A Bitly alternative that doesn't charge you for the basics
Bitly is a good product and a safe choice for an enterprise that needs a vendor contract behind it. What it is not is free: custom domains, link expiration, and full click analytics sit on paid tiers, and the free tier caps how much you can do per month.
ilync is the alternative for when those features are the whole job. All of it is free, there is no card, and every link you create is screened for phishing before it goes live — which no free URL shortener does by default.
Side by side
| Capability | ilync | Typical paid tier elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| Price to start | Free. No card, no trial countdown, no feature tier to unlock. | Free tier with monthly caps; the rest sits behind a paid plan. |
| Branded short links on your own domain | Yes — connect a domain, verify DNS | Generally an enterprise-tier feature. |
| Link expiration and scheduled activation | Yes — expiry and future go-live dates | Yes on paid plans. |
| Passcode-protected links | Yes — visitors enter a passcode first | Rarely offered. |
| Click analytics | Clicks, platform, and referrer breakdowns | Yes, commonly on paid plans. |
| Link-in-bio page with per-link analytics | Yes — /@username with click counts per button | Not something a URL shortener covers. |
| Destination threat screening | Every link, at creation and after | Generally an add-on or enterprise-only. |
| Public URL safety checker | Yes — free, no sign-up | No. |
| QR and barcode generation | Included, with PNG and SVG download | Often a separate product or add-on. |
| REST API and click webhooks | Full API, keys, and signed webhooks | Yes, with usage tiers. |
| Installable web app | Yes — a PWA that installs on iOS and Android | Native mobile apps rather than a PWA. |
The right-hand column describes mainstream commercial offerings in this category at a general level rather than quoting any one vendor's feature list. Check the vendor's own pricing page for specifics.
What a free shortener normally doesn't do: check the destination
A short link is dangerous for one reason: you cannot see where it goes. ilync runs the same screening on every link you create as it does on the free URL safety checker — a threat denylist, DNS resolution with private-network rejection, local heuristics, destination reputation, the full redirect chain, and a machine-learning phishing classifier.
It does not stop at creation either. Destinations are re-checked for the life of the link, so a site that turns hostile six months after you shortened it stops redirecting silently: visitors get a warning page, or the link is disabled outright.
Who should still choose a category leader
This is a comparison, not a takedown. Stay where you are if you need any of these:
- An enterprise contract, invoice terms, or a vendor security review.
- SSO, SCIM provisioning, or centralised governance across dozens of brand domains.
- A contractual uptime SLA and a named support contact.
- Deep native integrations with a platform already built on top of them.
None of that is a criticism — it is a different job. ilync is built for one person or a small team who wants the features to be there and the bill to be zero.
Switching takes minutes, not a migration
Short links belong to the platform that issued them, so links made elsewhere cannot be re-pointed here — you re-create them against the same destination URLs. If that is a lot of them, the API takes an array and does it in one call.
Start with something small: shorten one link to see the difference, or check a destination to try the safety engine on a URL you already have.
Questions people ask before switching
Why would I switch from Bitly to ilync?
Honestly? You probably should not, if you are an enterprise team that needs a vendor contract, procurement paperwork, and native integrations with tools built on top of it. For a solo founder, a creator, or a small team the reason to switch is that the features you actually use — custom domains, expiry, passcodes, per-link analytics — sit on paid tiers elsewhere, while here they are free and ungated. The second reason is safety: every destination is screened with a threat denylist, DNS checks, redirect-chain analysis, and an ML phishing classifier, so a short link is not a way to launder a bad site.
Is ilync really free?
The core product is. Shortening, custom back-halves, custom domains, expiry, scheduling, passcodes, click analytics, link-in-bio pages, QR and barcode generation, the URL safety checker, and the full REST API — no card on file and no trial that expires into a locked account.
Do my links look like ilync links, or can I use my own domain?
Both. Out of the box your links are short ilync links. Connect a domain you own, verify its DNS records, and links you create there are served from your own address, so the brand on the link is yours. The setup steps are in the documentation.
What does ilync not do that a category leader does?
There is no enterprise sales contract, no SSO or SCIM provisioning, no distributed governance across dozens of brand domains, and no contractual uptime SLA. If your requirement is a procurement-approved vendor with an SLA, a category leader is the right answer and this page is telling you so.
Can I move my existing links across?
Not as redirects — a short link belongs to the platform that issued it, so links created elsewhere cannot be re-pointed here. You re-create them against the same destination URLs. The API supports bulk creation if you have a lot of them to do.
Do I need an account to shorten a link?
No. You can shorten a URL with no account at all. An account is what adds saved links, the dashboard, custom domains, API keys, webhooks, and a link-in-bio page.
Try it against a real link
Shorten something, check a destination, generate a QR code. None of it needs an account, and nothing expires into a paid tier.