Linkly Alternatives for Short Links That Keep Working

Linkly is a link shortener and QR code tool run by Linkly Ltd at linklyhq.com. It claims more than 380,000 teams and 150 million links. Its selling points are retargeting pixels on Pro, smart redirects by country or device, a link rotator and a long list of automations, from Zapier and Make to n8n and Google Sheets.

Two terms on the Linkly pricing page push people to look around. On the free plan, links pause when the monthly quota of 500 clicks runs out, so a post that does well can break its own link. And Starter, at $15 a month, is annual only; monthly billing starts at Pro and costs more than the annual rate.

The seven alternatives below lead with services that keep links live when traffic spikes, then cover pixels, open source code and self-hosting.

Prices below are as of November 6, 2026. Our method is on How we review tools.

Quick comparison

Short.io

Free on Short.io means 50,000 tracked clicks a month, 100 times Linkly's free allowance, plus 1,000 branded links and 5 custom domains. The Short.io pricing FAQ says that past the click limit the links keep redirecting and only the detailed stats are held back until you upgrade.

Hobby from $5 a month adds country targeting; yearly billing saves 17%. Pro at $18 a month lists unlimited links and unlimited tracked clicks. Linkly Pro, at $32 a month on a yearly bill, stops at 10,000 clicks.

Best for: Anyone burned by paused links who wants a big free buffer.

Pricing:

• Free: 1,000 branded links total, 5 domains, 50,000 tracked clicks/month, 1 user.
• Hobby $5/month, Pro $18/month, Team $48/month, Enterprise $148/month. Annual billing saves 17%.

Watch out for:

• The free 1,000 links are a lifetime total, not a monthly allowance like Linkly's 100.
• Pro covers one user. Team seats cost $48 a month.

Official site: Short.io.

Rebrandly

If Linkly's annual-only Starter plan is what bothers you, Rebrandly sells every standard plan both ways. Essentials is $8 a month on a yearly bill or $11 month to month, Professional $22 or $32, per the Rebrandly pricing page.

It also has native iOS and Android apps, which Linkly does not list, and routing by city or by hour of the day. Professional adds teammates and 3 domains with 25,000 tracked clicks a month.

Best for: A team that wants to pay monthly and create links from a phone.

Pricing:

• Free: 10 links/month, 1 custom domain, engagement data on 100 clicks/month.
• Essentials $8/month yearly or $11 monthly. Professional $22 or $32. Growth $104 or $149.

Watch out for:

• Free is smaller than Linkly's: 10 links a month against 100.
• Recent Trustpilot reviews from August 2026 describe hundreds of links failing and slow support replies.

Official site: Rebrandly.

Replug

Replug does what Linkly Pro does with pixels and then adds overlays. You can put a button, a link bar or an email form on the page you share, and fire Meta, Google, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, X or Quora pixels on the click, per the Replug homepage. Bio pages and QR codes fire the same pixels.

The free plan gives 1,000 clicks a month, twice Linkly's, with 100 links and 3 custom domains but no pixel. Essentials costs $114 a year ($9.50 a month) against an undiscounted $19 monthly price, and includes 1 pixel, 5 domains and 10,000 clicks.

Best for: A social media manager who shares other people's articles and wants a CTA on top.

Pricing:

• Free: 100 links, 1,000 clicks/month, 3 custom domains, 1 user, no pixels.
• Essentials $9.50/month billed $114/year ($19 monthly). Scale $23.40/month billed $280.80/year ($39 monthly). Agency $79.20/month billed $950.40/year ($99 monthly). Enterprise by quote. 14-day trial on paid plans.

Watch out for:

• Once the monthly click limit is reached, links still work but CTAs and pixels stop firing until the next cycle.
• The pricing table names API access only under Enterprise, while Linkly includes its API even on Free.

Official site: Replug.

Dub

Dub counts "events" rather than clicks, so leads and sales from a link can be tracked next to the visits. That is the main thing it adds over Linkly's click reports. The core code is about 99% AGPLv3, with an /ee folder under a commercial licence, and the Dub repository documents self-hosting.

Pro is $27 a month billed yearly or $30 month to month, with 3 users, 10 domains and a year of retention. Yearly Pro front-loads 12,000 links and 600,000 events for the year.

Best for: A SaaS team that wants link clicks tied to signups or sales.

Pricing:

• Free: 25 new links/month, 1,000 tracked events/month, 3 custom domains, 1 user.
• Pro $27/month billed yearly ($30 monthly). Business $81 yearly ($90 monthly). Advanced $270 yearly ($300 monthly).

Watch out for:

• The free plan's 25 links a month is a quarter of Linkly Free.
• Self-hosting relies on several hosted services named in the README, including Vercel, PlanetScale, Tinybird and Upstash.

Official site: Dub.

TinyURL

TinyURL has no click quota on its free plan. Clicks are tracked without a cap, there are no ads and links never expire, according to the TinyURL pricing page. The trade-off is 30 new links a month and no custom domain.

Pro is $9 a month on a yearly bill ($108) or $11 monthly, less than half of Linkly Pro. It adds 3 branded domains and keeps 2 years of analytics history.

Best for: A newsletter or blog that shares a handful of links to a large audience.

Pricing:

• Free: 30 links/month, unlimited tracked clicks, no custom domains.
• Pro $9/month billed yearly or $11 monthly. Bulk 50K $69/month yearly or $83 monthly. Enterprise from $3,999/year.

Watch out for:

• Pro includes 125 links a month and charges $1.50 per 10 extra.
• There is no retargeting pixel or link rotator to replace Linkly's ad features.

Official site: TinyURL.

Bitly

Bitly's draw is scale and name recognition. Paid tiers bundle links, QR codes and landing pages, and Premium at $199 a month billed yearly ($2,388) keeps a full year of analytics, per the Bitly pricing page.

The entry plans are thin. Core is $10 a month on annual billing only and keeps 30 days of data, and Growth at $29 a month billed yearly is the first tier with a complimentary custom domain.

Best for: A larger brand that wants an established vendor for printed QR codes.

Pricing:

• Free: 5 links/month, 2 QR codes/month, ads on links.
• Core $10/month billed yearly ($120). Growth $29/month billed yearly ($348). Premium $199/month billed yearly ($2,388). Monthly billing costs more. Enterprise by quote.

Watch out for:

• Free links show visitors an ad page before the destination.
• Like Linkly, the cheapest paid plan is a yearly commitment.

Official site: Bitly.

YOURLS

Quotas disappear when you host the shortener yourself. YOURLS is a free PHP and MySQL app under the MIT licence with click history, referrer and location stats, an API and plugins. Links pause only if your server does.

It is actively maintained, with 1.10.6 out on August 30, 2026, per the YOURLS releases page. The 1.10 line needs PHP 8.1 or newer.

Best for: A developer with a spare server who never wants to think about click limits again.

Pricing:

• Free and open source (MIT). Hosting and the domain are your costs.

Watch out for:

• Retargeting pixels, smart redirects and QR codes are not in the core feature list.
• Security fixes are yours to apply. 1.10.5 in August 2026 added login and cookie hardening and closed an unauthenticated file inclusion in Pages.

Official site: YOURLS.

How to choose

When to stay with Linkly

Stay with Linkly if you live in automation tools. Few shorteners list Zapier, Make, n8n, Google Sheets, GA4 and Google Tag Manager together, and the API is open even on Free. Its link rotator and device or country redirects are also hard to match at the Pro price. If Short.io is your other candidate, see our Short.io alternatives too.

Frequently asked questions