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Top Best Free Link Shorteners — Google's URL shortener was shut down three years ago (RIP), and ever since then people including me have been trying to find the new best alternative to shorten a link.
Looking for the best URL shortener to decrease your site's links, analyze clicks, add UTM tags, use retargeting, and/or hide a link within another link?
In this article we have collected ten excellent link shorteners to shorten your URLs and all use cases. From free URL shortening services to business-focused premium plans, you'll find a great option in this list.
Table of contents
What is a link shortener?
A link shortener (aka link shortener) is a website that reduce the length of your URL (link). The idea is to reduce the web page address to something easier to remember and follow. There are many URL shorteners on the market today, including Bit.ly, Google, and Tinyurl. Link shorteners help you create shorter, better-looking URLs, as well as benefit from those tracking and retargeting features.
For example, the URL "https://example.com/assets/category_A/subcategory_B/Foo/" can be shortened to "https://example.com/Foo", and the URL "https://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/URL_123" can be shortened to "https://w.wiki/U". Often the redirected domain name is shorter than the original domain name. In some cases, you can even personalize this mini URL with a custom phrase.
I want to clarify that a URL shortener is the same thing as a link shortener. These are all different ways of saying the same thing, which is that we want to take something long and ugly and then make it short and cute. It's the combination of a variety of benefits that makes URL shorteners powerful. If you actively manage multiple social media pages, there is no way around them.
How to shorten a link for free?
The link shorteners are the best solution to shorten a link for free. With URL shorteners, any long and unwieldy website address can be reduced to a few characters with just one click.
Anyone with an internet browser can use link shorteners: social media managers, everyday Facebook moms, small business owners, TikTok and Instagram (insta bio) users – and you!
Concretely, URL shorteners work by creating a redirect to your long URL. By typing a URL into your Internet browser, you send an HTTP request to the web server to display a specific website. The long URL and the short URL are simply different starting points for an Internet browser to reach the same destination.
While link shorteners were once useful for shortening the longest links to meet the character limit on social media and messaging apps, many platforms now take care of that for you. Twitter, for example, automatically shortens all shared links with its shortening service t.co, while iMessage hides all links behind a preview card. If you're just texting your friends, you only really need to worry about URL shortening if you're using texting exclusively.
Google's URL shortener, the most popular of the free shorteners, was shut down in the spring of 2019, but the silver lining is that there are dozens of alternative options.
The other side of the coin… There are dozens of alternative options. How do you know which one to choose?
Our advice: look for services url minimizer that allow you to customize your link, or which have built-in detailed analytics. A link reducer site that has been around for a while time can also be more reliable and reputable, and avoid any shutdowns or service interruptions.
Top Best Free Link Shorteners
The best link shortener depends on what you need and want it to do. There are simple, fast, and free URL-shortening apps, apps focused on marketing and analytics that detail who clicks on your links, and even options that let you add calls to the action to your links, or redirect people based on where they are in the world.
Besides the basic options, here are the features I was looking for in the best link shortener:
- Analytics and click tracking
- Personalization of URLs
- Standalone app/nothing to download
- free
- Seniority
- Value for money
To help you find the best link shorteners that are suitable for most use cases, I tested over 47 different options. Here are the best ones, and what makes them great.
- Bitly — free, professional link reducer with statistics.
- TinyURL — best free link builder without registration.
- Sniply — a simple tool that shortens links and lets you attach your own personalized message to any content.
- ReBrandly — custom link shortener that allows you to create original and descriptive links using a custom branded domain name.
- cuttly — Complete link management suite with detailed analytics.
1. Bitly
Bitly is a full-service, professional-grade free link shortener. It has a comprehensive dashboard where you can track over 20 metrics in real time. The campaign tracking tools are also easy to use.
While Bitly's free limited account used to offer many possibilities, it has gradually become less easy to recommend, especially for small businesses. My free account from a few years ago can crawl 10 links per month, while the new plans opened today only allow 000, although you can still customize the back half of 100 shortened URLs. It's a good way to experience Bitly's user interface, but you really should consider a paid plan.
The $35/month Basic plan provides a free custom domain and lets you build 1 links per month.
- Connect a custom domain
- Analytics Dashboard
- Hearing intelligence
- Custom URL
- Integration with Zapier and TweetDeck
- Fully responsive
- Hosted in the cloud
- URL Retargeting
- Bitly price: Very limited free plan; Basic plan starting at $29/month (billed annually) with branded domains, more links per month, and support.
2. TinyURL
TinyURL is the best solution to shorten a link for free for anonymous use. You can customize the string that appears in your shortened URL.
For example, you can create https://tinyurl.com/my_article_perso, rather than something random like https://tinyurl.com/y3xvrfpg. TinyURL is completely anonymous – there is no need to open an account. The downside, however, is that it doesn't offer analytics or other advanced features.
- Quick redirect
- Ability to customize the shortened URL
- Anonymous use
- User-friendly
- TinyURL is 100% free.
3. Sniply
Sniply is a URL shortener with a difference. In addition to shortening a URL, you can also add a call to action (CTA) to each link you share. For example, if you've linked to third-party content, you can add an overlay on that site with a button that links to your site.
By grabbing content from third parties, you can post more frequently on social media. Then personalize the short links with a message that prompts users to take action, like signing up for your newsletter.
- Add your CTA to any page
- Customize CTAs to suit your brand
- Share shortened links
- Control link engagement
- Monitoring results
- Add retargeting pixels
- Integration with other tools
4. Rebrandly
Rebrandly offers advanced link reduction technology with tons of features. You can use this digital tool to create personalized/branded (and shorter) memorable links. You can use this link shortener both to create and share short links on various social networks.
Rebrandly also lets you create separate workspaces and teammates, which might make it the best link reducer for teams, and it also includes advanced features like link retargeting support.
- Bulk Link Building
- UTM Parameters
- API Access
- 100+ app integrations
- Emojis on short links
- GDPR-compliant
- Fast auto-scaling servers
- Private reports
- Custom reports
- Click tracking
- Rebrandly offers a limited free plan that supports 500 links and 5 clicks per month. After that, there are several paid plans:
5. cutt.ly
The link management platform of cuttly lets you shorten, tag, manage and track all your links in one place. Detailed analytics provide information about clicks, social media clicks, page referrer, devices, browsers, systems and geolocation.
You can set your custom brand name and get QR codes. There is also a built-in UTM code generator and the ability to create alternative link redirects for mobile devices.
- Customization of URL/short slug
- Build Brand Links
- Generating UTM Parameters
- Password protection of short links
- Define alternative mobile links
- Analyze unique clicks
- Manage redirect expiration
- Embed retargeting pixels
- Link split test
- Generate QR codes
- Remove unwanted links
- Link encryption (SSL)
6. Short.io
Most URL shorteners will happily tell you where people are clicking on your links and what devices they're using, but Short.io goes one step further: it allows you to target visitors from different locations or using different devices and send them to a different link. This is useful if you want to ensure that iOS and Android users see the correct app download link, or that your US and Canadian customers see the correct dollar type.
Short.io is a great link shortener, although unlike most options you are required to use your own custom domain.
7. T.co
Twitter has a built-in, free link shortener that automatically shortens any long URL to 23 characters, giving you free rein to express yourself.
Any links you share, even those that have already been shortened, will be transformed into a t.co URL so that Twitter can record statistics and weed out unwanted or dangerous sites.
Read also : The Best Free & Fast Youtube MP3 Converters (2022 Edition)
8. Hyperlink
Get real-time notifications when links are clicked with help from Hyperlink, or change the settings to get hourly, daily, or weekly summaries.
Hyperlink also provides per-click details: discover each visitor's device, location, and referral information, as well as a live tracking dashboard.
The app (for iOS and Android) is a good complement to the Chrome extension, for those who need to share links on the go. (You are busy, we understand that).
Custom domains are available with paid plans, which start at $39 per month.
9. URLz
Urlz is a very basic, yet very effective URL shortener that lets you create short, random URL endings. You don't need an account to access the link shortener, just go to the site home page and then paste your link. This link shortener is 100% free and has an API interface to shorten your links in bulk.
10. Shrinkme
You find an easy way to earn money with URL link shortener Shrinkme. You can do it in three easy steps. Just create an account, shorten your link and earn money.
You can easily earn money from home using this free tool. You earn money for each visit. Thanks to the referral program, you can earn even more. You can refer friends and receive 20% of their earnings for life. You can control all features from the admin panel with the click of a button. In addition to the English language, the site supports French, Spanish and Portuguese.
Bonus: Linkvertise
If shortening URLs is your way to make money. Then there's a new kid in town who can help you become a whiz at it.
Indeed, you can easily earn money with Linkvertise. It is the highest paying link reduction site in German-speaking countries. Linkvertise can avoid annoying pop-ups or layers while offering a high payout.
Conclusion: Hiding a link within another link
At this stage, we have reviewed the best link shorteners available online, reliable and free. As you can see, almost all of the services listed offer link shortening features without even having to create an account. It is currently up to you to decide on the best reducer for your needs.
To hide a link in another link it is possible to opt for an anti-referrer service, which is relatively similar to link reducers.
An anti-referrer (also: link anonymizer) is a web page that is connected between the link source and the link target. It is used to transfer users. The purpose is to hide the URL of the website concerned and thus prevent the possibility of tracing.
See also: 21 Best Free Book Download Sites (PDF & EPub) & +21 Best Free Disposable Email Address Tools (Temporary Email)
On the Internet you will find many providers that offer anti-referrer functions. Typically, this is done through a specially designed website. It manipulates client HTTP request using meta refresh tag and server side scripting. A web browser will then replace the original referrer with its own URL or a string of random characters. The well-known anti-referent is: anonym.to
Thanks to the available anti-referrers, you as a website operator can create anonymous links directly via the provider's site.
