A well-known short-link service with a small free tier and aggressive paid pricing.
Bitly is the most recognized name in URL shortening, and that familiarity is its real edge. A bit.ly link is one many people instinctively trust, and large enterprises lean on its scale and long track record. But that recognition carries a steep price. Bitly's free plan now caps you at five new links a month, with no custom domain and ads on your links, and its paid Growth plan starts at $29 a month billed annually. ReSlug does the same core job, branded short links with real click analytics, for $6.60 a month, and its free tier already includes 500 links, a custom domain, UTM tracking, and unlimited QR codes before you pay anything. If you want Bitly's capabilities without Bitly's bill, ReSlug is built for that.
The reason most people start looking for a Bitly alternative is the free plan. Bitly now caps new links at five a month, strips out custom domains, and puts its own branding on your links, so the free tier works as a trial rather than a tool you can run a campaign on. ReSlug's free plan includes 500 links, a custom domain, UTM tracking, unlimited QR codes, and 30 days of real-time analytics, which is enough to run real campaigns without paying anything.
The second reason is the jump to paid. Bitly's first serious tier, Growth, is $29 a month billed annually and still ships with a single custom domain, roughly four months of analytics retention, and no link expiration, scheduling, or password protection. ReSlug Pro is $6.60 a month and lifts those ceilings: unlimited links, ten custom domains, a full year of analytics, bot-click filtering, and the advanced link controls Bitly leaves out. For most marketers and small teams the switch is a straight cut in price and a gain in capability.
On price the gap is wide. ReSlug Pro costs $6.60 a month billed annually, or $9 month to month, against Bitly Growth at $29 a month billed annually ($35 monthly). That is roughly a fifth of the cost for unlimited links, where Bitly Growth still meters you to 500 new links a month.
The free tiers tell the same story from the other direction. ReSlug's free plan gives you 500 links, a branded custom domain, and real-time geo and device analytics; Bitly's free plan gives you five links, no custom domain, and no analytics retention. If you only compare the two paid plans you miss the biggest difference, which is how much you can do on ReSlug before you pay anything at all.
Comparing Bitly vs Rebrandly instead? The two established names land close on price, $29 against $32 a month, and we cover that matchup separately on our Bitly vs Rebrandly comparison page.
| ReSlugReSlug free tier | BitlyBitly free tier | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Price | $0 | $0 |
| Links | ||
| Active links | 500 | 5 / mo |
| Tracked clicks / mo | 1,000 | Unlimited |
| Redirects | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Bulk import | 100 rows | No |
| Tags | 25 | Unspecified |
| Domains & Branding | ||
| Custom domains | 1 | 0 |
| Branded short links | Yes | No |
| Ads on links | None | Yes |
| Analytics | ||
| Retention | 30 days | None |
| Geo + device data | Yes | No |
| Real-time analytics | Yes | No |
| QR Codes | ||
| QR codes | Unlimited | 2 / mo |
| Custom QR (color / logo) | No | No |
| Advanced Link Features | ||
| Link expiration | Yes | No |
| Password protection | No | No |
| UTM parameters | Yes | No |
| Bio Pages | ||
| Bio / link-in-bio page | 1 | 2 |
| API & Developer | ||
| API access | Pro only | 1,000 req/mo |
| ReSlugReSlug Pro: $6.6/mo annual ($9 monthly) | BitlyBitly Growth: $29/mo annual | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Price | $6.6/mo annual ($9 monthly) | $29/mo annual ($35 monthly) |
| Links | ||
| Active links | Unlimited | 500 / mo |
| Tracked clicks / mo | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Bulk import | 1,000 rows | 100 rows |
| Tags | 200 | Unspecified |
| Domains & Branding | ||
| Custom domains | 10 | 1 |
| Branded short links | Yes | Yes |
| Analytics | ||
| Retention | 1 year | 4 months |
| Geo + device data | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time analytics | Yes | Yes |
| Bot-click filtering | Yes | No |
| QR Codes | ||
| QR codes | Unlimited + custom | 10 / mo |
| Custom QR (color / logo) | Yes | No |
| Advanced Link Features | ||
| Link expiration | Yes | No |
| Link scheduling | Yes | No |
| Password protection | Yes | No |
| UTM parameters | Yes | Yes |
| Click limit | Yes | No |
| Bio Pages | ||
| Bio / link-in-bio page | 5 | 2 |
| API & Developer | ||
| API access | Included | Included |
| Webhooks | Yes | No |
Competitor limits based on publicly available tiers, June 2026.
Dig deeper: see everything ReSlug includes, the full pricing breakdown, or try the free link and QR tools without an account. Checking where an existing short link lands? Trace it with the free redirect checker.
Choose ReSlug if you are a marketer, affiliate, creator, or small team who wants branded links, UTM tracking, QR codes, and a full year of analytics history without a $29 a month commitment, or if you simply want a free plan you can actually use: 500 links versus Bitly's 5.
Choose Bitly if brand recognition matters more than price, for example if your audience specifically trusts the bit.ly domain, or if you need enterprise SLAs, SSO, and the large established integration ecosystem a younger product has not matched yet.
Moving off Bitly takes a few minutes, and the one thing worth planning is your domain.
In Bitly, open your links list and export it to CSV. That gives you every destination URL and title, which is all ReSlug needs to recreate them.
Create a free ReSlug account and use bulk import to upload the CSV. The free plan imports 100 rows and Pro imports 1,000, so most link libraries come over in a single upload.
Point a custom domain at ReSlug so your new short links are branded. If your Bitly links already used your own domain, you can move that domain to ReSlug and keep the exact same short URLs working.
Run your new ReSlug links through the free redirect checker to confirm each one resolves to the right destination, then keep the Bitly account active until bit.ly traffic tapers off.
Yes. ReSlug covers Bitly's core features, branded short links, click analytics, QR codes, and UTM tracking, at $6.60 a month versus Bitly's $29 a month. Its free plan includes 500 links and a custom domain, where Bitly's free plan allows 5 links and no custom domain.
ReSlug Pro is $6.60 a month billed annually, compared with Bitly's Growth plan at $29 a month billed annually, roughly a fifth of the price for unlimited links and a year of analytics retention.
Yes. ReSlug's free plan includes one custom domain, while Bitly requires a paid plan to use any custom branded domain.
Yes. ReSlug tracks clicks in real time with geo, device, and referrer data plus UTM parameters. Pro keeps a full year of history, while Bitly's paid plans retain roughly four months.
Yes. Export your links from Bitly and use ReSlug's bulk import, which handles up to 100 links on the free plan and 1,000 on Pro, to bring them over in a single upload.
See the two head to head, plus a cheaper third option.
A modern, developer-focused link platform with a generous paid tier and a strong API.
A flexible, domain-first shortener with generous domain allowances, favored by power users.
An enterprise-leaning provider focused on branded links, with pricing to match.
One of the oldest shorteners around, with no analytics until you pay and metered paid plans.
The market-leading link-in-bio builder, with no URL shortener or custom domains on any plan.