Establishing a robust and efficient online presence—whether for a business, a personal project, or a creative endeavor—has never been more important in the digital world. Small business owners, bloggers, and everyone in between continually search for ways to optimize their online operations.
Bitly offers a range of functionalities to help individuals and businesses make the most out of their online activities. With a free Bitly account, you can share links, QR Codes, and landing pages and track landing page views for valuable insights into your customers’ behaviors.
From understanding the capabilities of a free Bitly account to how it can grow with your online presence needs, learn below how everyone can benefit from a free Bitly account.
Note: The brands and examples discussed below were found during our online research for this article.
What can you do with a free Bitly account?
The free Bitly account includes two Bitly Codes, five Bitly Links, and two custom landing pages per month. It also comes with three custom back-halves, QR Code and landing page customization capabilities, as well as PNG, SVG, and JPEG QR Code download formats.
The paid plans offer expanded functionality, including custom domains, advanced analytics, and bulk link shortening. However, for most individuals and small businesses, the free account provides sufficient functionality to manage their online activities effectively, including:
Link management
If you regularly share links via social media, email, or any other online platform, you know how URLs can become long and challenging to manage. With the free plan, you can shorten any URL and create neat links that are visually appealing, memorable, and easy to share.
Bitly’s link management capabilities also include features such as link tagging to help you organize URLs.
QR Codes
QR Codes are synonymous with modern marketing. They are highly versatile, cost-effective, and a great way to bridge the gap between physical and online marketing campaigns.
With a Bitly plan, you can create free Dynamic QR Codes, customize their frames, colors, and patterns, and download them in PNG, JPEG, and SVG formats.
Landing pages
Under the free Bitly plan, you can create two custom landing pages via Bitly Pages. The landing pages are already mobile-optimized and can be a great place to house multiple links or promote business events and products, eliminating the need for a standalone landing page platform.
The free Bitly plan doesn’t just make it easy to create landing pages; it also provides various customization options. It allows you to choose your preferred page layouts, upload desired profile and background images, and display social media icons.
It also provides landing page view data, which can help you gauge the success of your marketing or customer engagement campaigns.
Link-in-bio landing page
A link-in-bio page is a single, specialized landing page that houses multiple links to your various online profiles. It is particularly useful for platforms like Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter), where there is a limit to the number of links you can add to your profile.
With Bitly’s free plan, you can use your custom landing page allotments to create a link-in-bio page via Bitly Pages. This makes it easier for your subscribers and potential customers to access all your content in one place.
Basic analytics and reporting
Bitly’s free plan includes landing page view data, which provides valuable insights into the performance of your pages.
You can use this data to determine the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns (if you include a URL or QR Code leading to these pages in ads) and gauge audience interest in promoted offerings.
Integrations
Bitly integrates seamlessly with various tools, including social media management solutions like Sprout Social and Buffer, graphic design tools like Canva, and customer relationship management platforms like HubSpot and Salesforce. You can even unlock more integrations via Zapier.
These integrations allow you to shorten links and create custom QR Codes without leaving your current workflow or adding new technologies.
Mobile app, browser extension, and 2FA
Bitly’s free plan offers mobile app and browser extension accessibility, enabling you to create and manage links and QR Codes from anywhere without needing to use your desktop.
It also has a two-factor authentication (2FA) security feature, limiting access to your account to only authorized individuals. This makes it one of the most flexible and secure free tools for small business marketing.
Developer-friendly features
Under the free plan, developers can make 1,000 requests per month to the Bitly API. This allows them to integrate Bitly’s link shortening and QR Code generation capabilities into some of the tools your business may already be using (such as Hootsuite, Workato, Sendible, WordPress, Adobe Express, and Emplifi) minimizing manual input.
The free API access also means that developers can test workflows and integrate Bitly’s capabilities into proof-of-concepts without incurring upfront costs.
Top 5 use cases for a free Bitly account
You can leverage Bitly’s free account in many ways to boost your online presence, simplify link management, and drive engagement. Let’s take a look at the top five use cases.
1. Branding
Small businesses, professionals, and individuals can elevate their branding by customizing their QR Codes to align with their brand’s theme colors. They can also customize links’ back-halves with brand-specific terms. This creates a cohesive brand image and makes it easy for others to recognize their assets.
2. Social media
Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and TikTok feeds are curated to tell our personal stories through our own lens. Along with other social media platforms, we eventually have so many accounts that we forget or lose track of where or how our content is being shared. A Bitly short URL is the most reliable way to create a seamless connection that ensures engagement leads to a destination that converts to an action regardless of the platform.
A link-in-bio can also be helpful, and you can create one in minutes with Bitly by adding social links to a Bitly Page. Directing what would be just a quick double tap to a link that goes to a blog, an online shop, a donation page, or an event page can be the difference between engagement and action.
3. Content sharing
We’ve all seen long URLs in blog posts, emails, and social media posts that look cluttered and unprofessional. Bitly allows you to customize these long links into short, branded URLs that look clean and are easy to share. Content creators and bloggers can use Bitly to create custom short URLs for their blog posts, articles, and social media content, making it easier for readers to access the content.
Those looking to share multiple pieces of content can also use Bitly’s landing pages to centralize links to their content. With Bitly’s free landing page view data, this can be an excellent way to gauge interest in their content.
4. Educational purposes
Teachers, professors, and educators can use Bitly to share resources, materials, and references with their students. With Bitly, they can create short links that lead to relevant documents, videos, or images, making it easier for students to access and navigate the resources.
They can also embed these links in custom QR Codes and add them to physical classroom materials, such as printed notes. This is a great way to provide easy access to comprehensive information, quizzes, and infographics without overwhelming learners.
5. Events or RSVPs
Bitly Pages can help event organizers share pertinent event details without creating dedicated websites. The Connections Platform can also make it easier for them to send out invitations through character-limited mediums like SMS, which has a 160-character limit. With Bitly’s link shortening feature, planners can comfortably fit extra details into their messages to give recipients some context for their links.
Understand how Bitly grows with you
As your needs grow and evolve, so can your Bitly account. From the free account with basic features, you can upgrade to a paid subscription to unlock advanced analytics, custom branded domains, and team collaboration tools. Here’s how Bitly can grow with you toward a successful online presence.
Scaling up with ease
Bitly is designed for easy scalability, allowing you to transition smoothly from the free version to more advanced paid tiers as needs grow—and when the time is right. Whether you are an individual looking to optimize your brand or a business with multiple team members, Bitly has the tools and features to support you every step of the way.
Investing in your link infrastructure
Digital assets are becoming increasingly valuable in the modern business environment, pushing entrepreneurs, marketing teams, and professionals to look for free social media management tools. Bitly’s link shortening capabilities and landing page features streamline URL sharing, making the platform a comprehensive solution.
With a paid Bitly plan, you get data such as total clicks, clicks by location, and clicks by device, which can facilitate efficient online operations and data-driven strategies.
For example, through total click data, you can identify the kind of content that resonates with your target audience and invest more in it to improve your return on investment (ROI). This is more important than ever, as modern decision-makers now require marketing teams to demonstrate the value of their investments to justify increased marketing budgets.
Building up your digital footprint
Bitly’s free and paid features can help businesses scale their digital footprint. As businesses grow and expand their online presence, they will inevitably have more links to manage, track, and share. Bitly’s paid plans allow for unlimited link creation and offer advanced tracking capabilities, including UTM parameters, geo-location data, and device-specific insights.
Further, some plans unlock Bitly Campaigns, an advanced feature that allows you to group related links for seamless management and tracking.
How to sign up for a Bitly account
It’s easy to get started with a free Bitly account. Here’s how to be on your way to link management, landing page creation, and QR Code generation in minutes:
Step 1: Choose ‘Sign up Free’
Select the Sign up Free button located in the top right corner of any Bitly page. Alternatively, select the Get Started button under the Free tier column on the pricing page. You can easily compare different pricing tiers and their associated features from here. Toggle between paying monthly or annually to see the price difference in paid plans.
Step 2: Log in or create an account
Selecting the Sign up Free link will lead to an account page where you can log in if you already have an account or create a new one. You can sign up with a Google account or create an account with a unique username, password, and email address. Be sure to verify that your password is strong enough before proceeding with account sign-up.
Step 3: Verify your account
Bitly takes account security very seriously, and as a security measure, you must verify your email address before you can access Bitly’s products. Upon signing up, you’ll get a verification email with a link to verify your account. Click the link to go back to Bitly and access your account.
Step 4: Start using Bitly
Once you create an account, you’re all set! Start creating shortened links for your social media profiles, blog posts, or website; generate QR Codes to add to your offline marketing materials, such as flyers or business cards; or build landing pages to house your links or promote your products. You can customize these assets and access basic analytics, like landing page views.
Transform your online presence and digital strategy with Bitly
Link clutter, gaps between online and offline mediums, and the high cost of some digital marketing tools are common challenges for businesses looking to expand their online presence.
Luckily, Bitly can help. With the Connections Platform, you can shorten links to streamline sharing, generate QR Codes to bridge the gap between physical and digital efforts, and create landing pages in just a few minutes for free.
The best part? Bitly isn’t a one-time solution—it grows with your business. As your online presence expands, you can upgrade to a paid account to access advanced analytics and branding tools, allowing for better optimization of your online strategy.
Ready to transform your online presence and digital strategy? Check out Bitly’s pricing plans and get started today.
