Simplify Your Links: The 6 Best URL Shorteners

Long, complex URLs are the norm these days. When you add tracking parameters to measure traffic sources or ad performance, they become even more unwieldy. Fortunately, there's a simple and effective solution: URL shortening services. These platforms take long links and transform them into shorter, more manageable ones.

Once upon a time, Google's URL Shortener was a popular free tool for this purpose, but it was discontinued in 2019. The good news is that numerous excellent alternatives are now available.

With over a decade of experience reviewing tech and web applications, I can assure you that there's rarely a single "perfect" solution for any problem. (The one exception might be ordering takeout: pizza is *always* a solid choice!). The best URL shortening service depends on your specific needs and requirements. Some apps are simple, fast, and free, while others focus on marketing, analytics, and enterprise-level features for multinational corporations. And of course, there’s everything in between.

I've been updating this article for several years. This year, to help you find the right URL shortener, I tested nearly 50 different options. These are the best – and what makes them great.

Top 7 URL Shortening Services for 2025

1. Rebrandly: Best all-around URL shortening service. https://www.rebrandly.com/
2. Bitly: Best for large enterprises. https://bitly.com/
3. Dub: A modern URL shortening service. https://dub.co/
4. TinyURL: Best free, fast, and anonymous URL shortening service. https://tinyurl.com/
5. BL.INK: For businesses of all sizes. https://www.bl.ink/
6. URL Shortener by Zapier: For automatically creating short links. https://zapier.com/apps/url-shortener/integrations
7. Short.io: Best free URL shortening service. https://short.io/

What Makes a Great URL Shortening Service?

At its core, a URL shortening service takes a long, complex link and turns it into something shorter and more manageable. One of the main benefits of these shorter links is that they're easier to share. For example, if you're creating an ad for a roommate, you could transform a long link like 

http://www.example.com/my-super-awesome-blog-about-squirrels/2022/10/23/live-with-a-squirrel-fan--they%27re-awesome/?utm_source=zapier&utm_medium=paid-social&utm_term=squirrels&utm_content=big-banner-a into a short link like https://tinyurl.com/live-with-me.

This shortened link makes it much easier for someone seeing your ad to actually type the URL to visit it. They won't have to type out a long, incomprehensible string of text where they're almost certain to make a mistake (and it definitely won't include your tracking information).

It's not just for roommate ads; URL shortening services let you provide an easy-to-type link on a business card, print ad, podcast interview, or any other situation where someone can't simply click a nice hyperlink. (Most also let you generate QR codes, which are even easier in these situations).

In the past, URL shortening services were helpful for shortening long links to fit character limits on social media and messaging apps, but many platforms handle that for you now. For example, X-formerly-Twitter automatically shortens any shared links using its t.co shortening service (ironically, the now-renamed company doesn't appear to own X.co, so it still uses the old Twitter shortening domain), while iMessage hides any links behind a preview card. If you're just sending things to your friends, you only really need to worry about shortening a URL if you're only using SMS text messages.

Instead, URL shortening services are more useful when you want to include additional information like tracking parameters, send deep links to different parts of apps, embed complex information like GPS coordinates, or even send people with different devices to different destinations—like the correct app store to download your app.

So, while URL shortening services simply take a long link and make it smaller, the best ones have some extra features that make them far more useful. I was looking for tools that also included:

Essential Features of the Best URL Shorteners

• Analytics and click tracking: If you share a link to someone else's blog with your audience, for example, you won't know much about how many people—and who—click on it; all that data will be in the other person's analytics account. However, if you use a URL shortening service, you'll have a unique short URL, so you'll also be able to see how many clicks the link gets, where they're coming from, and what devices people are using. As with most marketing services, the more detailed and powerful these analytics are, the more they tend to cost. Free services tend to track basic clicks (though there will be a time limit and a cap on the total number of clicks tracked), while premium marketing options will collect as much data as possible—and even allow you to present different URLs to people in different locations or using different devices. Learn more about the importance of link analytics.
• Custom URL customization: The best URL shortening services allow you to customize your shortened URLs. This means you can make your URLs more relevant, or use different links in multiple ads or social media posts to compare click-through rates. Many basic or free short link generator plans let you change only the last part of the URL (so you get something like https://tinyurl.com/awesome-squirrels), while more business-focused services enable you to use a custom domain (so you get squirre.ls/awesome).
• Standalone app: There are a lot of different URL shortening options, and I narrowed my search to standalone services that are easy to set up. There are self-hosted versions, like Polr and YOURLS, which, while free and powerful, require too much technical knowledge to easily recommend. There are also URL shortening services built into other apps that I didn't consider. For example, Ow.ly is fully integrated into Hootsuite, and most newsletter services have some kind of URL shortening and tracking. I also didn't consider link-in-bio services that give you a single, updatable URL to get around social media profile limits on how many links you can have in your description, though many URL shortening services are now starting to offer a similar feature.
• Value for money: I paid particular attention to the pricing tables and what each short URL generator offered at the different tiers. Some free plans are almost better than other apps' paid plans, at least if you don't want incredibly detailed analytics.

I've been testing apps for this list for the past five years. To update the list this year, I spent time with dozens of apps, shortening URLs and generally exploring how well they worked. Shortening a URL isn't a complicated task, at least from a UI perspective, so this was mostly about getting a feel for how nice they were to use and what extra features and analytics they offered—every app I tested was able to shorten a long URL. Apps with more advanced features took longer to test than the simple, free options. However, I wasn't looking for feature bloat. Apps like Sniply that add a CTA over the links you share, while somewhat compelling, feel too niche for most users.

Overall, I relied on my experience using and testing software over the last decade to make any close judgment calls, as well as considering my notes on all the different apps from the last year. If an app seemed to be in active development and improving, it was more likely to be viewed favorably than an app that seemed stagnant.

With that said, let's take a look at the best link shortening tools.

Key Takeaways:

• ✨ URL shortening services transform long links into shorter, easier-to-share URLs.
• ✨ They are an essential tool in digital marketing and facilitate user experience.
• ✨ They allow you to track clicks and analyze the performance of your links.
• ✨ You can customize links to reflect your brand and increase trust.
• ✨ There are many options available, including free and paid services.
• ✨ Choose the service that suits your needs and budget.

In conclusion, URL shortening services have become indispensable in today's online world. Whether you're a digital marketer looking to optimize your campaigns or a casual user who wants to share links easily, these services offer simple and effective solutions. Remember to choose a service that meets your needs and budget, and take advantage of the available features to make the most of your links. Before choosing a URL shortening service, be sure to understand the difference between free and paid URL shortening services .