There is no single best URL shortener in 2026. The right one depends on what you need: links without an account, an API for your app, a server for your AI assistant, branded links on your own domain or deep click analytics. This guide compares six popular shorteners on those points, using only what each company publishes on its own site.
Blinkhop publishes this guide, and Blinkhop is one of the six. To keep it useful, every fact about another product comes from that product’s official pricing page, help center or docs, checked in October 2026, and each comparison page lists its sources. Where another tool is the better fit, we say so.
Quick picks
| If you need | Consider | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A short link right now, without an account | Blinkhop, TinyURL | Both shorten links on the web without signing up. Blinkhop also does it through its API and MCP server. |
| A URL shortener API without managing a key | Blinkhop | Its REST API works without a key, within 20 links a minute and 300 a day per IP address. |
| Short links created by AI assistants | Blinkhop, Bitly, Dub, Rebrandly, Short.io | All five run an MCP server. Blinkhop’s needs no account, OAuth flow or API key. |
| An all-in-one marketing platform with long analytics history | Bitly | Click and scan history from 30 days on Core to 2 years on Enterprise, plus integrations and enterprise options. |
| Conversion tracking, or an open-source platform to self-host | Dub | Conversion tracking and affiliate programs, and an open-source codebase. |
| Branded links on your own domain | Short.io, Dub, Rebrandly | Their free plans include custom domains: 5 on Short.io, 3 on Dub and 1 on Rebrandly. |
The six URL shorteners side by side
| Shortener | Account to shorten | Free plan | API | MCP server | Entry paid plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blinkhop | Not needed | Everything free: 20 links a minute, 300 a day per IP | REST API, no key needed | Remote server, no account or key | None: no paid plans |
| Bitly | Required | 5 links and 2 QR codes a month, with ads | Access token required; 1,000 calls a month on Free | Official hosted server; OAuth or API token | Core $10/mo, billed annually only |
| TinyURL | Not needed | 30 links a month with a free account | API token required; available on Free | No official MCP server found | Pro $9/mo billed yearly, $11 monthly |
| Dub | Free account needed | 25 new links and 1,000 tracked events a month | API key required; 60 requests a minute on Free | Official hosted servers; OAuth or API key | Pro $27/mo billed yearly, $30 monthly |
| Rebrandly | Not needed with its rb.gy tool | 10 links and 10 QR codes a month | API key required; included on Free | Official MCP server and Claude connector | Essentials $11/mo billed yearly, $16 monthly |
| Short.io | Required | 1,000 branded links in total | API key required; included in every plan | Official MCP server; API key required | Hobby $5/mo, or $50 a year |
Prices are in US dollars, as listed in October 2026. Plans change, so follow the comparison pages for details and sources.
Blinkhop: best without an account, and for AI agents
Blinkhop creates short links on zou.sh without an account, ads or captchas: on the website, through a REST API that needs no key and through a remote MCP server for AI assistants. Every link gets an SVG QR code and a preview page with its public click stats for the last 30 days, and clicks are counted without cookies or stored IP addresses. Links with a random code never expire.
- Best for: people, developers and AI agents who want free short links right away.
- Keep in mind: Blinkhop launched on October 11, 2026. It has no accounts, so links can’t be edited or deleted after creation, there is no analytics dashboard beyond the public 30-day stats on each link’s + page, and there are no branded domains. Custom endings, such as zou.sh/launch, expire 48 hours after creation.
- Price: free. There are no paid plans.
Bitly: best all-in-one marketing platform
Bitly is an established link and QR code platform with integrations, mobile apps, browser extensions and enterprise options such as SSO.
- Best for: marketing teams that want mature click and scan analytics, branded links, QR codes and landing pages in one platform.
- Keep in mind: an account is required, the Free plan includes 5 links and 2 QR codes a month, and its help center says links on free accounts show a preview page with an ad.
- Price: Core at $10 a month, billed annually only; Growth at $29 a month billed annually or $35 monthly.
- Compared with Blinkhop: Blinkhop vs Bitly
TinyURL: best for the classic shortener
TinyURL is the original, long-running shortener, with a simple web form that works without an account.
- Best for: people who want a familiar shortener, and teams that need editable links, 2-year analytics or high-volume bulk plans.
- Keep in mind: its API needs a token, and we found no official MCP server as of October 2026.
- Price: Pro at $9 a month billed yearly or $11 monthly; Bulk plans from $69 a month billed annually.
- Compared with Blinkhop: Blinkhop vs TinyURL
Dub: best for conversion tracking and open source
Dub is a link platform for marketing and growth teams, with conversion tracking, affiliate programs and an open-source codebase.
- Best for: teams that need conversion tracking and long analytics retention, and developers who want a platform they can self-host.
- Keep in mind: a free account is needed, the Free plan includes 25 new links a month, and QR codes on the Free plan carry the Dub logo.
- Price: Pro at $30 a month, or $27 a month billed yearly; Business at $90 a month.
- Compared with Blinkhop: Blinkhop vs Dub
Rebrandly: best for branded links and compliance
Rebrandly focuses on branded links on your own domains, with link galleries, traffic routing, conversion tracking and compliance programs such as SOC 2 and HIPAA.
- Best for: brands and teams that want branded links today, with one custom domain even on the free plan.
- Keep in mind: the Free plan includes 10 links and 10 QR codes a month, and its QR codes carry a watermark.
- Price: Essentials at $11 a month billed yearly, or $16 monthly.
- Compared with Blinkhop: Blinkhop vs Rebrandly
Short.io: best value for custom domains
Short.io puts links on your own domains, with 5 custom domains on its free plan, targeting rules, link-in-bio posts and long-kept statistics.
- Best for: teams that want several branded domains at a low price.
- Keep in mind: an account is required, the free plan allows 1,000 links in total, and its docs say the MCP server can’t edit or delete existing links.
- Price: Hobby at $5 a month or $50 a year; Pro at $18 a month.
- Compared with Blinkhop: Blinkhop vs Short.io
URL shorteners with an MCP server
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) lets AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor use outside tools. A shortener with an MCP server lets your assistant create and check short links while it writes an email, a post or a report.
| Shortener | MCP server | How it connects |
|---|---|---|
| Blinkhop | Yes, remote | One URL, with no account, OAuth flow or API key |
| Bitly | Yes, hosted | Your Bitly account, through OAuth or an API token |
| Dub | Yes, hosted (Dub Links and Dub Partners) | OAuth or an API key |
| Rebrandly | Yes, plus a Claude connector | Your Rebrandly account in Claude; an API key elsewhere |
| Short.io | Yes | An API key; can’t edit or delete existing links |
| TinyURL | None found as of October 2026 | — |
To try Blinkhop’s, add https://mcp.blinkhop.com/mcp to your AI client. The MCP server page has the setup for each client.
How to choose a URL shortener
- Do you want to sign up? Blinkhop, TinyURL and Rebrandly’s rb.gy tool shorten links without an account. Bitly, Dub and Short.io require one.
- How many links, and how often? Free plans cap links differently: 5 a month on Bitly, 10 on Rebrandly, 25 on Dub, 30 on TinyURL with a free account and 1,000 in total on Short.io. Blinkhop uses rate limits instead: 20 links a minute and 300 a day per IP address.
- Will code or an AI create the links? Check whether the API needs a key and whether there is an MCP server, and how it signs in.
- Do you need your own domain? Short.io, Dub and Rebrandly include custom domains on free plans; Bitly includes one from Growth; Blinkhop doesn’t offer branded domains, so all its links use zou.sh.
- How much analytics do you need? Retention ranges from 30 days to several years depending on the plan. Blinkhop has no analytics dashboard: each link’s public + page shows its total clicks and the last 30 days by country, referrer and device.
- What do visitors see? Some free plans add ad or preview pages before the redirect. Privacy policies also differ on cookies and IP addresses.
- Will the links last? Google switched off inactive goo.gl links in August 2025, and some services expire links on certain plans. On Blinkhop, links with a random code never expire, while custom endings expire 48 hours after creation. See what the goo.gl shutdown means.
How we compared
We read each company’s pricing page, help center and developer docs in October 2026 and kept only what they state. We don’t rate or score products. Each comparison page lists the pages we consulted: Bitly, TinyURL, Dub, Rebrandly and Short.io.
