built and maintained by the team at Caktus Group, a Django development consultancy based in North Carolina, USA.