Top 12 Excellent Free URL Shortener: How to Select the Right One for You

Hero
Hero Published on January 20, 2022

If you want to shorten your links, the most convenient option is to use a free URL shortener platform. Short URLs are easier to remember and publish, making them more desirable to clients. Furthermore, many of the finest URL shorteners incorporate features like better security and unique branding to make links safe to use and to appeal to both marketers and customers. 

As a result, a link shortener is a valuable tool for sales teams, customer support agents, small enterprises, and anyone that want to attract consumers or serve clients in a secure and fast manner. Many websites also offer a free URL shortener, allowing you to make URLs shorter at no expense.

However, with so many free link shorteners available, deciding which one is ideal for you may be challenging. Luckily, we trim down your options to the 20 best Free URL Shortener services. But before that, here are the things you should look for when choosing the link engagement platform to use. Read on to discover more. 

What should you look for?

free URL shorteners

Choosing among the vast options of link shortening platforms is a tough decision. To make it easier for you, we researched and made a list of the most important things you should not miss when looking for the best free URL shortener. There are a lot of pivotal factors to consider. Here they are. 

1. Paid Options

Free URL shortener platforms are already a robust solution to your long links problems. But certainly, the features the free service can offer are limited. That’s why knowing if a service offers paid options is a great practice when looking for a free link-shortening service.

Many valuable features are added to the list of services you can access. Typically, the premium link shortening services allow you to do more than just make your links short. Most importantly, it can promise you a better engagement from your links and more accurate analytics. 

Especially if you are using a free URL shortener for your business’ marketing, settling for the free link shortener service is not wise. Consider this, the opportunities to make your marketing more effective, increase leads, and heighten your revenue is already laid down in front of you; will you still not grab it? It may come with a price, but it will always be worth it.

Remember to evaluate the premium plans first before subscribing. We recommend subscribing to a premium plan of a link shortening service that suits your budget but still meets your link shortening necessities. 

2. Reliability

One of the most critical factors you should not miss to test when looking for a free URL shortener is its reliability. It is crucial to ensure that you can trust the free URL shortener to work most, if not all, of the time. The service should be able to keep redirecting the visitors to your target page. 

When testing out the reliability of a platform, you should also consider how often the service is down within a year. Though it is abstract, online solutions can help you test how often a service is down within a specific period. However, this trial takes time. Typically, it will take at least a month before the tool provides you with accurate results. 

There are also articles about link shortening services’ reliability where they provide theoretical yet accurate uptime information of your favorite free URL shortening tools. 

3. Integration

If you are using web applications automation services (like Zapier, or website management and builder tool (like WordPress), it is essential to know if the link shortening service you want to use can be integrated into these services. 

Integrating a service into another service will make your task more efficient and help you save time and resources. It may significantly boost productivity, minimize lost time due to manual procedures and IT resources, and assist your company in scaling for future development.  Many free URL shorteners  (such as Hero.link and Bitly) offer integration to other services features, while others don’t. 

Note that integration and plug-in services are typically only available for premium users.

4. Add-on Features

One thing is for sure; your task will require more than shortening your links. Hence, it is essential to consider the additional features a free URL shortening service offers. 

The service should offer features necessary for you to execute your mission-critical tasks. So, it is necessary to consider the services you currently require and may need in the future. It will help you save time since you already don’t need to look for a separate service for your specific task requirements. It will also help you save money and resources. 

Here are some of the features you should consider: 

  • Custom Landing Page
  • CTA Overlays
  • Event Tracking
  • Team Management
  • Branded Domain Names
  • Robust API
  • Link Tracking
  • QR Code Options
  • Bio-Profile Creation

Top 12 Excellent Free URL Shortener

Free URL Shortener

As already mentioned, you can use tons of free URL shortener platforms. And so, it is challenging to select the right service platform for you and your business. Here are our top 20 Excellent Free URL Shortener platforms. 

Hero link

free link shortener

Hero link is the smartest engagement and management platform as the first free URL shortener service to gain traction. Hence, we can also easily assume that it is among the best. This platform offers a free URL shortening service that requires you to create a free account or log in if you already have one. It is pretty straightforward to create a short URL using this service. You just have to paste your ling link on the “Paste your long URL” field and hit the “Shorten” button beside it.

Besides shortening service, Hero link also offers link branding and customization features. You may register your own domain on the branded domain section of your dashboard and set it as your default domain. Once you set it as a domain, the service will always provide short links that use it; hence you don’t need to edit them anymore. 

They offer paid membership plans which give you the privilege to use their other valuable features and tools. Among the premium features they offer are Qr code generation and customization features, CTA overlays, custom aliases, and accurate analytics. You can also integrate this service into your Zapier and WordPress accounts for automatic link shortening and branding services. 

What makes this service an excellent option for you is its bio profile feature, which allows you to share a single page where the audience can find all your links.

Bitly

free url

Undoubtedly, Bitly is the most popular link shortener platform. But, did you know that they also offer a free link shortener service? Bitly's free link shortener offers link tags, which allow users to organize their links, as well as rudimentary analytics, which track the total number of clicks, top referrers, and clickers' locations.

This service also offers paid plans which give you access to premium features, including branded QR codes, bulk link shortening, email support, and link redirect. Their other advanced plans include valuable features such as advanced analytics, UTM builder, and mobile deep link. You may also customize a plan, so you will only pay for your chosen features.

What makes Bitly the most popular link shortening service is its free link’s path customization feature. The service allows users to generate a short link and edit the back half of their new links. 

Rebrandly

If you are looking for the most practical yet powerful link shortening service, Rebrandly is the link shortening tool for you. The free short URL generator from Rebrandly allows you to create an infinite amount of short URL links, 500 branded URLs, 5 custom domain names, and monitor up to 5,000 hits every month. You may sign up for a free account using Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google, or your company email.

Rebrandly also offers paid plans that extend the allowed branded URLs you can create. Their team plans provide additional features, including custom reports and active team members management. 

The best thing about Rebrandly is that they offer free link branding capability. Though you can only brand a limited number of links, it is still an excellent opportunity for new businesses and marketers. 

BL.INK

BL.INK is a full-featured URL shortener tool with an easy-to-use dashboard for tracking link activity. Their free plan comes with 1000 links and 1000 clicks on each link. Additionally, it includes one custom domain, Zapier integration, and branded links.

You can also use BL.INK generates bespoke short links for better branding, and you can even try out the beta version of Smart Link to create highly targeted word-based URLs that will drive traffic to your site and inspire visitors to convert. And, to ensure that only the appropriate team members have access to your link shortener tool, just configure user rights.

BL.INK also offers a tiered plan which allows you to pay for what you use. You may also purchase their preset plans, which come with various handy features, including analytics, domain management, and more. 

TinyURL

TinyURL is a well-known free link shortener. Shortening your links using this service is pretty straightforward. The TinyURL generator also features a free link preview feature, allowing users to sample links before clicking to avoid a faulty redirect. In addition, TinyURL comes with a toolbar button that can be added to most web browsers.

Tiny URL also offers priced plans. The plans allow users to enjoy various advanced features, including custom aliases, BYO domains, unlimited tracked clicks, link tagging, URL editing, and more.

Because your shortened links never expire, you'll never have to worry about broken links again. In other words, your material will be accessible to people forever. And don't be concerned about branding. A self-branding tool allows you to modify the final section of your shortened URLs before posting them anyplace.

Ow.ly

Ow.ly is a link shortener that comes included with every free Hootsuite account. Hootsuite, a social media management business, designed it. Ow.ly, which allows you to shorten every single link you publish across your social media networks, allows you to disseminate your links and evaluate their performance statistics directly within the Hootsuite platform. Ow.ly is a great option for individuals who are using Hootsuite as their social media management software.

One disadvantage of this program is that it does not give any information on Ow.ly's functionality, such as the number of clicks tracked. There is a UTM builder accessible on the platform.

Ow.ly is great for Hootsuite users or those who want to utilize Hootsuite to manage their social media presence. The most important feature is that it is free, making it a perfect choice for individuals who have just started with Hootsuite.

They also offer paid plans that provide additional handy link shortening features, including key performance metrics. Note that the premium plans we are talking about are Hootsuite’s premium membership plan and are not limited to Ow.ly only. 

Polr

Polr is an open-source project that permits you to build and run your own URL shortener. In any case, remember that this will doubtlessly just work for people with the specialized comprehension of PHP, Lumen, and MySQL.

This connection shortening administration has a smooth and real-time configuration, confined approaching traffic highlights for assessing join movement, and customized space name marking to assist you with fostering your image among your interest group.

A helpful demo site, which numerous URL shorteners don't give, permits you to try out the device before focusing on it. Also, assuming you need to make dealing with your fast connections a breeze, you should simply pursue a record.

Yourls

Yourls, which stands for “your own URL shortener,” is a self-hosted open-source link shortener similar to Polr. However, to use this tool, you must install and operate it on your own server, which distinguishes it from the other URL shorteners on our list.

The setup is relatively straightforward, but you will need coding knowledge to create and build your own link shortener. YOURLS is still the finest free URL shortener for anyone with programming skills who want to customize and own their short URL connections.

Among Yourls' finest qualities are:

  • Make both private and public connections.
  • Click reports, referrers, and geolocation are examples of statistics.
  • Links that are made sequentially or on a bespoke basis
  • Example files for designing your own public interface
  • Plugins provide access to additional functionality.
  • Bookmarklets for quick and easy shortening and sharing

Despite the fact that you install and manage this URL shortener yourself, it was designed to be lightweight and non-bloated so that it never puts a load on your server's resources.

Firebase Dynamic Links

Firebase Dynamic Links is the new successor for Google URL Shortener, although it has significantly different capabilities. It is concerned chiefly with mobile advertising applications; its clever tiny links are intended to redirect people from desktop and mobile web to a company's mobile app. Following the installation of the app, the short URL link will take them to the same website that they were browsing in-browser.

Firebase’s free link shortener includes analytics, app indexing, 1 GiB of cloud-stored data, cloud messaging, and limitless dynamic links. However, if you exceed your storage restrictions, you will be charged on a per-use basis.

Check out the Google Developers Blog for additional details on the migration to Firebase Dynamic Links. If you have already built a short URL with Google, it will continue to redirect to the proper site. Nobody, however, can generate new goo.gl short URLs.

Tiny.CC

Tiny.cc, like TinyURL, is a speedy and simple free URL shortener. On Tiny.CC, you might enter a long URL into the first-page box, add a discretionary custom connection finishing, and afterward click "abbreviate" to abbreviate the connection. A free record permits you to analyze your made short URL interfaces just as traffic information, just as change or eliminate your connections. A short connection may likewise be changed over into a QR code, traded to an Excel report, or printed.

Tiny CC also offers four premium plans: basic, business, pro, and enterprise. Some of the premium features they offer are social media traffic sources and alerts, geolocation reporting, unlimited email support, and more. 

T2M

T2M is another one-of-a-kind entry on our top free URL shortener list. You'll appreciate how easy it is to use our link shortening solution. They offer two distinct dashboards to make URL tracking easier. The first is for location analytics, while the second is for a device or platform. It even produces a QR code in addition to the short URL.

T2M uses dedicated instances, which means that the server response will be 100% dedicated to a single user. This guarantees that you are quickly redirected to your desired URL. You may build short, branded URLs to increase clicks, or you can even specify where the link should function.

You may build more complex URLs with the premium package, such as a password-protected URL and a vanity URL. It's an excellent solution for internet businesses that want flexible, short URLs.

Jot URL

JotURL is much more than a URL shortening platform; it's financially savvy and contains a plethora of marketing options for businesses looking to expand their advertising efforts to drive leads and increase revenue.

JotURL boasts over 100 sophisticated features that aim to help you improve each relationship with your audience by checking and following your connections to guarantee they're working at their best.

Implementing identified links provides your audience with a more dependable and improved experience. You may enhance these identified connections with a significant source of inspiration message, which you can subsequently broadcast via online media, using their Social Opt-in CTA highlight.

Every connection is monitored every minute of every day to ensure it is secure and available, so you never have to worry about a faulty interface. They also offer a daily click-extortion checking to sift through bot clicks so you may boycott these sources or IP addresses.

View all of your tests in one simple dashboard. Sort and route your information through catch-alls, channels, and sources, for example, to help you see how your relationships are doing.

You may also use their InstaURL component to create diverse, better online media entry points. These are fantastic, especially on Instagram.

Do I Need A Premium Link Shortener Service?

link shortening service

Free URL shorteners are already powerful. Besides, sharing a free short URL in your social media posts and offline campaign can already offer you various benefits. In addition, some link engagement services allow you to do more than just shorten your links. 

However, the benefits you can enjoy using the generic links you create using free service are only a preview of the vast benefits you can enjoy. There’s more to link shortening services, and you can enjoy these through the premium membership. 

Going back to the question, do you really need a premium service? Our honest answer is it depends. Yes, if you have a business and aim your business to grow and expand. Link shortener’s premium features are meant to help industries to leverage their marketing. They provide robust and practical features and integrations to make your business’ mission-critical tasks more efficient. It is also proven that these features heighten your business’ leads for higher revenue and ROI. 

However, if you share links for personal reasons only, we don’t suggest getting premium plans. For sure, you won’t need the analytics and other premium features. 

All in all, subscribing to premium plans is not compulsory. However, we recommend them to individuals we think will significantly benefit from using them. So, if you think you or your business requires more than just what is offered in a free plan, upgrading to a premium subscription is a significant consideration. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

Here are our answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about free URL shorteners.

What is the best free URL shortener?

Honestly, no free URL shortener is the best since each service has a specific advantage over the other. Instead, here are our 3 finest URL shorteners. Note that we considered several factors in trimming down the options. In addition, this list does not mean that the services not on the list are nothing better than those listed.

Hero link. Best for businesses of all sizes. Offers smart integrations to other web app services.
Bitly. Best for big businesses. Offer extensive marketing features that can help big businesses with their marketing.
Rebrandly. Best for new businesses that require branded links. Offers free branding features, however limited.

Note that this list does not rank the entries.

Do free URL shortener services offer premium plans?

Some services offer premium plans, while others do not.  If you think you might be needing premium features in the future, it is best to check first if the link engagement platform offers flexible premium services. You should also check the limit and how long you can use their free plan if they offer premium plans. Of course, make sure that your business or task’s needs are available in their premium plans.

How do I shorten a link?

Shortening a long link is a pretty straightforward process. First, you have to go to the website of your link shortening service. Then, copy the long link to your destination page. Then, paste it on the designated field. Click the “shorten” button and copy your new short link. 

There are platforms that require you to log in first before you can shorten your links. If you do not have an account yet, you can always create a new account. Typically, the new account is free, and you will not be asked for payment method details.

What is a free URL shortener service?

A URL shortener, also referred to as link shorteners, URL condenser, short URL generator, is an online link engagement tool that helps people transform their long and clunky links shorter and more presentable. Besides shortening your links, they also have various features, including link tracking, link branding, link customization, analytics, and more, that are typically only accessible by premium users.

Why do we need a URL shortener?

Long and messy links are a problem in online content sharing on social media sites. Furthermore, sharing long links on microblogging sites, including Twitter, is almost impossible since the link will eat up the entire character count. This is why many people rely on link shortening services. Link shorteners provide a short alternative for your long and messy links. This new link is compact, making them better to use in social media posts and offline campaigns. 

In the case of businesses, many proprietors are using link shortener services to optimize their marketing. Link engagement services provide valuable features that help businesses increase their leads and heighten their revenue. Link shortening platforms also provide them accurate analytics enabling marketers and proprietors to make better data-driven decisions.

What are the benefits of using short URLs?

Using a short URL offers you a wide range of benefits. Here are some of them.

-Short links are more professional looking
-Short URL promotes brands recognition and brand awareness
-Short links generate more clicks and engagement
-People trust shorter URLs. 
-Short links increase your social media posts, emails, and text messages’ deliverability
-Short links can be tracked
-Short links are easier to manage
-They suit offline campaigns

Does Google have a URL shortener?

It did. Goo.gl is Google’s link shortening service. However, they halted its operation last 2019. So, you can no longer use and access goo.gl anymore. However, the shortened links using goo.gl will still accurately work, as stated by Google.

What is the problem with a long URL?

Longer URLs are abbreviated by search engines, web browsers, and a variety of other applications. Visitors like clear, human-readable URLs because they are easier to read, remember, and enter. A large, cumbersome URL might be inconvenient to use. It may also result in poorer click-through rates on the SERP.

How do the link engagement platforms track links?

Tracking links and URLs are often used in marketing to measure the effectiveness of marketing activities and campaigns. Without a tracking link, it's nearly impossible to determine where your website's visitors are coming from. If you've ever wondered why your traffic increased, where your most recent purchasers came from, or the success of a marketing offer, tracking links can help.

The link in the body of an email is replaced with a link to your link shortener's server, which subsequently redirects the user to the end destination. When a user clicks on the link, they are transported to the domain of the link shortener service, where the clicks are registered, and the user is then redirected to the original destination.

Is it safe to use a URL shortener?

URL shorteners are not dangerous. On the other hand, short URLs represent unique security challenges since they are vulnerable to brute force attacks, and hackers can guess several abbreviated URLs. Furthermore, because visitors to the truncated URL have no idea where they will be directed if they click it, they must trust the sender of the URL. Some corporations prohibit the use of shortened URLs at network gateways.

It is recommended for businesses to choose a URL shortener provider that provides branded link alternatives. Visitors are more likely to trust branded links. Branded links may also produce significantly more hits and engagement than generic short ones. Most importantly, branding your links effectively boosts your website’s authority and brand recognition.

Final Words

There are various free URL shortener platforms you can use and incorporate into your business. But surely, not all of these services will meet your specific requirements. It is always best to assess the services first for your link shortening needs. 

If you need to learn more about link shorteners, we are always here to aid you. Contact us, and we will be glad to help you with your queries. You can also check our blog section and read more articles about short links. 
On the other hand, if you are already ready to use a URL shortener, there is no need to look further than Hero link. Besides our free URL shortener tool, you can upgrade your account to access our premium features, including branded and custom links, bio-profiles, and QR code generator. We also provide accurate and up-to-date analytics to help you make a better marketing decision.

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