Introduction
If you want to know more about link shorteners, you should invest in link shortening services. Small URLs are easy to use, easy to share, and more attractive to customers. In addition, many of the best URL shortening services include features such as enhanced security and personalized branding, which allow you to use links safely, attract marketers and customers. This is why link shortening is an important tool for attracting customers and providing services to customers (such as sales teams, customer service agents, and small businesses) safely and effectively. Many online services also provide free URL shortening services, so you can shorten links for free.
However, since there are many free link-shortening functions available, it is difficult to determine which one is the most suitable shortening function for your needs. This is why we created a list of the 10 best URL and link shorteners of 2023, compare 10 free URL shortening services, choose the best link shortening service, and shorten your links.
1. Bitly
Bitly is recognized as one of the top URL shortening services for companies to create and monitor custom short links. But did you know that there is also a free Bitly link generator? Bitly’s free link-shortening service includes link tags that allow users to sort links, and a simple analysis that tracks the total number of clicks, the website with the highest click-through rate, and the website that was clicked.
All you need to do to access these powerful features is to create a free Bitly account that can be connected to your corporate email, Google account, or SSO account. Then, you can start creating Bitly links for free!
Features include
- Give context to the click
- Measure campaign performance in one location
- Track individual link analytics
- Collect insights on your performance
- Gather audience intelligence
- Shorten and brand the links you share
- Optimize your marketing efforts
Pros
- Branded link shortening
- Analytics (clicks and referrals)
- User-friendly interface
- Easy to shorten links
- Easy to customize the back of links
- Recognizable, trusted source
- Allows you to create as many varied links as needed
Cons
- Accessing billing information
- Bit.ly does not manage redirects correctly
- Poor customer service
- The price structure is expensive
- It is not competitive
- Does not allow you to see results further back than three months
- Does not allow you to edit links once created
- No ability to organize links in folders
- More tracking analytics would be nice in the free version
- It doesn’t integrate properly with WordPress sites
Price
- Free
- Basic: $29/month
- Premium: $199/month
- Enterprise: Custom quote
Other features
- Custom domain: Yes
- AB testing: No
- Pixel tracking: No
- Official website: https://bitly.com/
2. Rebrandly
Rebrandly is a creator of brand/custom links, which helps individuals, businesses and organizations generate and distribute short and branded links. Branded links enable visitors, potential customers, and business partners to easily remember user URLs or website addresses, which are vital elements in the world, such as sales, marketing, and advertising.
This is because the target audience does not have to remember long links. Customize brand new links instead of boring and often forgotten links, it is easy to remember, identify and spread to different channels and circuits.
Rebrandly simplifies the entire process, allowing users to convert long URLs or links into short but easy to recognize and remember links. After creating short custom links, users can easily share them to various social media channels, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
Features include
- Link management
• QR codes
• Link tags
• Branded link export
• Fast Redirects
• Editable destination URLs
• Custom URL slugs
• Link search
• Link expiration
• UTM presets
• Bulk link creation/edit
• High volume links
- Traffic routing
• 301 SEO redirect
• Parameter forwarding
• Open graph control
• Link retargeting
• Mobile deep linking
• Traffic routing
• Links with emojis
- Analytics
• Link analytics
• UTM builder
• GDPR privacy
• Private/public reports
• Aggregated reports
• Custom report builder
• Your logo in reports
• Server to server clickstream
- Domain name management
• Multiple domain names
• Https (SSL)
• Main domain redirect
• 404 redirect management
• Custom SSL
Pros
- Branded shortening of links.
- Adding of UTM values.
- Adding tracking pixels to shortened links.
- The tracking number of clicks on a link.
- Allowing us to acquire and manage branded short domains.
Cons
- Difficult to understand for some at first
- Value is occasionally hidden until you use it
Price
- Free
- Starter: $29/month
- Premium: $449/month
- Enterprise: Custom quote
Other features
- Custom domain: Yes
- AB testing: No
- Pixel tracking: No
- Official website: https://www.rebrandly.com/
3. Short.io
Most URL shortening services are happy to tell you where the user clicked the link and the device they used, but Short.io is better. You can target different audiences and send them different links according to their devices and location. This is useful if you want iOS and Android users to see the correct app download link, or if you want customers in the US and Canada to see the correct amount in their local currency.
When adding a link, please click the Apple icon, Android icon, or globe icon, and then select the method of positioning the clicker and the link to be provided for the click. Of course, you can send iOS users completely different content from desktop users, but this is very confusing for everyone including yourself. Instead, we recommend using this feature only if you have a reason to send different types of visitors to different sites smartly.
Features include
- Detailed statistics
- Link retargeting
- Campaign tracking
- Teams with role
- Track clicks in realtime
- Multiple custom domains
- API for developers
- Deep links
Pros
- Custom domain branding
- Unlimited traffic
- Analytics
- Secure links
- URL destination changing
- Import and export links
Cons
- No traffic quality score
- No country segmentation
- No special characters in your custom URL
Price
- Free
- Personal: $20/month
- Team: $50/month
- Enterprise: $150/month
Other features
- Custom domain: Yes
- AB testing: No
- Pixel tracking: Yes
- Official website: https://short.io/
4. Linkly
Linkly is a URL shortener designed to allow marketers to use custom domains to create custom tracking URLs. The platform allows administrators to add pixels for relocation, track link click-through rates, and analyze traffic based on targets and Internet service providers (ISPs).
Administrators can forward links based on country, product, currency, language, and device (including desktop and mobile devices). The link provides the ReCaptcha function. This allows the team to identify fraudulent clicks and find search bots in the central dashboard. In addition, supervisors can create reports with team members to visualize data in traffic graphs and correlate performance.
Price
- Personal
a. Basic: Free (analyze 1,000 links per month)
b. Plus: $29/month (analyze 25, 000 links per month)
- Business
a. $79/month: Analyze 100,000 links per month
b. $129/month: Analyze 200,000 links per month
c. $239/month: Analyze 500,000 links per month
d. $399/month: Analyze unlimited links per month
Other features
- Custom domain: No
- AB testing: No
- Pixel tracking: No
- Official website: https://linklyhq.com/
5. ClickMeter
ClickMeter is a simple affiliate marketing solution that is used by advertisers, merchants, agencies, and publishers to obtain real-time key information about their multi-channel marketing efforts. The solution tracks the activities and actions taken by potential customers and audiences when they visit and consume digital advertisements and content that appear on websites and various marketing channels.
Next, it creates a report that allows users to easily evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing activities, how much traffic a particular website or webpage can generate, where the active audience usually comes from, and gauge if their marketing plan and the conversion were successful.
Features include
- Analytics
- Deep links
- Multiple redirect options
- Conversion tracking
- Retargeting on links
- Can use multiple dedicated domains
- Destination URL monitoring
- Editable destination URL, SSL, UTM builder
Pros
- Has lots of features
- 99.99% uptime guaranteed
Cons
- It’s expensive
Price
- Medium: $29/month
- Large: $99/month
- X-large: $349/month
Other features
- Custom domain: Yes
- AB testing: Yes
- Pixel tracking: No
- Official website: https://www.clickmeter.com/
6. Pixelme
PixelMe is a cloud-based link management application mainly aimed at social marketers. It allows you to add bookmarks, track and share URLs through the platform.
With PixelMe, you can not only set the link as a brand asset with your custom domain but also include pixel repositioning, so you can retarget all users who click the link.
Price
- Starter: $29/month
- Growth: $69/month
- Scale: $149/month
Other features
- Custom domain: No
- AB testing: No
- Pixel tracking: Yes
- Official website: https://pixelme.me/
7. BL.INK
BL.INK is a short link management platform that enables businesses to create custom-branded short links using content keywords to manage their brand identity anywhere online. Research shows that short links with content keywords are easy to remember and rewarding. Most importantly, the link model is likely to have more clicks.
Businesses need a flexible, scalable, and secure platform to manage and enhance short links. BL.INK was founded in 2008 to meet the unique needs of the business and its trusted platform is enthusiastically certified by the world’s largest, most demanding, and trusted brands.
Features include
- Tag and group links
- Brand links
- Note creating
- HTTPS secure links
- Customize links
- Bulk import and export of links
Pros
- A great solution for small and large businesses
- Unlimited redirects per month
- Maximum of 10,000 links
Cons
- No free plan
- You can’t monetize your links
Price
- Expert+: $48/month
- SMB: $99/month
- Team: $299/month
- Business: $599/month
- Enterprise: Custom quote
Other features
- Custom domain: Yes
- AB testing: No
- Pixel tracking: No
- Official website: https://www.bl.ink/
8. Cutt.ly
Cutt.ly is a custom URL shortener that allows users to track, simplify, and manage their links. The short link created by the program is never expired and no ads are displayed when they are converted to the original URL. Users can monitor the performance of shortcuts through the software. The detailed analysis offered by the program provides users with information about clicks, page links, clicks, systems, devices, geographic browsers.
You can manage links using links by optimizing and customizing each URL Cutt.ly lets users know when and how someone has touched or clicked links. The program also provides users with information about clicks on social media, along with real-time details and daily general clicks. To avoid suspicious links, users can generate a QR code for each of the short links, as well as a user protection program preview mode.
Price
- Free
Other features
- Custom domain: No
- AB testing: No
- Pixel tracking: No
- Official website: https://cutt.ly/
9. Adf.ly
Adf.ly is a well-known URL shortener used to shorten the URL of a particular website, redirect to a skippable ad before the user clicks the shortcut, and then redirect to the destination URL.
Do you think it’s too technical? In other words, it’s a tool that allows you to shorten links and direct clicks on the links to the website your visitor wants to visit.
This allows people to click links to make money, helping marketers and businesses promote their products and services to millions of people at very low prices.
Price
- Free
Other features
- Custom domain: No
- AB testing: No
- Pixel tracking: No
- Official website: https://adf.ly/
10. TinyURL
As the first successful free URL shortening service, TinyURL is one of the most popular and easy-to-use free URL shortening services. To use it, enter the URL in the home page box and click “Make TinyURL!” TinyURL Generator also includes a free link preview service. This service allows you to preview before the user clicks the link to avoid inappropriate or dangerous redirects. It also includes toolbar buttons that connect to most web browsers.
Features include
- Custom domain
- Secure links (HTTPS)
- Browser bookmarklet
Pros
- Easy to use
- Trusted
- No account needed
Cons
- No analytics
- No link history
- No ability to manage many short links
- No special characters in the custom link name
Price
- Free
- Pro: $12.99/month
- Bulk 100k: $129/month
Other features
- Custom domain: No
- AB testing: No
- Pixel tracking: No
- Official website: https://tinyurl.com/