URL shorteners · 2026
Free URL shorteners 22 tools ranked by verified data
Data checked Oct 14, 2026 against the vendors' own pages. How we verify
We scored 25 tools with a free plan among URL shorteners with the same 8-criterion scorecard; 22 have enough verified data to be ranked.
Every listed tool has a free plan; the table shows exactly what each free plan allows, as the vendor states it.
EZQR ranks first with 100/100, followed by biolink.page (99) and Short.io (97).
The lowest starting price among ranked tools (the least you can pay for a paid plan, for one user or account) is DYQR's: $4.17 per month billed yearly on the Pro plan.
Free plans compared
| # | Tool | Score | Coverage | Free plan allows | From, billed monthly | Integrations | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  EZQR | 100/100 | 80%6 of 8 criteria | No limits stated | $5/mo | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 2 |  biolink.page | 99/100 | 85%6 of 8 criteria | 5 pages, 100 links | Free | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 3 |  Short.io | 97/100 | 100%8 of 8 criteria | 1 user, 1,000 links | $5/mo | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 4 |  Enshort | 94/100 | 75%5 of 8 criteria | No limits stated | $7/mo | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 5 |  YOURLS | 89/100 | 65%4 of 8 criteria | – | Free | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 6 |  Click Dash | 85/100 | 85%6 of 8 criteria | 50 links | $8/mo | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 7 |  Lenkli | 83/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | 25 links | $9/mo | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 8 |  Snipr.sh | 82/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | 5 links | $5/mo | 4 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 9 |  Clksy | 80/100 | 100%8 of 8 criteria | 10 links, 1 user | $9/mo | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 10 |  linkutm | 79/100 | 100%8 of 8 criteria | 25 links, 1 user | $9/mo | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 11 |  Flyn | 79/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | 25 links | $12/mo | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 12 |  DYQR | 78/100 | 85%6 of 8 criteria | 3 links | Not offered | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 13 |  Replug | 77/100 | 100%8 of 8 criteria | 100 links, 1 user, 1 workspace | $19/mo | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 14 |  Bitly | 76/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | 50 links | Not offered | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 15 |  Giga QR | 75/100 | 65%4 of 8 criteria | 1 page | $12/mo | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 16 |  StashKit | 74/100 | 80%6 of 8 criteria | 1 user | $12/mo | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 17 |  Rebrandly | 74/100 | 95%7 of 8 criteria | 10 links | $11/mo | 50 | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 18 |  Cutt.ly | 73/100 | 100%8 of 8 criteria | 30 links | $12/mo | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 19 |  lua | 69/100 | 100%8 of 8 criteria | 5 links, 1 user | $19/mo | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 20 |  Flowcode | 67/100 | 80%6 of 8 criteria | No limits stated | Not offered | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 21 |  TrackRev | 67/100 | 80%6 of 8 criteria | – | $29/mo | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 22 |  BrokenTube AI | 61/100 | 80%6 of 8 criteria | 1 social account | $19/mo | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| – |  HoldQR | Not ranked | 50%4 of 8 criteria | No limits stated | Not offered | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| – | Digily Link | Not ranked | 25%2 of 8 criteria | – | – | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
| – |  Linkos | Not ranked | 25%2 of 8 criteria | – | – | – | Oct 14, 2026 |
Each value links the vendor page it was read from (hover for the check date). Coverage is the share of the scorecard's weight with verified data, and "N of M criteria" how many criteria the score is based on; a tool is ranked at 60% or more.
– = not published by the vendor, or not verified yet.
Why each one ranks where it does
- 1. EZQR 100/100
QR code generator with free static codes and paid dynamic codes offering editable destinations, scan analytics, A/B testing and landing pages.
- Entry price (100/100): $5/month billed monthly on Lite (scored on the monthly price)
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
From $5 per month billed monthly on the Lite plan.
Homepage captured Oct 14, 2026 - 2. biolink.page 99/100
Link-in-bio page builder that also provides a URL shortener, QR code generator, static site hosting and click analytics.
- Entry price (100/100): Free: the pricing page lists no paid plan
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- 3. Short.io 97/100
URL shortener for branded short links with custom domains, click analytics, QR codes, team collaboration and a REST API.
- Entry price (100/100): $5/month billed monthly on Hobby (scored on the monthly price)
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
From $5 per month billed monthly on the Hobby plan.
- 4. Enshort 94/100
Link shortener and QR code generator that connects short links to store revenue, campaigns and per-influencer conversion data.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Verified features (100/100): 4 of 7 tracked features verified: custom domain, qr codes, click analytics, bulk shortening
From $7 per month billed monthly ($6 billed yearly) on the Grow plan.
- 5. YOURLS 89/100
Self-hosted open-source URL shortener with a developer API, bookmarklets, click statistics and a plugin architecture.
- Entry price (100/100): Free: the pricing page lists no paid plan
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan
- 6. Click Dash 85/100
Link shortener and file sharing service that tracks clicks and downloads, with custom domains, QR codes, a UTM builder and a Chrome extension.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Verified features (100/100): 5 of 7 tracked features verified: custom domain, qr codes, click analytics, utm builder, team access
From $8 per month billed monthly ($4 billed yearly) on the Hobby plan.
- 7. Lenkli 83/100
Link platform combining short links, dynamic QR codes, a bio page and click analytics, with a REST API and an MCP server.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Verified features (100/100): 5 of 7 tracked features verified: custom domain, qr codes, click analytics, link-in-bio page, team access
From $9 per month billed monthly on the Pro plan.
- 8. Snipr.sh 82/100
Link shortener with custom domains, smart routing, conversion pixels, QR codes and real-time click analytics.
- Entry price (100/100): $5/month billed monthly on Starter (scored on the monthly price)
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
From $5 per month billed monthly on the Starter plan.
- 9. Clksy 80/100
Link tracking tool that creates tagged short links, ties signups and conversions to marketing channels, and reports click analytics.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Verified features (100/100): 4 of 7 tracked features verified: custom domain, qr codes, click analytics, team access
From $9 per month billed monthly on the Starter plan.
- 10. linkutm 79/100
UTM link management tool with branded short links, QR codes, naming rules for campaign parameters, team workspaces and click analytics.
- Free plan or trial (100/100): Free plan (Free)
- Verified features (100/100): 6 of 7 tracked features verified: custom domain, qr codes, click analytics, utm builder, bulk shortening, team access
From $9 per month billed monthly ($7 billed yearly) on the Personal plan.
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
What is the best free URL shortener?
EZQR, with 100/100 on our scorecard; biolink.page is second with 99/100.
What is the cheapest free URL shortener?
By entry price among ranked tools, DYQR: $4.17 per month billed yearly on the Pro plan.
Which free plan allows the most social accounts?
BrokenTube AI's free plan allows 1 social account, the most among the tools listed here.
How did you rank these URL shorteners?
Each tool gets 0 to 100 per criterion from its published pricing, limits and features; the total is the weighted average over the criteria with verified data. Tools with under 60% of the weight covered are not ranked.