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The free Bitly alternative.

What Bitly charges $29/month for — branded links on your own domain, real-time analytics, QR codes, UTM tags, password protection, link expiry — slsh.me hands you on the free tier. Move in one CNAME.

No hostages: if you stop paying, your links keep redirecting. Bitly's branded links stop the day your subscription does.

Start free, no card See pricing

Free tier · monthly links

100 vs Bitly 5

Branded links on free

Included vs $29/mo

Time-to-first-link

30 sec vs Sales call

Feature by feature

Same job. A fraction of the bill.

Pulled from Bitly's own pricing page on the day this comparison shipped. We'll keep it honest as their tiers move.

Feature slsh.me — Free Bitly — Free / Core / Growth
What happens if you stop paying Your links keep redirecting. Drop back to Free; existing links and the custom domain you keep both stay live. Branded links on your custom domain stop resolving when your subscription lapses or you downgrade. bit.ly/* slugs keep working.
New links / month 100 (1,500 on Big Slash) 5 free · 100 on $10 Core · 500 on $29 Growth
Custom domain (branded links) 1 free, 3 on Big Slash — one CNAME, on-demand TLS Not on Free or Core. Unlocked on Growth $29/mo
Real-time click analytics Live — country, city, device, browser, OS, referrer, on every tier None on Free. 30 days on Core. 1 year on $199 Premium
Analytics history 30 days rolling on Free; unlimited on Big Slash — every visit recorded forever 30 days on Core · 4 months on Growth · 1 year on Premium
QR codes Unlimited, print-ready SVG on every link 2/mo on Free · 5 on Core · 10 on Growth
UTM tags built-in Yes — source / medium / campaign / term / content append at create-time Yes, with the same fields
Password-protected links Yes, free Not surfaced — only via custom landing pages on Premium $199/mo
Link expiry & click caps Yes, free — date or N-click cap, 410 Gone with custom page Not available
Public REST API Read-only on Free, full on Big Slash — bearer-token auth, JSON in/out 1k/mo on Free · 5k on Core · 25k on Growth
Time to first link 30 seconds — sign up, paste, copy 30 seconds on Free; Enterprise tiers require a sales call
Sales call required Never For Enterprise / SSO / SLA

Bitly prices reflect their annual-billing rates on bitly.com/pages/pricing.

The Bitly tax

$29/month for the words on the left side of the slash.

Bitly's Growth tier is mostly a paywall for one feature — the ability to ship links like your-brand.com/launch instead of bit.ly/4xK9pQz. Everything else (analytics, QR codes, UTMs) is incremental.

slsh.me includes a custom domain on the free tier, on-demand TLS issuance via Let's Encrypt, and three domains on the $8/mo Big Slash. You stop paying for the privilege of looking professional.

Move in one CNAME →

Bitly Growth, annual

$348/yr

slsh.me Big Slash, annual

$96/yr

What you keep

+Branded links on your domain
+Unlimited analytics history (vs. 4 months)
+Unlimited QR codes (vs. 10/mo)
+Password protection & link expiry
+$252 back in your pocket

Migration

Three steps. No data export needed.

Your old bit.ly links keep redirecting; slsh.me takes over the new ones. If you've been paying for a custom branded domain on Bitly, point that CNAME at us and yours come out the other side.

1

Sign up & verify your domain

30 seconds, no card. Add a custom domain in Settings → Domains and we generate the exact CNAME record to add at your registrar.

2

Point one CNAME

At your registrar, add links.your-domain.com → slsh.me. On-demand TLS issues the cert on the first visit — no Let's Encrypt setup, no expiry to track.

3

Create your first slsh.me link

Paste, optionally pick a slug, hit save. New links go out branded as your-domain.com/abc. Old bit.ly links keep working on bit.ly — no migration window, no broken QR codes.

Got hundreds to recreate? Loop the POST /v1/links endpoint from a small script — full bulk import in a handful of seconds.

Honest answers.

Is slsh.me really free? +
Yes. The Free tier includes 100 links/month, one custom domain, one campaign, 30-day rolling analytics, QR codes, password protection, link expiry, and a read-only API. No card required. The $8/mo Big Slash tier raises the limits and keeps every visit recorded forever.
Can I use my own domain on the free tier? +
Yes — point a CNAME at slsh.me and your links come out branded as your-domain.com/abc1234. Bitly gates branded links behind their $29/mo Growth tier; slsh.me includes one custom domain on Free and three on Big Slash.
Will my existing Bitly links keep working? +
Anything on bit.ly stays on bit.ly — slsh.me doesn't claim Bitly's slugs. For new links use your slsh.me short URL. If you've been using Bitly with a custom branded domain, point that CNAME at slsh.me and the slugs you create here become drop-in replacements.
What happens to my slsh.me links if I cancel? +
They keep redirecting. Cancelling Big Slash drops you back to the Free tier — existing links stay live, the one custom domain you keep stays active, and you just lose the over-Free extras (extra domains, unlimited analytics history). Bitly's branded links on a custom domain stop resolving the moment your subscription lapses or you downgrade. We don't take hostages.
What does slsh.me NOT do that Bitly does? +
Bitly bundles an enterprise sales motion — sales calls, SSO, SOC 2, 99.9% SLA, 800+ Zapier-style integrations. slsh.me is a focused link shortener with analytics. No sales calls, no SSO yet, no certified SOC 2. If you need those, you need Bitly Enterprise (and the budget that comes with it).
How much would I save switching from Bitly Growth? +
Bitly Growth is $29/month ($348/year) for branded links and 4 months of analytics history. slsh.me's $8/month Big Slash gives you branded links, unlimited analytics history, three custom domains, and five campaigns — about $252/year savings. If you don't need to exceed Free-tier limits, the savings are the full $348/year.

Stop paying the Bitly tax.

30 seconds, no card. Branded links on your domain, real-time analytics, every visit recorded.

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