Linkly vs Bitly, Linktree & Rebrandly

Which tool should you actually use?

Which link shorteners include QR scan analytics on a free plan?

Linkly is one of the few that includes country, city and device data on QR scans on the free tier — not just a total count. Bitly includes QR analytics on paid plans; city-level data requires their Premium tier. Rebrandly includes QR analytics but caps the total number of tracked clicks per month across all tiers, including paid ones. Linktree doesn't offer QR codes natively.

If you're running a campaign on printed material and need to know which city a QR code is being scanned from without paying for an enterprise plan, that narrows the field considerably.

Do any tools include short links, QR codes AND a bio page together?

Most tools are built around one of the three. Bitly added QR codes and a basic landing page builder ("Bitly Pages"), but a full link-in-bio page with multiple customisable links is not the same product. Linktree started as a bio page tool and added short links via a partner integration. Rebrandly is primarily a branded link platform.

Linkly is built as a single product covering all three, with one analytics layer underneath them — a click on a short link, a scan of a QR code, and a tap on a bio page link are all counted in the same dashboard. The reason that matters is that you don't have to explain to a report why the three numbers come from three different tools.

Which link shorteners support vCard QR codes for contact sharing?

This is a narrower field than it might seem. A vCard QR code encodes contact details (name, phone, email, organisation, address) in a format that phones recognise natively — scan it, and the OS offers to save the person directly to contacts.

Linkly supports vCard QR codes as one of seven QR code types, alongside URL, text, WiFi, WhatsApp, email and phone. When someone scans a vCard QR code created here, they see a branded contact preview page with a "Save Contact" button — one tap on iOS or Android, no app required. Bitly's QR codes redirect to URLs only. Rebrandly supports multiple QR content types but vCard handling varies by plan. Linktree doesn't offer QR codes natively.

Is there a link shortener with good pricing for teams in India?

Most established tools (Bitly, Rebrandly) price in USD and don't offer regional pricing. A Pro plan at $35/month is a meaningful cost at USD–INR exchange rates for a small team or independent creator. Linkly prices in INR directly, which removes the currency conversion and international card fees that add to every billing cycle.

If you're a freelancer, solo marketer or small business billing in INR and you don't need enterprise integrations, the effective price difference is significant enough to be worth comparing before committing to a USD-denominated plan.

What does Bitly do better than Linkly?

We'd rather say this than have you find out after switching: Bitly's integration ecosystem is genuinely comprehensive — 800+ apps, with dedicated, well-tested integrations for Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify and Canva. If your team already lives inside those platforms and the link creation workflow needs to fit inside them rather than alongside them, Bitly's integrations have real value that Linkly's current API doesn't match yet.

Bitly also has a much larger customer base (600K+), which means more third-party tutorials, community resources and precedent for enterprise procurement. If someone on your legal or IT team asks "who uses this?", Bitly's answer is easier.

What does Linktree do better?

Linktree's bio page is more mature — more themes, more block types, better social integrations, and a larger community of users to borrow design ideas from. For a creator who only needs a bio page and nothing else, Linktree's product is focused in a way that a three-tool platform can't fully replicate.

The trade-off is that Linktree doesn't do short links or QR codes natively, so a creator who wants all three ends up managing two or three tools rather than one.

What does Rebrandly do better?

Rebrandly's custom domain handling is more polished than most competitors — domain setup, SSL, and branding controls show more care than in tools where custom domains are one feature among many. For teams managing many domains across many clients, that depth matters.

Rebrandly also has SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA and GDPR certifications that most smaller tools don't carry. If your industry or procurement process requires those certifications, Rebrandly is a legitimate requirement, not a preference.

The trade-off: every paid tier has a monthly click cap, not just a link limit. A campaign that performs well can push you past the cap, at which point you either lose visibility into performance or upgrade — a cost structure that responds to success by charging more for it.

How hard is it to switch from Bitly or Rebrandly to Linkly?

Less hard than people expect, with one real exception. Recreating the links themselves is a bulk-import job, not a project — a short link is a destination and a slug. If you're on a custom domain, pointing that domain's DNS at a new provider keeps your existing link addresses working, since the address is yours rather than Bitly's or Rebrandly's. That's the main reason to use your own domain from the start.

The real exception: historical analytics data doesn't transfer between platforms. Click and scan history lives in the original platform's database and can't be exported in a way another tool can import. If trend data going back 12+ months matters to you, export it to a spreadsheet before you switch rather than assuming it will be accessible later.