There are plenty of reasons why you might need a shorter URL. Perhaps you have a small business, and you want a URL to reflect that, maybe you’re looking to RickRoll a friend and don’t want them to recognize the URL.

Regardless of why, there are a lot of URL shortening services out there to choose from. Instead of looking through them blindly, here are some of the best to keep in mind and what they do and don’t excel at.

1. Bitly

A Screenshot of the Bitly URL Shortener Landing Page

First up on this list, we have Bitly. Bitly is perhaps the most well-known of all URL shortening services, and so it should come as no surprise to see it at the top of this list.

Bitly provides a wide variety of different URL shortening services for both paying and free customers. If you’re looking to just shorten a single URL, then Bitly can handle that for you without a problem.

On a free account, you can shorten up to ten links each month, and can even change the back half of five of those links to represent whatever you want. All these links will start with bit.ly, however, unless you upgrade to a more expensive plan.

Bitly can also generate QR codes for you for free, though these are also branded. There are a variety of other things you can do with Bitly as well, such as create your own URL shortener using Python and Bitly.

For businesses or anyone willing to pay, there are a lot more features available for you with Bitly. You can change the entire link address, customize the QR codes with colors and logos, get custom domains, data analytics, and more.

2. BL.INK

A Screenshot of the BL INK URL Shortener Landing Page

Next up on this list comes BL.INK. If you’re looking for an enterprise to URL shortening, then BL.INK might just be what you’re looking for.

BL.INK comes with no free variants to speak of, though it does include a three-week free trial that you can start off with to test out all of its features and determine if it’s a good fit for you.

As a result of this, BL.INK comes with a wide variety of different features that are incredibly useful to businesses. For example, BL.INK lets you manage and monitor every shortened URL from a single dashboard.

This includes analytics such as where in the world your links are being clicked from, how often they are clicked based on date, and more.

There are a ton of other features with BL.INK such as growth tools, unique solutions for unique businesses, and others, which makes them a great option for large-scale URL shortening.

3. Cutt.ly

A Screenshot of the Cutt ly URL Shortener Landing Page

If you’re looking for something a little more pared back and accessible to smaller businesses or individual applications, then Cutt.ly is a solid choice for just that.

Cutt.ly comes with an entirely free plan that has a lot of features that you might want to give a try. For example, Cutt.ly allows free users to create branded domains with corresponding short links. This means that you can create a URL specific to your domain without having to spend a cent.

You also get limited analytics on this same plan, not to mention the branded domain itself. From there, you can choose to expand on any of these features by signing up for one of Cutt.ly’s premium plans.

This makes Cutt.ly one of the best options on this list for smaller businesses and individuals who want to dip their toes in before deciding if they need a more robust solution.

4. TinyURL

A Screenshot of the TinyURL URL Shortener Landing Page

Next up, we have TinyURL. If you’re looking for a one-off URL shortener that is easy to use and entirely free, then TinyURL is what you’re looking for. There's really no better way to learn how a URL shortener works.

TinyURL allows anyone to quickly and easily shorten a URL with almost no hassle. All you have to do is navigate to the website, enter your long URL, and choose a unique back-half. From there, you’re already done.

You can choose how you share your shortened links, say by email or by sharing the link, but that’s all there is to making your shortened URL. TinyURL does feature some premium plans if you’re looking for a branded domain and corresponding links, as well as detailed analytics and link monitoring, among other features.

5. Short.io

A Screenshot of the Short io URL Shortener Landing Page

If you’re looking for a solid little option with a truly impressive variety of different features, then Short.io might just be exactly what you’re looking for. Short.io comes with a range of different plans and features that should appeal to just about anybody.

For free accounts, Short.io allows the use of up to five different custom domains for branded links. This doesn’t include the domains themselves, but for small businesses that already have their own domains, for instance, this can potentially be a big deal.

For premium users, there’s a wide variety of different features that are worth taking note of. You can have your shortened links automatically redirect based on the viewer’s region, create temporary shortened URLs, hide the longer link even in your viewer’s browsers, and even add password protection for your links.

There’s plenty more that Short.io is capable of than just this, and the service is surprisingly feature-rich. Since the free plan is so generous as well, there’s little reason not to give it a shot and see if you feel like upgrading later.

6. Rebrandly

A Screenshot of the Rebrandly URL Shortener Landing Page

Finally, we have Rebrandly. If you’re looking for a URL shortener that comes with a whole wealth of tools to manage your links, then Rebrandly might just be the service that you’re looking for. It is a great way to quickly shorten URLs straight from your browser, after all.

With Rebrandly, you’re getting in-depth link history and analytics regardless of what plan you’re on. This includes information such as what devices visit your links, what countries, from what websites they visit, and at what times, even down to the hour.

There’s a whole host of other features as well, such as link searching, custom back-halves, 301 redirects, and many more.

Find a URL Shortener for Any Occasion

As you can see, there are a wide variety of different URL shortening solutions out there for any occasion. Regardless of if you’re a big business searching for the right way to expand on your brand image, or just looking to shorten a single link for a friend, there’s a URL shortener out there that’s a good fit for you.

Even if none of these commercial URL shorteners appeal to you, there are other options out there for anyone savvy enough to dig into how.