URL Shorteners With Analytics (2026): Which Metrics Each One Actually Gives You

A short link is only worth making if you can see what happens after the click. The whole point of a url shortener with analytics is the data: who clicked, when, where from, on what device, and through which campaign. So the obvious question — the one this guide answers tool by tool — is which metrics each shortener actually gives you, and whether you get them for free or only after you pay.

Here's the trap most listicles bury: the two most famous "free" shorteners, Bitly and TinyURL, give you links and zero click analytics on their free plans. You pay before you see a single click. Meanwhile, lesser-known tools like Short.io, Dub and Cuttly hand you real, detailed analytics on free. This guide maps it out metric by metric, with every external number linked to its source, and no affiliate ranking dressed up as a verdict.

What "analytics" means for a short link (the metrics that matter)

Before comparing tools, it helps to agree on what "analytics" even covers. Vendors love to write "analytics: yes" on a feature grid, but that single word hides a lot. When you click a short link, you're redirected through the shortener's server to your destination, and that redirect is what logs the data — clicks, locations, devices and referral sources (paraphrased from Zapier's URL shortener roundup). Here are the metrics worth checking for, in roughly increasing order of how often they get paywalled.

Volume: total clicks vs unique clicks

Total clicks counts every single click, including the same person clicking five times. Unique clicks de-duplicates repeat visits so the number is closer to "how many distinct people." Both matter: totals show raw reach, uniques show actual audience size. Almost every analytics tier shows totals; some free tiers omit uniques.

Geography: country vs city-level

Country-level geo is table stakes. City-level geo is the dividing line: it's far more useful for local campaigns and far more often gated behind a paid plan. When a tool says "geo analytics," check whether it means countries or cities.

Technology: device, browser, OS

Device type (mobile/desktop/tablet), browser and operating system tell you how to optimise the destination page. These three frequently travel together and are commonly part of paid tiers on the cheaper tools.

Source: referrer, traffic source, UTM campaign

The referrer is where the click came from — a social network, a newsletter, a search engine. Pair that with UTM parameters (which you append to the destination URL) and you can attribute clicks to specific campaigns. A good shortener reads UTMs and reports referrers side by side.

Time: charts, date ranges, real-time, retention window

Time-series charts show how clicks build over hours and days. Real-time / live mode means new clicks appear within seconds rather than after a delay — useful during a launch. And the often-overlooked one: data retention. Free plans frequently keep your history for only 30 days, after which older data disappears. If you need to compare this quarter to last, retention is the spec that bites you.

Conversion / revenue tracking (the advanced tier)

Basic analytics stop at the click. Conversion tracking ties a click to a downstream action — a sign-up, a purchase, revenue — so you can measure ROI, not just traffic. This is the most advanced and most heavily paywalled feature in the category; only a handful of tools offer it, and almost never on free.

Export and privacy: CSV, GDPR, where data lives

Can you get your data out (CSV or raw export) and feed it elsewhere? And where is click data stored — relevant if you're in the EU and answer to GDPR? Click analytics is inherently aggregate (device, country, referrer, timing), not visitor-level identity, which is what keeps it privacy-friendly in the first place. Still, vendor and data-residency choices vary, so it's worth checking.

How we evaluated these (our criteria)

Because the search is specifically about analytics, our first and harshest filter is simple: do you get click analytics on the free plan at all? Everything else is secondary to that yes/no. Here is the full rubric we applied to each tool:

• Analytics on the free plan (yes/no) — the primary sort key.
• Metric depth — how many of the metrics above (volume, geo, device, source, time, conversion) are actually reported.
• Free-tier ceilings — link caps, click/event caps, data-retention window, and country depth.
• Real-time / live availability — do clicks appear instantly or on a delay.
• Conversion tracking — present, paywalled, or absent.
• Export and privacy posture — CSV/raw export, GDPR, data residency.
• Price to unlock full analytics — what it actually costs to remove the limits.

We deliberately did not assume a single winner. The right tool depends entirely on which metrics you need and which tier you'll realistically pay for. Where two sources disagreed on a number, we cited the official vendor page. Prices and caps drift fast in this category, so treat every figure as accurate at the time of writing and worth re-checking on the vendor's own page before you commit.

The comparison table

This is the centrepiece. Read it across one row at a time: the leftmost meaningful column is "analytics on free," because that's the question the whole search hinges on.

Tool	Analytics on FREE?	Geo depth	Device / Browser / OS	Referrer / UTM	Real-time	Conversion tracking	Free retention	Free link / click cap	Price for full analytics	Public API
Dub	Yes (real-time)	Country + city	Yes	Yes	Yes	Business tier	30 days	25 links / 1k events/mo	$25/mo (Pro)	Yes
Short.io	Yes (deep)	Country (city paid)	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	First 50k clicks visible	1,000 links / 50k clicks	$18/mo (Pro)	Yes
Cuttly	Yes (all-in-one)	Country	Yes	Yes	—	No	30 days	30 links/mo	~$12/mo	Yes
Linkly	Yes (real-time)	Country	Yes	Yes	Yes	—	n/a	~500 clicks/mo	Paid (verify)	Yes
Rebrandly	Yes but 100 clicks	Country	Yes	Yes	Yes	Paid	n/a	10 links / 100 clicks	$11/mo (Essentials)	Yes
Minily	Yes (global)	Top-3 countries (all + cities on Pro)	Pro only	Referrer (Pro) + UTM builder	Pro only	No	Last 10 clicks free	5 links	5 EUR/mo (Pro)	No
Bitly	No (paid only)	Core+	Core+	Paid	No (not real-time)	Premium	30 days (Core)	5 links/mo	$10/mo (Core)	Yes
TinyURL	No (paid only)	Pro+	Pro+	Pro+	—	—	n/a	100 links/mo	~$9.99/mo (Pro)	Yes

The honest one-liner this table proves: the two most famous names, Bitly and TinyURL, are the worst picks if analytics is your priority on a free budget — because they don't track clicks for free at all. Every cell is sourced in the reviews below; verify the live numbers before relying on them, as pricing changes often.

The tools, reviewed

Dub — best free real-time analytics + conversion tracking

Dub is the modern, developer-leaning option, and it has the most generous real-time analytics on free of any tool here. The free plan includes 25 new links per month, 1,000 tracked events per month, 30-day analytics retention, 3 custom domains, QR codes, API access, and real-time analytics with geo, device and referrer breakdowns (free-tier specifics corroborated by Zapier and a Linkly review of Dub).

What makes Dub structurally different is that it prices on events, not links or clicks — a deliberate design choice highlighted in that review. The paid ladder, from Dub's official pricing: Pro at $25/mo (1,000 links/mo, 50,000 tracked events, 1-year retention); Business at $75/mo (10,000 links, 250,000 events, 3-year retention, and the tier that adds conversion tracking, customer insights and a real-time events stream); and Advanced at $250/mo (50,000 links, 1M events, 5-year retention).

Pick Dub if you want real-time analytics and an API for free, and you may later need conversion tracking. Skip it if 1,000 events/mo is too tight or the $25 jump to Pro is steep for a small project.

Short.io — deepest analytics on free, API-first

If raw free analytics depth is what you're after, Short.io is the benchmark. Its free plan offers 1,000 branded links and 50,000 tracked clicks per month, and you can view detailed click stats for the first 50,000 clicks (collection continues afterwards but visibility is restricted), per Short.io's pricing page. Free analytics cover click tracking, geo location, device and browser, referral sources and time-based reports.

The paid tiers, also from that page: Hobby at $5/mo (2,500 links, 100k clicks); Pro at $18/mo (unlimited links and clicks, plus password protection, expiration and link cloaking); Team at $48/mo (adds city/region targeting); and Enterprise at $148/mo (raw data export to S3). That last detail matters for anyone building a data pipeline.

Pick Short.io if you want the most free clicks visible and a real API to pull data programmatically. Skip it if you want city-level geo without paying, since that's gated to the Team tier.

Cuttly — best free all-in-one analytics

Cuttly bundles the widest set of features into its free plan. Per Cuttly's own 2026 free-shortener guide, the free tier gives you 30 links/mo, a branded custom domain, real click analytics with no ads, a QR code (one style), one Link-in-Bio (5 links) and one survey. The free analytics show total clicks, unique clicks, device breakdown, country data and referrer sources, visible immediately after the first click, with history retained for 30 days.

Be clear-eyed about what free excludes, though: the same page lists hourly heat maps, bot filtering, history beyond 30 days, password links, expiration, mobile redirects, A/B rotation, retargeting pixels, editable destinations, bulk CSV and campaign-tag analytics — all paid. Paid plans start around $12/mo, with the Single plan at $25/mo (5,000 links, 5 domains).

Pick Cuttly if you want branded links plus genuine analytics and a Link-in-Bio in one free account. Skip it if you need CSV export or campaign-tag analytics, which are paid.

Linkly — simple real-time tracking, free click allowance

Linkly is the no-frills real-time tracker. Its free plan offers a monthly tracked-click allowance (around 500 clicks/mo), custom domains, no credit card required, and gives every link real-time analytics (location, device, source) plus QR codes and smart redirects, per Linkly's site. The exact free click figure is single-sourced, so confirm it on the live site before relying on it.

Pick Linkly if you want straightforward real-time analytics with smart redirects and don't need huge volume. Skip it if 500 clicks/mo is too small for your traffic.

Rebrandly — branded-link polish, hamstrung free tier

Rebrandly is the branded-link specialist, and every link has built-in real-time click tracking — clicks, geo, device and channel, with export or Google Analytics integration, per Rebrandly. The catch is the free tier: 10 branded links/mo and only 100 tracked clicks/mo, with a single custom domain, watermarked QR codes and no editing of destinations (verify on Rebrandly's pricing page). A 100-click monthly cap is, frankly, nearly unusable for real work — you'll exhaust it in a day on a modestly successful post. Paid plans: Essentials at $11/mo ($8 annual) for 250 links and 10,000 tracked clicks; Professional at $32/mo ($22 annual) for 1,500 links, 25,000 clicks and 5 domains.

Pick Rebrandly if branded-link presentation matters and you're paying anyway. Skip it if you're trying to stay on free — the 100-click cap defeats the purpose.

Bitly — strong enterprise analytics, but none on free

Bitly's analytics and integrations are genuinely strong at the enterprise end — that's not in dispute. The problem for this specific search is the free plan. Per Bitly's own free-plan announcement, free gives you 5 short links/mo, 2 QR codes/mo, 3 custom back-halves/mo and 2 custom landing pages with unlimited clicks/scans — but it does not include click or scan analytics for short links or QR codes (and no branded custom domains or link redirects either). To see analytics you need the Core plan at $10/mo (billed annually): 100 links/mo, 5 QR codes, and the first tier with analytics, described as "30 days of click and scan data." See also Bitly's pricing page for the Core/Growth/Premium/Enterprise ladder. One more nuance from a third-party review: Bitly's link tracking is reported not to update in real time (Zapier, attributed as opinion).

Pick Bitly if you're an enterprise buyer who values its integrations and brand and will pay. Skip it if you want any click data without paying — there is none.

TinyURL — ubiquitous, zero free analytics

TinyURL is everywhere and dead simple, which is its appeal. But for analytics it's the bluntest "no" in this list. Per a Cuttly comparison, the TinyURL free plan provides 100 links/mo and 1 branded domain but zero analytics (tracked clicks listed as 0). Analytics — total and unique clicks, referrers, geo, devices and activity trends — require a paid plan, with Pro starting around $9.99/mo (corroborated by GetApp; confirm the live figure on TinyURL's pricing page).

Pick TinyURL if you just need a quick, free, throwaway link and don't care about data. Skip it if analytics is the reason you came — you won't get any on free.

Minily — real global analytics on a small free tier, EU/GDPR

Full disclosure: this is our tool, so we'll be specific about both its strengths and its real limits. Minily's link analytics are available on the free plan — not paywalled. Free gives you global analytics (total clicks, your top-3 countries, and your last 10 clicks), unlimited QR codes, password protection, link expiration and scheduling, opt-in link preview, geo/device conditional redirects, a UTM builder and CSV export. It's EU-based, and analytics exports are aggregate-only (no personal data), which is a deliberate GDPR-friendly choice. Authentication is via GitHub, Google, email or passkeys.

Now the honest limits, because they matter for an analytics-hungry reader. The free plan caps you at 5 links — Short.io's 1,000 and Dub's 25 dwarf it. City-level geo, device/OS breakdowns, per-link and per-tag analytics, all-country depth, unlimited click history and live mode are all Pro-only; on free you see top-3 countries and your last 10 clicks. Minily also has no conversion tracking and, importantly, no public API — if you need to pull analytics programmatically, Short.io and Dub win outright. The Pro plan (5 EUR/mo or 48 EUR/yr) unlocks unlimited links, tags, custom domains and the full analytics suite (per-link/tag, cities/device/OS/referrer, all countries, unlimited clicks, live mode). Enterprise (10 EUR/mo + 2 EUR/seat) adds a team workspace, shared domains and team analytics. You can see the full breakdown on the pricing page.

Pick Minily if you're an EU-based solo user or small project who wants clean, honest global analytics plus free QR codes and password protection on a handful of links, and you value data residency. Skip it if you need more than 5 free links, city/device analytics for free, conversion tracking, or a public API — in those cases Short.io or Dub is the better fit.

Which url shortener with analytics should you pick? (by use case)

There is no single winner; match the metrics you need to a tool that delivers them on a tier you'll actually pay for.

• "I want analytics without paying anything." → Short.io (most free clicks visible), Dub (real-time + API) or Cuttly (all-in-one) — and Minily if 5 links is genuinely enough for you.
• "I want branded links plus analytics on free." → Cuttly or Short.io. Rebrandly is branded too, but its 100-click free cap will stop you fast.
• "I want conversion / revenue tracking." → Dub (Business tier; free conversion tracking is limited). Bitly Premium also targets this end. Most basic shorteners, Minily included, do not offer it.
• "I'm in the EU and care about data residency and GDPR-friendly exports." → Minily — EU-based, aggregate-only exports, no ads on redirects.
• "I need an API to pull analytics programmatically." → Short.io or Dub. Not Minily — it has no public API.
• "I need the famous brand for stakeholders." → Bitly — just budget for Core ($10/mo), because free has no analytics.

If you're new to all this and want to understand the mechanics first, our companion guide on how to track link clicks for free walks through both the shortener route and the UTM + Google Analytics route step by step. And if you want to compare two of the big names head to head, see Minily vs Bitly and Minily vs TinyURL — the no-free-analytics gap is the headline in both.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do URL shorteners track clicks?

Yes. The redirect server logs each click — the count, approximate location, device and referrer — before sending the visitor to the destination. The catch is that not every free plan lets you see that data. Bitly and TinyURL collect (or could collect) clicks but paywall the analytics dashboard, so on their free tiers you can't view any of it.

What's the best free URL shortener with analytics?

It depends on the metrics you need. Short.io shows the most free clicks (detailed stats for the first 50,000), Dub offers free real-time analytics plus an API, Cuttly is the best free all-in-one, and Minily works well if 5 links is enough and you want EU/GDPR-friendly aggregate data. There is no universal winner — match the tool to your priority metric.

Does Bitly show analytics on the free plan?

No. Bitly's free plan gives you 5 short links per month with no click or scan analytics. You need the Core plan ($10/mo billed annually) to get analytics, which Bitly describes as "30 days of click and scan data" (source).

Does TinyURL have analytics for free?

No. TinyURL's free plan lists zero tracked clicks — you get links but no analytics at all. Total/unique clicks, referrers, geo and device data require a paid plan, with Pro starting around $9.99/mo (source).

What's the difference between total clicks and unique clicks?

Total clicks counts every click, including the same person clicking repeatedly. Unique clicks de-duplicates repeat visits from the same visitor, so it's closer to "how many distinct people" engaged with your link. Both are useful: totals show raw reach, uniques estimate audience size.

Can I get city-level or device analytics for free?

Sometimes. Short.io, Cuttly and Dub include device data on free (Short.io and Dub also do city/geo, with Short.io reserving city/region targeting for paid tiers). Minily shows top-3 countries on free but gates cities, device and OS to its Pro plan. Always check whether "geo" means countries or cities on the specific tier.

What is conversion tracking and who offers it?

Conversion tracking ties a click to a downstream action — a sign-up or a sale — so you can measure ROI rather than just traffic. Dub (Business tier) and Bitly Premium focus on it. Most basic shorteners, including Minily, do not offer conversion or multi-touch attribution — for that you'd pair a shortener with a dedicated analytics or attribution tool.

Is link tracking GDPR-compliant?

It depends on the vendor and how they handle data. Click analytics is aggregate by nature (device, country, referrer, timing) rather than visitor-level identity, which helps. Minily is EU-based and its exports are aggregate-only with no personal data. Whatever tool you choose, check where it stores click data before relying on it for EU users.

Can I export my link analytics?

Most paid tiers allow CSV or raw export; Short.io even exports raw data to Amazon S3 on its Enterprise plan. Cuttly reserves bulk CSV for paid plans. Minily offers CSV export, including on its free tier. If portability matters, confirm the export option on the exact plan you're considering.

Do free shorteners limit how long analytics are kept?

Yes, retention is one of the most common free-tier limits. Cuttly and Dub keep about 30 days of history on free. Paid plans extend it — Dub goes up to 5 years on its Advanced tier. If you need to compare across quarters, retention is the spec to check before committing.

Conclusion

There is no single best url shortener with analytics — only the best fit for the metrics you need and the tier you'll actually pay for. If you remember one thing from this guide, make it the honest caveat the table proves: the two most famous names, Bitly and TinyURL, don't track clicks for free, so they're the worst starting point if a free budget and real analytics are both non-negotiable.

For free analytics depth, Short.io, Dub and Cuttly lead. For conversion tracking, Dub. For an API, Short.io or Dub. For EU-based, GDPR-friendly aggregate analytics on a small set of links — with free QR codes and password protection thrown in — Minily is a reasonable pick, provided 5 free links and Pro-gated cities/live mode work for you. Decide on your must-have metric first, confirm it's available on a tier you can live with, and the shortlist narrows itself. When you're ready to compare plans side by side, the pricing page lays out exactly what's free and what isn't — no surprises after you sign up.