Cuttly vs Bitly: Which Link Platform Fits Your 2025 Growth Plan

Short links power modern marketing across social, email and offline media. This comprehensive comparison highlights how Cuttly and Bitly differ in branded domains, Link-in-bio, Surveys, QR Codes, TRAI SMS compliance, analytics, Teams and API access. Data reflects official documentation and pricing as of October 2025.

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Branded domains and readable short links

Both platforms allow you to shorten URLs on your own domain to strengthen brand trust. Bitly includes branded links starting with the Growth plan and adds a complimentary custom domain. Cuttly lets you connect a branded domain already on the Free plan and scales up to 99 domains on higher tiers. You can create clean, readable branded short links such as yourbrnd.link/offer that look professional and are easy to share.

Link-in-bio on both platforms

Bitly provides a Link-in-bio builder and can generate a QR Code that links directly to it. Cuttly lets you create and customize Link-in-bio microsites on cutt.ly, cutt.bio or your branded domain, with block-level click analytics and design options, and also generates a QR Code for every Link-in-bio page. Both tools fully manage these microsites within their infrastructure, so no separate hosting is needed.

Surveys: built in on Cuttly

Cuttly includes a native Surveys module where you can design forms, add questions, collect responses and share them easily using branded QR Codes. Bitly does not offer a built-in survey builder. For marketers who want feedback and engagement tools under one dashboard, Cuttly offers a ready-to-use solution.

TRAI SMS compliance for India

Cuttly offers a dedicated TRAI Header tool designed to help individuals and companies in India stay compliant with TRAI regulations for SMS marketing. Headers can be assigned either to your own branded domain or to Cuttly’s ultra-short domain 2s.ms, ensuring fast delivery and compliance with DLT gateway requirements. The feature is available both in the main dashboard and inside Team accounts, supporting collaborative setups and multi-domain environments. Bitly’s public documentation does not mention TRAI Header functionality, giving Cuttly a practical advantage for India-based telecom campaigns.

Learn more:
Ensuring TRAI SMS Compliance with Cuttly – Custom Domains & Headers Guide
Ensuring TRAI SMS Compliance with Cuttly – 2s.ms Domain & Headers Guide

QR Codes and customization

Both Bitly and Cuttly enable QR Code generation for every short link and dynamic destination updates without reprinting. Bitly offers QR styling and color options. Cuttly keeps pace with an integrated QR designer that allows you to create branded templates with logos, colors and shapes directly in the dashboard. Each Team can maintain one QR template for consistent brand visuals across campaigns. Whether you use your own domain or Cuttly’s, a QR can be generated instantly for any short link.

Analytics and insights

Both platforms provide in-depth link analytics, tracking every click across channels. Bitly delivers metrics such as total clicks, referrers, devices, engagement over time and city or country-level data, with one year of history on the Premium plan and up to two years on Enterprise. Cuttly offers even broader reporting, including hourly Heat Maps and detailed source breakdowns, while keeping analytics history for up to two years on Team plans and higher.

Cuttly delivers even deeper analytics per link, including total clicks, hourly Heat Map showing activity by day and hour (last 7 days on Single plan, 14 days on Team plans), sources of clicks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Direct), referrals, devices, operating systems, browsers, brands, languages and geo-location on an interactive map. Higher tiers add bot detection and aggregated reports. These Heat Maps help identify the best posting hours and busiest audience times. Learn more in the Cuttly - URL Shortener Analytics Playbook.

Filtering, tags and team workflows

Cuttly’s dashboard supports advanced link filtering, search by short or long URL, and tagging. With the new Cuttly Campaigns, you can now group multiple links by tag and view aggregated analytics for all tagged links - including total clicks, hourly Heat Map, devices, operating systems, browsers, sources, brands, languages, and geo-location data for the last 14 days. This feature provides a complete overview of your campaign performance directly in the dashboard, with 50 tagged links on Team plans and 100 on Team Enterprise. Each Team also has its own workspace, member roles, built-in chat, and a dedicated Team API for automation. Bitly offers campaign tracking and multi-channel analytics on higher tiers, but Cuttly’s Campaigns bring similar functionality natively to every team environment.

Mobile experience

Bitly provides native mobile apps for iOS and Android, allowing users to edit links and manage QR Codes anywhere. Cuttly focuses on a responsive web interface that works smoothly on mobile browsers. For users who prefer unified browser dashboards and team collaboration, Cuttly’s design keeps everything accessible without extra installation.

Plans and notable limits (October 2025)

Bitly: Free – 5 links/month, 2 QR Codes/month, 2 landing pages. Core – 100 links/month, 5 QR/month, 5 pages, 30 days of data. Growth – 500 links/month, 10 QR/month, 10 pages, complimentary custom domain, 4 months of data and CSV bulk upload. Premium – 3,000 links/month, 200 QR/month, 20 pages, 1-year data, city/device analytics. Enterprise adds SSO, SLA and high-volume API.

Cuttly: Free – 30 links/month, 1 branded domain, 30-day history, Link-in-bio and Survey access. Starter – 300 links/month. Single – 5,000 links, 5 domains, 1-year history, Heat Map and Aggregated Link Analytics for the last 7 days, TRAI Headers. Team – 20,000 links, 10 domains, 2-year history, Heat Map and Cuttly Campaigns for the last 14 days (up to 50 tagged links), Teams and Team API. Team Enterprise – 50,000 links, 99 domains, Cuttly Campaigns for the last 14 days (up to 100 tagged links), advanced TRAI Header limits, SSO.
Full pricing details: Cuttly Pricing.

API and integrations

Both platforms provide API access, CSV bulk import and automation options, allowing you to connect link management with other tools. Bitly offers extensive integrations across marketing and analytics ecosystems on its higher tiers. Cuttly includes both standard and Team APIs with per-plan rate limits and CSV quotas. It integrates seamlessly with popular automation platforms including Zapier, Make, Zoho Flow, OttoKit, Laravel, Lindy and Mobile Message, letting you automate workflows and analytics without writing code.

When Cuttly fits better

• You want advanced analytics with hourly Heat Maps, bot, long-term data retention (up to two years) and interactive geo maps.
• You want to see how all your tagged links perform together with Cuttly Campaigns – Aggregated Analytics for Tags showing total clicks, hourly activity, devices, browsers, languages, bdands, sources, and locations for the last 14 days.
• You need native Surveys, QR Codes and Link-in-bio pages managed in one dashboard.
• You require TRAI Header tools for SMS compliance in India, available on your own domain or on 2s.ms.
• You prefer flexible organization with tags, filters, user roles and built-in Team chat for collaboration.
• You want to create branded QR templates with logos and colors directly in Team dashboards.
• You value a platform that has operated continuously for over 8 years and continues to expand with new analytics and teamwork features.

When Bitly fits better

• Your workflow depends on mobile apps for link editing and QR generation.
• You need multi-channel Campaigns, analytics and enterprise-grade dashboards.
• You require an established vendor with SSO, SLA and high-volume API access.

Migration to Cuttly in three steps

• Export your existing links from your current shortener as CSV.
• Connect your branded domain in Cuttly and define a clear naming style for slugs.
• Import the CSV or use the API.

Short links used to save space. Today they connect data, branding and customer experience in one click.

Conclusion

Both platforms deliver reliable URL shortener solutions. Bitly stands out with its mobile apps, Campaign dashboards and enterprise footprint, while Cuttly focuses on advanced analytics, native Surveys, TRAI tools, Teams, and complete control over branded links, QR Codes and Link-in-bio pages.

The best choice depends on your priorities: if you want a powerful all-in-one tool to manage, track and brand every link, Cuttly offers flexibility and growth potential that continue to evolve for marketers worldwide.

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Ready to manage branded links, QR Codes, Link-in-bio and Surveys in one platform? Start for free on Cuttly.