The best link management tools and URL shorteners in 2026

Most people go looking for a new link tool after hitting a wall in the old one. The custom domain costs $35 a month, free links open on an ad page, the plan has one seat, routing or A/B tests sit on a tier that costs $30 to $179 a month, and the click count includes every preview bot that touched the link. Here are seven tools, what each one does well, and where each one stops.

tinbo publishes this list, so tinbo comes first. Competitor facts come from each vendor's own pages, checked 27 October 2026; prices are in US dollars, billed monthly. If something has changed, tell us.

At a glance

tinbo: a well-balanced mix of features, seats and price

tinbo is a link shortener for people whose links have to do more than redirect. It's built for:

• Creators, whose YouTube, Spotify or Instagram links should open in the app, where their audience is already signed in.
• Affiliate marketers, who send each country to its own store and want preview bots out of the count.
• Agencies, with a workspace per client, each with the client's own domain, people and plan.
• SMS and messaging senders, who want links on their own domain and promos that expire into the next offer.
• App teams, who send iPhones to the App Store and Android phones to Google Play from one link.
• Developers, who create links over a REST API or through an AI assistant.

What you get, and on which plan:

• Your own domain on Free. Free includes one custom domain, 25 new links and 1,000 tracked clicks a month, 90 days of history and unlimited destination changes. No card, no time limit.
• No ads, on any plan. tinbo never puts an ad page or interstitial in front of your links, Free included.
• Links that keep working. Past the click allowance, links keep redirecting and new clicks simply stop being recorded. After a downgrade, your links and the rules you set up keep working. Nothing pauses or freezes.
• Routing from $12. Basic adds geo and device targeting, password protection, expiring links and an audit log, with 1,000 links and 50,000 tracked clicks a month, three custom domains, three members and a year of history.
• Open in app on Basic. Links to 19 apps, including YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Spotify and Amazon, open in the app on phones instead of a browser tab. A few do so on Android only. There are no URL schemes to look up.
• A/B testing and ten members on Pro. Pro, at $42, adds A/B tests across up to five destinations and member roles, with 10,000 links, 500,000 tracked clicks, ten domains, ten members and two years of history.
• Clicks you can put in a report. Crawlers, link previews and uptime monitors are recognised and never count as clicks or use up your allowance. AI agents fetching a page for someone, such as ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity, are counted, separately from people.
• Built in on every plan: a REST API (30, 120 or 600 requests a minute), an MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants, two-factor sign-in, QR brand templates with your logo and colours, and a UTM builder with templates.
• Monthly billing. No yearly lock-in: cancel any time. Basic and Pro come with a 7-day trial that needs no card.

Not there yet: tinbo has no CSV import, browser extension, webhooks, link-in-bio pages or deep links into your own app. If you need one of those today, the tools below cover it.

See the plans and start free, no card needed.

Bitly: the best-known name

bit.ly links, QR codes, landing pages and analytics, from a free plan to Enterprise.

Best for: companies that want a name their audience recognises.

Where it's strong: unlimited clicks on paid plans. A browser extension, an API, an MCP server and landing pages come with every plan, Free included.

What to know: Free gives 5 links a month with no click analytics, and its links open a preview page that may carry ads. The $10 Core plan is billed yearly only and has no custom domain. The first plan with one, Growth, is for one user, with 20 destination changes a month.

Prices, billed monthly: Free $0 · Growth $35 · Premium $300.

Compared with tinbo: tinbo has a custom domain on Free, and Basic adds three domains, three members, routing, passwords and expiry, with no cap on destination changes. Bitly is ahead on unlimited clicks, landing pages and bulk upload.

Full comparison: tinbo vs Bitly.

TinyURL: quick links and bulk volume

One of the oldest shorteners, with paid plans priced by links a month.

Best for: plain links, and businesses that make them by the tens of thousands.

Where it's strong: every Pro plan tracks unlimited clicks, with three branded domains and two years of history. Bulk plans run up to a million links a month, and the API works on every plan.

What to know: Free has no analytics, and Free links can't be edited or deleted. On Free, TinyURL adds affiliate tracking to shopping links unless you switch it off. Links past your plan's volume are billed as overage. TinyURL doesn't publish routing, passwords or seat counts for its plans.

Prices, billed monthly: Free $0 · Pro $11 (125 links a month) to $59 (2,000) · Bulk $83 (50,000) to $599 (1 million).

Compared with tinbo: tinbo Basic gives 1,000 links a month for about a third of the price of TinyURL's 1,000-link Pro, and adds geo and device targeting, passwords, open in app and three members. TinyURL Pro counts every click and keeps two years of history; tinbo Basic tracks 50,000 clicks a month and keeps one year.

Full comparison: tinbo vs TinyURL.

Rebrandly: branded links for marketing teams

A branded-link platform with link galleries and high-volume contracts.

Best for: marketing teams, and companies that buy links by the year.

Where it's strong: a browser extension, an API, an MCP server and two-factor sign-in on every plan, and bots are taken out of the click counter. Professional adds routing, passwords, expiry, retargeting pixels, webhooks and teammates.

What to know: Free gives 10 links a month and analytics on 100 clicks. Destination changes start on Essentials, capped at 10 a month (50 on Professional), and Essentials has no teammates. Opening links in apps needs Growth. Rebrandly's plan comparison lists no A/B testing or audit log.

Prices, billed monthly: Free $0 · Essentials $16 · Professional $39 · Growth $179.

Compared with tinbo: routing, passwords and expiry cost $12 on tinbo Basic and $39 on Rebrandly Professional, and Basic adds three members, an audit log, open in app and unlimited destination changes. Rebrandly goes further on pixels, webhooks and volume.

Full comparison: tinbo vs Rebrandly.

Short.io: a big free plan and volume

Branded short links, with the most tracked clicks on a free plan in this list.

Best for: solo users who want volume for little money, and anyone who wants a capable free plan.

Where it's strong: Free includes 1,000 links, 50,000 tracked clicks a month and five custom domains. A/B testing, mobile targeting, import and export, a browser extension and an audit log come with every plan. Pro gives one person unlimited links and tracked clicks, passwords, expiry, webhooks and retargeting pixels.

What to know: every plan below Team, at $48, is for one user. Free and Hobby cap your total number of links, not links a month. To open other apps, you look up and enter each app's URL scheme yourself.

Prices, billed monthly: Free $0 · Hobby $5 · Pro $18 · Team $48 · Enterprise $148.

Compared with tinbo: Short.io gives more volume for the money. tinbo suits small teams: Basic has three members and Pro ten. tinbo's open in app needs no URL schemes, and it counts AI agents apart from people.

Full comparison: tinbo vs Short.io.

Dub: links plus conversion tracking

Short links plus conversion tracking and affiliate programs, aimed at startups and developers.

Best for: teams that want to see which links lead to sign-ups and sales, or that run an affiliate program.

Where it's strong: Free has three custom domains, an API, an MCP server and unlimited destination changes. Pro adds routing, passwords, expiry and deep links into your own app; Business adds A/B testing, conversion tracking, webhooks and roles. Dub has a CSV import, and most of its link product's code is open source.

What to know: Free gives 25 links a month, 1,000 tracked events and 30 days of history. Past the events limit, links keep working, but seeing their analytics needs an upgrade. Audit logs and SSO are Enterprise only.

Prices, billed monthly: Free $0 · Pro $30 · Business $90 · Advanced $300.

Compared with tinbo: routing, passwords and expiry cost $12 at tinbo and $30 at Dub; A/B testing costs $42 and $90. Dub's free plan has more domains, three to tinbo's one, and Dub is the better fit for conversions, affiliate programs and deep links into your own app.

Full comparison: tinbo vs Dub.

Linkly: unlimited seats on every plan

Tracking-first links for marketers, SMS senders, developers and agencies.

Best for: teams that want everyone in without paying per seat, and long analytics history.

Where it's strong: unlimited members (up to 100 per workspace) and five years of history on every plan, Free included. Pro adds geo and device rules, link rotators, passwords, expiry, retargeting pixels, open in app for about 20 apps, and a CSV import.

What to know: on Free, past 500 clicks a month links show an over-limit page instead of redirecting until the reset; paid plans buy a $25 pack automatically when you go over. Most bot clicks count against the limit. A cheaper Starter plan, $15 a month, is sold billed yearly only. Two-factor sign-in and an audit log are Enterprise only.

Prices, billed monthly: Free $0 · Pro $39 · Business $129 · Unlimited $999.

Compared with tinbo: routing, passwords, expiry and open in app cost $12 at tinbo and $39 at Linkly, and tinbo Basic tracks 50,000 clicks a month to Linkly Pro's 10,000. tinbo links never pause, and bots never use up the allowance. Linkly is ahead on seats, history, pixels and CSV import.

Full comparison: tinbo vs Linkly.

How to choose

• If you want routing, passwords and expiry for a small team, start with tinbo Basic, with three members.
• If your links point at YouTube, Instagram or Spotify, tinbo opens them in the app on Basic.
• If you want to run A/B tests in a team, tinbo Pro is $42.
• If you want the most free volume, look at Short.io.
• If you track sign-ups and sales, look at Dub.
• If everyone needs a seat at no extra cost, look at Linkly.
• If you rely on a browser extension or link-in-bio pages, look at Bitly, Rebrandly or Short.io.
• If you make tens of thousands of links a month, look at TinyURL's Bulk plans.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free URL shortener with a custom domain?

Bitly's Free plan has no custom domain; its first plan with one is Growth, at $35 a month. All the other tools here include at least one custom domain on their free plans. tinbo's Free plan pairs it with analytics, unlimited destination changes and the API, with no card and no time limit.

Which URL shorteners have no ads on free links?

tinbo shows no ads or interstitial pages on any plan, and Linkly says its free plan isn't paid for by ads. Bitly's Free links open a preview page that may carry ads, and TinyURL adds affiliate tracking to shopping links made on Free unless you switch it off.

What is the best Bitly alternative?

For most people, tinbo, but yes, we're biased. Your own domain comes on the Free plan, where Bitly's first plan with one costs $35 a month, and your links never show an ad. Basic adds geo and device targeting, password protection, expiring links, open in app and three members, where Bitly's Growth plan is for one user.

Our picks

• tinbo for routing, passwords, open in app and an audit log on a small team's monthly bill, with a custom domain free from day one.
• Short.io for free volume, Dub for conversion tracking, Linkly for unlimited seats, Bitly or Rebrandly for extras like a browser extension, and TinyURL for bulk.

Every tool here has a free plan, so try before you move. Start tinbo free, no card needed, or see how it compares with the tool you use now on the comparison pages.