Developers

Branch alternatives when you only need the right app store

Branch is a deep-linking platform. Routing to a store is a URL, not a platform.

Short answer

Branch is a deep-linking and attribution platform, and the feature it is chosen for — deferred deep linking, landing a brand-new user on a specific screen after they install — requires its SDK in your app. If you only need one link that sends each visitor to the correct app store, onestore.link does that at the URL layer: no SDK, no app release, no enterprise minimum. Choose Branch when post-install routing or install attribution is genuinely part of the build.

Last reviewed 2026-09-22

Branch is the answer to a real problem, and it is not always the problem you have. Deferred deep linking is genuinely hard, genuinely needs an SDK, and genuinely justifies a platform. Sending someone to the App Store or Google Play is a redirect. Teams that migrated off Firebase Dynamic Links often picked Branch by reputation and inherited an SDK, a dashboard and a contract for the redirect half. This guide is the honest split between the two.

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The problem

Adopting Branch means shipping an SDK, which means an app release and a store review before a marketing link works.
Most links in a bio, an ad or a QR code never need to land on a specific in-app screen.
A platform priced for attribution is expensive for something a redirect does.
The evaluation usually happens under time pressure, right after Firebase Dynamic Links shut down, and reputation decides it.

With onestore.link

Store routing only: onestore.link routes per device at the URL layer, free for unlimited links, live in under a minute with no SDK.
Deferred deep linking: keep Branch, or use AppsFlyer. There is no no-SDK way to carry a destination through an install.
Paid-acquisition measurement: Branch, AppsFlyer, Adjust, Kochava or Singular — all SDK-based, and that is what the SDK is for.
Branded link management at scale: Dub or Rebrandly, though you should confirm they do device-based store routing for your case.

How to do it

No SDK, no rebuild. Just a URL.

1
Name the destination you need
Write down where a link must land. "The app's store page" is store routing. "A specific product screen, for someone who does not have the app yet" is deferred deep linking. Only the second one needs an SDK.
2
Pick the lightest tool that covers it
If every answer was a store page, a smart link covers all of it. Mixed needs are common: route the marketing links with a smart link and keep the platform for the flows that genuinely need it.
3
Move the store-routing links
Recreate each one on onestore.link with the same store URLs, then swap the URL where it appears. No app update is involved, because nothing changes inside the app.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an SDK to replace Branch?

Only for deferred deep linking and install attribution. If you used Branch to send visitors to the right app store, a smart link replaces it as a pure URL redirect — no SDK, no app release, no native configuration.

What is the difference between a smart link and a Branch link?

A smart link picks a destination from the visitor's device at click time, usually the right app store. A Branch link can additionally carry a destination through the install, so a brand-new user opens on a specific screen. The second behaviour is what the SDK buys.

Is there a free Branch alternative?

For store routing, yes: onestore.link is free for unlimited links and needs no account to create one. For deferred deep linking there is no free no-SDK alternative, because the mechanism itself requires code in the app.

We moved off Firebase Dynamic Links to Branch. Was that wrong?

Not if you used FDL's deep-linking half. If you used FDL to send users to the correct store — what most teams did — you adopted an SDK for something a URL does, and the store-routing links can move back to the URL layer without touching the app.