Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover link in bio and analytics. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Bitly | Short.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $10 | From $5 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | None | None |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Data export | Not stated | Everything, in an open format |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Web | Web |
| Covers | Link in Bio, Analytics | Link in Bio, Analytics |
| Works with | TikTok, Instagram | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Short links, QR codes and a bio page
Bitly shortens and brands links, makes QR codes that stay editable after they have been printed, and builds a link-in-bio page from the same account, with click data under all three. The free plan is five links a month and carries advertising. What the money buys is the branded domain and the reporting behind it.
Our note
For a bio link alone this is expensive next to Linktree or Zaap. It earns the money when the same links are going onto packaging and into a campaign report, which is the job the cheaper ones do not do.
Only on this side
Link shortening with the analytics attached
Short.io is a link shortener for people who care what happened after the click: country targeting, deep links into apps, and click data you can pull out rather than only look at. Custom domains are on every plan including the free one. The pricing page also converts into about twenty currencies, which is rarer than it should be.
Our note
The free plan here does more than several paid plans elsewhere, which makes Short.io the sensible place to start. Move to Rebrandly if link galleries and brand polish matter more to you than the export.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.