Bit.do was a free URL shortener on the .do domain. It does not work today. As of November 6, 2026, the HTTPS address fails with the browser error NET::ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID, which means the certificate it serves is not valid for bit.do.
The domain itself has not lapsed. A Google DNS lookup still returns an address record, 23.21.31.78. There is no announcement of a closure, so there is no shutdown date to quote and no sign that existing links will come back. If you have bit.do links in print, emails or old posts, plan to replace them.
The lesson is to own the domain your short links live on, so a vendor failure does not take them down. The first four picks let you do that for free. For a free shortener that needs no thought at all, read our ShortURL alternatives too, with one caveat about clicks covered there.
Our method is on How we review tools.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Price | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short.io | Free short links on up to five of your own domains | Free; Hobby $5/month | Web, API, browser extensions |
| YOURLS | Running the shortener yourself on PHP | Free, open source (MIT) | PHP and MySQL server |
| Dub | Hosted links with open source code behind them | Free; Pro $27/month yearly | Web, API; self-host |
| Kutt | Free custom domains on a hosted instance | Free, open source (MIT) | Docker, Node; hosted kutt.to |
| TinyURL | A quick free replacement with no domain to buy | Free; Pro $9/month yearly | Web, API |
| Cuttly | One free branded domain plus a bio page | Free; Starter $12/month | Web, API |
| Rebrandly | Branded links for a marketing team | Free; Essentials $8/month yearly | Web, API, mobile apps |
Short.io
Bit.do links lived on bit.do, so when the service broke, nobody could save them. Short.io is built the other way round. The free plan lets you connect up to five domains you own and create 1,000 branded links on them, with 50,000 tracked clicks a month.
If Short.io ever failed you, the domain would still be yours, and you could point it at another shortener and rebuild the same paths. QR codes, A/B tests and the API come with every plan, and Hobby at $5 a month raises the cap to 2,500 links.
Best for: Former bit.do users who want free links that survive a change of vendor.
Pricing:
- Free: 1,000 branded links total, 5 custom domains, 50,000 tracked clicks/month.
- Hobby $5/month. Pro $18/month. Team $48/month. Enterprise $148/month. 17% off yearly.
Watch out for:
- Links made through the API or automations count toward the same 1,000-link allowance on the free plan.
- The pricing page lists mobile deep links on the Team plan card, at $48 a month.
Official site: Short.io.
YOURLS
YOURLS takes the third party out completely. It is a PHP script under the MIT licence that you install on your own host and domain, and it keeps click history, referrers and visitor locations in your own database.
Because the data sits with you, a backup of the database is a backup of every link. The project is active: version 1.10.6 arrived on August 30, two days after 1.10.5 brought a round of security hardening.
Best for: People burned by a dead shortener who want their links and stats on their own server.
Pricing:
- Free, open source (MIT). You pay for hosting and the domain.
Watch out for:
- Your links last only as long as you renew the domain and keep the server patched. Update to 1.10.6, which carries the 1.10.5 fix for an unauthenticated file inclusion through the Pages feature.
- YOURLS 1.10 needs PHP 8.1 or newer, which rules out some old shared hosting.
Official site: YOURLS.
Dub
Dub combines a hosted service with code you can read. The free plan includes three custom domains, 25 new links a month and 1,000 tracked events, so your links can sit on your own domain from the start.
Most of the project is AGPLv3 on GitHub, with about 24.9k stars, and the README describes how to self-host it. That gives you a second exit if the hosted service ever changed course. Pro costs $27 a month billed yearly, with 12,000 links and 600,000 events upfront, or $30 month to month with 1,000 new links a month.
Best for: Startups that want a hosted shortener today and the option to run it themselves later.
Pricing:
- Free: 25 new links/month, 3 custom domains, 30 days of analytics.
- Pro $27 a month billed yearly ($30 monthly). Business $81 billed yearly ($90 monthly). Advanced $270 billed yearly ($300 monthly) (pricing page, monthly prices).
Watch out for:
- The self-hosted stack leans on outside services, with Vercel, PlanetScale, Tinybird and Upstash named in the README.
- An /ee folder sits under a commercial licence, so not every feature is in the open source core.
Official site: Dub.
Kutt
Kutt is an open source shortener with a public instance at kutt.to, and that instance lets you add or remove custom domains for free. New links can carry a password, an expiry date and a description.
Its own history proves the bit.do lesson. The README now warns that kutt.it, an old Kutt domain, is not owned by the project and could be a phishing site, and says old and new links work on kutt.to. The MIT code runs on SQLite, Postgres or MySQL if you would rather host it.
Best for: People who want a free custom domain without paying for a plan, or a light self-hosted app.
Pricing:
- Self-hosted: free, open source (MIT).
- kutt.to: free; a Premium tier is linked with no public price.
Watch out for:
- kutt.to publishes no usage limits or uptime terms, so rely on your own domain there, not on kutt.to links.
Official site: Kutt.
TinyURL
For a fast, free swap with nothing to set up, TinyURL is the obvious choice. A free account allows 30 links a month with a custom alias, and the pricing table lists both tracked clicks and link life as unlimited on Free and Pro.
The trade-off is the bit.do problem again: free links live on tinyurl.com. Pro, at $9 a month billed yearly or $11 monthly, lets you bring your own domain or subdomain and includes a free first year on selected domains. For more detail, see our TinyURL alternatives page.
Best for: People replacing a handful of bit.do links today, with no domain to manage.
Pricing:
- Free account: 30 new links a month, click totals only, no cap on tracked clicks.
- Pro $9/month yearly or $11 monthly. Bulk 50K $69/month yearly. Enterprise starts at $3,999 a year.
Watch out for:
- Free analytics show totals only; referrers, locations and devices are Pro features.
Official site: TinyURL.
Cuttly
Cuttly includes one branded domain on its free plan, along with 30 links a month, a link-in-bio page and 30 days of stats. That is a cheap way to get ex-bit.do links onto a name you control.
Paid plans scale far. Single at $25 a month gives 5,000 links, five branded domains and a year of analytics, and Team Enterprise at $149 a month reaches 50,000 links and 99 domains. Annual billing works out to one month free.
Best for: Small sites that want one branded short domain for free.
Pricing:
- Free: 30 links/month, 1 branded domain.
- Starter $12/month. Single $25/month. Team $99/month. Team Enterprise $149/month. Yearly saves a month.
Watch out for:
- Links you create through the free API cannot use your branded domain; that starts on Starter.
Official site: Cuttly.
Rebrandly
Rebrandly started as a branded-link tool, and even its free plan pairs one custom domain with the rebrand.ly domain. Ten links and 10 QR codes a month are included.
The paid plans are where most teams land. Essentials is $8 a month on yearly billing or $11 monthly, for 250 links, 10,000 tracked clicks and two domains; Growth at $104 yearly allows 10 domains and 150,000 tracked clicks.
Best for: Marketing teams moving a library of campaign links to their own branded domain.
Pricing:
- Free: 10 links/month, 1 custom domain.
- Essentials $8/month yearly or $11 monthly. Professional $22 or $32. Growth: $104 a month yearly, $149 monthly.
Watch out for:
- Free accounts see engagement data on only 100 clicks a month, despite the unlimited clicks shown on the plan card.
Official site: Rebrandly.
How to choose
| If you need | Pick |
|---|---|
| Free links on your own domain, hosted for you | Short.io |
| Full control of links and stats on your server | YOURLS |
| A hosted tool you could self-host later | Dub |
| A free custom domain with password and expiry options | Kutt |
| A few replacement links right now, no setup | TinyURL |
| One free branded domain and a bio page | Cuttly |
| Branded links for a whole marketing team | Rebrandly |
If you still have bit.do links
You cannot keep using bit.do while it fails to load, and there is no account page to export from. Search your site, newsletters and PDFs for bit.do and swap each link for one on a domain you control. If the service ever returns, check that it serves a valid certificate for bit.do before you trust it again.
Frequently asked questions
Is bit.do still working?
No, not as of November 6, 2026. The secure address fails with the certificate error NET::ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID. A working site would show a valid certificate for bit.do and a page that loads in seconds.
Will my old bit.do links work again?
Nobody outside the operator can promise that. The domain still points to a server, so links could return if that server comes back with the data intact. Until then, assume they are gone and replace them.
What is the best free alternative to bit.do?
How do I stop short links breaking if a shortener shuts down?
Use a custom domain, keep an export or spreadsheet of every slug and its destination, and prefer tools whose code is public. Kutt's move from kutt.it to kutt.to shows that even open source projects can lose a domain.
