When you need to share links on social media or in places like print ads, podcast interviews, or any other place that doesn’t offer a full link-sharing experience, URL shorteners can come in handy. These services convert long, ugly, spammy-looking URLs into shorter, more polished, and personalized ones that are easier to remember, share, or click on—and they often provide valuable analytics information too.
There are plenty of great url shortener free options out there, though some of the best are more advanced than others. For example, Bitly is one of the most popular URL shorteners around and has a long history of providing detailed link tracking, even on its free plan. It also offers a variety of other features like branded links and QR codes.
Other alternatives like Rebrandly are more affordable than Bitly but still provide detailed analytics and a clean user interface. Many also let you add a custom domain, which makes them a good choice for businesses or marketers looking to brand their links and track performance.
There are also free tools that can help you create shortened links, such as Yourls, which is a small set of scripts that lets you run your own URL-shortening service on your own server. However, these tools can be difficult to maintain and may not scale well if you’re sharing lots of links. Also, they don’t always provide all the analytics information you might need. For more flexibility, consider using a tool like Hootsuite’s Owly or Bitly to manage all your social media content, monitor engagement, and get insights into performance. url shortener free