What changes when you leave Bitly
Links on the free plan
Unlimited
Bitly: 5 a month
Bitly meters the free plan at 5 links and 2 QR codes a month. Za.gl has no monthly counter: the sixth link of the day costs the same as the first.
Cheapest paid plan
$5 a month
Bitly: $10 a month
Bitly's Core plan is $10 a month billed annually and caps you at 100 links. Za.gl Pro is $5 a month, $50 a year, and the link count stays unlimited.
Click history, free
7 days
Bitly: Not included
Free Bitly accounts see click totals but no history. Za.gl keeps country, referrer, device and timestamp for 7 days on free and 90 days on Pro.
More for less than Bitly asks
Bitly figures read off Bitly pricing on 2026-09-07. Ours are pulled live from the same place the payment page reads, so they cannot go stale.
$0forever
- Unlimited short links
- Unlimited pastes and landing pages
- Works without an account
- 7 days of click history
- Password and expiry on any link
- Custom alias from 5 characters
- PNG QR code on every link
- No ads on the redirect
Bitly
$0
- 5 links per month
- 2 QR codes per month
- 3 custom back-halves per month
- No click history
- Link expiry date
- Pastebin
What each one covers and misses
Rows Bitly wins are marked as such. A table that never loses is an advert.
| Feature | | Bitly | Better |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short links on the free plan | Unlimited | 5 per month | Za.gl |
| QR codes on the free plan | Unlimited, PNG | 2 per month | Za.gl |
| Click history on the free plan | 7 days | Not included | Za.gl |
| Custom back-half on the free plan | Unlimited, 5+ characters | 3 per month | Za.gl |
| Password-protected links | Free, any link | Not offered | Za.gl |
| Link expiry date | 30 days free, 1 year on Pro | Not offered | Za.gl |
| Click limit per link | 1 to 1,000,000 | Not offered | Za.gl |
| Country and device routing | Included | Mobile deep links on paid plans | Both |
| Shortens without an account | Yes | No | Za.gl |
| Landing pages | Unlimited | 2 on free | Za.gl |
| Pastebin | Unlimited | Not offered | Za.gl |
| Analytics retention on the cheapest paid plan | 90 days at $5 | 30 days at $10 | Za.gl |
| Custom domain | Not offered | Growth plan and up | BitlyZa.gl links live on za.gl and cannot carry your own domain at any price. |
| Team seats and workspaces | Not offered | Paid plans | BitlyOne account per token here; there is no shared workspace. |
| Third-party integrations | API only | Slack, HubSpot, Canva and more | BitlyAnything you connect to za.gl, you connect through the API yourself. |
| Mobile app | Not offered | iOS and Android | BitlyThe site works on a phone, but there is no app to install. |
| Public API | Yes, 10 requests a minute | Yes | Both |
| Browser extension | Chrome | Chrome | Both |
Short links on the free plan
Za.gl
Unlimited
Bitly
5 per month
Better: Za.gl
QR codes on the free plan
Za.gl
Unlimited, PNG
Bitly
2 per month
Better: Za.gl
Click history on the free plan
Za.gl
7 days
Bitly
Not included
Better: Za.gl
Custom back-half on the free plan
Za.gl
Unlimited, 5+ characters
Bitly
3 per month
Better: Za.gl
Password-protected links
Za.gl
Free, any link
Bitly
Not offered
Better: Za.gl
Link expiry date
Za.gl
30 days free, 1 year on Pro
Bitly
Not offered
Better: Za.gl
Click limit per link
Za.gl
1 to 1,000,000
Bitly
Not offered
Better: Za.gl
Country and device routing
Za.gl
Included
Bitly
Mobile deep links on paid plans
Better: Both
Shortens without an account
Za.gl
Yes
Bitly
No
Better: Za.gl
Landing pages
Za.gl
Unlimited
Bitly
2 on free
Better: Za.gl
Pastebin
Za.gl
Unlimited
Bitly
Not offered
Better: Za.gl
Analytics retention on the cheapest paid plan
Za.gl
90 days at $5
Bitly
30 days at $10
Better: Za.gl
Custom domain
Za.gl
Not offered
Bitly
Growth plan and up
Better: BitlyZa.gl links live on za.gl and cannot carry your own domain at any price.
Team seats and workspaces
Za.gl
Not offered
Bitly
Paid plans
Better: BitlyOne account per token here; there is no shared workspace.
Third-party integrations
Za.gl
API only
Bitly
Slack, HubSpot, Canva and more
Better: BitlyAnything you connect to za.gl, you connect through the API yourself.
Mobile app
Za.gl
Not offered
Bitly
iOS and Android
Better: BitlyThe site works on a phone, but there is no app to install.
Public API
Za.gl
Yes, 10 requests a minute
Bitly
Yes
Better: Both
Browser extension
Za.gl
Chrome
Bitly
Chrome
Better: Both
Rated by people who use them
Za.gl and Bitly, point by point
Six places where the two behave differently, with the number from the table beside each one.
The five-link counter
A free Bitly account creates 5 links a month. The sixth needs a plan, whether it is a campaign link or a URL you are sending to one person. Za.gl does not count: paste a URL, get a short link, repeat. The only limits that exist are per link, and you set them yourself: a password, an expiry date, or a click cap.
- Bitly
- 5 per month
- Za.gl
- Unlimited
Price per link
Bitly Core is $10 a month billed annually and raises the ceiling to 100 links a month with 30 days of click data. Za.gl Pro is $5 a month or $50 a year, keeps links unlimited, and stores 90 days of click history with CSV export. The comparison is not close on price per link, which is the number most people arrive here for.
- Bitly
- 30 days at $10
- Za.gl
- 90 days at $5
Clicks on the free plan
Bitly shows free users a click total and puts the breakdown behind Core. Za.gl records country, referrer, device and timestamp for every click and shows all of it on the free plan, with 7 days of history. Pro extends that to 90 days and adds a CSV export of the raw click rows.
- Bitly
- Not included
- Za.gl
- 7 days
Passwords included
Bitly does not offer password-protected links at any tier. On za.gl you type a 4 to 100 character password into the form before you shorten, and the visitor is asked for it before the redirect. The same form takes an expiry date and a click limit; after either is reached the link answers 410 Gone instead of resolving.
- Bitly
- Not offered
- Za.gl
- Free, any link
QR without a quota
Every link on za.gl has a QR code attached from the moment it is created, downloadable as PNG on free and as SVG or PDF on Pro. Bitly meters QR generation at 2 a month on free and 5 a month on Core, which is the tier most small teams buy.
- Bitly
- 2 per month
- Za.gl
- Unlimited, PNG
One token, three tools
Bitly shortens links and builds a small link-in-bio page. Za.gl adds a pastebin with syntax highlighting and full landing pages with a rich text editor, all unlimited on the free plan and all under the same access token, so a snippet of config and the link that points at it live in the same place.
- Bitly
- Not offered
- Za.gl
- Unlimited
Bitly questions
Bitly's free plan allows 5 links per month and gives free users no click history. That is fine for a one-off link and painful for anything regular. Za.gl has no monthly cap on links, no ads on the redirect, and shows click analytics on the free plan.
No. Links you already published on bit.ly keep resolving through Bitly. Switching only affects the links you create from now on, so you can move over gradually rather than in one migration.
Shortening, pastes and landing pages are unlimited on the free plan. Pro costs $5 per month or $50 per year and adds CSV export, 90-day analytics retention, editing every field of a link, three-character aliases, one-year expiration and SVG or PDF QR codes.
Custom domains, team seats and the integration list. Bitly connects to Slack, HubSpot, Canva and others, ships iOS and Android apps, and lets a company put links on its own domain from the Growth plan up. Za.gl has none of those; if a branded domain is the point of your links, Bitly earns its price.
Yes. POST to /api/shorten with an Authorization: Bearer token, rate limited to 10 requests per minute. The request works without a token too, and the response hands you one back for the links you just created.
It stops resolving and returns HTTP 410 Gone rather than sending the visitor anywhere. You can cap a link by number of clicks, from 1 up to 1,000,000, or by date.
No. The preview page shows the destination and a safety check, then sends the visitor on. Bots are redirected immediately so link previews in chat apps stay intact.
Every Bitly figure was read off bitly.com/pages/pricing on 2026-09-07, with the source linked at the bottom. Where a vendor does not state something publicly, the table says "Not listed" instead of guessing.
Switching takes one link
There is nothing to migrate. Links already live on bit.ly keep working; you simply create the next one here. Paste a URL on the homepage, add an alias, password or expiry if you need one, and copy the result. The token in the response is what turns those links into an account later, if you decide you want a dashboard.
Shorten your first link