This allows you to have a memorable and writable link on a business card, print ad, podcast interview, or any other situation where someone might not click on a hyperlink.
URL shortening services can also be useful for shortening longer links on social media and messaging apps to fit within character limits, but many platforms like .
Twitter, for example, automatically phone number libraryshortens links shared with its t.co shortening service, while iMessage hides links behind a preview card.
Another advantage that the best URL shortening services offer is analytics and click tracking. Normally, if you share a link with your audience, you won’t know who clicked on it. However, if you use a URL shortening service , you can collect a lot of data, such as the number of clicks the link received, where those clicks came from, and what devices people were using.
Generally speaking, the more detailed and powerful these analytics are, the more the service will cost. While free services have basic click tracking, premium link shortening services collect as much data as possible and even allow driven by the wave of digitalization you to serve different URLs to people in different locations or using different devices.
All of your favorite URL shortening services allow you to customize shortened URLs. This means you can use different links across multiple ads or social media posts to compare click-through rates. Basic or free plans only let you change the last part of the URL, while more business-oriented services let you use a custom domain name.
Top 10 Most Used Link Shortening Services
Below you can find a list of the most used URL shortening services.
1. Bitly
Bitly is probably the most widely used URL shortening service , allowing you to get data about who clicked on your links, what europe email demographics they came from, and what website/source they were clicked from.
With Bitly, you can customize your links to fit your brand. Considering that big companies like Amazon and Nike also use the service, there’s no reason not to use Bitly.
Price: You can start using Bitly for free, but you can also avail of their basic plans starting at $29 per month and their premium plans starting at $199 per month.
2. Blink
A great link shortening service for personal use as well as teams , Blink lets you analyze and track your links and easily integrate their API into your ecosystem.
Used by brands like Airbnb, Ray-Ban, and Coca-Cola, the tool is highly scalable, meaning you can only pay for the features you need and upgrade later.
It also has an iOS app and a Google Chrome extension.
Price: Each Blink plan offers a 21-day free trial to explore all the features and options available. At the end of the trial, you can choose the right plan for your needs or scale as you grow.
3. TinyURL
As the name suggests , TinyURL makes your links shorter and more memorable for free. You can use URL boxes to shorten your links right away and shorten your links without even signing up.
It also has a toolbar for browsers so you can shorten your URLs much faster. This extension works on most of the leading browsers.
TinyURL doesn’t have any advanced features, but it does a pretty good job of shortening your main URL . If all you need is to shorten a link faster, then you can try TinyURL right away.