You're pasting the same long tracking link into a newsletter, a bio and three ads. A link management tool fixes that by shortening, branding and tracking every link from one place. Branded short-link platforms suit campaigns, attribution tools suit conversion tracking, and WordPress plugins suit affiliate publishers who want links on their own site. Choose by job, not by logo.
The best link management tool is the one that matches where your links live and what you need to know after someone clicks. For most marketers that's a branded short-link platform; for affiliate bloggers on WordPress it's a plugin; and for anyone paid on results it's a tool that tracks conversions, not just clicks.
It sounds like a small decision. It isn't, because a short link outlives the campaign it was made for. That link in a 2023 newsletter, a podcast show note or a printed flyer is still being clicked, and whichever tool made it still controls where it goes. Choose badly and you either pay that tool forever or accept that old links break.
Eight link tools to know
Bitly
One of the best-known names in short links, now covering QR Codes and link-in-bio pages too, with click analytics across all three.
Rebrandly
A branded link platform for putting your own custom domain on links, with QR codes and analytics, and where ClickMeter's old address now sends you.
Short.io
A shortener that starts from your own branded domain rather than adding it later, with custom domains and click analytics at every level.
TinyURL
A familiar URL shortener that also offers branded short links and analytics, for people who want quick, simple links without a big platform.
Dub
Built for teams who care what happens after the click: branded short links, analytics and partner programs with affiliate payouts in one place.
Switchy
A shortener with a marketing twist, adding retargeting pixels to your links so the people who click can be shown your ads later.
Pretty Links
A WordPress plugin that turns long URLs into short branded links on your own domain, with options for expiring links and split testing.
ThirstyAffiliates
Made for affiliate bloggers on WordPress: it cloaks and organises affiliate links and can import the ones already scattered through older posts.
Where should your links live?
This is the fork that decides everything else, so answer it first. There are three homes for a short link.
On the tool's own short domain. Quickest to start, and fine for a one-off social post. The catch is that the link belongs to the service. If you leave, those links may stop working or keep pointing wherever the service decides.
On a branded domain you own, run through a link platform. You register a short domain (something like yourbrand.link) and the platform serves links on it. People can see who the link belongs to before they click, which helps on social and in email, and if you ever move platforms you keep the domain. One detail people miss: registering the domain itself is a separate cost from the platform, even where custom domains are included.
Inside your own WordPress site. A plugin creates links like yoursite.com/go/product. Nothing to rent and the links sit on a domain you already control. The trade-off is that they only exist where WordPress exists, so a link you want to share from a podcast or a print ad still needs your site to be up and the plugin to be running.
If you're not sure, go branded. It's the option that's easiest to move away from later.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
Clicks, conversions or audiences: what do you need to know?
Counting clicks is the basic job, and every tool on this list does it. The question is what you need beyond that.
If a client or your boss asks which post brought in the sign-ups, click counts won't answer it. You need conversion tracking, where the link tool connects a click to a sale or sign-up. That's a different, more involved category of product, and it's where the partner-program tools sit.
If you run paid ads, a retargeting shortener lets you build an audience from everyone who clicked a link, even a link to someone else's article. That's a clever use of curated content, but check your privacy notices cover it before you start.
If you're an affiliate publisher, what matters is keeping hundreds of affiliate links tidy, swapping a merchant in one place when a programme closes, and staying inside each programme's rules. One plugin here, for example, has a feature that keeps Amazon links uncloaked for compliance. That's a level of detail a general shortener won't bother with.
And check how long the data lasts. On some platforms click history is kept for 30 days on the cheaper levels and a year on the top one. If you report quarterly, a 30-day window is useless.
What link management costs
Going by the vendors' own pricing pages in November 2026, there's a free starting point at most of the hosted platforms, but the limits bite fast: one free plan allows 5 new links a month, another caps you at 1,000 branded links in total. Entry paid plans for a solo marketer run from roughly $5 to $11 a month. Branded links on the biggest names can need a mid-tier plan at around $29 a month. The WordPress plugins are billed yearly instead, from about $100 to $250 a year depending on how many sites you run them on. Partner and attribution platforms price around programme size and often take a sales conversation.
The real cost lever is links per month, not users. Plans cap new links, link edits and domains, so count how many links you made last month before you pick a level.
What's changed in link tools
Two names from older roundups have gone. ClickMeter's old address now lands on Rebrandly's site, and bl.ink's address opens a Loftware packaging page instead of a link tool. If an old guide or a colleague recommends either, check where the address goes today. The other shift is in emphasis: at least one link platform now frames its whole pricing page around affiliate and partner programmes, with link shortening as the base layer rather than the product. Shortening on its own has become a commodity, and the tools are competing on what you can learn from the click.
Try two tools on one real link
Take a link you're about to share anyway, say a product page with your usual UTM tags already on it. Make a short version in each of the two tools on your shortlist, on a branded domain or your own site if that's the job you need. Put both live in comparable spots for a few days, such as two sections of the same newsletter.
Then judge them on the jobs you'll repeat for years. Can you see what you need in the report without exporting to a spreadsheet? Change the destination of one live link: how many clicks did it take, and does your plan limit how often you can do it? Make a QR code from the same link and scan it. Finally, look for the export button. A tool that won't let you take your links and data with you is a tool you'll be stuck with.
Mistakes people make with short links
- Using the free generic domain for everything, then realising years of links belong to someone else's service.
- Picking a branded domain in a hurry. Every link you share keeps it, so choose one you're happy to live with.
- Sending print links (flyers, packaging, slides) through a tool you might cancel. Print can't be updated.
- Paying for conversion tracking when nobody on the team will ever open the report.
- Cloaking affiliate links without checking the programme's rules.
What I'd pick for your setup
A solo creator or small business sharing links on social and email: a branded short-link platform on its free or entry level, with a short domain you register yourself. A marketing team running ads, email and social together: a branded platform with workspaces and longer click history, or an attribution tool if you're judged on conversions. An affiliate blogger on WordPress: a link plugin, because your links live on your own domain and one edit updates every post. Running ads to warm audiences: add a retargeting shortener to the mix.
If your links mostly end up on social, it helps to know where each platform lets you put one, and my guide to adding a clickable link to an Instagram story walks through one of the trickiest. And if your campaigns reach print, here's how to make a QR code in Canva to pair with the short link you've just set up.
Do you make link shortening, branded link or link tracking software? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
Want your tool on this list? Featured spots and reviews here are paid partnerships. Here's how to partner with me.
