10 Best URL Shortener Services to Shrink and Track Links (2024)

Looking for the best URL shortener to shrink your site’s links, analyze clicks, add UTM tags, and/or help you use retargeting?

In this post, we’re exploring ten great services for all use cases. They range from free URL shortener services to the best link shortener solutions with business-focused premium plans. So, whatever your needs might be, you’re bound to find the best URL shortener from this list.

What is a URL shortener?

In a previous post, we answered the basic question: “what is a URL“. In this post we’re going to expand upon that question, by answering a related one – what is a URL shortener?

Simply put, a URL shortener is an online tool that takes a long, hefty URL and provides a shortened URL that sends a person to the exact same web page. Some URL shorteners can also help track and manipulate those links, with features like click analytics, UTM parameter support, and retargeting.

URL shorteners help you create shorter, more aesthetic URLs, as well as benefit from those tracking and retargeting features.

Ten best URL shortener services compared

1. Bitly

Bitly is a powerful (and popular) tool for shortening URLs. It’s been considered the best URL shortener by many people for a while – and for good reason!

The free option lets you shorten up to ten links per month using the Bit.ly domain name, while the second tier premium plan lets you use your own custom domain name with up to 1,500 shortened links per month.

In addition to offering URL shortening services, Bitly also offers a QR code generator, as well as the popular link-in-bio feature, which has become a standard for social media influencers and businesses with a social media presence. You can even use these in the free version, albeit with Bitly branding.

The paid version of Bitly opens up additional options like link retargeting, link history, and customer support. It also lets you track individual links and get related analytics on your dashboard. It even measures your marketing campaign performance for a specific location.

Features ⚙️

• Connect custom domain
• Analytics dashboard
• Audience intelligence
• Custom URL
• Integration with 17 popular tools, including Zapier, Hubspot, and Sprout Social
• QR code generator
• Link-in-bio feature
• URL retargeting

Price 💵

Bitly offers its basic service for free. After that, premium plans start at $8 per month (paid annualy, at a cost of $96 per year). If you want additional features like a custom domain, plans start at $35 per month with monthly billing, or $29 per month with annual billing.

2. Tiny.cc

Tiny.cc is a well-rounded platform. Apart from being one of the best free URL shorteners, it also comes with highly versatile paid packages that make it a serious contender for the title of “best premium URL shortener”.

The tool itself operates as a multi-faceted link management platform. It allows you to not only shorten URLs, but also share, edit, organize, personalize, track, and monetize them. Its job is to make your links short, meaningful, and profitable. You even have the option to convert your URLs into customizable, low-DPI QR codes for printing and distribution.

The system doesn’t stop there. It goes on to track your shortened links, all the while generating graphical charts with insights into your click metrics, plus visitors’ demographics. The best thing is, you don’t even need an account to view all this data.

Account registration only becomes necessary if you need to edit and manage the links. Their free plan allows you to personalize shortened URLs with your brand or domain, organize them by tags, cloak affiliate links, set up custom redirects, track editing history, filter URLs, etc.

Features ⚙️

• Tracks QR Code campaigns.
• Shortens and monitors referrer or affiliate URLs.
• Tracks banner Ads for internet marketing.
• Measures the conversions for links.
• Generates simpler QR codes with lower dpi for printing.
• Supports high-volume commercial URLs.
• Shortens links using your brand or custom domain.
• Generates shareable, user-friendly URLs.
• Manages links.

Price 💵

While Tiny.cc offers one of the best free URL shortener platforms, you’ll be limited to 500 URLs – which, when you think about it, is more than enough for individual users.

Otherwise, if you’re looking to leverage the shortened URLs for marketing purposes or in your media publications, Tiny.cc will expand your capacity – but for a price.

• Basic – $5 per month
• Business – $25 per month
• Pro – $44 per month

The prices above are for month-to-month plans. If you choose to pay up front for the year, then you will pay even less per month compared to what you see above. There’s also a fourth Enterprise plan for those who require large scale URL shortening. You need to contact Tiny.cc directly to get a quote.

3. Sniply

If you’re setting out to achieve big on conversions using content curation, there’s a good chance that Sniply is the tool for you. You can use Sniply to create short, branded customs links of articles/ blog posts/ web page. These links are easy to share on social media. When users click on these short ‘Snips’, they are taken to the relevant content, but the web page now also displays the Snip you created along with your Call-To-Action.

That’s not all. You can reuse the CTA as many times as you want, or create new CTAs for different campaigns. The metrics pertaining to clicks, conversions and campaigns can be viewed on the analytics dashboard.

Features ⚙️

• Custom URL shortener
• Customized CTAs on each shortened URL
• Embeddable on articles and pages you share
• Dashboard monitors to track user interaction
• Integrates with other marketing and analytic tools to fine tune campaigns
• Connects to your own custom domain

Price 💵

Three main plans are available for Sniply:

• Basic – $9 per month
• Pro – $29 per month
• Business – $59 per month

There’s also an Enterprise plan for large operations, but you have to contact Sniply directly for a quote on that plan. All plans come with a 14 day free trial and a discount for annual payments. The number of team members, brands and monthly clicks varies in the different plans as do the customization options.

4. Blink

Blink isn’t just one of the best URL shortener options on the market, it’s an entire link management platform that provides a comprehensive solution for managing, monitoring, and measuring every touch point in your engagement journey. It lets you analyze link performance using reports or you can integrate it with web analytics tools such as Google and Adobe.

The platform also offers a range of additional integration options, allowing you to connect with other tools using its open API. It’s also scalable to support your entire organization, from small one person operations to global teams with endless campaigns.

If that’s not enough, Blink gives you a range of security and privacy features, including enterprise-grade security to meet the compliance needs of highly regulated industries, as well as flexible user permissions.

Features ⚙️

• Shorten and customize links for better branding and tracking
• Dynamically route clicks by date, time, language, device, and location
• Analyze link performance using Blink reports or integrate with web analytics tools such as Google and Adobe
• Enable user permissions to ensure the right team members have access to what they need
• Pay only for what you need and scale to new pricing tiers as your team grows
• Custom short domains that support multiple TLD options, including .brand domains

Price 💵

Blink has four main plans, and a fifth Enterprise option that requires you to reach out to them for pricing. Each plan comes with a 21 day free trial.

• Expert – $48 per month
• SMB – $99 per month
• Team – $299 per month
• Business – $599 per month

Although they don’t openly advertise a free option on the plans page, if you proceed with the registration process, they do mention it. Specifically, they state that if you choose not to continue with the service after the 21 day free trial, that you can continue using their free plan. No details are provided on what features come with the free plan though.

5. TinyURL

TinyURL is the best URL shortener for those who require a decently high volume of shortened URLs, but are still looking for something budget-friendly. And by budget-friendly we mean free. One of the nice features of their free URL shortener is that it allows you to customize the part of the URL that comes after the backslash.

For example, you could create https://tinyurl.com/yourtexthere, rather than something random like https://tinyurl.com/y3xvrfpg.

As mentioned, TinyURL has a generous free plan, and their premium plans are also very approachable due to their transparency and scalability. You can easily and gradually expand the amount of active TinyURLs from a few hundred and go all the way up to 5,000,000 (no, that’s not a typo). If for some reason, five million is still not enough, you can contact their sales team for custom options.

Features ⚙️

• Fast redirection
• Option to customize the shortened URL
• No expiration date on shortened URLs
• Easy-to-use

Price 💵

TinyURL has a 100% free basic URL shortening service for individual users. It allows you to customize your links and keep track of your link history. For advanced features like analytics, you’ll need to upgrade to their premium plans, which are priced as follows:

• Pro – $12.99 per month
• Pro 5K – $35 per month
• Pro 50K – $249 per month

The prices above reflect month-to-month pricing, but if you pay up front for the year, the per month prices are even lower. In addition, TinyURL has an entirely separate set of high volume plans for those that need a massive amount of shortened URLs to use in SMS or other campaigns.

6. Cuttly

As do several of the other options on this list, Cuttly also goes beyond URL shortening to offer an all-in-one link management platform that offers a variety of features for managing and analyzing short links. It is an advanced URL shortener with link analytics that allow you to monitor clicks on shortened URLs and measure how effective they are. You can also generate QR Codes (even on the free plan), which can be used to combine offline and online solutions for your business.

Overall, it has a lot of features that will help you handle all of your links in an intuitive way. It’s a great tool for beginners and experts alike. Whether you are a small or large company, a blogger, or a marketer, you will appreciate this URL shortener. And if you ever get stuck, Cuttly also offers support, with an email response between two to 24 hours (on average).

Features ⚙️

• Provides extensive link analytics that allow you to track clicks on short links and measure their effectiveness
• Allows you to create you own Link-in-Bio microsites and generate QR Codes
• Comes with advanced features like UTM codes, A/B/C testing, pixel retargeting, and mobile redirects
• Enhanced security features like two-step verification to access your account

Price 💵

Cuttly has an extremely generous free URL shortener because it not only shortens your links, but comes with a host of other link management features. The Cuttly free plan includes:

• One free branded (custom) domain
• Up to 1,000 links monthly
• One link-in-bio page with five links
• QR code generation

If you want even more features, there are three premium plans available. They are priced at:

• Single – $25 per month
• Team – $99 per month
• Enterprise – $149 per month

If you pay up front for the year, the per month prices are even lower than what you see listed above. In terms of value, when you consider the price points and the features provided, this is probably the best URL shortener on the list.

7. Ow.ly

Hootsuite is a popular social media management tool. Ow.ly is a specific feature within Hootsuite that lets you shorten your links to use on social media or in other places.

If you are already a Hootsuite user, then this is easily the best URL shortener option at your disposal. You can access Ow.ly from the Hootsuite dashboard. From there, you’ll also be able to view analytics for your shortened URLs.

Features ⚙️

• URL Performance metrics
• Link retargeting
• Trackable short links
• Mobile platform supportive
• Rank monitoring
• Demonstrate social ROI

Price 💵

Ow.ly is included with both free and premium Hootsuite plans. So, while you do need to create a Hootsuite account to take advantage of it, you don’t need to pay extra to specifically use it. Hootsuite plans start at $99 per month (billed annually) and come with a 30-day free trial.

8. Rebrandly

Rebrandly offers advanced URL shortening technology packed with tons of features. You can use this digital tool to create custom/branded (and shorter) memorable links. You can use this URL shortener for both building and sharing short links across various social networks.

Rebrandly also lets you create separate workspaces and teammates, which might make it the best URL shortener for teams, and it also includes advanced features like link retargeting support.

Features ⚙️

• Bulk link creation
• UTM parameters
• API access
• 100+ app integrations
• Emojis on short links
• GDPR-compatible
• Rapid auto-scaling servers
• Private reporting
• Custom reports
• Click tracking

Price 💵

Rebrandly offers a limited free plan that supports 500 links and 5,000 clicks per month. After that, there are various paid plans:

• Essentials – $24 per month
• Professional – $75 per month
• Teams – $417 per month

There’s also an Enterprise plan, but you have to contact Rebrandly directly to get a quote. The prices above reflect the per month cost when purchasing an annual plan. If you choose to pay month-to-month, Rebrandly will charge you a bit more.

9. T2M

Another unique contender in our best URL shortener list is T2M. You will love the usability of this link shortening solution. To make the URL tracking easier, they have two separate dashboards. One is for location analytics and the other is for device or platform. It even generates a QR code along with the short URL.

T2M has dedicated instances, meaning the server response will be 100% dedicated to a single user. This ensures fast redirection to your destination URL. You can create short, branded URLs that will get more clicks or even decide where the link should work.

The paid plan will let you create more advanced URLs, like a password protected URL and a vanity URL. It’s a perfect choice for online businesses who want flexible, short URLs.

Features ⚙️

• No spam policy
• Personalized short URLs
• Full-scale analytics
• One-click domain mapping
• Bulk URL creation
• Unlimited API
• No-expiry URL
• Dedicated instance
• Auto-generated QR code
• CSV Import

Price 💵

If you just want to use the basic T2M service, T2M offers a basic tier for a $5 one-time fee. The $5 is just for verification and to cut down on spam – there are no ongoing fees.

After that, there are four premium plans. The prices below reflect the month-to-month costs:

• Standard – $9.99 per month
• Pro – $29.99 per month
• Premium – $89.99 per month
• Dedicated – talk to sales

If you choose to pay up front for the year, you’ll get three months for free, which will bring down the per month prices you see above.

10. ClickMeter

ClickMeter is less of a URL shortener and more of a click-rate optimizer. There are many features to help you create a URL with tons of clicks. ClickMeter is more for advertisers and agencies who use Google AdWords or other advertising networks.

It works like a charm for webmasters with a global audience and multiple languages. In addition to location-based targeting, you can easily integrate with popular content management systems like WordPress and Shopify. Clickmeter’s dashboard provides an in-depth analysis report.

Features ⚙️

• Multilingual support
• Geotargeting
• URL encryption
• Bulk link creation
• Branded tracking links
• Multiple API keys
• Google Analytics UTM support
• Device-based targeting
• Clone links

Price 💵

ClickMeter has three premium plans, all of which offer a 30-day money-back guarantee:

• Medium – $29 per month
• Large – $99 per month
• X-Large – $349 per month

Conclusion 🧐

Therefore, if you’re the type to share posts, you might want to get the best URL shortener for your blog. For your convenience, below is a quick recap of the ten URL shorteners we featured in this article:

Do you have any questions about how to choose the best URL shortener service for your website? Let us know in the comments!