Bitly vs Rebrandly (2026): Prices, Free Plans & the Cheaper Third Option

Bitly vs Rebrandly: which link shortener is worth paying for?

Choosing between Bitly and Rebrandly? The two most visible "comparisons" on Google are written by Bitly and Rebrandly themselves — the contestants, judging their own fight. This one is not. I compared their 2026 plans side by side, checked every price below on the official pricing pages on 23 October 2026, and added a third option most comparisons skip.

Disclosure: this article is published on urlzbit.pro, and Urlzbit is our own link shortener. That bias is disclosed up front. The prices, limits and paywalls below were verified on the official pricing pages on 23 October 2026, and the honest answer at the end includes the cases where you should not pick us.

The short answer

• Bitly is the established giant. Its free plan is now tiny — 5 links a month, with ads — and paid plans start at $10/month billed annually. Its data history and heaviest features are paywalled high.
• Rebrandly is the brand-first challenger. Its free plan gives 10 links a month, it owns the custom-domain story, but password links, routing and bulk import only unlock at Professional ($32/month, or $22 on annual).
• Urlzbit is the cheaper third option. Its free plan gives 100 saved links a month-scale budget of 10,000 clicks, and Pro costs $9 for 30 days with no auto-renewal. The honest catch: no bring-your-own custom domain, documented below.

Prices and plans at a glance (checked 23 October 2026)

Both vendors change plans regularly. A six-year-old comparison currently ranks on Google with prices that are wrong today — that is exactly what this section is trying not to become. These numbers are a snapshot, not a promise.

Bitly — official pricing: bitly.com/pages/pricing

• Free — $0, shown with ads: 5 links a month, 2 QR codes a month, 3 custom back-halves a month, unlimited clicks, basic QR customizations.
• Core — $10 a month, annual only ($120 billed once a year): 100 links a month, 5 QR codes a month, 30 days of click and scan data, UTM builder, link redirects.
• Premium — $199 a month ($2,388 a year): 3,000 links a month, 200 QR codes a month, a full year of click and scan data, city-level and device-type data, mobile deep linking.
• Enterprise: custom pricing. Note that Bitly's pricing page states purchases automatically renew every month or year depending on the plan.

Rebrandly — official pricing: rebrandly.com/pricing

• Free — $0: 10 links a month, 10 QR codes a month (with a Rebrandly watermark), one yourbrand.bio domain plus the shared rebrand.ly domain, custom back-halves, unlimited clicks, detailed analytics on your first 100 clicks a month.
• Essentials — $11 a month, or $8 a month billed annually: 250 links a month, 250 QR codes a month, 2 custom domains, basic audience data.
• Professional — $32 a month, or $22 a month billed annually: 1,500 links and QR codes a month, 3 custom domains, 50 password-protected links, dynamic traffic routing, bulk link edit and import, link expiration.
• Growth — $149 a month, or $104 a month billed annually: 3,500 links and QR codes a month, 10 custom domains, mobile deep linking.
• Enterprise: custom pricing.

Urlzbit — our own plans: urlzbit.pro/pricing

• Free — $0: 100 saved links, 10,000 clicks per calendar month, custom endings, password protection, a QR code for every link, link scheduling.
• Pro — $9 for 30 days: 5,000 links, unlimited clicks, country, device and language routing, weighted A/B testing, bulk paste of up to 20 URLs, CSV import of up to 100 rows, CSV export, the Developer API, personal redirect branding.
• Business — $29 for 30 days: 50,000 links.
• Lifetime Pro — $149 one-time: no recurring charge, ever. No plan on Urlzbit auto-renews — you renew manually.

Free plans head-to-head: 5 a month vs 10 a month

Here is the uncomfortable truth about both free tiers: they are trials wearing a free-plan costume.

• Bitly gives you 5 links a month, with ads in the dashboard. Two QR codes a month, three custom back-halves a month. For a weekend project that is fine. For anything resembling a workflow, you will hit the wall inside a week.
• Rebrandly gives you 10 links a month and 10 QR codes a month — double Bitly's allowance — but the QR codes carry a Rebrandly watermark, and you get no destination edits, no password links, and detailed analytics on only 100 clicks a month.
• The ceiling that bites first is analytics, not link counts. Bitly's free tier lists no click-data history at all — history starts at Core with 30 days. Rebrandly's free tier shows country-level data but reserves city-level detail and unique-click tracking for paid plans.

For context, Urlzbit's free tier gives 100 saved links you keep, with a 10,000-click budget that resets each calendar month — comfortably more room than either competitor's free plan before you pay anything. If you outgrew a free tier somewhere else, this is the cheapest place to land: see the sibling comparison Alternative to Bitly: a cheaper, simpler option for small teams.

Paid plans and the renewal trap

Price is only half the cost question. The other half is what happens after you hand over your card.

• Bitly's cheapest paid plan, Core, is annual-only. $10 a month sounds gentle until you realize it is $120 billed up front, and Bitly's own pricing page states that purchases automatically renew. That is a year-long commitment with a surprise renewal at the end of it.
• Rebrandly is more flexible. Every paid tier has a genuine monthly option — $11, $32, $149 — with annual billing as a discount (down to $8, $22, $104). You can leave after a month. The annual plans save up to 31%, which is a bet that you will still need the tool in twelve months and that prices will not drop.
• Urlzbit has no auto-renewal at all. Every plan is 30 days (or the one-time lifetime deal), and nothing charges you twice unless you say so. The honest flip side: a missed manual renewal means your paid features pause until you renew. There is no surprise charge — but there is also no safety net. If you want billing you never think about, manual renewal is a chore, not a feature.

The renewal question is worth asking before any other: do you want the tool to keep charging you until you cancel, or do you want to decide every month? Neither answer is wrong. Bitly chose the first; we chose the second.

Branded domains: where each paywalls them

If your short links must live on your own domain — links like go.yourbrand.com/sale — this row decides the comparison almost by itself.

• Rebrandly wins this row, and it is not close. Custom domains are the company's founding idea: 2 on Essentials, 3 on Professional, 10 on Growth, with domain purchase and connection built into the product.
• Bitly includes custom domain registration with its paid subscriptions. Workable, but branded domains are a feature of Bitly, not its identity.
• Urlzbit loses this row outright. We offer personal redirect branding on Pro, but we do not document a bring-your-own-domain feature. If your links must carry your own domain, pick Rebrandly or Bitly. We would rather lose this row honestly than imply a feature we do not have.

Analytics ceilings that actually bite

Everyone advertises "unlimited clicks." The real paywall is how much of your own data you are allowed to look back at.

• Bitly: unlimited clicks on every plan, but click-and-scan history is the gate — 30 days on Core, a full year on Premium, and city-level plus device-type breakdowns only on Premium. If your reporting window is longer than a month, Core is not enough.
• Rebrandly: unlimited clicks too, but the free plan's *detailed* analytics stop at 100 clicks a month, unique-click tracking is paid-only, and city-level data starts at Essentials.
• Urlzbit: per-link click analytics on all plans, with CSV export on Pro for anyone who does reporting in a spreadsheet.

The pattern is the same everywhere: click volume is free, click memory is paid. Decide how far back your reports need to reach before you pick a tier.

Routing, password links and bulk: the tier where each unlocks

These are the features that separate a link shortener from a link *manager* — and vendors gate them deliberately.

• Rebrandly keeps its power features together: password-protected links (50 a month), dynamic traffic routing, bulk link edit and import, and link expiration all unlock at Professional — $32 a month, or $22 on annual billing. Nothing below that tier gets them.
• Bitly reserves its heaviest capabilities for Premium at $199 a month: city-level and device-type data and mobile deep linking live there. That is enterprise money for features a solo marketer may never touch.
• Urlzbit puts password protection on the free plan, and country, device and language routing, weighted A/B testing, bulk paste of up to 20 URLs and CSV import of up to 100 rows on Pro at $9 for 30 days.

Related guides if these features matter to you:

• Country routing: How to redirect a link based on country with Urlzbit
• Password links: How to password-protect a link (free, in about a minute)
• Bulk workflows: Bulk URL shortener: shorten 100 links at once
• Campaign tagging: How to add UTM parameters to short links

The third option: Urlzbit

Every Bitly-vs-Rebrandly comparison written by a third party eventually asks whether there is a cheaper way to get the same outcome. Here is the honest version of that section, including who should walk away.

You should consider Urlzbit if:

• You need password links, routing, QR codes and analytics without paying $22–$32 a month for the privilege.
• You run short campaigns and hate subscriptions — the $9 thirty-day Pro plan and the $149 one-time Lifetime Pro exist for exactly this.
• You shorten links in batches — bulk paste and CSV import are Pro features here, not enterprise ones.
• You want billing that never surprises you — nothing auto-renews.

You should not pick Urlzbit if:

• Your links must live on your own branded domain — we do not offer that, and Rebrandly does it best.
• You need enterprise compliance, SSO, or a dedicated success manager — that is Bitly Enterprise and Rebrandly Enterprise territory.
• You want to pay annually and forget about it — our manual renewal means one more thing on your to-do list every 30 days.
• You need landing pages, SMS campaigns or link-in-bio galleries at scale — competitors bundle those; we do not.

The price math that makes people look twice: one month of Bitly Premium ($199) costs more than Urlzbit's Lifetime Pro ($149, paid once). Different feature sets, obviously — but if your actual needs are shortening, routing, passwords, QR codes and analytics, the gap is worth a hard look.

Verdict by use case

• Weekend project or side hustle: the free tiers. Rebrandly's 10 links beat Bitly's 5, but both run out fast — and Urlzbit's 100-link free tier outlasts both.
• Brand-first small business: Rebrandly Essentials — the cheapest legitimate route to real custom domains ($8 a month on annual billing).
• Data-heavy marketer with a real budget: Bitly Premium — a year of click history and city-level data, at $199 a month of enterprise pricing.
• Solo marketer, affiliate, or short campaign: Urlzbit Pro or Lifetime — routing, password links and bulk tools at a fraction of either competitor.
• Maximum links for zero dollars: Urlzbit free — nothing else in this comparison comes close on the free tier.

FAQ

Is Bitly's free plan really free?

Yes — $0, but the dashboard shows ads, and you get 5 links and 2 QR codes a month. It is a genuine free plan with a very small allowance.

Does Bitly auto-renew?

Yes. Bitly's pricing page states that purchases automatically renew every month or year depending on the plan you chose. Calendar the renewal date if you go annual.

Can I use my own domain on Rebrandly's free plan?

Not your own domain. The free plan includes a yourbrand.bio domain and the shared rebrand.ly domain; connecting a domain you own starts at the Essentials tier.

Which is cheaper for 1,000 links a month?

Rebrandly Professional ($32 monthly, $22 annual), Bitly Premium ($199), or Urlzbit Pro ($9 for 30 days). But link allowances and feature sets differ wildly between those tiers — compare the full row above, not the headline price.

Can Urlzbit replace Bitly?

If your workflow depends on branded custom domains, no. If your actual needs are shortening, country/device routing, password links, QR codes and click analytics on a budget, it is a fair swap — and the free plan is the cheapest way to find out.

Will these prices still be accurate next year?

Probably not exactly. Both Bitly and Rebrandly have repriced tiers before — Rebrandly's own pricing page today shows different numbers than third-party comparisons from earlier this year. Everything above was checked on 23 October 2026; verify on the official pricing pages before you buy: Bitly pricing and Rebrandly pricing.

*Prices checked 23 October 2026 on the official pricing pages. Plans change — verify before you commit.*