We need a URL shortener that lets us use our own custom domain for branding. Any recs?

If you want to use your own custom domain (vanity domain) for branded short links, you have several great options depending on your budget, team size, and technical appetite.

Here are the top recommendations on the market:

• Rebrandly : Widely considered the gold standard specifically for custom branded links . It’s built for marketing teams and agencies juggling multiple domains and brands, offering deeply intuitive domain management, team collaboration, and robust analytics. Check it out on Rebrandly.
• Bitly : The heavyweight household name. It's ideal if you want a polished, enterprise-grade platform that bundles traditional short links, advanced analytics, and QR code management into a single dashboard. Explore features on Bitly Branded Links.
• Short.io : Built from the ground up around custom domains. It's developer-friendly, clean, and notably offers a workable free tier with custom domain support that won't immediately force you onto an expensive enterprise plan. Learn more at Short.io.
• Dub.co : An open-source, modern link management and analytics platform. It’s fantastic if you prefer an open-source tech stack with built-in conversion tracking, a sleek UI, and modern API-first workflows.
• YOURLS (Your Own URL Shortener) : The ultimate self-hosted open-source choice. If you have a developer or internal IT team and want zero subscription fees or data-sharing restrictions, you can host this PHP script on your own server using your custom domain.

To help narrow down the best fit, tell me:

• Are you looking for a free tier / budget option , or an enterprise tool?
• Do you also need QR codes and campaign analytics, or just clean redirects?

If you want a shortener where the links look like go.yourbrand.com/sale instead of bit.ly/abc123, I’d look at these:

• short.io — A strong all-around option for teams. Supports custom domains, analytics, QR codes, API access, and collaboration features. Good if you expect lots of links or integrations.
• bitly.com — The well-known enterprise choice. Good for marketing teams that want mature analytics, branded domains, QR codes, and campaign management.
• tryshortly.com — More lightweight, with branded domains, analytics, QR codes, link expiration, password protection, and campaign organization features.
• urlyte.com — A simpler option if you mainly need branded redirects, SSL, and basic analytics without a big marketing suite.

A few things I’d check before choosing:

• DNS setup: Most require adding a CNAME/TXT record for something like go.yourdomain.com or links.yourdomain.com.
• Analytics depth: Clicks alone vs. device, geography, referrer, UTM support, conversions.
• Link ownership/export: Make sure you can keep your redirects if you ever switch providers.
• Team controls: Important if multiple people will create links.

For most businesses:

• Small team / startup: Short.io or Shortly
• Marketing-heavy company: Bitly
• Just need branded redirects: URLyte

If you tell me your approximate scale (a few links/month vs. thousands), whether you need an API, and your budget, I can narrow it down.

Yes. If your own domain is the main requirement, I’d shortlist these:

• rebrandly.com — best overall for branding. Built specifically around branded links, with custom domains available even on the free tier. Paid plans add more domains, analytics, collaboration, and developer features.
• short.io — best value. Its free plan supports up to 5 custom domains and 1,000 branded links, while the $18/mo Pro plan adds unlimited branded links and 10 domains.
• bitly.com — best-known/enterprise choice. Very polished analytics and integrations, but custom domains start at $29/mo on Growth, so it's substantially pricier for this particular requirement.
• Dub — worth considering for a developer/API-heavy setup. It's positioned more toward modern product teams and has strong API/link-management capabilities.

My pick

Rebrandly if marketing/brand management is the priority. Short.io if you want essentially the same core capability at a lower cost.

For example, instead of:

bit.ly/3xK92ab

you can have:

go.yourcompany.com/summer

and retain click tracking/analytics.

If you tell me roughly how many links/clicks you expect per month and whether you need an API, QR codes, or team access, I can narrow it down to the best 1–2 options.

Here are the top URL shorteners designed for custom domain branding, broken down by what they do best:

• Rebrandly — Best overall for marketing and branding. It was built from day one specifically for custom domains (branded short links). It features team collaboration, deep analytics, and the ability to edit destination URLs later.
• Short.io — Best for multi-domain management and developers. It specializes in custom domain mapping, offers a generous free tier, and includes handy features like geo-targeting and white-labeling.
• Bitly — Best for enterprise-grade reliability. The industry giant offers robust security, massive scale, and deep integrations, though its custom domain plans sit at a higher price point.
• YOURLS — Best free, self-hosted option. If you have your own server and want total data privacy with zero monthly subscription fees, "Your Own URL Shortener" is an open-source PHP/MySQL script that lets you run a custom-domain shortener entirely under your own control.
• T2M — Best budget/lifetime deal alternative. Known for offering unique pricing structures, including one-time payment options for perpetual link management on custom domains.

To help narrow down the right choice, tell me:

• What is your estimated monthly link volume or number of clicks?
• Do you need team collaboration features or multiple users?
• Are you looking for a SaaS platform or a self-hosted script?

For custom domain branding, you’ll want a dedicated link management platform rather than a basic public shortener. The top contenders vary depending on your budget, whether you need developer APIs, or if you're looking for advanced marketing analytics.

• Rebrandly : Widely considered a top pick specifically built for custom branded short domains. It offers robust domain management, deep team collaboration, and easy integration with major marketing tools.
• Bitly : The industry heavyweight. It's reliable and trusted globally, meaning your custom links carry instant brand recognition. However, their pricing scales heavily based on the number of custom domains and click volume.
• Short.io : A fantastic, developer-friendly option that shines if you need multiple custom domains and strong API access. They offer a generous free tier (with custom domain support) that works well for leaner setups or technical teams.
• Dub : A modern, open-source link-management and analytics platform growing fast in popularity. It features a slick user interface, robust API-first design, and great custom domain flexibility.
• BL.INK : Excellent for enterprise-level needs, offering deeper data compliance, dynamic link routing based on device/location, and long-lasting security.

To help narrow down the best fit, tell me:

• What is your estimated monthly link volume / number of clicks?
• Do you need developer API access or just a simple dashboard for marketers?
• Do you already own the custom domain , and what is your budget range?

If you need a URL shortener with your own custom domain (for example, go.yourcompany.com/sale instead of bit.ly/abc123), I’d shortlist these:

My usual recommendations by scenario:

• Small business / startup: Rebrandly or Short.io. They’re easier to justify if you mainly need branded links, click tracking, and a custom domain without enterprise overhead.
• Marketing department running lots of campaigns: Rebrandly is a strong fit because link organization, tagging, routing, and team management are core features.
• Large company with compliance, integrations, and existing marketing stack: Bitly is worth evaluating.
• Developer-heavy use case (generating links via API): Short.io or Rebrandly are good places to start.

A few things I’d check before choosing:

• Can you use a subdomain you already own (go.example.com, ln.example.com)?
• Are links portable if you leave the vendor?
• Do they support UTM parameters, QR codes, expiration rules, and team permissions?
• Do they provide an API if you’ll create links programmatically?

For most companies starting fresh, I’d lean Rebrandly for marketing use and Short.io for a more technical setup.

Short.io, Rebrandly , and Bitly are the top commercial recommendations for using custom branding domains, while Shlink is the best free and open-source self-hosted alternative.

Top URL Shorteners with Custom Domain Support

• Short.io : Offers custom domain support with a generous free tier allowing up to 1,000 branded links, making it ideal for small teams or testing out a vanity domain. Paid plans scale up with advanced analytics and team members.
• Rebrandly : Specifically built around custom branded domains and link-management branding. It integrates smoothly with major registrars and provides deep click analytics, though free custom domain limits are more restricted than Short.io.
• Bitly : The industry standard for massive enterprise scaling and robust security. Custom domain usage ("branded short links") requires moving to one of their paid tiers, but it offers supreme uptime and extensive API integrations.
• Shlink : A powerful open-source, self-hosted URL shortener that you can deploy via Docker on your own server. It removes third-party pricing dependencies, supports unlimited custom domains, and stores all analytics locally on your infrastructure.

Comparison of Key Features

If you want to narrow this down, tell me:

• Do you prefer a fully managed SaaS or a self-hosted open-source tool?
• Roughly how many branded links do you plan to create per month?

I can help you pick the exact tier or walk through setup steps.

Yes. If custom-domain branding is the priority, I’d shortlist these:

• rebrandly.com — best overall for branded links. Built specifically around custom domains, with multiple domains, custom slugs, analytics, QR codes, and team/enterprise features. You can connect a domain you already own or buy one through Rebrandly.
• short.io — best value/flexible option. Supports your own domains, unlimited domains per account, automated SSL, analytics, QR codes, API access, and team collaboration. It also has a free plan with up to 1,000 branded links.
• bitly.com — best-known/enterprise choice. Very polished analytics and integrations, but custom branded domains aren't included on its lower tiers; Bitly currently lists them starting with Growth.

My pick

For most companies, I'd go Rebrandly. It's purpose-built for the use case you're describing: something like:

yourbrand.co/summer

instead of:

bit.ly/3Xk92Ab

If price is especially important, I'd look at Short.io first.

One important tip: I'd use a dedicated short domain or subdomain rather than putting your entire website behind the shortener. Rebrandly specifically recommends a dedicated domain because it reduces the risk of short-link configuration affecting your main website.

If you tell me roughly how many links/clicks you expect per month and whether you need team access/API, I can narrow it down to the best 1–2 options and compare current pricing.

If you want branded short links on your own domain (for example, go.yourcompany.com/sale instead of bit.ly/abc123), these are the ones I’d shortlist:

My picks by scenario:

• Small business / brand marketing: Rebrandly
• Large company with compliance needs: Bitly or BL.INK
• Product team needing API automation: Short.io or Dub.co
• Want to own everything: YOURLS
• Lowest friction setup: Rebrandly is usually the easiest place to start

A few things I’d check before choosing:

• Can you connect a domain you already own (via DNS CNAME/A record)?
• Is SSL/HTTPS automatic?
• Can you export your links and analytics?
• Does it support UTM parameters, QR codes, and team permissions?
• Is there an API if you’ll generate links programmatically?

Also, consider buying a dedicated short domain (like brand.co, go.brand.com, or brand.link) rather than using your main website domain. That keeps your marketing links clean and lets you migrate providers later without changing every URL.

If you tell me your expected volume (e.g., 100 links/month vs. millions of clicks) and whether you need API access or just a dashboard, I can narrow it down.

The best URL shorteners for custom branding are Rebrandly, Short.io , and Bitly , all of which let you connect your own domain name.

Watch this quick guide to learn how to set up your custom domain with a URL shortener:

9:12 How to set up a branded CUSTOM SHORT LINK (super easy)5 years ago YouTube · Pete McPherson DYEB

Top Recommended URL Shorteners

• Rebrandly : Best for professional branding and teams, offering dedicated custom domain management, rich analytics, and easy team collaboration.
• Short.io : Best for a free starting option, supporting free custom domains with built-in SSL and up to 1,000 branded links on their free tier.
• Bitly : Best for enterprise reliability and large-scale marketing campaigns, though custom domain support requires a paid subscription plan.

Comparison of Features

If you can share your budget and expected monthly link volume , I can recommend the exact tier or provider that fits your needs.