Find Out Which URL Shortener is Worth Integrating With Your App – Here are The Best Free APIs Currently Available.
The first URL shortener was created in 2002 to shorten links for the now famous social network, Twitter. As the world became more digitally focused, the link shortener became a widely accepted service for a variety of marketing activities.
Since then, the history of URL shorteners has followed the evolution of the Web, and thousands of URL shortening services have been created. Most of them have the same features (like analytics) and are just copies of the same product, but a few are worth a special mention.
With Rebrandly you can use a custom domain name to create short URLs. You can register a domain name directly with Rebrandly and start shortening all your links in minutes, without any tech knowledge. With 20,000+ developers already using Rebrandly, it’s the most used platform by developers looking to use short URLs with their own domain on their apps. For more on the differences between short links and links containing your domain, check out this short video.
Main features: Can use multiple dedicated domains; Analytics; Deep links; Retargeting on links; Editable destination URL, SSL, UTM builder.
PRO: Great tool if you want to share links that contain your brand (dedicated domain name); Free; Simple to use.
CONS: Most advanced features and large scale link creation require paid plans. Use this form to get a customized quote.
This is a small set of PHP scripts that allow you to run your own URL shortening service. It has to be installed onto your server. Yourls is difficult to maintain and is not scalable unless you have a dedicated team of engineers focused on this project as well as many servers.
Main features: Analytics (good).
PROS: Can be installed on your server; Completely free.
CONS: You need to pay for the hosting of this application and maintain your server(s) reliability; It’s difficult to scale in case you need to redirect a great number of clicks.
Monitor, compare and optimize all your marketing links in one place to increase the conversion rate.
Main features: Analytics (excellent); Deep links; Multiple redirect options (by language, by country, by device, …); Conversion tracking; Retargeting on links; Can use multiple dedicated domains; Destination URL monitoring; Editable destination URL, SSL, UTM builder.
PROS: Most complete in terms of features; Each account can scale up to 1,000,000,000 clicks per month; 99,99% uptime guaranteed.
CONS: WIth the $19 version there is a low level of monthly clicks, then you have to pay based on the traffic you track.
Probably the most known URL shortener. There are many millions of bitlinks created with the extension bit.ly or j.mp. They have a free version and a pro version (starting at $499/month).
Main features: Analytics (basic); Deep links; One dedicated domain.
PROS: The most integrated URL shortener that can easily be used in connection with many other apps and services.
CONS: Cannot edit the destination URL; Cannot create more than one short link with the same destination URL; Cannot use API for commercial purposes
Sniply adds your custom call-to-action to any page on the web, allowing you to engage your followers through every link you share.
Main features: Call-to-action in the destination page; Retargeting; Editable destination URL; Basic Analytics.
PRO: Increase the conversion rate of your links and your brand awareness with the small snap you show on the destination page.
CONS: The free version is very limited (only 1,000 clicks/month), and the paid version starts from $29/month; No Conversion tracking; It cannot be used with the most important websites (Twitter, Amazon, Google, Linkedin etc…) because these websites do not allow external framing.
Some other notable mentions are X.CO (by Godaddy); ADFLY (Earn money for each visitor to your shortened links with) and TINYURL. These are great services, but unfortunately, they do not offer public free API.
When talking about short URLs, there are many possibilities to use mature redirect and tracking engines. While it may seem easy to redirect links and to track the basic stats on your clicks, it is actually difficult (and expensive) to create and maintain a system in a way that is fast, scalable and most importantly, reliable.
Today you can benefit from services offering these services for free, or for a low price. These companies manage millions of links and billions of clicks every month, so they know all the best practices and offer the best and most reliable service.
Do you have any other free API shorteners you’d like to add to our list? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Founder at Rebrandly and CEO at ClickMeter, he has more than 15 years of experience in Internet business as entrepreneur and top consultant. He is the author of many articles regarding Internet and new technologies