Short answer: Short.io has the strongest free plan for branded links, with 5 custom domains, 1,000 branded links over the life of the account, and detailed click stats for the first 50,000 clicks. Dub suits steady monthly volume, with 25 new links a month and real-time analytics. Rebrandly and TinyURL fit light branded use, and Bitly's free tier, capped at 5 links a month with ads, ranks last among hosted free plans. The cheapest step up from free is Short.io Hobby at $5 a month.
Eight URL shorteners compared on how many links the free plan allows, whether a custom domain comes free, and how much click data you keep.
Searching for a free URL shortener usually means one of three questions. How many links can you create before you pay? Can the short link sit on your own domain at no cost? And do you keep any click data once the link is live? Most rankings answer none of them. This guide compares eight tools on those limits, and it puts the plan that lifts each limit next to the free one, so the trade-off is visible at a glance. Toolradar's marketing category holds the wider set of link tools, and the Bitly alternatives page covers the most common starting point.
Toolradar data: of the 774 marketing tools we track, 39% offer a free or freemium door, and 60% publish no free tier at all. Link shorteners are a small slice of that set, so the numbers that decide this ranking come from each vendor's own pricing page, not from the category count.
Methodology: every plan limit below was read on the vendor's own pricing page in October 2026, and where a plan's limits sit in a separate feature table, that table was used too. The ranking puts the free plan first: monthly or lifetime link volume, whether a custom domain comes free, whether click history is kept, and whether the free tier shows ads or watermarks. Paid plans matter only once that free tier runs out. Kutt, Linkly and BL.INK are not ranked, so this list is not exhaustive.
Top Picks
Picked by editorial review, informed by G2 and Capterra review volume and rating and by media mentions, the signals behind our category rankings. How we rate
Five custom domains and 1,000 branded links over the account's life on the free plan, with detailed click stats for the first 50,000 clicks.
Starting price
Free; Hobby $5/mo or $50/yr
4.5 (104 reviews)
Best for
Small businesses and creators who want a branded domain and click data before they pay anything.
Twenty-five new links a month, 3 custom domains and real-time analytics on the free plan, with 30 days of click history kept.
Starting price
Free; Pro $30/mo
4.3 (46 reviews)
Best for
Teams that create a steady flow of links each month and want real-time clicks at no cost.
Ten links a month and one custom domain on the free plan, plus a free rebrand.ly domain and 100 detailed click events a month.
Starting price
Free; Essentials $16/mo
4.5 (491 reviews)
Best for
Individuals testing branded links who need custom back-halves and basic click counts.
| Tool | Starting price | Rating | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short.io | Free; Hobby $5/mo or $50/yr | 4.5 104 reviews | Small businesses and creators who want a branded domain and click data before they pay anything. |
| Dub | Free; Pro $30/mo | 4.3 46 reviews | Teams that create a steady flow of links each month and want real-time clicks at no cost. |
| Rebrandly | Free; Essentials $16/mo | 4.5 491 reviews | Individuals testing branded links who need custom back-halves and basic click counts. |
| TinyURL | Free; Pro 125 from $11/mo | 4.4 147 reviews | Anyone who needs a short, reliable link with a custom alias and does not need click data. |
| Bitly | Free with ads; Core $10/mo yearly | 3.9 2,929 reviews | Anyone who wants the best-known short domain and can live with five links a month. |
| YOURLS | Free software, self-hosted | 4.6 14 reviews | Developers and technical teams that run their own server and want full control of the click data. |
| Shlink | Free software, self-hosted | n/a | Developers who want their own branded domain on their own infrastructure, managed through an API. |
| Sniply | No free plan; Basic $9/mo | 4.2 41 reviews | Marketers who want a call-to-action overlay on shared links and are ready to pay for it. |
Short.io
Five custom domains and 1,000 branded links over the account's life on the free plan, with detailed click stats for the first 50,000 clicks.
- 4.6 on Trustpilot (92 reviews)
- 4.4 on G2 (12 reviews)
- Starting price
- Free; Hobby $5/mo or $50/yr
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.5 (104 reviews)
Best for: Small businesses and creators who want a branded domain and click data before they pay anything.
- Pro: Free plan includes 5 custom domains and 1,000 branded links in total
- Pro: Detailed click stats on the free plan for the first 50,000 clicks
- Pro: Its FAQ says commercial use is allowed on the free plan
- Con: The 1,000-link cap is for the lifetime of the account, so it never resets
- Con: The free plan covers one user only
Short.io offers a very generous freemium model, making it accessible for individuals and small projects.
Watch out
No explicit overage fees mentioned
Dub
Twenty-five new links a month, 3 custom domains and real-time analytics on the free plan, with 30 days of click history kept.
- 4.9 on G2 (24 reviews)
- 3.6 on Trustpilot (22 reviews)
- Starting price
- Free; Pro $30/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.3 (46 reviews)
Best for: Teams that create a steady flow of links each month and want real-time clicks at no cost.
- Pro: Real-time analytics and 30 days of retention on the free plan
- Pro: 3 custom domains and API access included at no cost
- Pro: Pro at $30 a month raises links to 1,000 and domains to 10
- Con: The free plan allows 1 user and 1,000 tracked events a month
- Con: A single popular link can use up the event allowance quickly
Dub's pricing is quite generous, especially with its robust Free tier offering 1K clicks and 25 links.
Watch out
Overage fees not explicitly stated for limits
Rebrandly
Ten links a month and one custom domain on the free plan, plus a free rebrand.ly domain and 100 detailed click events a month.
- 4.6 on G2 (366 reviews)
- 4.3 on SourceForge (67 reviews)
- 4.6 on Capterra (58 reviews)
- Starting price
- Free; Essentials $16/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.5 (491 reviews)
Best for: Individuals testing branded links who need custom back-halves and basic click counts.
- Pro: Free plan includes a custom domain and a free rebrand.ly domain
- Pro: 100 detailed click events a month and a total click count on free
- Pro: Custom back-halves are included on the free plan
- Con: 10 links a month is a tight cap, second only to Bitly's 5 on this list
- Con: Free QR codes and the free link gallery carry a watermark
Rebrandly's pricing is fair, offering a good progression of features for the cost.
Watch out
Overage fees for exceeding link limits
- Starting price
- Free; Pro 125 from $11/mo
- Free plan
- No
- Rating
- 4.4 (147 reviews)
Best for: Anyone who needs a short, reliable link with a custom alias and does not need click data.
- Pro: 30 links a month on free, more than Dub's 25 or Rebrandly's 10
- Pro: Custom aliases and API access on the free plan
- Pro: Paid Pro plans add analytics and three branded domains, starting at 125 links a month
- Con: The free plan has no click analytics feature
- Con: One branded domain on free, against 5 at Short.io
The pricing for TinyURL appears to be quite expensive, especially considering the features listed are more aligned with aviation planning software rather than a URL shortener.
Watch out
Annual-only billing cycle
Bitly
Five links and two QR codes a month on the free plan, with unlimited redirects but ads and no custom domain.
- 4.8 on Capterra (1,297 reviews)
- 4.5 on G2 (923 reviews)
- 2.4 on Trustpilot (709 reviews)
- Starting price
- Free with ads; Core $10/mo yearly
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 3.9 (2,929 reviews)
Best for: Anyone who wants the best-known short domain and can live with five links a month.
- Pro: Unlimited redirects and QR scans on the free plan
- Pro: Core at $10 a month, billed annually, adds 100 links and 30 days of click data
- Pro: Growth at $29 a month billed annually includes a complimentary custom domain
- Con: The free plan is labeled 'With Ads' and has no custom domain
- Con: Free shows no click history at all
Bitly's pricing is generally fair, offering a generous free tier and clear progression.
Watch out
Overage fees for exceeding link limits not explicitly stated.
- Starting price
- Free software, self-hosted
- Free plan
- Free to use
- Rating
- 4.6 (14 reviews)
Best for: Developers and technical teams that run their own server and want full control of the click data.
- Pro: No subscription, and the code is free under the MIT license
- Pro: Historical click reports, referrer tracking and visitor geolocation
- Pro: A plugin architecture adds features without changing the core
- Con: You install, host and update it yourself, so the server cost is yours
- Con: No hosted support comes with the software
YOURLS is exceptionally generous as it is entirely free and open-source.
Shlink
Free, MIT-licensed, self-hosted shortener with visit stats, geolocated visitors, a web app, a command line and an API.
- Starting price
- Free software, self-hosted
- Free plan
- Free to use
Best for: Developers who want their own branded domain on their own infrastructure, managed through an API.
- Pro: MIT license and no subscription
- Pro: Visit stats with anonymized geolocation on every click
- Pro: Web app, command line and API for managing many short URLs
- Con: You must self-host it, including the domain and the server
- Con: Stats are visit stats, not a full campaign analytics suite
Shlink's pricing is exceptionally generous, offering a full-featured, self-hosted solution completely free of charge.
Watch out
Potential for increased infrastructure costs with high usage
- Starting price
- No free plan; Basic $9/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.2 (41 reviews)
Best for: Marketers who want a call-to-action overlay on shared links and are ready to pay for it.
- Pro: Call-to-action overlays, with buttons, text links and email capture forms
- Pro: Basic includes 250 links a month and one custom domain
- Pro: Every plan has a 14-day free trial
- Con: No free plan, so it does not fit a strict free-tool search
- Con: Basic allows 5,000 call-to-action impressions a month
What a free URL shortener gives you
A URL shortener turns a long web address into a short link that redirects to it. Most hosted tools add click counts, custom back-halves and QR codes on top. The free tier is where the real differences sit. Some tools cap how many links you can create each month, while others cap the lifetime total, and that difference changes how long a free plan lasts. Some let you attach your own domain for nothing, and others reserve that for a paid plan.
Two kinds of free exist here. Hosted services run the redirects for you and set every limit themselves. Self-hosted projects such as YOURLS and Shlink are free software you install on your own server. Their limits are the ones you set, and the cost moves from a subscription to hosting and upkeep. If you are also comparing free tools for landing pages, the best free landing page builders guide covers the same free-tier logic for a different job.
Why the free limits decide the choice
People usually search for a free shortener at the moment a link is about to leave their hands: a newsletter, an ad, a flyer or a product package. That is when the free cap bites. A tool that allows 5 links a month covers a personal blog and fails a product launch. A tool that allows 1,000 branded links over its whole life runs out on a different schedule from one that resets every month, and the right choice depends on which schedule matches your send calendar.
Click data matters for the same reason. A redirect you cannot measure gives you no way to tell whether the link did its job. Dub keeps 30 days of click history on its free plan, which covers a monthly report but not a quarterly one. Bitly's free plan shows no click history at all. So a buyer who needs to report on a quarter has to look past the free tier, or pick a tool whose free plan keeps data for longer.
Key Features to Look For
Custom domain on the free plan (Essential)
Short.io includes 5 custom domains on free, Dub includes 3, and TinyURL and Rebrandly include 1 each. Bitly's free plan has no custom domain. Short.io also says domain registration fees sit outside its plan prices, so the domain name itself is a separate cost.
Click analytics on the free plan (Essential)
Dub gives real-time analytics with 30 days of retention, Short.io shows detailed stats for the first 50,000 clicks, and Rebrandly includes 100 detailed click events a month. TinyURL's free plan has no analytics feature, and Bitly's free plan shows no data history.
Ads and watermarks on free (Important)
Bitly labels its free plan 'With Ads'. Rebrandly watermarks free QR codes and its free link gallery. A watermark on a printed QR code is the cost you see only after the poster is on a wall.
Cheapest hosted paid step (Nice to have)
Short.io Hobby is the lowest-priced hosted paid plan on this list, billed monthly or yearly. Its jump from the free plan adds 2 custom domains and 1,500 more branded links in total.
Questions to answer before you pick
-
Will you send more than the free cap in a month, or only a handful of links in total?
-
Do the links need your own domain from the first day, or can they wait until you pay?
-
Do you need click data, and how far back must it stay visible for your reports?
-
Will the links appear in ads, print or QR codes, where a watermark or an ad page matters?
-
Can you run a server, or do you need a hosted service that someone else keeps online?
Evaluation Checklist
Check whether the link cap is per month or for the lifetime of the account, since the two run out on different schedules.
Confirm the free plan includes a custom domain, and check whether domain registration sits outside the plan price.
Create one test link and click it, then check whether the click appears in the free analytics and how far back it is kept.
Look for ads on the redirect page and for watermarks on any QR code the free plan produces.
Read the data retention line on the pricing page before you plan a report that covers a full quarter.
Pricing Overview
Short.io Hobby
Adds 2 custom domains, takes branded links to 2,500 in total, and raises tracked clicks to 100,000 a month for one user.
$5 a month, or $50 billed yearly
Dub Pro
Adds 1,000 new links a month, 10 custom domains, 50,000 tracked events and a year of analytics retention.
$30 a month, yearly billing 10% off
Rebrandly Essentials
Adds 250 links and 250 QR codes a month, 2 custom domains, and basic audience data.
$16 a month, or $11 a month billed yearly
TinyURL Pro 125
Adds 125 links a month, branded domains and two years of analytics, which the free plan leaves out.
$11 a month, or $108 billed yearly
Bitly Core
Adds 100 links a month, 30 days of click data and a UTM builder, but still no custom domain.
$10 a month, annual billing only
Sniply Basic
Adds 250 links a month, one custom domain and call-to-action overlays, after a 14-day trial with no free tier.
$9 a month, or $90 billed yearly
Pricing Comparison
| Tool | Free plan | Cheapest paid plan | Billing |
|---|---|---|---|
1,000 branded links in total, 5 custom domains, 50,000 tracked clicks a month | Hobby, $5 a month or $50 a year | Monthly or yearly | |
Dub | 25 new links a month, 3 custom domains, 1,000 tracked events a month | Pro, $30 a month | Monthly; yearly is 10% off |
Rebrandly | 10 links a month, 1 custom domain, 100 detailed click events | Essentials, $16 a month, less on yearly billing | Monthly or yearly |
30 links a month, 1 branded domain, no click analytics | Pro 125, $11 a month or $108 a year | Monthly or yearly | |
Bitly | 5 links and 2 QR codes a month, ads, no custom domain | Core, $10 a month ($120 a year) | Annual only for Core |
Sniply | No free plan | Basic, $9 a month or $90 a year | Monthly or yearly, 14-day trial |
Prices checked on each vendor's pricing page in October 2026: Short.io pricing, Dub pricing, Rebrandly pricing, TinyURL pricing, Bitly pricing and Sniply pricing. YOURLS and Shlink publish no list price because they are free software you host.
Mistakes to Avoid
- ×
Choosing on the brand name. Bitly's free plan is the tightest hosted option here, at 5 links a month with ads and no custom domain.
- ×
Assuming the domain is free. Short.io includes custom domains in its plans but says registration fees sit outside the price, so budget for the domain itself.
- ×
Forgetting that Short.io's 1,000 branded links never reset. A busy quarter can use the whole allowance, and the cap does not refill the following month.
- ×
Ignoring retention. Dub's free plan keeps 30 days of click history, so a quarterly report needs a paid plan or an export you made earlier.
Expert Tips
- →
Count your links for the next six months before you pick, not the next six days. A monthly cap and a lifetime cap behave differently over a year.
- →
Choose one custom domain for every branded link from the start. Changing domains later means reprinting or re-sharing every link that already went out.
- →
Export your links on a schedule. Short.io says it will export all of your links on request at no extra charge, so ask support before you need the file.
Red Flags to Watch For
-
A free plan with no stated link cap, monthly or lifetime.
-
No click analytics on a plan you plan to report from, as on TinyURL's free plan.
-
A watermark or an ad page on links that leave your site, such as printed QR codes.
The Bottom Line
For a free URL shortener with a branded domain and click data, Short.io has the strongest free plan on this list, and it is also the cheapest hosted step up on this list. Choose Dub if you need a steady monthly flow with real-time analytics, and choose Bitly only if you accept its five-link cap and ads. YOURLS and Shlink win on control and cost only if you can run a server, because their free licenses trade the subscription for hosting and upkeep.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free URL shortener in 2026?
Short.io has the strongest free plan on this list, with 5 custom domains, 1,000 branded links in total and detailed click stats for the first 50,000 clicks. Dub is the better pick for a steady monthly flow, with 25 new links a month and real-time analytics.
Is there a free URL shortener with a custom domain?
How many links can a free URL shortener create?
Which free URL shortener includes click analytics?
Dub keeps 30 days of click history on its free plan, with real-time data. Short.io shows detailed stats for the first 50,000 clicks. Rebrandly includes 100 detailed click events a month. TinyURL's free plan has no analytics, and Bitly's free plan shows no click history.
How much does a URL shortener cost once the free plan runs out?
The cheapest hosted step up is Short.io Hobby at $5 a month, or $50 billed yearly. Bitly Core is $10 a month on annual billing only. Dub Pro is $30 a month, and Rebrandly Essentials is $16 a month, less on yearly billing. Sniply has no free plan, and its Basic tier costs $9 a month.
Can I use a free URL shortener for business links?
Short.io's FAQ says its free plan allows commercial use. Read the terms of any other hosted plan before you send customer-facing links through it, because this guide confirms that point only for Short.io. Self-hosted YOURLS and Shlink are free under the MIT license.
Cite this page: Toolradar, "Best Free URL Shorteners in 2026: Link Caps and Custom Domains", updated October 2026, https://toolradar.com/guides/best-free-url-shorteners
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