Short Link Tools: URL Shorteners Compared on Link Limits and Price

For short links, EZQR ranks first on our scorecard with 100 out of 100, ahead of biolink.page at 99. The criterion that separates them is pricing transparency: 4 of 4 plans have a public price.

What to look for in a short link tool

Most people search for a URL shortener to do one of three jobs: put a clean link in a social bio, track which campaign link got the clicks, or run branded links on their own domain. Those jobs need different things from the product, so check the plan limits before the feature list.

The number that bites first is the link cap. Free plans and entry plans are measured in links created, and a campaign with tagged links per channel burns through a small cap quickly. The second is the custom domain: some vendors include it on entry plans and some hold it back. The third is whether you can get your click data out later, because a shortener you cannot leave is a lock-in on every link you have already printed or posted.

The ranking leader is not always the tool you want. The scorecard counts price, pricing transparency, limits, export and API alongside link allowances, so a tool that is cheap and clearly priced can outrank a tool with deeper tracking. Read the tool notes below against your own job, and see how we score for the formulas.

How we picked

Link tools look interchangeable until you hit a limit, so the criteria below weight what a limit costs you: free-plan links, links on the entry paid plan, and cost per user for a small team, on top of the criteria every category shares. Every tool is scored the same way from its vendor pages, and a criterion with no verified data is left out instead of guessed.

The ranking

The table is computed, not edited, so the order moves when the data does. Tools with too little verified data are listed without a score. Browse the full URL shorteners category for every tool, including those not profiled below.

The tools

EZQR

EZQR leads the table, and it helps to know why. Its vendor summary describes it as a QR code generator with free static codes and paid dynamic codes, so it fits a job where the link lives on printed material or packaging and you need to change the destination later. Plan limits are counted in pages rather than links, which is why it does not compare cleanly with a classic shortener.

• Cheapest paid plan: Lite at $5 per month, with a free plan listed as Yes.
• Custom domain: Yes; link analytics: Yes.
• Export: QR codes as PNG, SVG and PDF; scan analytics as CSV on higher plans.

Short.io

Among the tools profiled here, Short.io has the largest free allowance and the clearest path up. The free plan carries 1 user, 1000 links, and the Hobby step up costs $5 per month for 2500 links. Past that, the $18 per month Pro plan lists unlimited links, which removes the cap as a planning problem for a solo marketer.

Data export is documented rather than an afterthought. Teams are priced separately: users are capped at 1 on Pro and become unlimited on Team.

• Free plan: 1 user, 1000 links.
• Export: daily export of raw click data to an AWS S3 bucket.
• Bulk shortening: Yes; UTM builder: Yes.
• Custom domain: Yes; API: Yes.

Lenkli

Lenkli suits a creator or small shop that wants short links, QR codes and a bio page from one login. Its free plan is listed at 25 links, and the paid Pro plan at $9 per month lists unlimited links. That makes the step from free to paid cheap if the cap is your only problem.

The Business plan adds workspaces (5), which matters if you manage links for more than one brand. The vendor describes a REST API and an MCP server, and the catalogue confirms an API: Yes.

• Trial: 7-day free trial; Business plan: $25 per month.
• Scheduled links: Yes; remove branding: Yes.
• Link-in-bio page: Yes; custom domain: Yes.

Replug

Replug is a link manager aimed at marketers who post across networks, and its profile shows it: branded links, bio pages, QR codes, A/B testing and retargeting pixels are all part of the vendor description. The free plan lists 100 links, 1 user, 1 workspace, so a single person can test it properly before paying.

The paid tiers are where the shape changes. Essentials costs $19 per month for 1000 links, and Scale at $39 per month lists unlimited links with 3 users. Agencies can look at the Agency plan, listed at $99 per month.

• Trial: 14-day free trial; annual price on Essentials: $9.50 per month, billed annually.
• UTM builder: Yes; link tracking: Yes.
• Team access: Yes; API: Yes.

Bitly

Bitly is the best-known name in this category, which is why it appears in so many searches, but among the tools profiled here its link allowances are the tightest. The free plan lists 50 links, and Core at $10 per month raises that only to 100. Compare that with Short.io Pro, which lists unlimited links for $18 per month.

What you get for the premium is breadth: custom domains, QR codes, a UTM builder, bio pages and bulk shortening are all listed. Choose it when a team already uses it or a client requires it, not as a route to a high link count on a small budget.

• Plans step through Growth at $29 per month (500 links) and Premium at $199 per month (3000 links).
• Trial: No free trial; API: Yes.
• Export: QR Codes can be downloaded as PNG, JPEG or SVG files.

Rebrandly

Rebrandly is built around branded links on a custom domain, and the catalogue lists 50 integrations, which is useful if links need to be created from other tools. The free plan is small at 10 links, so treat it as a trial of the interface.

The paid tiers climb quickly: Essentials is $11 per month for 250 links, Professional is $32 per month for 1500 links, and Growth reaches $149 per month. Annual billing on Essentials is listed at $8 per month, billed annually.

• Custom domain: Yes; link analytics: Yes.
• Trial: Free trial; API: Yes.

Dub

Dub positions itself as a link attribution platform with conversion analytics and partner program management, which is a different job from posting links in a bio. It earns its place for a product team that wants to attribute signups to links and run an affiliate programme from the same system.

The catch is entry cost. Its only listed starting plan is Business at $90 per month, and the free plan is listed as No.

• Trial: 14-day free trial; users on Business: 10.
• Custom domain: Yes; UTM builder: Yes.
• API: Yes.

YOURLS

YOURLS is the odd one in the table: a self-hosted, open-source shortener with a developer API, click statistics and a plugin architecture. You own the data and the domain, and nobody can change your plan limits. In return you install and maintain it, and the cost of the server is not in our data.

• Software cost: free plan listed as Yes; API: Yes.
• Custom domain: Yes; link analytics: Yes.

Who should not pick it

Match the skip list to your actual setup:

• Anyone who needs a classic link shortener for text links should not start with EZQR: its plan limits are counted in pages (5 on Lite), not links.
• Teams that need a large link count on a small budget should not pick Bitly: Core lists 100 links at $10 per month.
• Solo users who want a free plan should not pick Dub: its free plan is listed as No and the entry plan is $90 per month.
• Anyone without time to run a server should not pick YOURLS, which is self-hosted and has no listed starting price.
• Brands that test a tool before paying should check Rebrandly carefully: its free plan lists 10 links.

What we did not test

We did not create links, click them, measure redirect speed or check uptime. Everything above is read from vendor pricing and feature pages and scored by code, so it shows what a vendor publishes, not how fast links resolve, how accurate click counts are, or how good support is. Reliability matters most for printed links you cannot change, so check a vendor's status history before you commit. For the full list, see what we leave out. If you also need a bio page, see the link in bio tools guide.