Every web development company has its own internal tools - things you build for yourself because they simply need to exist. qrx.ee started out exactly that way.
A problem nobody else was solving
Our clients kept asking the same question: is there a URL shortener that's actually Estonian - one that speaks the language, and where it's clear where your data actually goes? International services are fine, but they're built for a global market: English-first, vague about data location, with no concept of what a "maakond" is or why anyone would want a click map of Estonia.
So we decided to build it ourselves. Not as a client project, but as a Qorex product - built the way we'd want it to work.
What we built
qrx.ee is a link-shortening service, designed with Estonia in mind from the ground up:
- Estonian throughout - the interface, the guides, the support. Not a half-working default translation bolted on top.
- Clear about where your data lives - built with GDPR in mind, without murky third parties.
- A county-level click map of Estonia - see at a glance where your campaign clicks are actually coming from.
- QR codes in your own brand colors, with your logo in the center - ready for a flyer, not just a plain black-and-white square.
- OneLinks - one link, multiple buttons, for sharing several destinations at once.
- Team accounts on the Business plan, so multiple people can manage the same links without sharing passwords.
What we learned along the way
A few things caught us by surprise. When we started testing links on social media, we discovered that a large share of "clicks" weren't real people at all - Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms fetch a link themselves every time it's shared, just to generate a preview. We had to build automatic bot detection so the statistics would reflect real activity.
"Exact location" is always approximate with IP-based detection - true even for the most expensive services out there. Rather than promise something we couldn't deliver, we chose to be upfront about it.
Where it's headed
qrx.ee keeps evolving - payment support (via LHV) is coming next, and there's a longer list of ideas on the way.
Want to try it yourself? Find it at qrx.ee - free trial, no card required.
And if your business has its own "this should really exist already" tool that nobody's built yet - that's exactly the kind of project we love working on. Get in touch and let's talk.