# Bitly Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is Bitly the right URL Shortener solution for you? Explore 1295 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/172575/Bitly/reviews --- Bitly 4.8 (1295) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/172575/Bitly/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated May 12th, 2026 # Reviews of Bitly Ease of use 4.8 Customer Service 4.4 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews cb caleb b CTOReal Estate, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “i like how in their free version, you can make custom links, track em, and customize details about the display.“ June 2, 2025 BL Brandon L Sales ManagerInformation Technology and Services, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Dealing with a lot of URLs could be a time-consuming and labor-intensive task, since every link needs to be changed according to every campaign or piece of material.“ June 3, 2025 Doyel N graphic designerDesign, Self-employedUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “I liked Bitly's intuitive interface and comprehensive analytics, making link management and tracking effortless and insightful, a true game-changer for online marketing.“ June 4, 2024 Gina K Marketing ManagerNon-Profit Organization Management, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Sometimes there is a bug where if you change the title with the initial link input - it doesn't always keep the title change and you have to go back and edit the link title. If you're creating a custom back-half without branding - a lot of times the custom back-half is already taken and you're not able to use it.“ June 30, 2023 BL Brandon L Sales ManagerInformation Technology and Services, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Bitly has become a necessary part of our company's success by greatly improving the monitoring, management, and efficacy of our digital marketing initiatives.“ June 3, 2025 BL Brandon L Sales ManagerInformation Technology and Services, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Dealing with several URLs at once can quickly make this activity boring.“ June 3, 2025 DS David S OwnerInformation Technology and Services, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “I like how functional Bitly is in terms of being able to easily create short URLs and also to customise the end part of the URL to make it easy to type in or relay to someone else.“ February 24, 2025 ma malak a social servicesHuman Resources, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “What I saw of the negatives is that it also remains a link shortening site, which seems bad for communication sites such as Facebook and reddit, so from my personal point of view the most negative point is that it is not good to use in all sites, but this does not prevent it from being one of the best link shortening sites on the Internet“ July 4, 2023 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 1295 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Charles A. Creative Director Cosmetics Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Really good, does more than just link shortening" February 27, 2025 5.0 Very happy. Everything was working nothing to complain about. Althought I did find a lifetime deal elsewhere and switched. It's still really good software. Pros It's simple. Reliable. Useful all in one. Cons There's so much competition now in this area. That there's not really much of a differentiating factor between them. Alternatives considered [SQR](https://www.capterra.com/p/265463/SQR/) Reason for choosing Bitly It's a trusted name. A known entity still has a good reputation. Remembered it from Twitter days. Review Source WK Walter K. Cyber security Officer Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Extremely fast and accurate performance. Recommended." November 20, 2024 5.0 Remarkable experience. Everyone is appreciating the services. Pros We've never made a better choice. I focused on issues like ease of use, ease of integration. Bitly has all this key values. It is also flexible, accurate and most importantly cost effective. Cons This user friendly solution is great. It has not shown any major challenges in operation. I am left contented. Switched from [TLinky](https://www.capterra.com/p/10013154/TLinky/) I experience more flexibility and intuitiveness with Bitly. Review Source Nikita R. Founder Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: I used a free trial ### "Misleading ads/website say “free,” but after ~14 days you must pay" August 12, 2025 1.0 I found Bitly’s qr-code-generator.com via a Google ad promising a free QR code generator. I signed up on July 30 and created a dynamic QR for the non profit event. At no point in the ad, landing page, or creation flow did I see a clear, prominent notice that the dynamic code would stop working after ~14 days unless I paid. Everything looked polished, worked fine, and I printed and distributed the QR on physical materials. About two weeks later, scans stopped resolving and a paywall appeared telling me to upgrade to “reactivate” the exact same code. There was no fallback redirect, so all printed materials became useless overnight. Support said I couldn’t convert that dynamic code to a free static one because it’s “technically different,” which feels like lock-in by design. Getting help from a human was difficult - I mostly received generic AI replies that acknowledged my disappointment but offered no solution. The countdown warning email (“Oh no! Your Dynamic QR Codes will expire in 3 days”) arriving from a “Head of Happiness” was especially ironic. Overall, my experience felt misleading: the product appears free until after you’ve committed to using the QR in the real world, then it’s pay or break. Bitly should clearly label dynamic codes as a time-limited trial up front, provide an obvious free-static option, and allow one-time conversion for already printed codes. Pros Clean, straightforward design - setup was easy and the QR worked fine during the initial period, right up until I printed everything (see cons). Cons Misleading ads/website say “free,” but after ~14 days you must pay; printed materials became useless with no fallback redirect. No way to convert an existing dynamic QR to a free static one - feels like lock-in by design. No human support - AI replies say they “understand the disappointment” but don’t help. Review Source AR Abhishek R. Digital Marketing Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "The best and Powerful URL Shortener I ever used." December 12, 2024 5.0 I can say that Bitly is the best URL Shortener in terms of all features and integrations and easy to use. Pros Bitly is the best and popular URL Shortener I ever used, It have best features, analytics, and other Integrations that make URL shortening very easy. And It is very user friendly and It allows to change the custom Alias (slug) for free that other not allow. And Its cutomer support is very good. Cons All things are very good but pricing may affect the individuals and other low budget users. Switched from [TinyURL](https://www.capterra.com/p/228765/TinyURL/) TinyURL have no fetaures and other integrations that bitly have and charge almost same. That's why I have to switch. Review Source BL Brandon L. Sales Manager Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "It is a required element for the links' and our company's success" June 3, 2025 5.0 The better URL distribution thanks to email marketing and social media advertising helps explain many of the successes of our projects. Real-time link activity enables us to find the traffic source and change our plans depending on their analytical power. Customized URLs help users to click through and remember our brand, so strengthening both. Bitly has become a necessary part of our company's success by greatly improving the monitoring, management, and efficacy of our digital marketing initiatives. Pros Thanks to Bitly that maximizes, personalizes, and simplifies all of our URLs, we can now show them in a neat and professional way instead of sending long and complicated links. Every one of our digital ads, blog entries, social media campaigns, emails has short links abound. Moreover, regardless of their level of technical expertise, every team member can easily and quickly create their own original URLs. Matching every link to fit particular content or promotions will help us to improve brand image even more and win users' confidence. Every time we have needed assistance, the prompt responses and sensible ideas we have acquired have helped us to remain active free from interruptions. Cons Dealing with a lot of URLs could be a time-consuming and labor-intensive task, since every link needs to be changed according to every campaign or piece of material. Dealing with several URLs at once can quickly make this activity boring. Review Source CN Chae N. Digital Marketing Health, Wellness and Fitness Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Bitly WAS great. Not any more." October 13, 2025 1.0 Overall, I would not recommend Bitly at this point. Until they start helping their customers again. Pros They are very easy to use and very straight forward. We used their short link for SMS and QR code for sales sheets. Cons Lately, they pretty much stopped with customer service. I tried to modify by paid account and I could not. The only customer service is that AI chat. We asked for help and Bitly said they would get back to us, but never did. Probably around July 2025 we didn't have any of these issues. Review Source SP Sian P. Consultant Public Relations and Communications Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Short codes are a blessing and so is Bitly! " May 21, 2025 5.0 I am very happy with Bitly and look forward to watching them develop further on the AI side of software development. Pros I have a paid version so I can integrate the company short url. I like this feature. I like how Bitly offers QR codes as part of the link creation. It has an app too - for work on the move! Cons Not much to dislike. There are other products that are similar and probably not as powerful. Bitly has been around a long time and has adapted to customers needs. Review Source DS David S. Owner Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Fantastic tool for making short pretty URLs" February 24, 2025 5.0 I have used Bitly for many years and I am a premium user of the service. I often use it to make links more easy to save, remember, type in or relay to my clients. I really like the ability to customise the end part of the link so that I can make links easy to remember and relay to clients. Pros I like how functional Bitly is in terms of being able to easily create short URLs and also to customise the end part of the URL to make it easy to type in or relay to someone else. Cons I sometimes find it is slightly too complicated to create short URLs. Even though it only takes 10-15 seconds I wish they made the dashboard even more intuitive so links could be created in a shorter amount of time. Review Source JC John C. Video Editor Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Huge time-saver" February 6, 2025 5.0 Been using it since day one of home base work. positive experience; it's a huge time-saver for sharing links! Pros Bitly is super easy to use, making link shortening quick and convenient. Everthing is 1 tap away! Cons The free version has limited analytics and customization options for users. Review Source Olalekan O. Production Manager Entertainment Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Bitly is your go-to link shortener, manager, and tracker" April 4, 2025 5.0 Pros Bitly allows me to make my links presentable, manage and track the links for success. Cons Bitly sometimes glitch in operation but asides this it is perfect. Review Source cB caleb B. CTO Real Estate Used the software for: 2+ years ### "a wonderful free plan imo" June 2, 2025 4.0 generally great. the links work that you set up. i've always had decent visibility to actions and traffic on them. Pros i like how in their free version, you can make custom links, track em, and customize details about the display. Cons editing links in a certain way, under the free plan, is limited.. between that and no QR code generation, that's it.. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Communications Project Manager Wholesale Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Short links made easy" January 6, 2025 5.0 Very positive. No platform makes link shortening easier than Bitly. Pros Bit.ly makes it simple and easy to make condensed links and QR codes for situations where character counts are critical. The process is as easy as a few clicks. Cons The QR codes/month on the basic plan are a bit restrictive, would love to see looser limits on generation. Review Source MK Madhura K. Strategist Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Efficient tool that allows you to track link activities in depth" July 10, 2024 5.0 Pros Bitly has been a boon for our small business. We can now track customer movement on links and conversion rates which would have been impossible to do with plain landing page links. The in-depth analytics is a game changer when it comes to optimizing links for conversion. We also appreciate the highly customizable link format that not only allows us to get creative but strategize conversions. Cons Nothing unlikeable about Bitly. We clearly love it Review Source Oscar R. Researcher E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "They need a intermediate plan!" August 7, 2021 5.0 In the Free and Basic Bitly outstands every alternative, but the Premium Plan is just to High. Pros Bitly is a useful tool. It shortens your own url, but also help you shorten any other url. If you don't have any place to host a database, bitly can do it for you. Also they give you from basic to advanced analytics, that help you track your own links, this is great for many purposes. Cons It needs definitely an intermediate plan. The Basic plan ($29usd/month) is great for almost everyone that really needs a powerfull Bitly. But Some features on the Premium are not as important for many of us, but they charge the full plan. For example, we do not need QR Codes or Advanced analytics and Campaings, but we really want to use the UTM Builder , but we just won't suscribe to the Premium plan ($199usd/month) just for that. Alternatives considered [Linkly](https://www.capterra.com/p/187554/Linkly/) Reason for choosing Bitly Bitly is more reliable. Review Source RF Robert F. Free Lancer E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Bitly makes your life easier." March 5, 2022 5.0 Easy to use. I started out as a free user, and you can too. Pros I can use it without having to be a software engineer. It works. I do not end up with any issues that require me to contact platform support. Cons I just don't have anything I can be critical about in a meaningful way. I have tried some other link shortening platforms, but I always ended up coming back to Bitly. Review Source Dayna T. Owner/Opeator Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Bitly makes web address more attractive and easier to trend!" July 7, 2022 5.0 Using Bitly has been a great experience! Pros I love how this software condenses a long web address into a much more convenient link. The shorter the better and the easier to publicize. I love that the software is free, easy to use, and keeps track of all of my created Bitly links. I can reuse links instead of recreating them, bettering the analytical data. Cons I dislike that sometimes the link drops off and you have to recreate or reattach it in order for it to work. However, I think that glitch will be solve and doesn't occur that often. Reason for choosing Bitly I chose Bitly because it was free, innovative, and marketing user-friendly. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Marketing Manager Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Amazing! Worth paying for the upgraded plan." June 30, 2023 5.0 Overall, great experience with Bit.ly! Will continue to use it and haven't found a worthy competitor. It's very affordable with great features. A few bugs sometimes but nothing detrimental. I've used them for a few years now and they continue to add features and grow their business. It's great to see and use! Very easy and user-friendly. Pros I've used Bitly for a very long time for multiple companies. It's worth being able to have a short link that clients and consumers can use. I LOVE that you're able to create trackable QR Codes now. I love that you're able to track the analytics thoroughly now. It used to be where you can only see link clicks but now you can see the sources of the link clicks including sites and countries. It's very easy to use. I use Bit.ly daily! Cons Sometimes there is a bug where if you change the title with the initial link input - it doesn't always keep the title change and you have to go back and edit the link title. If you're creating a custom back-half without branding - a lot of times the custom back-half is already taken and you're not able to use it. It's worth paying for the upgrade for the branding aspect. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Solar System Engineer Oil & Energy Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Why do you need bitly?" April 26, 2022 4.0 I will not regret my choice of Bitly, it was the best choice for me from many other proposed programs, no one will regret using this software at all. Pros One of the most liked in Bitly software is the ease of use with high quality of service, all businesses undoubtedly need to shorten links and use special ranges for their business and it is also very important to analyze the behavior of humiliated customers using these links to reach the required service. Cons I think I see the need for further development of the software's presentation, the dynamics of analysis and images. Review Source aV aparecido V. Redator Information Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "What I like most about Bitly!" September 9, 2022 5.0 I've been using Bitly link shortener for several years and I love this software because it's very easy and intuitive to use, allowing me to make my work on my sites easier and it's a great help, always making my links much more presentable to my audience. I use, recommend and will continue to use this wonderful software for a long time. Pros What I like the most about Bitly link shortener is being able to shorten the links on my website and thus share it on social networks and in this way improve its aesthetics and greatly increase the possibility of more hits. I can say that it gives great results. Cons Frankly speaking, I have nothing to complain about Bitly, in fact I love this software and I congratulate them. Review Source MG Melanie G. Administrator Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Unbeatable link shortening, custom URL, and analytics" August 10, 2023 5.0 Overall bitly has helped me streamline my marketing campaigns, customize my branding, and analyze traffic with an easy to use interface. Pros Bitly is intuitive and covers all my needs around shortened and custom links. I'm usually creating a custom URL for a poster or flyer. Bitly also creates custom QR codes which are incredibly helpful in the smartphone age. I love being able to track what links are getting the most traffic based on the analytics feature. It helps me analyze my branding. Cons The QR codes are proprietary in look - they have the bitly logo in the center. Review Source mA malak A. social services Human Resources Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "my review for bitly" July 4, 2023 5.0 From my experience with bitly, it is one of the best link shortening sites ever, for its ease of use and good quality Pros What I like most about the bitly website and application is ease of use, increased productivity, and improved appearance of links in order to attract user attention. Cons What I saw of the negatives is that it also remains a link shortening site, which seems bad for communication sites such as Facebook and reddit, so from my personal point of view the most negative point is that it is not good to use in all sites, but this does not prevent it from being one of the best link shortening sites on the Internet Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Software Engineering Intern Computer Software Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "All your link shortening tools in one place!" June 9, 2022 5.0 Bitly is my go-to when I need to shorten my links. I can shorten my links in bulk which saves me a lot of time. The best about it is even if you use the free version you can still get a lot of features. Pros Bitly has all the features I need for link shortening. The link analytics are very accurate and update in real-time. Even if you are a beginner in digital marketing, you won't find it difficult to use. Cons If there could be a way to group your links for easy access especially if you have a lot of old links that you quickly need to access for example putting them in a folder or something. Review Source EL Emma L. Author Writing and Editing Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Bitly is easy to use and customisable" July 31, 2023 5.0 I'm very happy with how I use bitly. It's easy to use, and fully customisable to my brand. I can analyse the links and monitor them easily. Pros I like that bitly is customisable, and you can easily track the links. You can monitor which are working, and how many times people click on the links. Cons Although it's never been a problem for me, there is a limit on how many free links you can set up and customise. So for larger scale businesses, this may be an issue Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Owner Food & Beverages Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The best link shortener." February 17, 2022 5.0 My experience with bitly has been nothing but the best. Pros Bitly is very easy to use and very easy to understand. I like to use it because it is a people friendly app and is quite easy to understand. Cons There is nothing o dislike about the app. All the features the app provides is exactly perfect. Review Source ML Maritza L. Assistant Professor Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Customizable links for free" January 21, 2022 5.0 Pivoting to remote work was challenging. Figuring out ways to get folks information and materials they needed in an online synchronous virtual learning experience was difficult. If we were in person, we could provide handouts and learning aids to support individual and group learning. Bitly filled that void when we went remote. I now use it to create links and QR codes that are accessible and easy to navigate to in the context of teaching. It has worked great. Pros I love being able to create customizable links that are short and creative. I always integrate technology when I teach. Whether in person or online, I use bitly share learning materials, guides, tools, and evaluations with my students and participants. One feature that is also great I'd the QR code generator. I've recently started to use that even more in my training sessions and it has worked quite well, too. Cons Bitly delivers and works as promised. I cannot think of any cons when it comes to using Bitly. It's a solid program that consistently delivers. Review Source Similar Products Featured ## Related categories [URL Shortener](https://www.capterra.com/url-shortener-software/)[Link Management Tools](https://www.capterra.com/link-management-tools-software/)