The typical searcher started on Bitly's free account, hit the five-links-a-month cap, and found that a custom domain only arrives at the Growth plan. They move to a shortener with a larger free allowance and more custom domains, to a self-hosted tool they run themselves, or to a specialist for one use such as affiliate links or WordPress.
Short answer: The closest replacements for Bitly in our link shorteners and QR codes ranking are Rebrandly, Short.io and Dub. Choose Rebrandly if you want a branded domain without paying for Bitly's Growth plan. All 11 alternatives below are ranked products from Best Link Shortener Software in 2026, and each says where it differs from Bitly.
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Bitly's free plan allows 5 short links and 2 QR codes a month, with 30 days of click and scan data and no custom domain. Clicks and scans are unlimited, so it is the creation limit that binds. A team publishing a handful of campaign links a week passes it in days.
The Core plan is USD 120 a year, billed annually only, and gives 100 links a month but no custom domain. A complimentary custom domain starts at Growth, USD 29 a month for 500 links and 4 months of click and scan data. Premium, at USD 199 a month for 3,000 links and a year of data, lists city-level and device tracking.
Because every plan has unlimited clicks, the bill follows how many links and QR codes you make. Teams that generate links by the hundred, for example per email or per product, outgrow a plan on creation volume while analytics sit idle. Tools priced by tracked clicks or by site behave differently.
| Alternative | Headquarters | Free option | Pricing | Key difference | Switch if | Our rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rebrandly | Ireland | Yes | Free tier; per month per plan, published; Enterprise quoted | Branded links and QR codes sold in monthly allowances | you want a branded domain without paying for Bitly's Growth plan | #10 |
| Short.io | United States | Yes | Free tier; per month per plan, published; 7-day trial on paid plans | Branded short links on up to five custom domains, free | you create many branded links and want custom domains on a low plan | #3 |
| Dub | Not stated by the vendor | No free tier | Per month per plan, published; 14-day trial only; Enterprise annual | Link attribution platform with an AGPL core you can self-host | you run links as part of an affiliate or partner programme and need payouts | #4 |
| Cuttly | Poland | Yes | Free tier; per month per plan, published; custom plan billed annually | Polish shortener with a generous free tier and stepped plans | you want link-in-bio pages and surveys alongside shortening on a small monthly fee | #2 |
| Replug | Not stated by the vendor | Yes | Free tier; per month per plan, published; 14-day trial on paid plans | Link marketing suite: short links, bio pages and QR codes | you want a free plan with three custom domains and a larger link quota | #5 |
| URLR | France | Yes | Free tier; per month per plan, published; Enterprise quoted | French link shortener with QR codes, hosted in France | you want a European provider and a documented GDPR position for link data | #1 |
| Shlink | Not stated by the vendor | Yes | Free and open source; self-hosted, no vendor subscription | Self-hosted shortener under the MIT licence, run on your own domain | you want to own the short-link data and have someone to run a server | #6 |
| YOURLS | Not stated by the vendor | Yes | Free and open source; self-hosted, no vendor subscription | Long-running PHP shortener you install on your own server | you want a minimal self-hosted shortener with plugins on your own domain | #7 |
| Kutt | Not stated by the vendor | Yes | Free and open source; self-hosted or hosted instance | MIT-licensed shortener with custom domains and a hosted instance | you want an open-source shortener with login through your identity provider | #8 |
| Geniuslink | United States | No free tier | Published monthly base plus click overage; 14-day trial | Affiliate-focused links that route each click to the right storefront | you earn affiliate commission and need links to send each buyer to their own country store | #9 |
| Pretty Links | Not stated by the vendor | No free tier | Annual licence by number of sites, published; 14-day money-back guarantee | WordPress plugin for cloaking and tracking affiliate links | your links live on your own WordPress sites and you want them on your own domain | #11 |
Ireland · Free tier; per month per plan, published; Enterprise quoted
Close in positioning, but with a free plan of 10 links and 10 QR codes a month and one custom domain. Paid plans run from USD 11 a month (Essentials, 250 links) to USD 32 (Professional, 1,500 links), with 2 to 3 custom domains. Link counts still cap each plan.
Switch from Bitly if you want a branded domain without paying for Bitly's Growth plan.
Rebrandly, #10 of 12 in our link shorteners and QR codes ranking →
United States · Free tier; per month per plan, published; 7-day trial on paid plans
Free plan allows 1,000 branded links, 5 custom domains and 50,000 tracked clicks a month, with paid plans from about USD 5 a month. Pro, around USD 18, removes link and click limits. Past the free click ceiling, data is still collected but hidden from you.
Switch from Bitly if you create many branded links and want custom domains on a low plan.
Short.io, #3 of 12 in our link shorteners and QR codes ranking →
Not stated by the vendor · Per month per plan, published; 14-day trial only; Enterprise annual
Aimed at product and growth teams, with plans starting at USD 90 a month for 10,000 new links, 250,000 tracked events and 10 users, plus a partner payouts feature. Only a 14-day trial is offered. It costs far more than Bitly's entry plans and does not suit casual use.
Switch from Bitly if you run links as part of an affiliate or partner programme and need payouts.
Poland · Free tier; per month per plan, published; custom plan billed annually
Free plan gives 30 short links a month and a 30-day analytics history. Starter is USD 12 a month for 300 links, and larger plans reach 5,000 links a month and 365 days of analytics. Includes link-in-bio and surveys on the plan tables, which Bitly does not list.
Switch from Bitly if you want link-in-bio pages and surveys alongside shortening on a small monthly fee.
Cuttly, #2 of 12 in our link shorteners and QR codes ranking →
Not stated by the vendor · Free tier; per month per plan, published; 14-day trial on paid plans
Free plan gives 100 short links, 10 smart QR codes and 1,000 clicks a month with 3 custom domains. Essentials is USD 9.50 a month billed annually and adds .link domains. Limits are on clicks, not just links, unlike Bitly, which meters links and QR codes.
Switch from Bitly if you want a free plan with three custom domains and a larger link quota.
Replug, #5 of 12 in our link shorteners and QR codes ranking →
France · Free tier; per month per plan, published; Enterprise quoted
A French service that describes itself on its site as made in Europe and GDPR compliant, with QR codes, statistics and an API. We could not load a pricing page in this review, so no price is stated. Our listing records a free tier and a quoted Enterprise plan.
Switch from Bitly if you want a European provider and a documented GDPR position for link data.
URLR, #1 of 12 in our link shorteners and QR codes ranking →
Not stated by the vendor · Free and open source; self-hosted, no vendor subscription
Free and open source under the MIT licence, self-hosted by download or Docker, with an API-first design, a command-line interface and a web app for managing several instances. It has no vendor subscription, but you run the server, the database and the upgrades.
Switch from Bitly if you want to own the short-link data and have someone to run a server.
Shlink, #6 of 12 in our link shorteners and QR codes ranking →
Not stated by the vendor · Free and open source; self-hosted, no vendor subscription
A free, open-source self-hosted shortener under an MIT-licensed codebase, with a plugin architecture, a developer API, bookmarklets and click reports. You install and run it on your own hosting.
Switch from Bitly if you want a minimal self-hosted shortener with plugins on your own domain.
YOURLS, #7 of 12 in our link shorteners and QR codes ranking →
Not stated by the vendor · Free and open source; self-hosted or hosted instance
Free under the MIT licence and built for self-hosting, with SQLite by default and PostgreSQL or MySQL as options. It supports custom domains, passwords, expiry, an admin panel, an API and OpenID Connect login. An official hosted instance exists at kutt.to.
Switch from Bitly if you want an open-source shortener with login through your identity provider.
Kutt, #8 of 12 in our link shorteners and QR codes ranking →
United States · Published monthly base plus click overage; 14-day trial
A specialist for affiliate links: USD 6 a month includes 1,000 clicks, with USD 3.50 per extra 1,000, and a custom domain costs USD 50 a month. It routes buyers to their local Amazon storefront and monitors broken links. It bills per click, which Bitly does not.
Switch from Bitly if you earn affiliate commission and need links to send each buyer to their own country store.
Geniuslink, #9 of 12 in our link shorteners and QR codes ranking →
Not stated by the vendor · Annual licence by number of sites, published; 14-day money-back guarantee
Not a hosted service but a licence for a plugin used on your own sites, sold annually by number of sites: Beginner for one, Marketer for two, Super Affiliate for five, with a 14-day money-back guarantee. Introductory prices are USD 99.60, 149.60 and 199.60 a year. Renewals are at full price.
Switch from Bitly if your links live on your own WordPress sites and you want them on your own domain.
Pretty Links, #11 of 12 in our link shorteners and QR codes ranking →
Bitly remains the right choice for a small number of high-value links with a widely recognised name, where unlimited clicks and scans and a simple dashboard matter more than link volume. Its Enterprise plan adds SSO, advanced permissions and a stated 99.99% uptime. If you create under a hundred links a month and do not need your own domain, the cheaper plans are enough and switching saves little.
Every bit.ly link already published keeps working only while the account does. Moving to another tool means new links from now on, while the old ones stay on Bitly. Keep a minimal plan for as long as old campaigns, printed QR codes and email archives still send traffic, or re-point them if you have your own domain.
If you move to your own custom domain, new links can later move between providers without breaking. Set that up first, test redirects on the new tool, and export Bitly click data before you downgrade, since history is limited to 30 days on Free and Core and 4 months on Growth.
5 links and 2 QR codes a month, 2 custom landing pages, unlimited clicks and scans, and 30 days of click and scan data. It has no custom domain.
Core is USD 120 a year (annual billing only), Growth USD 29 a month, Premium USD 199 a month. Enterprise is quoted. Annual figures are USD 348 for Growth and USD 2,388 for Premium.
Growth includes a complimentary custom domain, and Premium and Enterprise include custom domains too. Free and Core do not.
30 days on Free and Core, 4 months on Growth and one year on Premium, per its pricing page.
Yes. Shlink, YOURLS and Kutt are all MIT-licensed and self-hostable, and Kutt also runs a hosted instance. You take on hosting, backups and abuse handling.
We have not found a vendor statement either way, so assume short links on the bit.ly domain depend on keeping the account. Links on your own custom domain can be re-pointed.
Sets the research method, decides what gets ranked, and answers for what is published.
Builds the market data: where a number comes from, what it counts, and what it leaves out.
Runs the review process and sends a page back when a claim is not backed by anything.
Written by Sebastiaan Smits, edited by Tomasz Wierzbicki and fact-checked by Elena Marchetti. Last reviewed 8 October 2026. How we review.
