Compare · Deferred deep linking for React Native and Expo
DeepLinkNow vs Detour
Detour is the closest thing to what I built: deferred deep links for React Native and Expo without an attribution suite. Software Mansion makes it, Expo's blog ran its guest post in July 2026, and its Expo Router support is good, including a pattern for holding a link until the user gets past your sign-in screen. The differences are the free plan, what you pay for, and how much the app learns about a match.
Side by side
As of October 21, 2026.
| Topic | DeepLinkNow | Detour |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Free up to 25,000 monthly active users, deferred deep links included. No card. | 1,500 clicks a month and 50 short links per app. Past the limit, deep link matching stops and plain redirects keep working.[1] |
| What you pay for | Monthly active users (devices that open your app with the SDK). Each distinct link path counts once toward the link limit (1,000 on the free plan). | Link clicks: Starter $19/mo for 70,000, Scale $79/mo for 350,000, then optional pay-as-you-go per 1,000 clicks[1] |
| Plan with a custom domain | $49/mo (Startup) | $79/mo (Scale). Free and Starter links live on a .godetour.link subdomain.[1][4] |
| Making links | Any path on your domain is already a link. Nothing to create. | Any path and query after the app's fixed /<app_hash>/ segment, which stays in the URL on a custom domain too[2][4] |
| What the app gets | A confidence score from 0 to 100 and a HIGH, MEDIUM or LOW label. You pick the threshold. | A link, or nothing. The server applies its own threshold (850 by default, 700 to 1200) and sends no score.[3][4] |
| Match window | 1 hour | 15 minutes by default, configurable from 5 to 180[3] |
| Expo Router | A +native-intent helper (@deeplinknow/react-native/expo-router) and a useDeferredDeepLink() hook | A +native-intent handler and a DetourProvider, with examples that keep the link through sign-in[4][6] |
| How long click data is kept | A deferred link can be claimed for 1 hour after the click, and stored fingerprints are deleted within 30 days. | The privacy policy says data is kept "as long as needed to provide" the service and gives no period[7] |
- Free plan
- DeepLinkNow: Free up to 25,000 monthly active users, deferred deep links included. No card.
- Detour: 1,500 clicks a month and 50 short links per app. Past the limit, deep link matching stops and plain redirects keep working.[1]
- What you pay for
- DeepLinkNow: Monthly active users (devices that open your app with the SDK). Each distinct link path counts once toward the link limit (1,000 on the free plan).
- Detour: Link clicks: Starter $19/mo for 70,000, Scale $79/mo for 350,000, then optional pay-as-you-go per 1,000 clicks[1]
- Plan with a custom domain
- DeepLinkNow: $49/mo (Startup)
- Detour: $79/mo (Scale). Free and Starter links live on a .godetour.link subdomain.[1][4]
- Making links
- DeepLinkNow: Any path on your domain is already a link. Nothing to create.
- Detour: Any path and query after the app's fixed /<app_hash>/ segment, which stays in the URL on a custom domain too[2][4]
- What the app gets
- DeepLinkNow: A confidence score from 0 to 100 and a HIGH, MEDIUM or LOW label. You pick the threshold.
- Detour: A link, or nothing. The server applies its own threshold (850 by default, 700 to 1200) and sends no score.[3][4]
- Expo Router
- DeepLinkNow: A +native-intent helper (@deeplinknow/react-native/expo-router) and a useDeferredDeepLink() hook
- Detour: A +native-intent handler and a DetourProvider, with examples that keep the link through sign-in[4][6]
- How long click data is kept
- DeepLinkNow: A deferred link can be claimed for 1 hour after the click, and stored fingerprints are deleted within 30 days.
- Detour: The privacy policy says data is kept "as long as needed to provide" the service and gives no period[7]
Where DeepLinkNow is ahead
- A free plan up to 25,000 monthly active users, with deferred deep links and no card.
- Your own domain from $49 a month on Startup, set up in the dashboard.
- Every fingerprint match comes back with a 0 to 100 score and a HIGH, MEDIUM or LOW label, so you decide what to trust.
- Any path on your link domain is already a link, with no prefix and nothing to create first.
- No attribution, no advertising IDs, no ATT prompt. A deferred link can be claimed for 1 hour after the click, and stored fingerprints are deleted within 30 days.
- Free AASA, assetlinks.json and ad-block list checkers, no sign-up needed.
- Hosted in Sydney (Vercel syd1, database in AWS ap-southeast-2), if that matters to your users or your lawyers.
Pick Detour if…
- You'd rather depend on Software Mansion, a well-known React Native company, and want SDKs that are MIT-licensed on GitHub.
- You want smart banners, a hand-off out of the Instagram and Facebook in-app browsers, or scheduled analytics exports. I don't do those.
If you want a free plan sized for a real launch and a score you can set your own threshold on, try mine first.
The pricing math
Detour bills on link clicks: 1,500 free, 70,000 for $19, 350,000 for $79. I bill on monthly active users, the devices that open your app with the SDK. The two don't convert one to one, so it depends on how many clicks each user makes.[1]
Say 15,000 people use your app each month and your links get 40,000 clicks across a few hundred paths. Detour: Starter, $19. DeepLinkNow: free. Now put the links on your own domain: Detour needs Scale, $79 a month, and the /<app_hash>/ segment stays in every URL. On DeepLinkNow it's $49 on Startup for up to 100,000 monthly users, however many clicks they make.
Switching from Detour
- 1Add the DLN SDK next to Detour's and ship it.
- 2Point your link domain at DLN. Paths on it work without the /<app_hash>/ segment.
- 3Swap createDetourNativeIntentHandler for createRedirectSystemPath from @deeplinknow/react-native/expo-router, and DetourProvider's link for useDeferredDeepLink().
- 4Keep Detour until the links you've already shared stop getting clicks. Its custom-domain links stop resolving when the subscription ends.
Questions
- How does Detour's pricing compare with DeepLinkNow's?
- Detour bills on link clicks: 1,500 free, 70,000 for $19, 350,000 for $79. I bill on monthly active users, the devices that open your app with the SDK. The two don't convert one to one, so it depends on how many clicks each user makes. Say 15,000 people use your app each month and your links get 40,000 clicks across a few hundred paths. Detour: Starter, $19. DeepLinkNow: free. Now put the links on your own domain: Detour needs Scale, $79 a month, and the /<app_hash>/ segment stays in every URL. On DeepLinkNow it's $49 on Startup for up to 100,000 monthly users, however many clicks they make.
- When is Detour the better choice?
- You'd rather depend on Software Mansion, a well-known React Native company, and want SDKs that are MIT-licensed on GitHub. You want smart banners, a hand-off out of the Instagram and Facebook in-app browsers, or scheduled analytics exports. I don't do those.
- Can I run DeepLinkNow next to Detour?
- Yes. The SDK doesn't depend on any other deep linking SDK, so you can ship both, move your link domain over, and remove the old one later.
Sources
Checked on October 21, 2026 against each vendor's public pricing pages and docs. Prices and plans change. If something here is out of date, email me and I'll fix it. Trademarks belong to their owners. DeepLinkNow isn't affiliated with any of them.
Try it next to Detour
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