Bitly
The link management platform that turned bit.ly into the internet's default shortener.
About
Bitly started as a simple URL shortener in 2008 and grew into a full link management and QR code platform. The free plan covers 5 short links, 2 QR Codes, and 2 landing pages a month with unlimited clicks and scans, which is enough for casual use. Paid plans start at $10 a month (Core, billed annually) and scale through Growth at $29 and Premium at $199; a branded custom domain only arrives at the Growth tier. Beyond shortening, you get branded links, dynamic QR Codes with scan analytics, link-in-bio pages (Bitly Pages), a UTM builder, mobile deep linking on Premium, and integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, and Zapier. Bitly Assist, an AI helper that answers questions about link and QR performance, ships on Core and above. The company maintains SOC 2 compliance and is a long-standing enterprise staple.
Click and pricing figures are provider-stated on bitly.com and were re-verified by third-party roundups in September 2026. Bitly is the reference point the rest of the category is measured against, but its free tier shows no analytics detail and the jump from $10 to $29 for a custom domain stings if branding is the whole point. No published independent benchmarks for link-redirect latency or uptime beyond the provider's 99.99% enterprise claim.
What it can do
- Short links with custom back-halves and editable destinations
- Branded links on your own custom domain
- Dynamic QR Codes with scan analytics and editable destinations
- Link-in-bio landing pages
- Real-time click and scan analytics with geo, device, and referrer data
- UTM builder for standardized campaign tagging
- Bulk link and QR creation
- REST API with 1,000 free monthly requests
- Integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Zapier, and Buffer
- Mobile deep linking and campaign-level tracking on higher tiers
Setup
Sign up free at bitly.com; paste a URL to shorten it, or connect a custom domain and create links from the dashboard, browser extension, or API.
Prerequisites
None for the free plan; a domain you own for branded links (Growth $29/mo and up).
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 9/10
Scored 9/10 (verified tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: bitly.com documents the plan structure (free 5 links/2 QR codes monthly, Core $10, Growth $29, Premium $199), the feature set (branded links, dynamic QR, Bitly Pages, UTM builder), and SOC 2 compliance; third-party roundups re-checked pricing in September 2026. Strengths: the category reference product, operating since 2008, deep enterprise trust and integrations. Docked for: (1) the free plan hides analytics detail and a custom domain needs the $29 tier; (2) fully proprietary with no self-host option; (3) no published independent benchmarks for redirect latency or uptime. License: proprietary.
How the trust score is built
Full methodology →- Adoption · stars/downloads, log-scaled vs peers
- 10.0/10
- Maintenance · recency, releases, issue load
- 9.0/10
- Openness · license + docs
- 2.0/10
- Manual review · sanity read + red-flag check
- 9.0/10
- · Founded 2008; grew from bit.ly shortener to full link + QR platform
- · Free: 5 short links, 2 QR Codes, 2 landing pages/month, unlimited clicks and scans
- · Custom domain requires Growth tier ($29/mo billed annually)
- · Dynamic QR Codes with scan analytics; editable destinations
- · Bitly Pages link-in-bio; UTM builder; Bitly Assist AI (Core and up)
- · SOC 2 compliance; integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Zapier