I’ve Found the 7 Best URL Shorteners in 2025: Shrink Your Links With Ease

If you’re constantly managing URLs or sharing links with your audience, I suggest using a URL shortener to make your life much easier. They enable you to turn lengthy URL links into shorter ones that are both user-friendly and easier for businesses to manage.

For example, you may want to share the following URL with someone:

• https://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/grow-online/how-to-create-a-social-media-strategy/.

When I plug that link into URL shortener cutt.ly, here’s what happens:

• https://cutt.ly/f0Asvvv

The URL shortener has transformed the long URL into a short one, replacing the original text with a combination of numbers and letters. If you’d like to make the back-half of the URL more relevant to your business, some shorteners also let you change it. For example, you could replace “f0Asvvv” with “social-strategy” instead.

Though the new link looks different, it will still direct users to your original page when they click on it.

What Are the Other Benefits of Using a URL Shortener?

Though easy link management is the key reason to use a URL shortener, you may also benefit from:

• Links that are easier to type – Shorter links are excellent on physical media like business cards and print ads, since they’re much easier for people to type out. If someone is trying to copy a long-winded URL into the search bar, they’re more likely to make a mistake and end up on the wrong page.
• Tracking analytics – Some URL shorteners like Bitly come with built-in analytics, making it easy to track the number of clicks on a specific link. However, it often costs more to access advanced tools like this.

Can URL Shorteners Impact Your Website’s SEO?

URL shorteners won’t directly impact your website’s SEO, though I suggest regularly checking your links to prevent any  issues down the line. Here are some key SEO factors to be aware of:

• Do your links work? A common SEO mistake is using links that don’t work properly, so make sure that your links are active and take users to the correct page for a positive user experience. Additionally, look for URL shorteners that don’t have an expiration date on your links.
• Is your URL shortener reputable? Make sure that the tool you’re using comes from an established, trusted business. I’ve vetted all of the shorteners on this list for you.
• Can you change the URL yourself? Many URL shorteners will let you adjust the appearance of your links. If possible, avoid using a random string of characters and customize your links in a way that makes sense to your audience (e.g. by inserting keywords).

Now that you know about the key benefits of using a URL shortener, here’s my list featuring the top seven tools on the market: 

1. TinyURL: For Free, Occasional Link Shortening

• Starting price: $9.99 per month (billed annually)
• Free plan? Yes
• Mobile app? Yes

If your business only needs to shorten URLs now and then, TinyURL is your best bet. You can shrink your URLs for free while using its user-friendly interface that’s easy to pick up. Your links won’t expire either.

To shorten a URL, all I had to do was copy and paste my link into the “Shorten a Long URL” box and press the “Shorten URL” button. The process only took a few seconds to complete!

Setting up a TinyURL account isn’t compulsory, though I do recommend it. Once I’d verified my email address, I could access a list of all of the links I’d converted and rename them to make SEO-friendly URLs.

However, though TinyURL is fantastic for basic URL shortening, it’s features aren’t as sophisticated as other tools on the market, like Bitly or Rebrandly.

2. Rebrandly: For Creating Branded Links

• Starting price: $13 per month (billed annually)
• Free plan? Yes
• Mobile app? Yes

Want to create shortened URLs that best reflect your branding? Rebrandly is a strong option. The platform specializes in branded URLs, which is useful if you want your links to reinforce your brand identity and build trust with customers.

On its paid plans that range from $13-$99 per month (billed annually), Rebrandly also comes with impressive features, such as:

• Custom link-in-bio pages to share multiple links at once
• Automatic QR code generation for your links
• Adding emojis to links
• Link destination edits to change the exact page a link sends someone to

I was also impressed by Rebrandly’s interface. The dashboard was speedy and came with a clear website navigation bar, while the “Links” tab made it simple for me to track all of my links in one place.

However, Rebrandly’s free plan isn’t as good as it used to be. In 2023, you could create 500 branded links a month for free, but that number has dropped down to 10 branded links per month in 2025.

3. Bitly: Best All-Round Platform for Shortening Links

• Starting price: $10 per month (billed annually)
• Free plan? Yes
• Mobile app? Yes

If you’re looking for an all-rounder, Bitly is a suitable choice. The platform is home to robust tools covering all areas of URL shortening, from easy link generation and management to data tracking.

Bitly’s paid plans range between $10-$199 per month (billed annually). Its most useful tools, that are available on all plans, include:

• QR code generation and customization
• UTM parameters to help you track your campaigns
• Bulk URL upload via CSV

I wouldn’t recommend using Bitly’s free plan, however, since the features you receive are limited. You’re only able to create five links and two QR codes a month – not ideal if you need to generate a high volume of shortened links.

Additionally, Bitly’s best tools are locked behind the higher tiers. For example, the Premium plan priced at $199 per month (billed annually) lets you create 3,000 shortened links a month and gives you access to city-level and device-based link data.

4. Ow.ly: For Social Media Marketers

• Starting price: $99 per month (billed annually)
• Free plan? No, but has a 30-day free trial
• Mobile app? Yes

Unlike the other platforms on this list, Ow.ly is a URL shortener that’s built into Hootsuite, the popular social media management platform. It’s an apt choice for marketers who need to generate multiple links as part of their social media strategy.

Through Ow.ly, you can use Hootsuite Analytics to see how well your shortened links are performing in your social posts. You can also create unique parameters to see where your link clicks are coming from, and track the number of sign-ups, sales, or leads they’ve led to.

Accessing Ow.ly is expensive. You need to at least be on Hootsuite’s Standard plan which will set you back $99 per month (billed annually). Also, if you only need a URL shortener tool and don’t need Hootsuite’s additional social media features, there’s little reason for you to choose this platform.

5. Replug: For Tracking Targeted Campaigns

• Starting price: $15 per month (billed annually)
• Free plan? No, but has a 14-day free trial
• Mobile app? No

If tracking link clicks is your priority, I recommend choosing Replug as your URL shortener tool. You can closely track the performance of your links and use A/B testing to see what kinds of links are clicked on the most.

Most notably, Replug comes with a retargeting tool that can help you increase audience engagement. When someone clicks on one of your links, you can add them to a custom audience list and show them targeted ads as they browse different social media platforms.

Unfortunately, Replug doesn’t come with a free plan or free trial, so you’ll need to purchase a plan priced between $15-$399 per month (billed annually) to access its features.

6. Sniply: For Driving Conversions Through Your URLs

• Starting price: $9 per month (billed annually)
• Free plan? No, but 14-day free trial and first two months free
• Mobile app? No

To create shortened URLs that appeal to your target audience, Sniply lets you write CTAs (call to actions) for every link that you share.

For example, when a customer clicks on your link and is redirected to that page, they’ll also see an additional pop-up on screen containing your CTA – an ample opportunity to increase conversions. With Sniply, I could add my own branding to these CTAs too by changing the button type, imagery, or text.

Overall, Sniply’s pricing ranges between $9-$59 per month (billed annually), which is an afforable price range for smaller businesses. Unfortunately, there’s no free plan, only a 14-day free trial that gives you the chance to try out Sniply’s features.

7. BL.INK: For Managing a High Volume of Links

• Starting price: $48 per month (billed annually)
• Free plan? No, but 21-day free trial
• Mobile app? Yes

BL.INK is a superb URL shortener if you’re managing a high volume of links each month. On its cheapest plan costing $49 per month (billed annually), you can manage up to 10,000 links, track 7,500 links, and redirect an unlimited number of links.

The platform also comes with an impressive range of features on all its plans, which include:

• Bulk link import and export
• Branded link creation
• Large knowledge base with useful resources
• Link analytics tracking like total click counts
• Email support
• Integrations with other tools like Zapier, Zoho Flow, and Bookmarklet

Sadly, BL.INK doesn’t have a free plan, so the platform’s appeal will likely only extend to larger, more established businesses. There’s also a steep price increase between its plans, ranging from $48-$599 per month (billed annually).

And there you have it – the seven best URL shorteners on the market. But before you make your final decision, make sure that the platform you’re interested in comes with the tools that your business needs the most. 

Whether you need dedicated link tracking, link branding, strong integrations, or the ability to easily manage many links, your final URL shortener should be able to facilitate the growth of your business.