Bitly alternative
A Bitly alternative that tells you who clicked
Free to self-host at every tier, with per-recipient click attribution Bitly doesn't offer at any price — and a privacy-first design that never stores a raw IP address.
Why people go looking for a Bitly alternative
Three reasons come up most: pricing that escalates fast once you need more than a handful of branded links or seats, no self-hosting option for teams that need their link data on infrastructure they control, and no way to see which specific person clicked— Bitly, like most shorteners, reports click counts per link, not per recipient. If any of those describe why you're reading this, ShortLynx was built to answer all three at once, not just one.
ShortLynx vs. Bitly, feature by feature
| ShortLynx | Bitly | |
|---|---|---|
| Per-recipient click attribution | Yes, on every tier | Not offered at any tier |
| Self-hosting | Free, unrestricted, every tier (ELv2) | Not offered |
| Free tier custom domains | 1 domain, Starter tier ($9/mo) | Not on the free tier |
| Branded/vanity short codes | Included | Paid tiers only |
| IP addresses stored raw | Never — HMAC-hashed, daily-rotating | Not publicly documented |
| QR codes | PNG & SVG, included | Included, watermarked below Pro |
| API access | Included from Pro ($24/mo) | Enterprise plans only |
| Data export | Aggregate-only, every tier | Varies by plan |
| Pricing model | Free self-host, or $0–$79/mo hosted | $8–$300+/mo, seat-based |
| Link limit on paid tiers | 500–25,000/mo by tier | Often capped lower per seat |
Bitly figures reflect publicly listed pricing/features at time of writing and may have changed — verify against bitly.com before deciding.
What Bitly can't do at any price: per-recipient attribution
Every Bitly plan, including its highest enterprise tier, reports clicks in aggregate — a link got 400 clicks, from these referrers, on these devices. That's useful for a broadcast post, but it can't answer the question that matters most for outreach: which of my contacts actually clicked?
ShortLynx's user-attributed links (Mode 2) mint a distinct short code per recipient per destination. Send each contact their own link, and the moment they click, you know exactly who — no login required from them, no CRM integration required from you.
Privacy: what Bitly doesn't publish, ShortLynx documents
IP addresses are never stored raw — every one is HMAC-hashed with a secret pepper, with the current day folded into the hash, so the same visitor hashes to a different value every day. Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control are honored, and analytics breakdowns use k-anonymity (k=10), so no single row can identify one person in a small campaign. None of this is a paid add-on — it's how the redirect pipeline works, on every tier.
Frequently asked questions
Is ShortLynx really free, or is that a limited trial?
Self-hosting is free forever, at every tier, with no feature gate — the Elastic License 2.0 only restricts reselling ShortLynx as a competing hosted service, not using it. If you'd rather not run your own server, the hosted plans start at $0/month (Free tier) with paid tiers for higher volume.
What does Bitly do that ShortLynx doesn't?
Bitly has a longer track record, a mobile app, and deeper integrations with some third-party marketing platforms. If those specific integrations matter more to you than per-recipient attribution or self-hosting, Bitly may still be the better fit — this isn't a claim that ShortLynx wins on every axis, only the ones that differ from most "alternative" pages: privacy, attribution, and cost.
Can I migrate my existing Bitly links to ShortLynx?
There's no automated import tool today — Bitly doesn't offer a public bulk-export of your full link history in a format built for migration. You can recreate your active links in ShortLynx and update where they're shared; existing bit.ly links keep working independently, so there's no rush or risk in switching gradually.
Does switching away from Bitly break my old links?
No. Your existing bit.ly short links keep resolving exactly as before — switching only affects links you create going forward. There's nothing to migrate or break.
Is per-recipient attribution the same as Bitly's click analytics?
No — Bitly (like most shorteners) reports aggregate click counts per link: "this link got 400 clicks." ShortLynx's Mode 2 links mint a distinct short code per recipient, so a click tells you which specific contact clicked, not just that someone did. It's the difference between a page-view counter and a CRM-grade attribution log, without needing the CRM.
See the rest of ShortLynx
Full feature list, pricing, and a side-by-side with TinyURL too.