8 Best Free URL Shortening Services

Dr. Ankit Sharma, PhD

Updated on:

Best Free URL Shortening Services

Shortly put, the Best Free URL Shortening Services takes some long, bulky links & turns them into shorter ones that are easy to share.

This summarized link means whoever sees your ad has an easy-to-type URL to visit, rather than to type some long, incoherent string of text where they can make a mistake. It’s not just for ads for friends; URL shorteners help you deliver a typable link on a business card, print ads, podcast interviews, or any other situation where someone must click on a link.

URL shorteners used to be beneficial for shortening longer links to fit character limits on social media & messaging apps; a lot of platforms manage that for you.

Twitter, for instance, shortens any shared links with its t.co shortening service, while iMessage puts any links behind a preview card. If you’re sending links to your friends, you only really have to consider URL shortening if you are solely using SMS.

Best Free URL Shortening Services

1. Bitly

Best Free URL Shortening Services

Bitly is a powerful & popular tool for shortening URLs. It’s been considered one of the Best Free URL Shortening Services by many users for a while & for a good reason.

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

In addition to offering URL (Universal Resource Locator) shortening services, Bitly also provides a QR code generator and the standard link-in-bio feature, which is becoming a standard for social media influencers & businesses with a social media presence. You can even use these in the free version, although with Bitly branding.

2. Rebrandly

Rebrandly is the industry standard link management platform to brand, track & share short URLs using custom domain names. Thousands of famous brands like Lamborghini, Harvard, Dell, Accenture, Oracle, Tesla, United Nations, & many more are adopting their branded links as the best choice to generate short URLs.

For advanced users & custom projects, Rebrandly is one of the market’s most advanced & scalable link-management platforms. They offer a great set of API (Application programming interface) & the support of expert engineers to create small & big projects around links (SMS, transactional messages, affiliates & influencers, single sign-on, & many more).

With Rebrandly, users can create & share branded links directly through the browser extension while online. They store that in the user’s dashboard, where one can assess results using their robust tools.

3. Tiny.cc

Tiny.cc is a well-rounder & one of the Best Link Shorteners platform. Apart from being one of the Best Free URL Shortening Services, it also offers highly resourceful paid packages that make it a serious candidate for the title of “best premium URL shortener.”

The tool itself operates like a multi-faceted link management platform. It lets you shorten URLs and share, edit, organize, customize, track, & monetize them. Their main job is to make your links short, meaningful, & profitable. You even have the choice to convert your URLs into customizable, low-DPI (Dots per inch) QR codes for printing & distribution.

Their system doesn’t stop there. It continues tracking your shortened links while creating graphical charts with information on your click metrics and visitors’ demographics. The excellent feature is you don’t even need to create an account to view all this data.

4. Blink

Blink isn’t just one of the Best URL Shorteners options on the market; it’s a wholesome link management platform that offers a comprehensive solution for managing, monitoring, & calculating every touch point in your assignation journey. It lets you analyze link performance using reports or incorporate it with web analytics tools like Google & Adobe.

The platform also provides various additional incorporation options, letting you connect with other tools using its open API feature. It is also scalable to support your entire organization, from minor one-person operations to global teams with infinite campaigns.

5. Sniply

If you are trying to attain great conversions using content curation, Sniply is the best choice for you. You can use Sniply to generate short, branded custom links of articles/ blog posts/ web pages. These links are easy to share on social media platforms. When users click on these short links, they are taken to the appropriate content, but the web page also displays the Snip you created along with your CTA (Call-To-Action).

That’s not all. You can reprocess the CTA as often as you wish or create new CTAs for other campaigns. The metrics relating to clicks, conversions & campaigns can be seen on the analytics dashboard.

6. Short.io

Best Free URL Shortening Services

Short.io (formerly Short.fm) lets you create & send different links based on the location or device of the user. This is a handy tool if you want to create exclusive links for different groups of users. You can also choose the default domain for shortened links. Furthermore, the tool provides you with vital statistics regarding link performance.

The campaign tracking feature lets you observe the performance of marketing campaigns concerning shortened links. It supports advanced features like link cloaking, QR code, & custom link expiration.

7. Cuttly

Like several other options on this list, Cuttly also does much more than URL shortening to offer an all-in-one link management platform that provides an array of features for managing & analyzing short links.

It is an advanced URL shortener with link analytics that lets you monitor clicks on shortened URLs & assess how effective they are. You can create QR Codes (even on the free plan), which can be used to unite offline & online solutions for your business.

Overall, it provides a lot of features that will help you to handle all of your links in a discerning way. It’s an excellent tool for beginners & experts alike. Regardless of the size of your company, a blogger, or a marketer, you will be satisfied with this URL shortener.

8. Clkim

Clkim is a URL platform preferred by many affiliate marketers. The tool offers smart features like redirects, retargeting, & much more. It lets users monetize links through custom-branded links. You can also divide users & retarget them to monetize traffic.

The URL shortener tool lets you analyze traffic by different locations & devices. You can have access to smart geo-specific redirects & launch full-page ads when users click on the links. Rank monitoring & campaign tracking are also helpful options for optimizing the digital promotional strategy.

What is a Custom URL Shortener?

A custom, or branded URL shortener, is when you have connected your own personalized domain to a URL shortener which acts as a basic for all the short links you generate. Instead of using a general domain like bit.ly or rebrand.ly, you can select your own.

It is always recommended to use your own custom domain when sharing links online as it creates increased link trust, brand awareness, & click-through rate. Some of the Best Free URL Shortening Services will help to create custom URLs.

FAQ

Q: What is a URL Shortener?

A: A URL shortener tool is also recognized as a link customization app. It is chiefly used to optimize website links by shortening them to about one-third of the real size of the link.

Q: Why do we need the Best Free URL Shortening Services?

A: Users use URL shortening services to save space when posting a link. The shortened links can conceal affiliated website links, evaluate audiences, & evaluate online ad campaigns.

Q: Can I shorten a URL for free?

A: You can use the link shortener for free services available online. The free link shortener platforms allow you to shorten any website link. A paid version is usually essential if you want a custom URL shortener to customize the shortened links.

Q: Are URL shorteners safe?

A: A risk with a free shortened URL is that you don’t know about the website’s domain. It may redirect to a malicious website. You must not click on a shortened link if not posted by a trusted source.

Leave a Comment