URL shorteners
Bitly vs Clksy compared on 14 fields
- Bitly score
- 76/100 (7 of 8 criteria)
- Clksy score
- 80/100 (8 of 8 criteria)
- Fields won by Bitly
- 0 of 8
- Fields won by Clksy
- 2 of 8
Bitly
Clksy
Data checked Oct 14, 2026 against the vendors' own pages. How we verify
Bitly and Clksy are both URL shorteners. We compared them on 14 fields read from each vendor's own pages.
On the URL shorteners scorecard Bitly scores 76/100 (7 of 8 criteria) and Clksy 80/100 (8 of 8 criteria) (ranks 14 and 9 in the category).
Of the 8 fields with a clear rule (lower price, higher count, yes over no), Bitly wins 0, Clksy wins 2 and 6 are ties.
Bitly scores clearly higher on free plan limits.
Clksy scores clearly higher on entry price and pricing transparency.
Side by side
| Field | Bitly | Clksy | Winner and basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan (billed monthly) | $10/month | ✓ $9/month | Clksy |
| Same plan, per month billed annually | $10/month | – | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Free trial | No | ✓ Yes | Clksy |
| Trial length (days) | – | 7 | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Public API | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Data export | QR Codes can be downloaded as PNG, JPEG or SVG files | All click and conversion data as CSV | No winner: no rule for this field |
| Custom domain | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| QR codes | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| Click analytics | Yes | Yes | Tie |
| UTM builder | Yes | – | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Link-in-bio page | Yes | – | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Bulk shortening | Yes | – | No winner: needs a value on both sides |
| Team access | Yes | Yes | Tie |
– = not published by the vendor, or not verified yet.
Sources: Bitly pricing page, checked Oct 14, 2026; Clksy pricing page, checked Oct 14, 2026. Each feature value links its own source on the tool's page.
Scorecard, criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Weight | Bitly | Clksy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 25% | 50$10/month billed annually on Core; no monthly-billed price published (scored against annual-billed prices) | 67$9/month billed monthly on Starter (scored on the monthly price) |
| Free plan or trial | 15% | 100Free plan (Free) | 100Free plan (Free) |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | 844 of 5 plans have a public price (1 "contact sales") | 1003 of 3 plans have a public price |
| Verified features | 15% | 1007 of 7 tracked features verified: custom domain, qr codes, click analytics, utm builder, link-in-bio page, bulk shortening, team access | 1004 of 7 tracked features verified: custom domain, qr codes, click analytics, team access |
| API, integrations and export | 10% | 100public API, documented data export | 100public API, documented data export |
| Free plan limits | 10% | 50Free plan: 50 links | 10Free plan: 10 links |
| Links on paid plans | 10% | 67100 links on Core ($10/month) | 67100 links on Starter ($9/month) |
| Cost per user (team of 3) | 5% | – | 100$3 per user per month on Starter (team of 3, billed monthly) |
| Total score | 100% | 76/100 (7 of 8 criteria) | 80/100 (8 of 8 criteria) |
Bitly plans
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Charged per | Published limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free | per workspace |
|
| Core | Not offered | $10 | per workspace |
|
| Growth | Not offered | $29 | per workspace |
|
| Premium | Not offered | $199 | per workspace |
|
| Enterprise | Contact sales | Contact sales | Not stated | None stated |
Prices in USD per month, before tax. Read from the vendor's pricing page on Oct 14, 2026. "Not stated" means the page does not publish it.
Clksy plans
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | Charged per | Published limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free | per workspace |
|
| Starter | $9 | Not stated | per workspace |
|
| Pro | $19 | Not stated | per workspace |
|
Prices in USD per month, before tax. Read from the vendor's pricing page on Oct 14, 2026. "Not stated" means the page does not publish it.
How we picked
Every one of these URL shorteners is scored by the same 8 criteria (scorecard v1). Each criterion gives 0 to 100 from the vendor's published data; the total is the weighted average. A criterion without verified data is left out and the other weights are re-normalised. A tool with under 60% of the weight covered is listed as not ranked, and so is a tool with no verified price and fewer than 2 verified features (“needs a verified price”); each score shows how many criteria it is based on. The core criteria are the same in every category; the category criteria are specific to URL shorteners. Nobody gets custom weights, including our own products.
| Criterion | Weight | Type | What we measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | 25% | Core | Price per month of the cheapest paid plan, against the prices of other URL shorteners on the same billing basis (monthly-billed prices against monthly, annual-billed against annual).Log scale. Billed monthly: $5/month or less = 100, $29 or more = 0. Only billed annually: $4/month or less = 100, $24.92 or more = 0. Only free plans = 100. Usage-priced and one-time plans are not scored. |
| Free plan or trial | 15% | Core | Whether you can use the tool before paying: a free plan, or failing that a free trial, as shown on the vendor's pricing page.Free plan = 100. No free plan but a free trial = 60. The pricing page lists plans but shows neither = 0. No plans read = not scored. |
| Pricing transparency | 10% | Core | How much of the pricing is public: the share of plans with a published price ("contact sales" counts against), and whether there are at least 3 published tiers.80 x (plans with a public price / plans listed) + 20 x (public plans, up to 3) / 3. No plans read = not scored. |
| Verified features | 15% | Core | How many of the 7 features we track for this category the vendor's own pages verifiably show (custom domain, qr codes, click analytics, utm builder, link-in-bio page, bulk shortening, team access). This counts verified features only: a tool that documents less scores lower here, and only here.Linear: verified features / 4 (half the tracked list) x 100, capped at 100. No tracked feature verified = not scored. |
| API, integrations and export | 10% | Core | Whether a public API exists, how many integrations the vendor states, and whether the vendor documents a way to export your data.Average of the parts with data: public API yes = 100, no = 0; integrations on a log scale (100 or more = 100); a documented data export = 100. None verified = not scored. |
| Free plan limits | 10% | Category | What the free plan allows: links (full marks at 100).Each stated limit linear up to its full mark (unlimited = 100), averaged. Tools without a free plan, or whose free plan states none of these limits, are not scored here. |
| Links on paid plans | 10% | Category | Links included on the cheapest paid plan that states a limit.Log scale: 1,000 or more (or unlimited) = 100. No stated limit = not scored. |
| Cost per user (team of 3) | 5% | Category | Monthly price per user for a team of 3, on the cheapest paid plan that is priced per seat or states room for at least 3 users.Log scale: $6.67 per user or less = 100, $30 or more = 0. Plans that do not state a user limit are not used. No such plan = not scored. |
Sources are vendor pricing pages, docs and changelogs, each with the date we checked it. We did not test these tools hands-on unless a listing says so. Full formulas: methodology.
Questions, answered from the data
Is Bitly cheaper than Clksy?
Clksy starts lower: $9 per month billed monthly on the Starter plan, against $10 per month billed yearly on the Core plan for Bitly. Check the unit: per-user and per-account prices scale differently.
Do Bitly and Clksy have free plans?
Both have a free plan.
Which is better, Bitly or Clksy?
On our scorecard Clksy scores higher (80/100 (8 of 8 criteria) vs 76/100 (7 of 8 criteria)). The score weighs every criterion the same way for every tool; check the rows above for the ones that matter to you.