Free URL Shortener
Paste a long, messy URL and get a short link back in about a second. Every link you make is trackable, editable after you publish it, and free to keep forever. No ads on the redirect, no credit card to start.
- Real-time click analytics
- Custom slugs on every plan
- Editable destinations
- Links never expire
Short link dashboard
LiveInstant shortening
Any URL in about 1 sec
Click analytics
Geo, device, referrer
Editable links
Update destination anytime
Safe redirects
No ads, 301 permanent
Why shorten a URL in the first place
A raw URL from a CMS, an e-commerce store, or an ad platform can run past 150 characters. It carries tracking parameters, session IDs, and folder paths that mean nothing to a human reading it. Drop that into a text message, a printed flyer, or an Instagram bio and it either breaks across lines or gets truncated by the platform.
A URL shortener fixes the surface problem and the data problem at the same time. The visible link becomes short enough to read out loud, and because every visitor passes through QRLinkify on the way to the destination, you get a clean record of who clicked. That is the part most people underestimate. The short link is not just tidier, it is a measurement point you did not have before.
There is also a trust angle. A short link on your own custom domain, or even a recognizable QRLinkify slug, looks deliberate. A 200-character string with a question mark and six ampersands looks like spam, and people hesitate before clicking it. Shortening removes that hesitation.
How to shorten a URL in 3 steps
Your first short link is live in under a minute.
Paste your long URL
Copy the destination link from your browser or your campaign tool and drop it into the QRLinkify shortener box. It can be any length and contain any tracking parameters.
Pick a slug or let the AI suggest one
Keep the random short code, type your own custom slug like /spring-sale, or accept an AI-suggested slug the system generates after reading your destination page. The slug is the readable part people see.
Publish and share
Your short link goes live immediately. Copy it, drop it anywhere, and watch clicks appear in your dashboard in real time. You can edit the destination later without changing the link itself.
Custom slugs that people actually remember
The default short code is random, and random is fine for a one-off link. But for anything you put in front of an audience, a custom slug does real work. A slug like /q2-webinar tells the reader exactly what they are about to open. That clarity nudges the click-through rate up because the link sets an honest expectation.
Custom slugs are free on every QRLinkify plan, including the free one. You can use letters, numbers, and hyphens, and the system checks availability as you type. If you want help, the AI slug suggestion reads the destination page title and content, then proposes two or three memorable options so you are not staring at a blank field.
Edit the destination after you publish
Most people learn the hard way that a printed link is permanent. You print 500 business cards, the marketing site moves a page, and now the link is dead. QRLinkify short links separate the link from the destination. The short link stays fixed. The destination behind it is editable any time.
That means you can ship a link before the landing page is final, fix a typo in a destination URL after a flyer is at the printer, or repoint an old campaign link to a new offer. A few situations where this matters:
- A QR code on packaging that needs to point to a new promo every quarter.
- An affiliate link where the merchant changes the tracking URL.
- A bio link that should always point at your latest content.
- A printed conference handout that outlives the original landing page.
Real-time click analytics on every link
Every QRLinkify short link tracks clicks the moment they happen. Open the link detail view and you see total clicks, a timeline, and a breakdown of where the traffic came from. The data is concrete enough to act on, not a vanity number.
You get country and city for geographic context, device type and browser, the referring source, and full UTM attribution if your destination URL carries campaign parameters. Export any of it to CSV when you need to drop the numbers into a spreadsheet or a report. Free accounts keep 30 days of analytics history, Pro keeps six months, which is enough to compare a campaign against the same period last year.
What is a URL shortener and how does it work
A URL shortener is a tool that takes a long web address and issues a much shorter one that redirects to it. When someone clicks the short link, their browser hits the shortener server first. That server looks up the destination, records the click, and sends the browser onward with a 301 redirect. The whole hop takes milliseconds, and the visitor lands exactly where you intended.
The redirect is the mechanism, but the lookup table is the useful part. Because the shortener stores the mapping between short code and destination, it can do things a plain link cannot. It can swap the destination later, it can require a password before redirecting, it can stop redirecting after an expiry date, and it can log every click for analytics.
QRLinkify runs that redirect through a cached lookup so it stays fast even under load, and the click logging happens asynchronously so it never slows the visitor down. The person clicking sees a normal, instant page load. You see a new row of data.
A common worry is whether redirecting through a shortener hurts SEO. It does not, as long as the shortener uses a permanent 301 redirect, which QRLinkify does. Search engines follow 301 redirects and pass link equity to the destination. The thing to avoid is a shortener that uses interstitial ad pages or temporary redirects, and QRLinkify uses neither.
Who uses the QRLinkify URL shortener
One tool, many jobs. Here is where short links earn their keep.
Social media managers
Post the same campaign across five platforms and need one trackable link per channel. They build a link per channel with a UTM tag and compare the click counts side by side.
Sales reps
Paste pricing pages and demo booking links into emails and LinkedIn messages all day. A short, branded-looking link gets opened more often, and the rep can see which prospect clicked.
Small business owners
Print a short link on receipts, flyers, and packaging to drive review requests or repeat purchases. Because the destination is editable, one printed link can carry a different offer every month.
Newsletter writers
Shorten every link in an issue so the email stays clean and so they can see which story pulled the most clicks after the send. That tells them what to write more of.
Frequently asked questions
Everything about creating and managing short links.
What is a URL shortener and how does it work?
A URL shortener converts a long web address into a short link that redirects to the original. When someone clicks it, QRLinkify looks up the destination, logs the click, and forwards the visitor with a permanent redirect. The hop is instant, and you get analytics you would not get from a plain link.
Is QRLinkify's URL shortener free?
Yes. The free plan lets you create up to 50 links per month with custom slugs, click analytics, and QR codes, and it stays free forever with no credit card required. Pro and Business plans add unlimited links, custom domains, and longer analytics history.
Can I shorten a large batch of URLs at once?
Yes. The bulk shortener takes a CSV of destination URLs and returns a short link for each one, with slugs and UTM parameters applied across the whole batch. It exists for the case where a campaign, a product feed, or a print run needs hundreds of links in one pass rather than one at a time.
Does QRLinkify work with UTM parameters and campaign attribution?
It does. The UTM builder writes source, medium, campaign, term, and content onto the destination before the link is created, and the analytics then break clicks down by those values. So you can run one offer across five channels, give each channel its own link, and see which of them actually produced the traffic.
Can I use my own domain for short links?
Yes, on Pro and Business. You point a domain or subdomain at QRLinkify, verify it, and your links are issued on that domain instead of the shared one. A branded link reads as coming from you rather than from a shortener, which matters in channels where people hesitate before clicking. Business covers up to five domains for separate brands or clients.
Is there an API for creating links programmatically?
The Business plan includes API access with scoped API keys, so your own application, CMS, or automation can create and update links without anyone opening the dashboard. Links made through the API report into the same analytics as links made by hand.
Can I track clicks on my short links?
Every link tracks clicks in real time. You see total clicks, a timeline, country and city, device and browser, referrer, and UTM attribution. You can export the data to CSV at any time.
Does using a URL shortener affect SEO?
Used correctly it does not hurt SEO. QRLinkify uses permanent 301 redirects, which pass link equity to the destination, and there are no ad interstitials in the path. For your own primary site pages you would still link directly, but for campaigns, social posts, and printed material, short links are fine.
Can a team share one set of links and one analytics view?
On Business, yes. A workspace holds the links, the custom domains, and the click data in one place, and everyone you invite works inside it rather than keeping a private pile of links in their own account. When someone leaves, their links and the reporting behind them stay with the team.
Related link tools
- Tiny URL generator
The same shortener framed for links you have to say out loud, text, or print small.
- Bulk URL shortener
Upload a CSV and get a short link per row, with slugs and UTM tags applied across the batch.
- UTM builder
Tag a destination with source, medium, and campaign before you shorten it, so the clicks attribute.
- Branded short links on your own domain
Issue links on a domain you control instead of a shared shortener domain.