A team posting 30 to 60 links a month goes shopping because something broke: analytics went blank, the create button refused, or a branded domain would not connect. It came with a plan picked on a monthly figure, and that figure is not the meter.
The headline price is not what the meter counts
Four units are metered across the pages fetched 2026-08-25. Dub counts new links and tracked events per month, separately, at dub.co/pricing/links. Bitly counts links shortened per month, clicks unlimited. Short.io counts lifetime branded links plus monthly tracked clicks. Rebrandly counts links per month and caps the clicks carrying engagement data. BL.INK counts active links.
All five meter custom domains on top. Four publish a seat count, Bitly none for any self-serve tier. Bitly at $35 caps creation not clicks, Rebrandly at $14 caps the clicks that carry data, and the same team pays very differently.
Every figure came from the vendor’s own page, never a roundup. Short.io was read at the monthly toggle in USD, Bitly and Rebrandly at the annual toggle.
What each vendor publishes, tier by tier
| Vendor | Tier | Monthly | Annual | Primary unit | Other limits | Domains | Seats | Fetched |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dub Links | Pro | $30 | 10% off, 12x upfront | 1,000 new links/mo | 50,000 events/mo, 600/min | 10 | 3 | 2026-08-25 |
| Dub Links | Business | $90 | same | 10,000 new links/mo | 250,000 events/mo, 1,200/min | 100 | 10 | 2026-08-25 |
| Bitly | Core | annual only | $10/mo, $120 charge | 100 links/mo | clicks unlimited, 5,000 API/mo | none | not published | 2026-08-25 |
| Bitly | Growth | $35 | $29/mo, $348 charge | 500 links/mo | clicks unlimited, 25,000 API/mo | 1 complimentary | not published | 2026-08-25 |
| Short.io | Free | $0 | $0 | 1,000 links, lifetime | 50,000 tracked clicks/mo | 5 | 1 | 2026-08-25 |
| Short.io | Hobby | $5 | $50/yr | 2,500 links, lifetime | 100,000 tracked clicks/mo | 7 | 1 | 2026-08-25 |
| Short.io | Pro | $18 | $180/yr | links unlimited | tracked clicks unlimited | 10 | 1 | 2026-08-25 |
| Short.io | Team | $48 | $480/yr | links unlimited | tracked clicks unlimited | 50 | unlimited | 2026-08-25 |
| Short.io | Enterprise | $148 | $1,480/yr | links unlimited | tracked clicks unlimited | unlimited | unlimited | 2026-08-25 |
| Rebrandly | Essentials | $14 | $11/mo | 250 links/mo | data on 10,000 clicks/mo | 2, add-on | not published | 2026-08-25 |
| Rebrandly | Professional | $39 | $32/mo | 1,500 links/mo | data on 25,000 clicks/mo | 3, add-on | 2 plus, add-on | 2026-08-25 |
| BL.INK Core | Expert+ | $48 | not published | 10,000 active links | 7,500 clicks tracked | 1 | 1 | 2026-08-25 |
| BL.INK Core | SMB | $99 | not published | 25,000 active links | 15,000 clicks tracked | 1 | 5 | 2026-08-25 |
| BL.INK Core | Team | $299 | not published | 100,000 active links | 30,000 clicks tracked | 5 | 10 | 2026-08-25 |
| Dub, Bitly, Rebrandly, BL.INK | Enterprise | quote only | quote only | custom | custom | custom | custom | 2026-08-25 |
Short.io alone publishes its Enterprise price. The other four route that tier to a form: Get a demo, Get a Quote, Talk to sales, Request Quote. Higher self-serve tiers exist, above this reader’s volume. TinyURL returned 200 with no tier names or prices, so no row.
Where a team posting 30 to 60 links a month actually lands
The free tiers fail immediately: 25 new links a month on Dub Links Free, 5 on Bitly Free, 10 on Rebrandly Free. Short.io Free is the exception: 1,000 branded links as a lifetime allowance, which at 60 a month lasts 16 months.
On the entry paid tiers creation volume stops mattering. 60 links is 6% of Dub Links Pro’s 1,000 a month. BL.INK Expert+’s 10,000 is a stock of live links, not a monthly flow, so 60 a month leaves it slack for years. The binding limit becomes seats or domains: Short.io Hobby, Short.io Pro and BL.INK Expert+ publish 1 user each.
As a per-link click budget: Rebrandly Essentials’ 10,000 engagement-data clicks is 333 per link at 30 a month, 166 at 60. Professional’s 25,000 gives 833, then 416. Dub Links Pro’s 50,000 gives 1,666, then 833. Bitly publishes unlimited clicks, so has none. BL.INK labels its row “CLICKS TRACKED/LINKS” with no period, so no usable number.
Tracked events are the meter that decides the bill
Three units get confused. A link created is an act the team performs and controls. A click recorded is the audience’s act. A tracked conversion event happens after the click, and once a post performs the team does not control that number at all.
So the overage lands on the best week. One post that outperforms can take Rebrandly Essentials’ entire 10,000 click allowance, and Rebrandly’s standard plans do not publish what happens once the engagement-data allowance is exhausted.
Three of the five say what happens at a ceiling. Dub: past the monthly links limit on non-Enterprise plans, no new links until the next billing period; past the tracked clicks limit, links keep working and clicks are still tracked but analytics need an upgrade. Short.io: past the free plan’s 50,000 clicks, collection continues while viewing is restricted. Rebrandly says only that High Volume customers keep creating at their discounted price. Bitly and BL.INK do not say.
Custom domains, seats, and the limits nobody reads first
- Domains. Counts are in the table. Short.io excludes registration fees from the plan cost. Bitly gives none below Growth, then 1 complimentary. Dub’s help article adds that each domain needs a DNS record. One branded domain per client hits this before any volume limit.
- Seats. Short.io publishes 1 user through Pro, then unlimited on Team, so a second person moves the bill from $18 to $48. Rebrandly sells extra domains as an add-on from Essentials up, teammates, workspaces and click data from Professional up. Bitly marks one Enterprise row Available for Purchase. Elsewhere another seat means another tier.
- Retention. Dub Links 30 days, 1, 3, 5 years. Bitly none, 30 days, 120 days, 1, 2 years. Rebrandly conversion data 6 months, 1, 2 years. Short.io and BL.INK publish none.
- API limits. Decides whether a scheduler can create links. Short.io 50 per second on every plan. Dub Links 600 to 3,000 per minute, Rebrandly 100 to 1,000 per minute. Bitly meters API monthly, 1,000 to 50,000. BL.INK publishes no number.
When the shortener is a component of something larger
Dub’s page rewards a second read. dub.co/pricing lands on a tab called Dub Partners: entry tier $90, headline allowances $2.5K of partner payouts a month, 500 partners, 3 partner groups, a 5% payout fee. Links are an included component. The standalone links plans sit on a second tab, dub.co/pricing/links, entry tier $30.
The team is quoted for a surface it will not use: partner payouts set the price, and its limits come from a model built for a different buyer.
The reverse failure costs as much. Short.io Pro at $18 publishes unlimited links and clicks, and one more person makes it Team at $48. BL.INK Expert+ at $48 publishes 1 domain, and 5 domains makes it Team at $299. Neither jump is volume. Which meter suits which usage shape is the comparison. There is no winner in it.
A twenty minute normalisation you can run yourself
- Pull your five numbers first: new links per month, total clicks, peak clicks on one link, branded domains needed, people needing access.
- For each vendor write down the metered unit and its allowance, not the price. A column headed “tracked events/month” beats one headed “price”.
- Mark which of the five crosses an allowance first on each plan. That crossing is the real price driver. If it is seats or domains, volume pricing is irrelevant.
- Read the annual toggle and cancellation terms before comparing annual figures, and record the date: Short.io a 7 day trial, BL.INK month to month, Dub a 14 day trial, Bitly automatic renewal.
- Re-read the page before renewal, not your saved sheet.
The same problem in another category: email verification tools priced by verification volume.
FAQ
Am I paying for links or for clicks?
It depends on the vendor. Bitly meters links created, clicks unlimited. Dub meters both, separately. Rebrandly meters links and caps the clicks carrying engagement data. Short.io meters lifetime branded links plus tracked clicks below Pro. BL.INK meters active links. Read 2026-08-25.
What happens when I hit the limit mid month?
Only three pages say. Dub: no new links until the next billing period, and analytics behind an upgrade past the tracked clicks limit. Short.io: viewing restricted past the free plan’s 50,000 clicks, collection continues. Rebrandly: High Volume plans only. Bitly and BL.INK do not state it.
Is a custom domain included in the entry tier?
Entry paid tier: Dub Links Pro 10, Short.io Hobby 7, Rebrandly Essentials 2, BL.INK Expert+ 1. Bitly gives none below Growth, then 1 complimentary with registration included. Rebrandly alone sells more domains as an add-on, from Essentials up.
Does the annual price actually save money?
Where a figure is published, by about a sixth: Short.io Pro $180 a year against $216 monthly, Bitly Growth a $348 charge against $420. Rebrandly Essentials served $11 annual against $14 monthly, 21% off, more than the 18% its banner claims. Dub publishes no dollar annual figure, only 10% off with 12 months of usage upfront. BL.INK publishes no annual price at all.
How often do these prices change?
A single dated snapshot taken 2026-08-25, not a maintained price sheet. It is not Watchdog data and is not on the re-verification schedule, so read the vendor page again before you buy.
Sources, dates, and what this page is not
Prices verified 2026-08-25, every figure read that day from the vendor pages below. No third-party article, roundup or review was used as a price source. This piece is not Watchdog data and is not on the re-verification schedule, so the figures hold as of the fetch date only. followedapp is published by the team behind RecurPost.
- Dub: pricing, links pricing, custom domains, 2026-08-25
- Bitly, Short.io, Rebrandly, BL.INK, TinyURL pricing, all 2026-08-25