Bitly is the shortener everyone has heard of, and for a company with a brand team and a budget it's a sound choice. The reason people search for an alternative is almost always the counting: links per month, QR codes per month, days of click history, each of them a line on the pricing page that moves you up a tier.
The short version
| crisp Free | crisp Creator | Bitly Free | Bitly Core | Bitly Growth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 | $12/mo ($108/yr) | $0 | $10/mo (yearly only) | $35/mo ($29 yearly) |
| Short links per month | 50 | Unlimited | ~5 | 100 | 500 |
| QR codes | Dynamic, unlimited | Dynamic + styled with logo | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| Click history | 7 days | 90 days | limited | 30 days | ~4 months |
| Bio / link-in-bio page | 1 page | Unlimited pages | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Custom domain | Pages: Site plan ($4) | Pages: yes | No | No | Short links: 1 domain |
| Editable destinations | Yes | Yes | Limited | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Links keep working if you cancel | Yes (Terms §4) | Yes (Terms §4) | n/a | Plan rules | Plan rules |
Bitly figures are from third-party summaries of its public pricing as of October 2026 and vary slightly between sources; verify on bitly.com. If anything here is out of date, email support@crisp.to and we'll fix it.
Where crisp is better
The free plan is usable. Fifty links a month with analytics and dynamic QR codes covers a small business or a creator indefinitely. Bitly's free tier is a trial in all but name.
Nothing is counted on Creator. Unlimited links, unlimited pages, styled QR codes with your logo, 90 days of analytics with CSV export, for $12. The nearest Bitly tier with a comparable link volume is Growth at $35 monthly.
QR codes are dynamic by default and part of the same object. Every crisp link can be rendered as a QR code; every QR code is a link you can re-point. There's no separate QR quota.
There's a page. The Site plan turns a bio page into a small website on your own domain for $4; Bitly's link-in-bio is a secondary feature on a shortener.
Links are never switched off because of your plan. Whatever plan you're on, whatever you do later. It's section 4 of the Terms.
Where Bitly is better
Branded short-link domains. go.yourbrand.com/offer is a Bitly Growth feature. crisp short links are on crisp.to today; custom domains currently apply to pages, with short-link domains on the roadmap. If a branded domain on the short link itself is non-negotiable, that decides it.
Scale and enterprise features. SSO, team roles, SLAs, audit logs, city-level analytics and very high volumes are what Bitly Premium and Enterprise are for. crisp is built for individuals and small teams.
Integrations and recognition. Bitly is in every marketing tool's integration list and every browser extension gallery. crisp has an API and a WordPress plugin.
Moving from Bitly
- Export your links from Bitly (available on its paid plans), or copy the ones you still use.
- For each link you still use, create it in crisp with the same short code where it's free (
crisp.to/the-same-code), via the dashboard or the API. - Update the places where the links appear. Printed
bit.lycodes keep working as long as your Bitly plan does; anything new goes out on crisp. - Re-create QR codes as dynamic crisp codes before the next print run so the next change doesn't need a reprint.
Who this is for
Anyone whose Bitly bill is mostly about counting: creators, small businesses, agencies managing a few clients, developers who want an API without a sales call. Start on the free plan; the pricing has no asterisks.