We all want things to be plain and straightforward, and the same goes for URLs that you see online. Just think about what would have happened if the URL of Facebook.com and Instagram.com would be lengthy. We don’t want that to happen, like ever.
On the other hand, even Google asks you to shorten your URLs for better visibility on its search engine. Suppose we have to point out a single URL shortener tool that would be a huge mistake. Since Google shut down its URL shortening services, the internet is searching for the following URL shortener option, and we are on the same pursuit as well.
Today we are talking about the top 10 best URL shorteners, which you can use to shorten your URLs and make them more manageable and easier to remember.
Table of Contents
What Are URL Shorteners?
You might be thinking, okay, my URL is short now, so what’s the next thing I need to do and where it’s going to help you? Well, for starters, a short URL is always a better approach for naming the subdomains of your websites. A URL shortener as a whole is just a tool that takes in your URL link and shortens it down. It doesn’t do anything to the page which is linked to the URL.
Also, there is no restriction on what type of URL can be shortened, and you can reduce the size of both HTTP and HTTPS links from the same tool without facing any problem.
List Of Top 10 URL Shorteners For 2021
Now you know what URL shortening is and how it is beneficial for your website, let’s move on to the main part of the article to find the best URL shortener for your usage. Given below, we have handpicked some of the best URL shorteners you can find on the internet, and all of them provide free URL shortening tools to their users. Some don’t even require you to even sign up in the first place, which is pretty crazy, right?
1 Bitly
Starting with our list, the first contender for being the best URL shorteners is none other than Bitly. If you have ever shortened the URL, we are sure you have done it using Bitly, and for most people, this is a clear winner of this list, and no other URL shortener comes closer to its efficiency and user experience.
Bitly is a full-fledged business-grade URL shortener used by several companies to keep their links short when sending them to the user. The text messages which you receive from companies on your smartphone have been used Bitly. If your needs are modest, then Bitly allows you to shorten your URL for free.
What makes Bitly stand out from the rest of its competition is its business-specific offerings. On the other hand, Bitly is so simple to use that even a kid studying in 8th grade shortens any URL using this URL shortener tool.
If you have opted for a premium version of the Bible, you will be introduced to the dashboard covering 20 real-time data points for the URL you provide for shortening. In addition to this, the data points give information about the visitors’ location, organic shares, etc. it has its own set of tools that could help companies track their campaigns.
When you are using the free version of Bitly, you get the freedom to customize the back-half of the URL, track down the click rates, and get insights about your top referrals. But all this information is available for the first 1,000 non-branded links per month.
It’s a generous free plan, and it could very well work for small to midsize businesses. Moreover, if you go for a basic premium plan, you get a custom domain, which allows you to create 1,500 links per month and provides you with much in-depth information about the clicks and the users of your links.
Bitly also provides custom pricing based on the needs of the client. Thus, it’s the best URL shortener for both small and large-scale businesses looking to track their links’ performance. The monthly plan starts from $35 a month.
2 TinyURL
Our second pick is the TinyURL which is also one of the best tools to shorten the size of your URL. it gives users the freedom to shorten the last few characters of the generated link. Thus, allowing its users to be consistent with their branding. If you need to shorten their links often, then TinyURL needs to be on your bookmarked list of websites.
It has an extension that can be installed in most internet browsers. As a result, you can quickly open it up and shorten your URL and attach it with the message or a mail without reaching their official website first.
The website URL can be shortened too using this tool which links developing easier for the development team. It’s an entirely free tool, and it can make your URL shortening process much more manageable.
In just three easy steps, your URL will be chopped off from its original size. Lastly, the TinyURL shortens’ links will not expire, so when you are sending mails, you don’t need to worry about broken links.
3 Pole
At number three, we have our first open-source project, which provides URL shortening abilities to the people who have a sound technical knowledge of hosting. You can reach this tool by visiting the Polr project page or from GitHub.
The tool can be used as it is, and if you want to make some changes to it, you are free to download and tweak its source code available on the GitHub repository. The central database of the project is MySQL, and it is written in PHP coding language, which is easy to understand.
Polr provides a much slicker user interface for users to work with and has a minimalist design approach to its dashboard. The self-hosting feature gives users the ability to know the most delicate details about their links and brand them as they like. Lastly, if you are looking to see how Polr’s interface works, you can go to its demo page.
4 T2M
Well, with T2M, we have a wild contender in our list of best URL shorteners. Once you visit the site, you will like how its interface makes it easier for you to get done with your URL shortening task. To help users track down their URLs, the website has two different dashboards.
One provides the location analysis, while the other one shows the information about devices and platforms. Also, you are now seeing a QR code is available with each URL on the URL box.
The T2M provides this new functionality of shortened URL with QR code. Users have the power to decide where and how they want their shortened link to be opened and work. With the paid plans, you can create a more advanced version of the shortened URL, such as you can add an extra layer of protection by adding a password to the URL.
Also, the premium usage comes with vanity URL options. It’s an excellent tool for those running their online business and want to have flexible and short URLs with just a few clicks.
5 Hyperlink
If you are looking for a little extra layer of personalization of notification, then Hyperlink is the way to go. It markets its Android and iOS apps front and center though you can easily access all its functionality using the Chrome extension.
One of the unique points of Hyperlink as a URL shortener is to provide push notification to the user’s mobile device whenever someone on the internet clicks on their links. On the other hand, if you know your link will get a massive number of clicks, you can set the notification to hourly basics.
Like other URL shortener tools, you can track the location and demographics of the audience who clicks on your link.
In addition to this, there is a free plan which you can use to try out their services and see if they can benefit from it or not. During the trial period, you are going to get unlimited links and clicks for free. In case you like their tool and want to go to the premium version of it, it is available for as low as $10 a month and with that user also gets to have their custom domain in the URL links.
6 Clkim
Clkim is an innovative redirect URL system that is based on the working of contextual triggers. The URLs can understand whether the user is trying to open the link from a mobile phone or a computer. And depending on the device the user is operating, the URL will redirect them to that particular page.
On the other hand, another option has to do with A/B testing to find out which landing page is best for higher conversions. In addition to this, Clkim also offers a target-based approach for the custom list of people who clicked on your link.
Clkim can give you several options for both the speed and detail you need. Clkim will assist you in finding your way through low conversion rates to higher conversion rates.
7 Rebrandly
What if we tell you that the custom domain name for the URL shortening can be obtained without paying anything extra. A lengthy URL might be good for your business in many ways as it shows your brand name, but on the internet, it won’t be that much of a help.
With the help of Rebrandly, you can still get business from your brand name while the link being short, crisp, and easy to remember. Likewise, with this tool, you are getting several tracking features such as optimization of your links and scaling tools in their variety of packages.
The paid options for users start at just $29 a month and depending on the tools users need, and they can have a custom billing option too.
8 ClickMeter
Click meter, more or less, is a link tracking platform first and then a link shortener. It enables users to monitor their campaigns and track down their customers and their behavior with the link.
ClickMeter is an excellent option for affiliate publishers and the agencies looking to spend less money on tracking their campaigns and focusing on the work they do.
It’s a tool for medium to large businesses, which helps create web links that will route visitors to the landing page while keeping a close eye on the monitoring conversion rates to put them in the analytics report.
On the other hand, it keeps the URLs safe from getting clicked by malicious or suspicious users. The whole system’s training can be done online, and the company provides documentation if some troubleshooting needs to be done.
The price is pretty reasonable at $29 a month. There are so many features to track down your link that you might feel overwhelmed but with time and usage, you will get comfortable with its intuitive interface.
9 Go links
Go links are made to make it easier for team members to work together and transform the long and not-so SEO-friendly URLs into short ones. Also, Golinks suggest you some options to shorten your links so you can see which one suits your requirement the best.
The links which are generated can be used directly in browser, emails and social media messages. Most of the operational teams are now relying on cloud technology to access their applications with personal bookmarks.
Golinks enable companies to effectively and securely access and share the information and the resource scale. As a result, Golinks is a great way to build a bridge between your team members located in different locations and the tools they need to use together.
The simplicity of Golinks is a significant advantage that team members and an individual can enjoy. The enterprise pricing is a bit aggressive as there are not too many features for a URL shortener, but if you are going to use the basic version, which is entirely free. Then it’s a great product, without a doubt.
10 Yourls
Last on our list is Yourls, which is as you might have already guessed it is the short form of the “your URL shortener.” it is a service that you run on your server only. It is much similar to Polr, but Yourls is entirely free.
There is no subscription fee you need to pay for the premium versions as it’s an open-source tool. In addition to this, you can choose whether your links will be private or public. It also comes with bookmarklets that convert the long URLs into ones from your web browser with just one click.
By default, the developers have set it up to create sequential URLs, but users can change it according to their liking. And they can add up custom strings.
Yourls is designed to be a lightweight URL shortening tool. In case you are looking for more than just the basic version of it, you can install the plugin and customize the device all by yourself. The user interface is sharp and has that minimalist underdone, which is pleasing to the eyes.
Conclusion
So there you are; these were the top 10 best URL shortener tools and websites for 2021. You can use any of them at any given point because most URL shorteners’ working is pretty much the same, and It all comes down to which user interface works as attractive and responsive eye candy to you.
On the other hand, when it comes to these URL shorteners’ features, you can say most of them provide basic analytical information for free, but if you want to dig deep, you need to pay for the premium subscription.
If we have to choose a URL shortener for reducing our links’ size, we would, without a doubt, go for Bitly. And due to some reason, Bitly’s servers are down, which is very unlikely to happen if we are honest. Then our second option would be Rebrandly.