For branded links you run as a business or agency, the tools differ on four things: how many of your own domains a plan includes, whether each client can have a separate workspace, how many links and clicks you get, and what the next plan up costs. LotsLink makes links, clicks, QR codes, workspaces and teammates free and unlimited, and charges $4 a month per domain of your own.
Branded here means short links on your own domain, like go.yourclient.com/spring, not bit.ly/2xYz. I opened each tool's own pricing and MCP pages on 24 October 2026 and compared what matters when you manage branded links for a team or for several clients: domains per plan, link and click limits, workspaces, QR codes, API and MCP, and what the free plan really allows. If you only want free plans, Free URL Shorteners With a Custom Domain goes deep on those. This list is about managing branded links as a business.
Domains, price and limits at a glance
| Tool | Own domains and the price that unlocks them | Links | Clicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| LotsLink | Free lots.link subdomain; own domains $4 a month each, or Starter $9 (3), Pro $24 (10), Business $59 (30) | Unlimited (1,000 new per person per 24 hours) | Unlimited, all recorded |
| Short.io | Free 5; Hobby $5 (7); Pro $18 (10); Team $48 (50); Enterprise $148 (unlimited) | Free 1,000 branded links in total; Hobby 2,500; Pro and up unlimited | Redirects unlimited; tracked clicks Free 50,000 a month, Hobby 100,000, Pro and up unlimited |
| Rebrandly | Free 1; Essentials $11 (2); Professional $32 (3); Growth $149 (10) | 10, 250, 1,500, 3,500 a month | Unlimited clicks; detailed data 100, 10,000, 25,000, 150,000 a month |
| Dub | Free 3; Pro $30 (10); Business $90 (100); Advanced $300 (250) | 25, 1,000, 10,000, 50,000 new a month | Tracked events 1,000, 50,000, 250,000, 1 million a month |
| Bitly | None on Free or Core; Growth $29 (one included); several domains on Enterprise only | 5, 100, 500, 3,000 a month | Unlimited clicks; history 30 days to 2 years by plan |
| Replug | Free 3; Essentials $9.50 (5); Scale $23.40 (15); Agency $79.20 (50) | Free 100; Essentials 1,000; Scale and up unlimited | Free 1,000 a month, Essentials 10,000, Scale 50,000, Agency 250,000 |
| Linkly | Free 1; Pro $32 (3); Business $107 (10); Unlimited $833 (100) | Free 100 a month; Pro 1,000; Business 5,000 | Free 500 a month; Pro 10,000; Business 50,000 |
| Linkbreakers | Free 1; Light $5.90 (2); Pro $24.90 (5); Enterprise unlimited | Not capped per plan; QR codes are credit based | Tracked journeys 500, 5,000, 50,000 a month |
| T.LY | No free plan; Personal $10 (2); Basic $20 (10); Pro $50 (20); Business $100 (100) | 1,000, 4,000, 10,000, 20,000 a month | Unlimited clicks; stats tracked 50,000 to 500,000 a month |
Prices are US dollars a month from each vendor's pricing page, checked on 24 October 2026. Rebrandly, Replug, Linkly, Linkbreakers and Bitly show yearly billing by default, so their figures are per month billed annually (Bitly Core is annual only, Linkly Starter is annual only). T.LY and Dub show monthly prices. Short.io lists the prices above per month. Only list prices, no promotions.
Teams, workspaces, QR codes, API and MCP
| Tool | Teams and workspaces per client | QR codes | API | MCP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LotsLink | Unlimited workspaces and teammates, free; roles owner, admin, member, viewer; projects with a client name | Free and unlimited, PNG of the short URL, scans counted on the link | Every plan, free | Every plan, free |
| Short.io | 1 user on Free, Hobby and Pro; unlimited users on Team; multiple teams (groups with their own domains) on Enterprise | On every plan | On every plan | Remote server with an API key |
| Rebrandly | 1 workspace to Essentials; 2 workspaces and teammates on Professional; 5 on Growth | Free 10 a month with a watermark; 250, 1,500, 3,500 on paid plans | On every plan, 100 to 1,000 calls a minute | On every plan |
| Dub | Pricing page lists users: 1 Free, 3 Pro, 10 Business, 20 Advanced | Custom QR codes on paid plans; QR codes on Free | On every plan including Free | Links MCP exists; plan not stated on the pricing page |
| Bitly | Multiple users and group permissions on Enterprise only | Free 2 a month; 5, 10, 200 on paid plans | Free 1,000 requests a month, up to 50,000 | Listed in the plan table and on Bitly's MCP page |
| Replug | 1 workspace Free and Essentials; 3 Scale; 10 on Agency, each with its own kit of domains | Free 10; unlimited on Scale and Agency | Listed under Enterprise on the pricing page | Not mentioned on the pricing page |
| Linkly | Plan table doesn't list workspaces or seats | Custom QR codes from Starter | Full API on Free | Hosted server, OAuth sign-in |
| Linkbreakers | 1 member Free; 5 Light; 15 Pro; unlimited workspaces and teammates on Enterprise | Dynamic QR on every plan, credit based | Free 250 calls a month, up to 10,000 | On every plan including Free |
| T.LY | 1 member to Basic; 5 on Pro; 10 on Business | 1,000 to 20,000 a month, destinations editable | On every plan | Not mentioned on the pricing page |
Checked on 24 October 2026 on each vendor's own pages.
1. LotsLink: free workspaces and links, you pay for your own domains
I built LotsLink so that the thing you pay for is the thing that makes a link branded: your own domain. Everything else you use every day is free and unlimited.
- Domains: each domain of your own is $4 a month on pay as you go, charged daily from credits. Or a plan with a block: Starter $9 a month for 3, Pro $24 for 10, Business $59 for 30. Yearly is ten monthly payments. Everyone also gets one free lots.link subdomain with no DNS. Setup is a DNS-only CNAME to
customers.lots.link, and you keep the registration. - Links and clicks: unlimited, with a cap of 1,000 new links per person in any 24 hours. Click data covers country, city, device and referrer, with individual click records and CSV or JSON export.
- Teams and clients: workspaces and teammates are free and unlimited, so a workspace per client costs nothing. A project carries the client's name, admins manage domains and people, members edit their own links, and viewers read the numbers. That is the setup in Link Management for Agencies.
- Editable destinations: change where a link points at any time. The short URL and its QR code stay the same, and each change is recorded in
destination_changes, so you can see who pointed what where, and when. - QR codes: free and unlimited, and scans count as clicks on the link.
- API and MCP: a REST API and an MCP server on every account, free. The dashboard does the whole job, and ChatGPT, Claude or your own code can create links on a client's domain and read the clicks.
Pick LotsLink if you run branded links for several clients or teammates and don't want to pay per seat, per workspace or per link. Pricing is on the pricing page, with the arithmetic in LotsLink pricing explained.
2. Short.io: the most domains on a free plan
Short.io's pricing page says every plan includes custom domains.
- Domains: Free has 5, Hobby ($5 a month) 7, Pro ($18) 10, Team ($48) 50.
- Limits: Free has 1,000 branded links in total and 50,000 tracked clicks a month, with 1 user. Pro makes branded links and tracked clicks unlimited.
- Teams: unlimited users start on Team; Enterprise adds multiple teams, which give groups access to different sets of domains, plus SSO.
- Extras on every plan: destination updating, QR codes with colours and logos, A/B testing, link bundles and an API at 50 requests a second.
- MCP: a remote server that connects with an API key. Its own docs say that with the current MCP you can't edit or delete an existing short link.
Pick Short.io if you want several brands on their own domains for little money, and one user is enough.
3. Rebrandly: workspaces and teammates, priced by tier
Rebrandly is the closest to an agency setup with separate workspaces.
- Domains: Free has 1, Essentials ($11 a month billed yearly, $16 monthly) 2, Professional ($32 yearly, $39 monthly) 3, Growth ($149 yearly, $179 monthly) 10.
- Teams: Professional has 2 workspaces and teammates, Growth has 5 plus advanced role permissions. Seats and workspaces are bundled together.
- Limits: links are 10, 250, 1,500 and 3,500 a month. Clicks are unlimited, but detailed data is capped a month. Destination edits are capped too: 10 on Essentials, 50 on Professional, 150 on Growth.
- Also: conversion tracking from Professional, traffic routing, deep links on Growth, and MCP on every plan including Free.
Pick Rebrandly if you need conversion tracking, routing or Enterprise compliance, and a handful of workspaces covers your clients.
4. Dub: for developers and conversion tracking
Dub's Links plans start with a free plan: 3 custom domains, 25 new links a month, 1,000 tracked events a month, 1 user, QR codes and API access.
- Paid: Pro is $30 a month with 10 domains, 3 users and 1,000 new links a month. Business is $90 with 100 domains, 10 users, 10,000 new links, conversion tracking, A/B testing and event webhooks.
- MCP: Dub documents a Partners MCP and points to a separate Links MCP. The pricing page doesn't say which plans include it.
Pick Dub if attribution matters: Business tracks conversions after the click, while LotsLink records the click itself.
5. Bitly: the known name, branding from Growth
Bitly's free plan has no custom domain.
- Domains: Growth ($29 a month billed yearly) includes one complimentary custom domain and branded links. Multiple custom domains and group permissions are Enterprise.
- Limits: links per month are 5 on Free, 100 on Core ($10, annual only), 500 on Growth and 3,000 on Premium ($199). Clicks are unlimited. Changing a link's destination is capped a month: 5 on Core, 20 on Growth, 110 on Premium.
- Also: landing pages, mobile deep links on Premium, an API with a monthly request cap, and an MCP server you sign in to with your Bitly account.
Pick Bitly if your client or company already uses it and one branded domain is enough.
6. Replug: the agency plan with workspace kits
Replug sells to agencies directly.
- Domains: Free has 3, Essentials ($9.50 a month billed yearly, $19 monthly) 5, Scale ($23.40, $39) 15, Agency ($79.20, $99) 50.
- Teams: Agency gives 10 workspaces, each with its own kit of 25,000 clicks a month, 5 custom domains and 1 free .link domain. Scale has 3 workspaces and 3 users.
- Limits: the free plan has 100 links, 10 smart QR codes and 1,000 clicks a month. Past a click limit, links keep redirecting but call-to-action and retargeting pixels stop.
- Also: bio links, retargeting pixels, A/B tests and white label. API access is listed under Enterprise on the pricing page.
Pick Replug if you want white label, bio pages and retargeting in the same account and 10 client workspaces cover you.
7. Linkly: cheap extra domains, hosted MCP
- Domains: Free has 1, Pro ($32 a month billed yearly) 3, Business ($107) 10, Unlimited ($833) 100. Pro and Business can add a domain for $0.82 a month billed annually.
- Limits: Free is 100 links and 500 clicks a month with a full API. Pro is 1,000 links and 10,000 clicks a month; Business 5,000 and 50,000. On the free plan, links pause when the click quota runs out. On paid plans they keep redirecting and an add-on pack is bought automatically.
- Also: routing rules, rotators and pixels from Pro, and a hosted MCP server with OAuth sign-in.
Pick Linkly if you need many domains per workspace and routing rules, and can live with click quotas.
8. Linkbreakers: QR-first links with MCP on every plan
- Domains: Free has 1, Light ($5.90 a month billed yearly) 2, Pro ($24.90) 5. Unlimited domains, workspaces and teammates are on Enterprise, priced on usage.
- Limits: the tool counts tracked journeys: 500, 5,000 and 50,000 a month. Free keeps analytics for 2 weeks, Pro for 2 years. QR codes are credit based.
- Also: dynamic QR codes on every plan, routing by country, device and time, forms and landing pages. MCP is on every plan including Free.
Pick Linkbreakers if your links are mostly QR codes in the real world and you want routing and lead capture after the scan.
9. T.LY: simple limits, no free plan
- Domains: Personal ($10 a month) 2, Basic ($20) 10, Pro ($50) 20, Business ($100) 100.
- Limits: 1,000 to 20,000 short links and as many QR codes a month, unlimited clicks, and stats tracked from 50,000 to 500,000 a month. Detailed click records are kept for 5 to 20 days.
- Teams: 1 member through Basic, 5 on Pro, 10 on Business. Destinations are editable and API access is on every plan, with a 5-day trial and no free plan.
Pick T.LY if you want a plain tool with a fixed price per tier and a team seat or two.
What 10 branded domains cost
Ten client domains is a common agency number, so here is what it takes to get there. Each row is the cheapest plan with at least 10 domains.
| Tool | Plan | Per month | Who it includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short.io | Pro | $18 | 1 user |
| T.LY | Basic | $20 | 1 member |
| Replug | Scale (15 domains) | $23.40 billed yearly | 3 workspaces, 3 users |
| LotsLink | Pro | $24 | Unlimited workspaces and teammates |
| Dub | Pro | $30 | 3 users |
| Linkly | Business | $107 billed yearly | Seats not listed |
| Rebrandly | Growth | $149 billed yearly | 5 workspaces and teammates |
| Bitly | Enterprise only | Custom | Multiple users and groups |
The list prices above mix monthly and annual billing, as noted. LotsLink Pro is $24 a month, or $240 a year.
Where a rival is better
- A/B tests and conversions: Dub (Business) and Short.io (A/B on every plan) go further than LotsLink, which records clicks and doesn't attribute conversions.
- Deep links: Short.io Team, Rebrandly Growth, Dub Pro and Bitly Premium open links in mobile apps. LotsLink doesn't.
- Routing by country, device or time: Rebrandly, Linkly and Linkbreakers. LotsLink sends every click to one destination.
- White label, bio pages and retargeting: Replug.
- Cheaper domains at volume: Short.io (5 free) and Linkly ($0.82 for an extra domain on Pro and up) cost less per domain than $4.
- SLAs and SSO: Short.io Team states a 99.9% uptime SLA, and Rebrandly and Bitly list 99.99% uptime on Enterprise. LotsLink publishes no uptime figure.
How to pick
- Several clients, a growing team, no per-seat bills: LotsLink.
- Lots of cheap domains for a few brands: Short.io or Linkly.
- Conversion tracking or A/B tests: Dub Business or Short.io.
- Routing and deep links for campaigns: Rebrandly or Linkly.
- White label and bio pages: Replug Agency.
- Real-world QR campaigns with forms: Linkbreakers.
You can also read how LotsLink compares directly in LotsLink vs Short.io, or see the alternatives to the best-known name in Bitly alternatives. The compare hub has the rest, and the MCP setup takes a minute.
FAQ
What is a branded link?
A branded link is a short link on a domain you own, such as go.example.com/spring, instead of a generic shortener domain. The visitor sees your name, and you keep control of the domain.
How many custom domains does a branded link tool need?
One per brand or client is usual. For an agency with ten clients, the table above shows the cheapest plans with at least ten domains: Short.io Pro at $18 a month, T.LY Basic at $20, Replug Scale at $23.40 billed yearly and LotsLink Pro at $24 are the lowest list prices.
Which tools let me use my own domain on a free plan?
Short.io (5 domains), Dub (3), Replug (3), Linkly (1) and Linkbreakers (1) do. LotsLink gives a free lots.link subdomain and charges $4 a month for your own domain. Bitly's free plan has no custom domain and T.LY has no free plan. The details are in Free URL Shorteners With a Custom Domain.
Can I give each client a separate workspace?
Yes in LotsLink, where workspaces and teammates are free and unlimited. Rebrandly has 2 workspaces on Professional and 5 on Growth, Replug has 3 on Scale and 10 on Agency, and Linkbreakers offers unlimited workspaces on Enterprise.
Can my AI agent manage branded links?
Yes. LotsLink, Rebrandly, Linkbreakers, Bitly, Linkly and Short.io all have an MCP server. Short.io's own docs say its MCP can't edit or delete existing links. In LotsLink the agent can create links on a client's domain, change destinations, make QR codes and read click analytics, and the dashboard does the same jobs.
Do branded links cost more than normal short links?
Usually yes, because the domain is the paid part. In LotsLink everything else is free, so the cost is $4 a month per domain, or $9, $24 or $59 a month for 3, 10 or 30 domains. See the pricing page.
Checked on 24 October 2026 on each vendor's own pages: bitly.com/pages/pricing, rebrandly.com/pricing, dub.co/pricing/links, short.io/pricing, replug.io/pricing, linklyhq.com/pricing, linkbreakers.com/pricing and t.ly/pricing. Prices in US dollars.