Best URL Shorteners in 2026: 8 Tools Compared Honestly

There is no single best URL shortener. The right tool depends on how many links you create, whether you need your own domain on them, and whether you want to pay at all. This guide compares eight widely used tools on the same criteria, with the same honesty about where each one wins and where it loses — including where Urlzbit loses.

Prices below were checked in October 2026 against official pricing pages and the tools' own comparison pages. Prices change, so confirm before you buy.

How we compared

Every tool below is judged on the same seven questions:

• Free plan: how many links you get without paying, and what is missing
• Custom endings: whether you can write your own text after the slash
• Click analytics: what you can see about each click, and for how long
• QR codes: whether every link gets a QR code you can track
• API access: whether you can create links from code without paying
• Price: what the cheapest useful paid plan costs
• Renewal terms: whether the plan bills you again automatically

A tool that wins on one question often loses on another. That is the point of this comparison.

Bitly

Bitly is the biggest name in link shortening, and its pricing reflects that.

• Free plan: 5 links a month and 2 QR codes a month, with an ad page shown to visitors before they reach your destination. Clicks and scans are unlimited.
• Cheapest paid plan: Core at 10 dollars a month billed annually, for 100 links, 5 QR codes and 30 days of click data.
• Mid tier: Growth at 29 dollars a month billed annually, for 500 links, 10 QR codes, 10 landing pages and a complimentary custom domain.
• Top tier: Premium at 199 dollars a month, for 3,000 links, 200 QR codes, city-level data and mobile deep linking.
• Custom domains: only from the Growth plan up.
• Renewal terms: Bitly subscriptions auto-renew.
• Where Bitly wins: the largest ecosystem, the most integrations, and the most familiar brand on a shared link.
• Where Bitly loses: the free plan is the stingiest here, and the ad page on free links makes it a poor choice for anything public-facing.

Deep dive: Bitly vs Urlzbit, head to head

TinyURL

TinyURL is the oldest tool on this list, and the simplest. It has barely changed its pitch in two decades, which is either a virtue or a limitation depending on what you need.

• Free plan: 30 links a month, and TinyURL states that free links never expire.
• Cheapest paid plan: Pro at 11 dollars a month, or 9 dollars a month billed annually, for 125 links a month and 3 branded domains.
• Bulk tier: Bulk 50K at 83 dollars a month, or 69 dollars a month billed annually, for 50,000 links a month.
• Enterprise: custom pricing from 3,999 dollars a year.
• QR codes and API: neither is shown on TinyURL's pricing tiers, so do not buy TinyURL expecting them.
• Renewal terms: TinyURL lists auto-payment as optional.
• Where TinyURL wins: longevity, simplicity, and free links that do not expire.
• Where TinyURL loses: 125 links a month on the paid Pro plan is thin for the price, and the feature set is the narrowest here.

Deep dive: Bitly vs TinyURL, prices and free plans side by side

Rebrandly

Rebrandly is built around branded links: your domain, your name after the slash, your brand on every shared link.

• Free plan: 10 links a month and 10 QR codes a month, with 1 yourbrand.bio custom domain and 1 free rebrand.ly domain. Custom back halves are included, but free QR codes and the free link gallery carry a Rebrandly watermark, and detailed analytics cover only the first 100 clicks a month.
• Cheapest paid plan: Essentials at 11 dollars a month billed annually, for 250 links a month, 250 QR codes a month, 2 custom domains and 10 destination edits a month.
• Professional: adds teammates, workspaces, password-protected links, link expiration, traffic routing and retargeting.
• Growth: 3,500 links a month and 10 custom domains, at 149 dollars a month or 104 dollars a month billed annually.
• Where Rebrandly wins: the most polished branded-link workflow, domains you can buy inside the app, and a free plan that still includes a custom domain.
• Where Rebrandly loses: the free plan caps out fast at 10 links a month, destination edits are not available on free at all, and the price climbs steeply past Essentials.

Deep dive: Rebrandly vs Urlzbit, premium features without the premium price

Short.io

Short.io has the most generous free plan in this comparison, and it is not close.

• Free plan: 1,000 branded links in total, 5 custom domains, 50,000 tracked clicks a month, API access, QR codes, a UTM builder and link editing — all without a credit card.
• Paid plans: scale up from there with unlimited branded links and more domains.
• Where Short.io wins: free-plan volume. Nobody else here gives you 1,000 links and 5 domains for nothing, and the free plan includes an API, which most rivals reserve for paying customers.
• Where Short.io loses: it counts tracked clicks rather than links on some limits, so a few high-traffic links can eat your allowance faster than you expect.

Short.io's free plan beats Urlzbit's free plan on link count outright: 1,000 links against 100. If free volume is your only criterion, Short.io is the honest pick.

Dub

Dub is the developer favourite: open-source roots, a clean API, and a free plan that treats small builders seriously.

• Free plan: 25 new links a month, 1,000 tracked events a month, 3 custom domains, API access, QR codes, UTM templates and 30-day analytics retention.
• Cheapest paid plan: Pro at 27 dollars a month, for 12,000 new links a year, 600,000 tracked events a year, 1-year analytics retention and a free .link domain.
• Business: 81 dollars a month, adding conversion tracking and A/B testing.
• Advanced: 270 dollars a month for hyperscale quotas.
• One thing to understand: Dub bills on tracked events rather than raw clicks, so compare its numbers with care against tools that count links or clicks.
• Where Dub wins: API access, custom domains and QR codes on the free plan, plus conversion tracking from the Business tier up.
• Where Dub loses: 25 links a month on free is small, and the paid tiers get expensive quickly for what is still, at heart, a link tool.

Cuttly

Cuttly is the quiet value pick: a clear five-tier ladder, a branded domain on the free plan, and no surprises.

• Free plan: 30 links a month, 3 custom slugs a month, 1 branded domain, 30 days of analytics, QR codes and a UTM builder — all free.
• What free does not include: destination editing, password protection, link expiration, mobile redirects and A/B rotation all need the Single plan or higher.
• Starter: 12 dollars a month for 300 links a month.
• Single: 25 dollars a month for 5,000 links a month, unlimited slugs, 5 domains and 365 days of analytics.
• Team: 99 dollars a month. Team Enterprise: 149 dollars a month.
• Where Cuttly wins: the clearest pricing ladder here, a branded domain on free, and full analytics from the first click.
• Where Cuttly loses: 30 links a month on free runs out fast, and the genuinely useful controls (passwords, expiration, editing destinations) all sit behind the 25-dollar tier.

T.ly

T.ly is the specialist: Smart URLs, OneLinks and retargeting, aimed at people who manage campaigns rather than occasional links.

• Free plan, with a catch: T.ly offers free one-off short links, a browser extension and QR tools, but saved links, editing, branded domains and analytics need a paid plan after a 5-day trial. There is no saved-link free account.
• Cheapest paid plan: Hobby at 55 dollars a year, for 500 new links a month.
• Monthly plans: Personal at 10 dollars a month for 1,000 new links a month, then Basic at 20, Pro at 50 and Business at 100 dollars a month.
• Where T.ly wins: the cheapest annual entry of any paid plan here, and campaign features (Smart URLs, OneLinks, retargeting) that most rivals do not bundle.
• Where T.ly loses: no real free account, so you cannot try the full product before paying beyond the 5-day trial.

Urlzbit

Urlzbit is this site's own tool, so this section gets the same treatment as the rest — strengths first, then the honest losses.

• Free plan: 100 saved links, 10,000 clicks a calendar month, custom endings, password protection, a QR code for every link, Google sharing and scheduling.
• Pro: 9 dollars per 30 days, for 5,000 links, unlimited clicks, country, device and language routing, weighted A/B tests, bulk paste of up to 20 URLs, CSV import of up to 100 rows, CSV export, the developer API and personal redirect branding.
• Business: 29 dollars per 30 days, for 50,000 links.
• Lifetime Pro: 149 dollars one time, for the Pro feature set with no recurring bill.
• Renewal terms: no auto-renewal anywhere. A plan ends when its 30 days end unless you choose to renew it.
• Where Urlzbit wins: the cheapest serious paid plan here by links per dollar — 5,000 links for 9 dollars per 30 days, against TinyURL Pro's 125 links a month at the same 9 dollars — plus password protection and QR codes on the free plan, and the only lifetime option on this list.
• Where Urlzbit loses, honestly: Short.io's free plan beats it on link count, 1,000 against 100. There is no documented bring-your-own custom domain, so if your brand must appear in the link itself, Short.io, Dub, Cuttly or Rebrandly serve you better. The developer API is paid-only, while Dub, Cuttly and Short.io include API access free. And there are no team seats or SSO, so larger teams should look at Bitly, Rebrandly or Dub instead.

Try it free: Urlzbit pricing

Best for each use case

• Best free plan overall: Short.io. 1,000 links and 5 custom domains free is unmatched here.
• Best free plan for developers: Dub. API access, 3 custom domains and QR codes without paying.
• Best free plan for branded links on a tight budget: Cuttly, if 30 links a month is enough — a custom domain with full analytics for nothing.
• Cheapest paid plan, month to month: Urlzbit Pro at 9 dollars per 30 days, and the only plan here with no auto-renewal.
• Cheapest paid plan over a year: T.ly Hobby at 55 dollars a year — but only 500 links a month.
• Most links per dollar at the entry paid tier: Urlzbit Pro. 5,000 links for 9 dollars per 30 days is an order of magnitude more than TinyURL Pro's 125 a month at the same price.
• Best for teams and enterprises: Bitly Premium, Rebrandly Growth, or Dub Business and up — conversion tracking, team controls and SSO live there, and Urlzbit has no team tier.
• Best for branded domains: Short.io free, with 5 domains, if you already own domains; Rebrandly if you want to buy one inside the app.
• Best for never paying a subscription again: Urlzbit Lifetime Pro at 149 dollars one time.

The verdict

If you want the best free plan, pick Short.io. If you want the cheapest serious paid plan without a subscription that renews itself, pick Urlzbit Pro. If you run a team, need your own domain on every link, or build on an API for free, pay for Bitly, Rebrandly or Dub — and check the pricing page before you commit, because every price in this guide was checked in October 2026 and any of them can move.

FAQ

• Do short links expire? It depends on the tool. TinyURL states that free links never expire. For every other tool, check the terms before you print a QR code on a link, because a lapsed paid plan can change what your links do.
• Can I use my own domain for short links? Yes on Short.io, Dub, Cuttly and Rebrandly free plans; from Bitly's Growth plan and TinyURL's paid plans. Urlzbit does not document a bring-your-own custom domain — it offers personal redirect branding instead, which is not the same thing.
• Which shortener has no auto-renewal? Urlzbit — no plan here auto-renews. Bitly subscriptions auto-renew, and TinyURL lists auto-payment as optional.
• Do I need to pay for API access? Not on Dub, Cuttly or Short.io, which include API access on their free plans. Urlzbit's API needs Pro or Business. TinyURL does not list API access on its pricing tiers.
• What happens if I stop paying? Paid features stop and your limits drop to the free tier on most subscription tools. Check the terms before you build printed materials on a paid feature.

Practical next steps: How to create, share and track a short link · How to track QR code scans · What a vanity URL is and how custom short links work