Bitly vs TinyURL vs Urlicer: how to choose a URL shortener
A side-by-side feature grid of Bitly, TinyURL and Urlicer would be out of date by next week. More useful is a way to decide: the questions that matter over the life of your links, and where each kind of tool tends to fit.
What to compare
- Permanence. Do free links last forever, or expire? This is the one that bites hardest: a dead link on a printed asset is unfixable. Insist on permanence.
- Branded domains. Can you put your own domain on the link, or are you stuck with the shortener's?
- QR codes. Included and customisable, or an afterthought?
- Analytics depth. A click counter, or a breakdown by country, device, referrer and QR versus direct, kept long enough to compare one campaign with the next?
- Privacy. Cookieless and banner-free, or another consent prompt?
- Bulk + API. Can you work at scale and automate?
Where each tends to fit
TinyURL is the no-account utility for a one-off link, with lighter analytics and branding. Bitly keeps most of its features on paid tiers. Its free plan is five links a month; here is what the Bitly free plan includes. Urlicer puts permanence and privacy first. Links in your workspace never expire unless you set an expiry, every link gets a free QR code, analytics are cookieless with no banner, and the API works on the free plan, which gives you 500 links a month. Branded domains start on Pro, and geo and device targeting and A/B tests start on Team. Location data stops at country level; there is no city breakdown.
Run any shortener against the checklist above rather than the logo you recognise. For Bitly's plan limits in detail, see Bitly alternatives compared. If permanence and privacy are near the top of your list, that's what Urlicer is built around; see the plans.
Want to try it? Start with a free account. Links in your workspace never expire, and every one gets a QR code and click analytics.
Want the numbers next to each other instead? See the plans side by side: free against free, Bitly Core against Pro, and Bitly Growth against our Team plan. Or start with a free account.