If you want a cheaper Bitly plan with a custom domain, EU-hosted data and a free tier without ads, Elido is the closest fit. Dub suits open-source teams and Short.io gives the biggest free allowance, and Bitly stays the safe pick when you only need plain redirects. This post compares the plans line by line, using each vendor's own page, so you can see which limit is actually costing you.
I work on Elido. That's a bias, so I've tried to be specific about where Bitly is better and where the move isn't worth it. Every Bitly figure below comes from Bitly's pricing page, accessed 2026-10-25. Prices change. Check the page before you decide. For a scored read of the same product, see our Bitly review.
What Bitly's plans include, accessed 2026-10-25
Bitly's page now meters plans by quotas that reset every month: short links and QR codes created, plus API requests. Here's what it listed:
- Free (with ads): 0 USD, 5 short links and 2 QR codes, no custom domain, no branded links, no analytics history, 1,000 API requests.
- Core: 10 USD a month billed annually (120 USD), 100 links, 5 QR codes, 30 days of analytics, no custom domain.
- Growth: 29 USD a month billed annually (348 USD), 500 links, 10 QR codes, 120 days of analytics, branded links and a complimentary custom domain.
- Premium: 199 USD a month billed annually (2,388 USD), 3,000 links, 200 QR codes, one year of analytics, 50,000 API requests.
- Enterprise: custom pricing, two years of analytics.
Two things stand out. The first custom domain sits on the 29 USD tier. Analytics history is the quiet upsell, and 30 days on Core is short if you report quarterly. The API rate-limit page (accessed 2026-10-25) gives no per-plan numbers. It says the per-minute limit is one tenth of the hourly one, with five concurrent connections per IP. Test your bulk jobs before launch day.
For the full plan-by-plan cost view, Bitly pricing explained goes further.
How Elido's plans differ
Elido meters differently. It counts active links and clicks per month, not links created, which changes the maths for teams that churn through short-lived campaign links. The numbers below come from our pricing page and the plan matrix in the product code.
- Free, 0 EUR: 50 active links, 500 clicks a month, 90 days of analytics, no custom domain.
- Pro, from 3.50 EUR a month: 5,000 active links, 100,000 clicks a month, one custom domain, a year of analytics, plus webhooks, conversion tracking and smart links.
- Business, from 70 EUR a month: unlimited links, 1,000,000 clicks a month, five custom domains with wildcard support, white-label, SSO and SCIM, two years of analytics.
Elido's free tier is small too. It beats Bitly's on analytics and ads, not on size.
If a click quota is your problem, compare monthly click limits before link counts, because the two vendors count different things.
Branded domains and smart routing
Branded domains are the clearest gap at the low end. Start there. A custom domain on Bitly starts at the 29 USD tier. On Elido it's on Pro, and Business adds wildcard subdomains for agencies that give each client a subdomain. Certificates are issued on demand when a domain verifies.
Conditional redirects work at the edge on Elido. Smart links can match on country, device, browser, operating system, language, plus a time window. They also support A/B variants and rotation. There's no referrer rule. Time-of-day works, referrer doesn't. I didn't verify Bitly's routing options on this pass, so compare against its current docs if device or country routing is on your list. The mechanics are in smart links explained.
EU data: what's true and what isn't
Procurement teams ask the hardest questions here, so these are the exact facts, including the unflattering ones.
Elido keeps its primary data in the EU. It does not pin a workspace to a region, and the click store keeps the visitor IP truncated to /24 (IPv4) or /48 (IPv6), plus city and coordinates. Edge nodes in the US and Singapore process visitor IPs too. That's where redirects happen. We list 13 sub-processors, and a DPA is available on request. We aren't ISO 27001 certified, and SOC 2 is in preparation with no report yet. Our trust page has the current list.
For Bitly, I couldn't verify a hosting region from its pricing page, so I won't claim one. Ask both vendors for the DPA, the sub-processor list and the transfer mechanism, then put the answers side by side and weigh them against what your legal team actually requires for your customers' data before anyone signs. Don't skip it. The questions a DPO asks are in EU data residency for marketing tools.
Conversions, integrations and agencies
Elido doesn't offer a public conversions API or a click ID header, and server-side Meta CAPI isn't active. What exists today: Stripe and Shopify webhooks attribute revenue to a link by its link ID, and click events can be forwarded to GA4, Mixpanel, Klaviyo, Brevo, Datadog. See conversion tracking for the details and track UTM campaigns end to end for the setup.
On integrations, expect Bitly to have the longer list, so check the specific tools you use. Of Elido's SDKs, only Go is published so far; the TypeScript, Python and Ruby SDKs are not on their package registries yet, and the REST API works today. It also has an n8n node. Slack, Discord, Telegram channels are in beta. Its Zapier app is private for now. White-label (branded dashboard, emails, splash page) is a Business feature. It matters if you resell link infrastructure to clients. There's no self-hosted edition today.
The comparison table
| Question | Bitly (accessed 2026-10-25) | Elido |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 5 links, 2 QR codes a month, with ads | 50 active links, 500 clicks a month |
| Cheapest paid plan | Core, 10 USD a month billed annually | Pro, from 3.50 EUR a month |
| First custom domain | Growth, 29 USD a month billed annually | Pro |
| Analytics history | 30 days (Core) to 2 years (Enterprise) | 90 days (Free), 1 year (Pro), 2 years (Business) |
| Wildcard subdomains | not shown on the page | Business |
| White-label | not shown on the page | Business |
| Self-host | not shown on the page | not available |
| Conversion tracking | not verified | Stripe and Shopify revenue by link; no public conversions API |
When to stay on Bitly, and what to read next
Stay if you create a few hundred links a month and your audience is mostly in the US. Stay if redirects and click counts are all you need. Migrating costs hours and returns nothing there. Also stay if a partner integration you rely on is only on Bitly.
Switching makes sense once the cost is measurable, for example when a team pays for the 199 USD tier only to get a year of analytics history and a few thousand extra links, or when a security review stalls a renewal for weeks while nobody can answer where click data is stored. Move when a quota, a missing custom domain, a short analytics window or a residency review blocks real work. Links on bit.ly itself can't be repointed. Plan for that. The migration playbook covers it, and /compare/vs-bitly has the side-by-side. If Dub or Short.io is also on your list, see Dub alternatives and Bitly vs Rebrandly.
Try Elido free and put one real campaign through it before you commit.
Related on the blog
Frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to Bitly?
It depends on what you're paying Bitly for. Elido fits teams that need EU-hosted data, a custom domain on a cheap plan, and a free tier with analytics but no ads. Short.io offers the largest free link allowance of the group. Dub suits developers who want open source. Pick the one that removes your specific limit.
Does Bitly have a free plan?
Yes, but it's small. On Bitly's pricing page (accessed 2026-10-25) the free plan is marked as supported by ads and allows 5 short links and 2 QR codes a month, with no custom domain and no analytics history. Core starts at 10 USD a month billed annually.
How much does a custom domain cost on Bitly?
On the pricing page accessed 2026-10-25, Core has no custom domain. Growth, at 29 USD a month billed annually (348 USD a year), lists branded links and a complimentary custom domain. Elido includes one custom domain on Pro, which starts from 3.50 EUR a month.
Is Bitly GDPR compliant and EU-hosted?
I couldn't confirm where Bitly hosts click data from its pricing page, so I won't state a region. Ask Bitly for its DPA and sub-processor list and judge the transfer basis yourself. Elido keeps its primary data in the EU, but it has no per-workspace region pin, and edge nodes outside the EU see visitor IPs.
Can I move my Bitly links to another shortener without breaking them?
Only if the short links live on your own domain. Links on bit.ly stay on bit.ly, so they can't be repointed. Branded links can be recreated with the same slugs on the new platform and the domain repointed. The migration playbook covers CSV export, DNS and click-history reconciliation.
When should I stay on Bitly?
Stay if you create a modest number of links, your audience is mostly in the US, and the features you use are plain redirects and click counts. Switching costs hours and gives you nothing in that case. Revisit when a quota, a contract clause or a missing feature starts blocking real work.
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