URL and link shorteners basically help in managing large URLs by converting them into smaller URLs lesser than 20 characters in size.
This is basically to ensure a good experience while sharing on mobile applications and social media platforms. Moreover, you can easily track click rate, and data of sharing on social media platforms, and even make money online through it.
Now there are a lot of options that offer URL shortening services. However, it can be a little tricky to find out which one of the tools suffices for the exact requirements you are looking for.
Therefore, to make your decision easier I have reviewed and ranked the best Link Shorteners based on their pricing, features, support, ease of use, integrations, and more.
So let’s get started.
What is the Best Link Shortener?
Here is the list of the top URL and link shorteners to use this year.
1. Bit.ly
Bitly is a New York based company that offers a custom link shortening and management platform. What is interesting about the tool is that they offer deeper insights into more than 20 data points, including geographies and referral channels.
Bitly is capable of integrating more than 700 applications to scale your workflow automation seamlessly. Moreover, it offers you to send referral links and custom short links via text messages.
All the links are encrypted using HTTPS protocol and also allow you to replace bit.ly with your branding.
Key Features
- Advanced Analytics – Provides dashboard enabled to track real-time key metrics like demographics, open rate, total visits, and more.
- Custom Branding – Allows you to create custom links in bulk and provides performance reports of content through its in-depth analytics.
- Multiple Integrations – Supports extensive business apps to automate your workflow. Plus, it allows the creation of mobile-friendly deep links through Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Hootsuite, and Sprinklr.
Pros
- Provides automation to scale the delivery of custom branded URLs.
- Saves the cost involved in per-character fees charged by SMS marketing tools with shorter links.
- Generates QR code for custom-created links with powerful tracking features.
- Provides extensive knowledge base and resources library.
- Supports security and flexibility through using OAuth2 authentication workflow in Bitly API
- Tracks metrics like share and visits and other overall performance metrics for content
Pricing Plans
Bitly offers three paid plans to its customers along with its free plan:
- Free: $0 per month
- Basic: $29 per month
- Premium: $199 per month
- Customized: Quote-based plan
2. Rebrandly
Rebrandly is another good link management platform offering to track, share, and create custom-branded short URLs for custom domains. Moreover, it allows you to collaborate seamlessly with multiple team members by creating team-specific folders.
Also, It allows you to manage 404 and SSL traffic right from your dashboard. Other than this, you can manage multiple custom domains with your branding. Additionally, it allows you to edit these URLs and create custom URL slugs with options like expiry date and user redirection.
Overall Rebrandly is a holistic platform offering extensive integrations, tracking mechanisms, and custom branding.
Key Features
- Domain Management – Manage 404 redirect management, SSL redirection, custom SSL providers, and multiple domains through a single dashboard.
- Deep Linking – Supports redirection of traffic to a particular mobile app or link based on its location, language, device, and more.
- Link Retargeting – This allows you to send traffic to retargeting lists like Twitter, Facebook, and others.
Pros
- Provides dedicated email and engineer support whenever required
- Supports single sign-on (SSO) for login and signup
- Offers integration with powerful enterprise tools for workflow automation
- Provides multiple levels of access control to handle big teams
- Offers automatic updates, use cases, and product FAQs.
Pricing Plans
Rebrandly offers four paid plans with a 30-day money-back guarantee along with a free plan:
- Free: $0 per month
- Starter: $29 per month
- Pro: $69 per month
- Premium: $499 per month
- Enterprise: Custom Price
3. TinyURL
TinyURL is a link-shortening platform that allows you to generate short aliases for lengthy URLs. It allows you to preview the link to review the final shortened link before sharing and tracking it.
Moreover, it allows you to add the shortened URL in your browser toolbar. Plus, the redirection feature works seamlessly for a page by creating a smaller URL.
Other than this, TinyURL offers analytics, management, and link-tracking features on its platform.
Key Features
- URL Support – Offers different URL types such as preview links, short links, and long links.
- Easy Navigation – Provides a simple user interface that provides shortened URLs by just entering the website URL in an input box.
Pros
- Easily creates custom links with your personal branding.
- Allows you to generate an unlimited number of free links
- Disables spam or illegal links automatically
- Supports all popular device platforms and web browsers
Pricing Plans
TinyURL offers two paid pricing plans apart from its free plan:
- Free: $0 per month
- Pro: $9.99 starting per month
- Bulk 100k: $99 starting per month
So now let’s cover the basics.
What is a URL Shortener or Link Shortener?
A URL shortener is a tool that allows you to reduce the length of your URL to make it look clean and recallable. It also provides a feature to rename your customized URL according to your branding requirements.
The main purpose is to make sure that the user recalls the URL in his memory quickly. This helps them to easily share these URLs to any other mobile applications as well as track them via social media management platforms on how the promotion is performing.
A short URL not only takes fewer characters but also is useful to tweet without exceeding the character limit. Plus, they help you track the URL-associated activities to track key metrics like demographics, geography, platform, and location.
It helps you monitor the traffic in real-time and also connect your own custom domain to the URL shortener. Using your branded domain helps you retain the trust you already have among your customers and therefore it is easy to pass it along to other users.
What Features Should You Look For in a Link Shortener?
There are a ton of link shortener providers available in the market. Each one of them offers an overwhelming number of features that often confuses people.
However, here are some of the basic and important features needed in a URL shortener:
1. Branded Links
Branded links are important to make sure that your customer is able to recall your brand later. Therefore, it is essential to look for a URL shortener offering personalized marketing tools and custom-branded domains for web pages.
2. Third-Party Integrations
The URL shortener should offer easy integration with third-party software providers offering CRM software and other marketing automation tools. This will help you to automate your workflow easily and efficiently.
Zapier URL shortener is a good example of a third-party integration allowed by URL shortener providers.
3. Domain Management
If you are a big organization chances are that you might have multiple custom domains. Therefore, you should look for a link shortener tool that handles several domains, 404, SSL, and redirects.
4. Powerful Analytics
Robust Analytical tools help you understand the traffic flow, from where it is coming, and at what time. This helps you in researching what digital marketing campaigns are suitable for a particular demography or geography.
Therefore, it is crucial that you invest in such tools to improve key performance metrics like click-rate, engagement, subscribers, and more.
Best Link Shortener – Final Summary
This wraps up my list of the best URL and link shorteners to use this year. I will keep updating the list with other good online link shorteners available in the market.
Every tool has its own unique standard features and USP. Some of them are free while others provide flexible pricing plans depending upon your brand requirements.
Finally, I recommend you go through every tool mentioned in the URL shortener list before deciding which final link shortener tool to use.
Which link shortener tool are you planning to use? Let me know in the comment section below.
More from Smashitbuck: Do check out my other articles on the OKR software, grammar check software, and watch Instagram anonymously to read this year.
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