Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Exhaustive List of URL Shorteners

Go2.me started as a small hobby project, and has grown in scope as I've found many possible features to add.

There are a wide variety of Link Shorteners in the market today. The first products appeared in 2001, and people have used them to shorten 100's of millions of URL's to date. With the advent of micro-blogging sites, like Twitter, the demand for URL shorteners has grown even greater.

TinyURL is the first URL Shortener to gain wide popularity. Started in 2002 by Kevin "Gilby" Gilbertson, TinyURL remains the single most popular URL Shortening service, with a claimed 145 million links shortened to date, and 1.5 billion clicks per month (nearly 600 per second) on their shortened links (as of January, 2009).

There are a number of reasons why people are using URL Shorteners:

  • Fixing Links - Original links may be too long to fit on a single line in an email message, causing some email clients to wrap them, making the link unusable.
  • Beautifying Links -Original links are long and ugly - a shorter one looks better in email or IM messages.
  • Space requirements - Twitter messages only allow 140 characters - long URL's won't fit, or don't allow enough explanatory text to accompany a shared link.
  • Spam and Phishing - Spammers sometimes use URL Shorteners to disguise the true destination of a link. They can claim it will take a reader to one destination, when if fact it goes to another. This can make it more difficult for spam filters to recognize spam messages, and can also fool users into falling for a phishing scheme.
  • Link Tracking - Individuals and marketers who are sharing links, often like to know how many people are clicking their link, or know what site people are clicking from.

TinyURL defined the baseline functionality by which we can judge follow on competitors. As an early entrant, the feature set is basic, with a couple advanced features.

  • Redirection - Redirects from a short URL back to the original.
  • Web Form - Type a link into a web form to shorten it.
  • Custom Alias - Select your own text (if available) for a tiny link (e.g. http://tinyurl.com/blog-go2me.
  • Bookmarklet - Install a bookmarklet to create a short URL from the current page.
  • Relative Redirection - TinyURL links can be appended by additional URL path text to redirect to a "sub page" of the original shortned URL.
  • Link Preview - Turn on preview mode (remembered by cookie) to display the target link BEFORE redirecting to it (used to confirm link is not spam, adult, or phishing).
  • API - TinyURL supports a simple web request that will return the tiny URL from a long link - very simple but it works for many applications, for example Twhirl.

In a future post, I'll review the most popular (stand-alone) URL Shorteners (and throw in a comparison to the Go2.me service as well); sites that do URL shortening as an added feature (e.g., FriendFeed's "ff.im") will not be considered.

"Complete" List of URL Shorteners

The following list is EVERY URL shortener I have found to date (and I'll update it as I find more - if you know of additional shorteners, please send mail to shortener@go2.me). As a measure of their relative popularity, they are listed in order of their published Alexa Ranking (most as or Jan 2009, but some updated in Apr 2009). The sites that are highlighted will be the subject of my next post - a competitive review of the features of the most popular URL Shorteners.

Update 1: I've estimated the number of Tweets per Day that each service is being used to send. The front runners on the list are sorted by that statistic, rather than Alexa rank as it seems a purer measure of popularity.

Update 2: Twitter Rate numbers from May 2009 - also showing relative change in rank of each shortener from last statistics in April.

Update 3: Updated June 11, 2009. Note Stumble Upon's new shortener su.pr is already getting lots of mentions on twitter, even though it's still in limited beta.

The LAST Update: I'm going to post updated stats in a fresh blog posts from now on.

Thanks to Chris Koss for doing the competitive research for this post.

156 comments:

JonasL said...

Don't forget about http://to.ly

Mike Koss said...

Thanks, added it.

XR said...

And xr.com too

Unknown said...

Thanks - added xr.com too. 600 tweets per day is pretty large!

Unknown said...

there's a new kid on the vlock for sharing web video: tinyvid.io

just launched so not much traffic stats yet... more on the way!

Brent said...

don't forget http://shw.me the smarter url shortener

Anonymous said...

Good collection.. my 2 cents..
AAfter Search produces 2 tiny url when you input a longer URL to make the short URL more fail-safe.

Axel Schultze said...

Cool list - you may want to add XeeURL.com - the specialty is that user have to be registered. So adds a level of trust - not perfect but another step in the right direction.

M2tias said...

There's a short Finnish one, dy.fi.
The third box on the page is for shortening urls. And you can use this as a bookmark to make shorturls with it easily:
javascript:void(location.href='http://www.dy.fi/?c=redir_add&bml=1&url='+location.href)

Unknown said...

http://shrten.com - Its the only one I use

Julien Sobrier said...

SAfe.mn: http://safe.mn/

www.From-Thailand.Com said...

And there is http://TwitterPan.com/ , "the Urls which wouldn't grow up" :)

Darklg said...

Don't forget about this french url shortener : http://minurl.fr ;)

Mike Koss said...

Thanks for all the new links. I've updated the spreadsheet.

Mike said...

Please add kindurl.com and decenturl.com

Unknown said...

For the sake of completeness, you might like to know that Pixel Dreamer just launched a new shortener which is not only one of the shortest itself, but also aggregates the shortened URLs of bit.ly, tr.im, is.gd and tinyurl.com. Usage stats will become available once it leaves beta. It can be found at http://pd.am/ ... check it out!

Jokeroo.com said...

where is linkbee.com?

Unknown said...

dunno if you've all heard the news yet but apparently tr.im has decided to throw in the towel :/

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/09/trim-throws-in-the-towel/

totally bummed myself since tr.im has always been my URL-shortener of choice for non-video.

mattpaul
mopimp productions
http://tinyvid.io/

M@tt said...

Great collection of URL shorteners!

I have done a review on Su.pr and linked back to this article http://thesocialmediaguide.com.au/2009/09/15/supr-stumbleupon-url-shortener/

Thanks for the great list.

Dominic said...

Don't forget about rickroll.it

Digital Point said...

is shorty.im there?

Digital Point said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Martijn said...

Just wanting to let you know that there's a new URL shortener called Nerd.be

Example URL is http://nerd.be/2

I would appreciate if you could add it to your list of URL shorteners.

Thanks!

Martijn

Unknown said...

I'm the author of an "alternative" URL shortening service: http://xm.my/ - it doesn't short URLs, but creates 17-character long links to a map of a location, for example http://xm.my/3W6r

It doesn't perfectly fit into your list - but maybe you can do an "related stuff" category.

Alex

Mike said...

I've started another service, fo.ly, which includes links to scan the site for viruses, phishing, malware, etc.

iblacky said...

We have just published very useful url shortener with very detailed statistics (GEO, google maps etc.) http://smal.ly

Nicolas B said...

There is also Trly.gd which is new.

Justin Credible said...

I usually use http://retwt.me

pock.be said...

Since 25th december, http://POCK.BE in french, nederlands and english.

archipelagian said...

http://k.vu/ is an especially short link shortener, and it's pretty new so it's giving out really short links.

Kade Sara said...

Please add http://trii.us

andrew said...

http://quip.es is new,. still being worked on

Unknown said...

you know rnm.me? thx

Elliot Wallace said...

How about http://i.cx/? That's my personal favourite.

Makdett said...

I prefer http://paidly.com - url shortener! it's really good!

Colby A. said...

http://ShortColb.com is new but it's nice!

Unknown said...

Try My Url Shortener !

http://yyuq.com
http://uk38.com

Possibility to use your own custom keyword ex ( yyuq.com/lawyers , uk38.com/youtube ... )
track the visitor of your link with acurate country stats .
hope you like it

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I develop xav.cc, a free and opensource short url service.

Unknown said...

Suprised this one slipped thorugh its been going for a couple of years http://www.okshort.com

Hammer, the Almighty said...

Nice list you have there. There are literally hundreds of sites out there with various levels of service. One that I like is http://shortweet.com

Not the shortest of the bunch, but has great features.

Adam said...

or http://vani.sh/

stevehinesley said...

302url.com is another one...

Afif Yoga said...

don't forget url shortener from indonesia , lanjut.in

Afif Yoga said...

and adf.ly

Unknown said...

check out http://tim.pe - simple url shortening.

Unknown said...

be sure and add http://ptl.me

Unknown said...

http://ut.ag - custom/api/bookmarklet features

Unknown said...

http://get.tc is a pretty new URL shortener.
Passwords and tracking included.

Colby said...

veh.cl is one I've found for automotive links

Nathan said...

Don't forget about lovebyt.es

Unknown said...

I think you missed goo.gl

Unknown said...

found a new one
http://mislead.in/
basic short url service , i just like the name

Peter said...

Hi! I have build 1ln.de wuld be nice if you add it.

Unknown said...

www.mislead.in is a good url shortener with an ironical name!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

You missed urlcut.me! Its a new site but one of the best URL Shorteners around!

Unknown said...

Here you have a new one http://visu.al

pra021 said...

http://eurl.in new url hide/short service. You can make long urls into short & hide your url.

Internet Guru said...

http://u2s.in
A Very New short URL service with new functionality...
* Set number of times URL get accessed
* set expiry date for each URL
* make custom URL string
* get full of details reports of the url statistics
* auto delete can be set
* make very very long URL to too short
enjoy... u2s.in

Anonymous said...

check out http://n4x.us
extremely lightweight, quick, no restrictions, and you can use it as an API by sending a post/get to n4x.us with a url=whatever you want to shorten

Anonymous said...

http://iz.sg

TapeVid said...

tinyden.com is a unique shortener. my recomendation - http://tinyden.com

Anonymous said...

Check out http://poo.pr. It's for shortening shit.

JMSBeta said...

you can use http://www.Goder.co.cc for your long url’s

Ivan said...

Here is one new shortener and tracker. It can track hits(all and unique), referrers(sites where the clicks are coming from) and locations. It is also FREE! http://keoyl.com

Anonymous said...

Super-Duper site! I am loving it!! Will come back again – taking your RSS feeds also, Thanks.

online pharmacy

Stephan Eisler said...

Please add waldst.at url shortner http://waldst.at

Nathan said...

I use http://lovebyt.es, i find it one of the fastest it also has a 100% uptime :)

Paul Leigh said...

Hi,

I've created another one, this one is specific to the aviation industry and all links are checked before going live. There is continual checking by a back end process and we have two levels of service.

http://link.aero

apo said...

Another one you missed:

http://zu.ly

М. К. said...

With Brief.ly and Many at you can have the following (leading to your article):

http://brief.ly/~RSsQ1
http://links2.me/~RSsQ1
http://many.at/~RSsQ1
http://name.ly/~RSsQ1
http://ofcour.se/~RSsQ1
http://sincere.ly/~RSsQ1
http://thatis.me/~RSsQ1
http://whatel.se/~RSsQ1
http://whereel.se/~RSsQ1
http://whoel.se/~RSsQ1
http://✯.ws/~RSsQ1
http://➸.ws/~RSsQ1

And more importantly you can have many links in one. Try it today.

ZLOK said...

Hi,

Don't forget:

http://doiop.com (first to offer custom keyword)
http://qoiob.com (choice of IDN domains)
http://cauzes.com (broader URLs vs. shorter ones)

Thanks,
Y

FREEZX said...

You forgot null-url.com

Vibster said...

Just made http://vib.tw. Let me know what you think

Nutzer said...

Hi, can you add my shortener 0nk.de, please?

Damo said...

I use Tiny.cx for url shortening

1to-eu said...

Hello, maybe u want to visit our Url-Shortener http://1to.eu ;-)

1to-eu said...

Maybe you want to add our URL-Shortener Service: http://1to.eu
Best regards from Germany.

rob said...

I like http://urlshred.com
It pays me for shortening web links.

CutPit said...

Guys, suggest you to try www.cutpit.com, really cool url shortener with N numbers of unique features like tweet, sms email, link management et al, try it, i use that only, its also very reliable.

Cheers!

Maddy

Julie Garcia said...

Yet another awesome URL shortener for the list..

http://u2r.in/

ihopto reply said...

Hi there - an exhausting list! ..but one more to add for www.ihop.to http://ih.to
We use this for our QR code generator to create more effective QR codes. Also for our unique TAGs can be used to link web pages. get hopping :-)!..

Signum Design said...

I would be nice to see chrst.ph added to that list

Regards

Sean Magnude said...

http://celfra.me/

Unknown said...

Hi Mike, mind adding mine?

The domain is most suited to individuals and not just any olé forward URL because, well, as you can see, it's;

http://www.i-am.so/

It also has some additional features such as:

- Short URL expiration time/date
- Short URL password protected
- Short URL max number of viewers (before it expires)

Thanks!
John

Frases para o Msn said...

What about http://tbest.me/

That´s we use here

Great Post !

healt said...

online pharmacy without No Prescription online pharmacy

Unknown said...

I wrote a huge and latest working list of URL Shortening services. Hope it will be useful.
List of all URL Shortening services

Rodrigo Siqueira said...

Please add this new URL shortener bit.do

JC Weber said...

A School Branded site, but very short: http://lsua.it

RareCase Music said...

The most recent one:

http://nurl.me

David Jones said...

I've recently been using this as my URL shortener: http://short.nr/

Mark Kolb said...

www.dzl.me provides owners of Zazzle stores the ability to shorten product page links with a custom tag. Only zazzle pages are allowed to be shortened, providing destination integrity.

Stephan Popov said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

You forgot http://smup.us/!

fegf said...

don't forget http://para.pt

Nurnal said...

yi.tl just launched: http://yi.tl

yi.tl is the first URL shortener to offer support for tags. This unique service allows our users to categorise and retrieve their links. To save time, the site will even make tag suggestions based on the URL being shortened.

Anonymous said...

What about http://goo.rs

Unknown said...

Don't forget about http://qoon.com

mklad87 said...

Don't forget http://littl.it :)

mklad87 said...

Don't forget about http://littl.it :)

Unknown said...

Hey,

This is the definite Great stuff and I would like to share with my friends.

Affordable Email Marketing

Yash said...

Also add spyt.co
thanks

Michael Mattice said...

dft.ba
dftba!

Unknown said...

A url shortener link:

www.aka.gr

Free and with API.

balonpatlatma said...

please don't forget pin.ms. it also support https. https://pin.ms

Unknown said...

There is also http://bn.gy

Unknown said...

iv just started one http://brig.co

take a look

Unknown said...

admin plz update ur list

here is new URL shortner : http://itiny.in
A URL shortener that's fast and easy to use. Our features include custom shortened URLs with real-time link tracking
also has features like facebook share, tweeter share and google + share also has QR code for url

roboter said...

http:/qr.ee - shortener with QR code generator

Unknown said...

Great list it will help me a
lot.

Thanks
Email Marketing Solutions

Anonymous said...

Great list, but for one oversight. You haven't included mine...
http://irte.eu

Stephan Popov said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Thanx for the great list! :-) ...A great new one that I´ve been using recently is http://cash.ac. Perfect for posting affiliate links and such. Cheers!

Mark said...

Great list.

Just launching http://ilnk.co

Similar to adf.ly and with scripts and plugins to help webmasters and bloggers earn money from their sites

Unknown said...

I found a url shortener that is very fast and has a lot of features. I really like so I share it: http://exc.lu

Anonymous said...

How about make.my url shortener

Unknown said...

Add http://clikk.in it has a bookmarklet and an api very useful.

Unknown said...

I use this fizli.com it has multi shrinker and QR code.

myhtc.biz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
myhtc.biz said...

Get free advertising from this one
Shorthit.com

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

http://on.cx

Davide said...

Check out this original and simple url shortening service: VTD.CC

Unknown said...

Also http://pixltr.im

Unknown said...

Don't forget about http://tastyurls.com

Paradoxer said...

Try http://rdir.tk/

Anonymous said...

Just found out about http://bunny.li

very cute

Unknown said...

another http://link.l6.org/

yourls.at said...

Hi, here is may new URL-Shorter --> http://yourls.at

Anonymous said...

Hi friends
Very nice sites of Short Url
MLM Software
Thanks for sharing

Nadir Patel said...

Don't forget http://www.pour.pw URL Shortener

Jay89 said...

few days ago i programmed www.pilulo.us
thinking about to enlarge the project if there is enough traffic

Dennis said...

Don't forget about url shortener imleri

jovan said...

Here is one I found recently. It's the shortener for The Frisky: frsky.me

jovan said...

Here is another url shortener I just found: http://abc6.wjbf.com/

Anonymous said...

I like this one:

http://kfc.io

Short urls served by chickens!

Unknown said...

don't forget s.hort.ly

Redaktion said...

My favorite one:

http://zappl.net

Unknown said...

http://bitrz.com - An URL shortner with custom aliases, geo-targeting, advanced statistics and custom splash.

RTGaming said...

New URL Shortener:
http://rt-g.us/

Anonymous said...

URL shortener with no ads or pop-ups, secure, private, has API and statistics, fast, free and easy to use:

https://zbbx.me

Vikrant Mahajan said...

Url shorteners really help me in my marketing campaigns as they give me really nice analytics. I personally believe the new one http://tuq.in gives really nice stats in realtime also it gives me nice url control
http://tuq.in/+stats

Pierre Benneton said...

Hi, here is a url shortener that allows you to target visitors geographically, generate QR codes, sort links in bundle, and much more.

>>>> Abrege.eu

Lada said...

URL shortener with stats
linku.in

Ian Coupal said...

BIGLY is a great FREE website offering many feature for free. Get expiry date, maximum uses and whether it's private or public, password protection, shorten multiple long urls at the same time. An advanced API, Secure Members Area, Short URL Statistics and for each url a QR code is generated which can be used to advertise the short url. Make a long url short, easy to remember and to share. Shorten, customize, track and Get PAID to share your links on the Internet!

Admin said...

This is my favorite: http://damn.pm

Its easy to use and has manny Features.

Ian Coupal said...

I am using BIGLY.US it's a must for people who often used URL Shortening service. http://www.bigly.us

Shaina Nagpal said...

Please add http://tuq.in also. This is a new generation url shortner and analytics website release in may 2014.

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing. It's really helpful.

qr code generator

James Knights @zimma_official said...

Thank you for taking the time to create this post, it is in me to share my favorite shorten a url website!

Anonymous said...

cpv.li gives the full info on your short links - how many times, where did you get clicks from. Also cpv.li gives a possibility to upload and share images & videos.

JoW said...

Hi everybody here is a url shortener http://ulul.ml/backlink which has great metrics. Yes I am plugging this service and it is free, but I am just getting people to see its great metrics. as you can see I am using a custom url to track the metrics of how my backlinking efforts are to the site. You can do the same.

Unknown said...

One more for the list... 301.li run by Now-DNS is a free url shortener

MLM Softonline said...

Awesome Post With Informative Content
Regards
MLM Software Company

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Roopesh said...

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For any queries, please contact us:
Email ID: Support@ridetothefuture.com
Visit Website: www.ridetothefuture.com/