Eight shorteners, one table, dated pricing. Rankings follow our published evaluation criteria — price-to-value and attribution depth weighted highest — so you can audit every verdict instead of trusting it.
Side-by-side: top 8 URL shorteners for 2026
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free tier | Attribution | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slugy | Startups that need attribution cheap | $0 / $8 / $29 / $199 | 10 links/mo, 1k clicks, 1 domain | Leads from $8, revenue from $29 | MIT |
| Dub.co | Ecosystem and API maturity | $0 / $30 / $90+ | 25 links/mo, 1K events, 3 domains | Leads + sales from $90 | AGPLv3 |
| Bitly | Enterprise procurement | $0 / $10 / $29 / $199 | 5 links/mo, 2 QR, 2 pages | Not offered | Proprietary |
| Short.io | Link volume and API scale | $0 / $5 / $18 / $48 / $148 | 1,000 links, 50K clicks/mo, 5 domains | Conversions from free (50/mo) | Proprietary |
| Rebrandly | Branding-first teams | $0 / $8+ / $22+ / $104+ | 10 links/mo, 10 QR, 1 domain | Conversion tracking on paid tiers | Proprietary |
| Cuttly | Click-analytics depth on a budget | $0 / $12 / $25 / $99 / $149 | 30 links/mo, 1 domain, 30-day history | Click analytics + pixels only | Proprietary |
| Kutt | Pure self-host minimalists | Free (self-hosted) | Full product, MIT-licensed | Click stats only | MIT |
| BL.INK | Regulated enterprise | Custom (sales-led) | No list pricing published | Enterprise analytics | Proprietary |
Figures checked against public pricing pages on 9 October 2026. Plans change often — verify before you make a decision.
Verdicts, tool by tool
- 1. Slugy — best value attribution. The only tool here with lead tracking at $8 and revenue attribution at $29, MIT-licensed. Weaknesses, stated plainly: smaller ecosystem than Dub, shorter uptime history than Bitly, no SSO or contractual SLA.
- 2. Dub.co — best ecosystem. The reference implementation: biggest community, deepest docs, most integrations. Conversion tracking is real but starts at $90/mo — pick Dub for maturity, Slugy for entry price.
- 3. Bitly — best enterprise buy. A decade of hardening, SOC 2, SSO/SCIM, account teams. If procurement, compliance, or an SLA decides, stop here. Everyone else is overpaying for clicks.
- 4. Short.io — best volume play. The most generous free tier measured (1,000 links, 50K tracked clicks/mo, 5 domains) and unlimited everything from Pro $18. API-first teams that live in dashboards should shortlist it.
- 5. Rebrandly — best branding surface. Branding-first positioning with galleries, deep links, and conversion tracking on paid tiers. Free is thin (10 links/mo) — this is a paid product with a trial-shaped free tier.
- 6. Cuttly — best budget analytics. Remarkably deep click analytics (heat maps, bot charts, PDF reports) from $12/mo, plus surveys and action pages most rivals lack. No lead/revenue attribution — clicks are the ceiling.
- 7. Kutt — best pure self-host. 11k stars, MIT, Docker-first, zero-config SQLite default. The minimalist's choice: custom domains, passwords, expiry, and stats with nothing to pay. No hosted analytics business behind it.
- 8. BL.INK — best regulated enterprise. Compliance, admin controls, and sales-led onboarding for teams where link governance is the requirement. No public pricing — if you have to ask about list prices, this tier is not for you.
How to choose in five minutes
Answer three questions: (1) Do you need signups or revenue per link, or are clicks enough? (2) Is there a procurement department? (3) Will engineers self-host? Clicks-only + procurement → Bitly or BL.INK. Clicks-only + self-host → Kutt. Attribution under $30 → Slugy. Attribution with ecosystem → Dub. Volume + API → Short.io. Branding surface → Rebrandly. Deep click stats, tight budget → Cuttly.
Other comparisons
- Our evaluation criteria — the seven criteria and weights behind this ranking
- Slugy alternatives hub — commercial summaries plus editorial reviews
- Slugy vs Dub.co — the closest comparison, evaluated in depth