URL and link shorteners are helpful tools that transform long URLs into manageable links under 20 characters.
They can help manage links, track click data, promote sharing on social media platforms, and even make money online.
But there are a ton of options.
To help you find the best one, I’ve ranked and reviewed the leading and best link shorteners. These reviews are based on ease of use, features, support, pricing, and more.
Let’s get started.
What is the Best Link Shortener?
Here’s my list of the best URL and link shorteners to use this year.
Bit.ly is a custom link shortening and management platform based in New York. It enables you to create easily recognizable short links.
With bit.ly, you can gain access to deeper insights into 20 data points, including referring channels and geographics. This helps you make smarter, data-driven business decisions.
Bitly API and integration with over 700 apps let you automate and scale your workflow efficiently. You can also share custom short links in bulk via text messages and referral links to your affiliate channel. And to ensure absolute safety, Bit.ly encrypt all the links with HTTPS.
You can also replace bit.ly with custom names for better branding so your customers can recognize your business right away.
All in all, Bit.ly is most suitable for:
Link management
Creating branded links
Creating mobile links
Campaign management & analytics
Key Features:
Auto Branding – Create custom links in bulk and get in-depth analytics about the performance of your content.
Extensive Integrations – Integrate a multitude of business apps into your tech stack and workflow to keep things simple. You can also create mobile-friendly deep links through Sprinklr, HootSuite, and Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
Powerful Analytics – Bit.ly’s real-time interactive dashboard tracks business-critical metrics like store visits, open-rate, and demographics.
Pros:
Generate QR codes for your custom links with powerful tracking features.
Save per-character fees on SMS with shorter links.
Track metrics like organic link share and overall performance of your content.
It offers an extensive resource library and knowledge.
Automate the delivery custom branded links at scale.
Bitly API offers powerful security and flexibility through the OAuth2 authentication workflow.
Pricing:
Bitly offers three plans:
Free: $0 per month
Basic: $29 per month
Premium: $199 per month
Customized: Quote-based plan
You can save up to 33% on an annual subscription.
2-TinyURL
TinyURL is a link-shortening platform that creates short aliases for lengthy URLs, making them easy to share and track.
TinyURL offers a cool link preview feature to review the final shortened link beforehand to avoid incorrect redirects. It also allows you to add a shortened link to the browser’s toolbar. After that, you can just simply click a button to shorten the link. You can also redirect to any page by creating a smaller URL.
TinyURL has link tracking, management, and analytics features with the paid plans.
Key Features:
Clean User Interface – TinyURL offers a simple user interface. You just have to put the web link in the box and click on the “Make TinyURL” option. You’ll get your shortened URL right away.
URL Types – It offers three URL types, including a long link, a short link, and a preview link.
Pros:
Generate an unlimited number of short links for free.
Compatible with all popular platforms and web browsers.
It automatically disables spam or illegal links.
It creates custom links with your personal branding.
Pricing:
Free: $0 per month
Pro: $9.99 starting per month
Bulk 100k: $99 starting per month
The Pro plan is a great option for small business owners looking for the best URL You can save up to 33shortenerson an annual subscription.
3. Ow.ly (Hootsuite).
Best For Anyone Who Uses Hootsuite For Their Social Media Campaigns (Free).
Ow.ly is a link shortening tool that shortens URLs and tracks the incoming traffic from those links. It also creates tamper-proof custom links to drive traffic. You can also collaborate and give access to multiple team members to shorten links.
What’s more, Ow.ly allows you to track clicks in newsletters, Facebook, comments, and micro-sites.
To prevent phishing and malware, it checks all the links against Google’s Safe Browsing blacklist. On top of that, all the custom URLs are fully redirectable and indexable as per SEO best practices.
Key Features:
In-depth Reports – Download in-depth data analytics reports in PDF and CSV file formats to share them externally.
Track Campaigns – Track your campaigns on various parameters, including date ranges, click-through rate, and demographics.
Hootsuite – Integration with Hootsuite helps you shorten the links while scheduling social media posts. Check out my full review of Hootsuite vs. Buffer for more detailed information.
Pros:
Add tracking to links via Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics. You can also create custom analytics.
You can also select link presets from multiple options if available.
Track your social media performance.
It also allows you to track the performance of your social media posts.
Customize the name of shortened links with your personal branding.
Pricing
You get free access to Ow.ly with all the Hootsuite plans, including the freemium plan. However, you get more advanced features with the paid plans.
Here are all the plans offered by Hootsuite:
Freemium: $0 for up to 3 social profiles.
Professional: $49 per month for up to 10 social profiles.
Team: $129 per month for up to 20 social profiles.
Business: $599 per month for up to 35 social profiles.
Enterprise: quote-based plan
You can try the Professional and Team paid plans for 30 days free.
4. AdFly.
Make Extra Cash By Sharing Shortened Links (Free).
AdFly is a free URL shortening tool. It not only helps you shorten links but also monetizes those links.
All you have to do is just sign-up and create an account. After that, it will help you make money every time a user clicks on a shortened link. Finally, place your links on multiple social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for more clicks and visibility.
You also get to advertise securely without any popup. Moreover, AdFly lets you track your links’ performance and metrics to make data-driven marketing decision
5. URL Shortener by Zapier.
Best For Creating Automated Link Shortening Workflows (Free).
Zapier’s URL shortener automatically creates and saves short links, allowing you to create automated workflows. For instance, you can automatically shorten a link of a social media post and save it in Google Sheets simultaneously.
And if you want to share a link via SMS, Zapier’s URL shortener will automatically shorten your link. It also helps you save extra money on additional text characters.
Zapier also provides integration with over 2,000 applications, including Google Sheets, to add and post automatically shortened URLs.
Key Features:
Automated Links – Add Zapier URL shortener in any workflow, and it will take automatically care of shortened links and tracking parameters.
Extensive Integration – It offers integration with over 2000 applications, including social media apps, Google docs, email marketing tools, and survey forms.
Unlimited Links – It comes bundled with Zapier for free. You can create an unlimited number of shortened links.
Pros:
The free plan provides integration with 100 tasks per month.
Include shortened links to personalized messages and emailers.
Track the performance of links on different data points, including demographics and link clicks.
It provides quick email support.
You can also get personalized assistance by hiring a Zapier Expert.
Pricing:
Zapier’s URL shortener comes for free with all the Zapier plans.
Links.
Best to Promote Mobile Apps (Free).
Firebase Dynamic Links is a new URL shortener by Google. It helps you create dynamic, shortened links to generate more app installs. You can create links that help users open the same page on the mobile app that they were viewing on the mobile website. This will help you convert more mobile web app users into native mobile app users.
It provides several unique features like A/B testing, cloud messaging, powerful analytics, unlimited dynamic links, and more. The Google URL shortener also offers API reference for web, iOS, and Android to grow the app user base and generate more revenue.
5. YOURLS.
Best Simple, Open-Source Tool (Free).
YOURLS (Your Own URL Shortener) is an open-source URL shortening tool. It allows you to create both private and public links. It can also help you run your own URL shortening service through its small PHP scripts.
It also provides a terrific plugin architecture so you can include new custom features. You can use YOURLS to create links with both sequential or custom URL keywords.
It also offers powerful analytics to track multiple parameters, including referrers tracking, historical click reports, and geo-location.
6. Tiny.cc.
Best Simple Link Shortener For Small Business ($5 per month).
Tiny.cc is another easy-to-use URL and link shortening tool. Simply paste your long URL in the text box and click on the ‘shorten’ option. It will provide the shortened link within seconds. You can also customize those links.
Tiny.cc also helps you create smart targets to route users based on languages automatically. You can also add retargeting pixels to gauge the performance of campaigns and maximize your ROI.
Moreover, you can use Tiny.cc domains if you don’t have the budget to buy a branded domain. It also lets you create vanity URLs or keyword-rich short links for better branding and visibility. You can also add your brand name to the link to make it more trustworthy.
7. BL.INK.
Best For Measuring Link Performance And Value ($48 per month).
BL.INK is a leading link management tool that can help you create custom short links. It includes personalized words in the links to create a memorable brand impression.
BL.INK’s USP is powerful analytics to measure your links’ performance and value. It helps you manage and monitor every touch and interaction with your links.
Here’s everything BL.INK can do for you:
BLINK in Social – It boosts your social value by creating easy to share social media links.
BLINK in Messaging – It creates links to share via messaging platforms like WhatsApp, SMS, Skype, and Messenger.
BLINK Everywhere – You can use BL.INK to shorten links for various mediums like QR codes, emails, PDFs, and more.
You can also edit every detail at any point in time. What’s more, the open API helps you connect with your own tech stack. Not just that, you can connect it with thousands of automation tools, including Zoho Flow and Zapier.
BL.INK is also scalable to help you service large global teams, big brand portfolios, and numerous campaigns
