Shorten a URL
Shortening a URL is easy. Saying what it earned is not.
A link shortener turns a long address into a short one of a few characters, placed on your own domain, whose destination stays editable after publishing. You will not find a field to fill in on this page: creating a link requires an account, and the free account takes two minutes.
The difference, in two columns
A shortcut
- Turns a long address into a short one.
- Counts clicks: how many, when, from which country.
- Stops at the click. The submitted form, the cart, the sale fall outside its scope.
- Redirects as long as its service answers.
Subtraq
- The same short address, on your domain — one domain from the free plan.
- Carries on after the click: the lead, then the sale, tied to the link that brought them.
- Redirects from the Cloudflare network, even with the app switched off.
- Free for 2 client workspaces, no credit card.
A shortener answers “how many clicks”. This one is built to answer “how much did it bring in” — it is the same short link, followed all the way to the sale.
What a short link carries
A short link is not just a shorter address. It is an object that carries five things — and each one can be changed after publishing.
The short address
The part after the slash. Letters, digits, hyphen and underscore, up to sixty-four characters: you write it yourself (winter-sale) or the tool draws one at random. A few words are refused: the same domain also serves the app, and a link named “login” would hide a screen.
The destination
The real address the person lands on. It is the only field that changes without anything published moving: the flyer already printed, the QR stuck in the window and the link in the bio keep working, towards the new page.
The UTM parameters
Source, medium, campaign, term and content. They travel inside the link and are added to the destination at redirect time — the address you publish stays short and clean.
The name and the client workspace
A readable label to find the link in a list of two hundred, and the client workspace it belongs to. One client, one workspace, walled off — including in the report they will receive.
The QR code
The same address, written differently. Changing the destination updates the link and the QR already printed in the same move: that is the whole difference between a dynamic QR and one set in ink.
Custom
Two meanings of “custom”
The first level, everyone offers: choosing the text after the slash. winter-sale rather than a7Xq2p. It is useful, it can be read out over the phone, it sticks — and it still isn't yours.
The second is the one that decides: the domain. A link placed on a shortener's domain carries that shortener's name, its terms of use, and the reputation of all its other users — yours counts for nothing there. On your own domain, it depends on you alone.
A subdomain of your existing site is enough, and it costs nothing extra. One DNS record, guided step by step, and it is done. The free plan accepts 1.
link.youragency.com/winter-sale
To the left of the slash: your domain, your reputation, and what follows you if you change tools. To the right: the word you choose.
No credit card, no end date
The free plan in figures
10
links created per month
3 000
clicks counted per month
2
walled-off client workspaces
1
domain in your name
This is not a trial in disguise: the free plan has no countdown and asks for no card. Beyond the 3,000 — the links keep redirecting — it is the counting that stops, not the service. A published link never stops working because a counter hit its ceiling.
What it asks in exchange is an account. We do not offer anonymous link creation, and that is not a sales trick: a service that lets anyone build redirects with no identity becomes a phishing tool within days. We preferred to say so rather than put a field on this page.
“Google link shortener”
Google no longer shortens links
The answer is clear: goo.gl no longer accepts new links. Google announced it was dropping the service in 2018, explaining that the way people find content had changed and that other services had stepped in since.
The old links kept working for years. On 25 August 2025, those that had recorded no activity at all by the end of 2024 stopped answering; all the others were kept and still work. The goo.gl addresses produced by Google's own apps, such as sharing a place in Maps, were not affected.
What remains of the need is labeling a campaign properly. That is done free and without signing up — including here.
The source
Google Developers Blog, “Google URL Shortener links will no longer be available”, published 18 July 2024 and updated 1 August 2025. Recorded 11 September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Is the shortener really free?
Yes, and with no credit card. The free plan gives 10 links created per month, 3,000 counted clicks, 2 client workspaces and 1 custom domain. It has no end date: it is not a trial. Beyond the click ceiling, links keep redirecting — it is the counting that stops, not the redirect.
Can you shorten a link without creating an account?
Not with us, and that is a deliberate choice: building redirects with no identity at all is handing over the perfect phishing tool. Two tools on the site do work without signing up and collect nothing, because they run entirely in your browser: the UTM builder and the QR code generator. To see the link-creation screens without signing up, the demo shows them as they are.
How do you customize a short link?
At two levels. The text after the slash is yours to write: letters, digits, hyphen and underscore, up to sixty-four characters. And above all the domain, which is the level that counts: a subdomain of your existing site is enough, it connects with one DNS record, and the free plan accepts one.
Does Google still offer a link shortener?
Not for creating new links. Google announced the end of goo.gl in 2018 and has accepted no new addresses since. On 25 August 2025, goo.gl links left without activity by the end of 2024 stopped answering; all the others were kept and still work. Source: Google Developers Blog, article of 18 July 2024 updated 1 August 2025.
How is this different from Bitly?
Bitly, Inc. is an American company and its privacy policy describes processing in the United States; as recorded in August 2026 on its public page, its free plan was five links a month. We are hosted in the European Union, the free plan gives 10, and we do not stop at the click: the link connects to the lead and then to the sale. Our dedicated page tours the European alternatives, URLR included — we do not claim to be alone.
Can a short link expire?
Not on its own. A link lives until you archive it, and changing plan does not cut links already published. You can give it a deadline or a click ceiling when a campaign calls for it: that is a setting you decide, not a default behavior.
Shorten your first link
The free account takes two minutes and asks for no card. 10 links a month, 2 client workspaces, 1 domain: enough to run a real campaign from end to end before deciding anything.
Create my free account