Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Bitly VS Listmonk

Compare Bitly VS Listmonk and see what are their differences

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Bitly logo Bitly

Get the most out of your social and online marketing efforts. Own, understand and activate your best audience through the power of the link with Bitly Enterprise.

Listmonk logo Listmonk

Send e-mail campaigns from a powerful dashboard. High performance and features packed into one app.
  • Bitly Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-18
  • Listmonk Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-08-30

Bitly features and specs

  • Link Shortening
    Bitly provides simple and efficient URL shortening, making long URLs more manageable and aesthetically pleasing.
  • Analytics
    Bitly offers detailed analytics, allowing users to track link performance, click rates, and geographic data.
  • Branding
    With Bitly, users can create branded short links, which help in maintaining brand consistency and trust.
  • Integrations
    Bitly integrates with various platforms and tools like social media, CMS, and marketing tools, enhancing workflow.
  • Mobile App
    Bitly offers a mobile app, giving users the flexibility to create and manage links on the go.

Possible disadvantages of Bitly

  • Cost
    Bitly's free tier is limited, with more advanced features available only in the paid plans.
  • Privacy
    Bitly's collection of user data and link analytics can raise privacy concerns.
  • Expiration
    Shortened links can sometimes expire or be deactivated, potentially causing broken links.
  • Dependence on Third Party
    Relying on Bitly means depending on a third-party service, which comes with risks like downtime or service changes.
  • Phishing and Spam
    Shortened URLs can be used for malicious purposes like phishing and spam, which can reduce trust.

Listmonk features and specs

  • Open Source
    Listmonk is free to use, modify, and distribute. This can offer significant cost savings compared to proprietary email marketing solutions.
  • Self-Hosted
    Allows you to have full control over the software and your data, providing enhanced security and customization possibilities.
  • Scalability
    Designed to handle millions of subscribers and messages effectively, making it suitable for both small and large-scale email marketing campaigns.
  • Multilingual Support
    Supports multiple languages, making it accessible for users from different linguistic backgrounds.
  • API Access
    Provides a comprehensive API, allowing for excellent integration with other software and platforms.
  • Flexible Database
    Supports both PostgreSQL and SQLite, catering to different user needs and technical requirements.

Possible disadvantages of Listmonk

  • Technical Expertise Required
    Being a self-hosted solution, it requires a certain level of technical knowledge for setup, maintenance, and troubleshooting.
  • Hosting Costs
    Although the software itself is free, you will need to incur costs for hosting and maintaining the server where Listmonk is installed.
  • Limited Built-In Templates
    May not come with a wide variety of pre-designed email templates, requiring users to create their own or import from other sources.
  • Community Support
    Unlike commercial solutions, support is primarily community-driven, which may lead to slower issue resolution compared to dedicated support teams.
  • Learning Curve
    The initial setup and configuration can be complex and may require a time investment to understand all its features and functionalities.

Bitly videos

Bitly Review

More videos:

  • Review - Why I Moved From Bitly To Rebrandly For URL Shortner
  • Review - What is Bitly.com?

Listmonk videos

Listmonk

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Bitly and Listmonk)
Link Management
100 100%
0% 0
Email Marketing
0 0%
100% 100
URL Shortener
100 100%
0% 0
Newsletter Marketing
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Bitly and Listmonk

Bitly Reviews

  1. Deepak Kumar
    · Editor at einsstark.tech ·
    Bitly Review - Amazing Experience.

    Bitly is a URL shortening service and a link management platform. The company Bitly, Inc., was established in 2008. It is privately held and based in New York City. Bitly shortens 600 million links per month, for social networking, SMS, and email. Bitly makes money by charging for access to aggregate data created because of many people using the shortened URLs.

    The Bitly URL shortening service became popular on Twitter after it became the default URL shortening service on the website on May 6, 2009. It was subsequently replaced by Twitter's own t.co service.

    The company uses HTTP 301 redirects for its links. The shortcuts are intended to be permanent and cannot be changed once they are created. URLs that are shortened with the bitly service use the bit.ly domain or any other generic domain that the service offers.

    🏁 Competitors: Rebrandly, TinyURL, Polr

Top 10 Bitly alternatives and competitors in 2025
Winner: JotURL takes the lead over Bitly with its extensive feature set and focuses on advanced analytics and retargeting. While both platforms offer strong link management and tracking capabilities, JotURL provides 250K branded links (vs. Bitly’s 3,000), retargeting features, CTAs, and longer analytics data storage (2 years vs. 1 year).
Source: blog.replug.io
11 Best URL Shorteners For 2025 (Comparison)
Among these are branded URLs. Links shortened by Bitly use “bit.ly” as a domain. Branded allow you to use a custom domain for brand-specific shortlinks. For example, we could have sb.xyz. So instead of “bit.ly/34512”, we could have “sb.xyz/34512”.
10 Excellent Google URL Shortener Alternatives
Bitly analytics lets you track link clicks, audience engagement, and conversions in real time. With Bitly, you can understand your audience’s behavior and optimize your marketing strategies accordingly. Plus, you can manage all your links from an intuitive, user-friendly dashboard.
Source: bitly.com
07 Best Bitly Alternative You Will Only Need (FREE)
We have reached the end of the alternatives to Bitly. There are a few reasons you might be looking for an alternative to Bitly, as I mentioned at the post’s start. Maybe you’re looking for more features or fewer restrictions. Or maybe you’re just looking for something different. Whatever the reason, there are plenty of alternatives to Bitly out there.
11 Best Bitly Alternatives & Similar URL Shorteners
Among the alternatives to Bitly on the market, Shorby is one of the best you could have. Other than shortening your website address, you can use the website on your Instagram bio. It means that this platform allows you to gather the important links in one place.

Listmonk Reviews

We have no reviews of Listmonk yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Listmonk might be a bit more popular than Bitly. We know about 27 links to it since March 2021 and only 23 links to Bitly. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Bitly mentions (23)

  • URL shorteners and why would you need one?
    Choose a shortener: Pick a link shortener that fits your needs---many offer options like custom branding, QR code creation, and analytics. Ziplink, Short.io, and Bitly are all capable of that. If you are looking for something really simple, you may want to check out TinyURL as well. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • The Power of URL Shorteners in Digital Marketing
    Choose a Reliable URL Shortener – Opt for services like tny.ws, Bit.ly, or Rebrandly that provide analytics and customization. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • How to Create a Custom Short URL for My Brand?
    The first step in creating a custom short URL is selecting a reliable URL shortening service. Bitly is one of the most popular options available, providing robust features such as analytics, link management, and customization options. Alternatively, you can explore other free URL shorteners that might better suit your needs. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Create your own Censorship-Resistant Links for X and More!
    Platforms like X (formerly Twitter) can block or censor links to certain sites like they recently did to Signal.me, even when those links contain important information. A link shortener or redirect may work in the short term, but sites like Bitly and TinyURL create new single points of failure when platforms block them instead. What we want to do instead is leverage unique domains, like one you may already own for... - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Building a Scalable URL Shortener with Node.js (Part 1/2)
    I'm sure you're familiar with URL shortener tools like TinyURL and Bitly, as they are widely used online. It simply takes a long URL and creates a shorter, unique alias that redirects to the original link. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
View more

Listmonk mentions (27)

  • Ask HN: Self hosted Waitlist with Landing page?
    "Preferably using shadcn/react/supabase. I don't want to reinvent the wheel here." Respectfully, you don't need supabase for a landing page with waitlist especially when you don't want to reinvest the wheel. You have several options: 1. Find a WordPress theme that has the form built in. The fastest out of the box setup you will find. 2. If you don't want WordPRess or deal with PHP etc, then there are plenty of... - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Ask HN: Cheap way to run a small newsletter?
    You can use https://listmonk.app or https://sendy.co and use a provider lke SES under the hood. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Show HN: I made an open source Mailchimp RSS-to-Email alternative
    Listmonk is a seriously awesome piece of software! Have used it to run multiple newsletters, over various version upgrades (almost all stress free), and even written some custom integrations with the API. https://listmonk.app. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Bots Invaded My Newsletter. Here's How I Fought Back with ML ⚔️ 🤖
    I have mainly name and email fields in the newsletter signup and there is no verification. Then I manually blacklisted all the bots in the email service Listmonk. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • My Open-Source toolkit for 2024
    Listmonk – An open-source alternative to Mailchimp just released version 3. It’s great as a stand-alone newsletter. Also seems like a low lift for capturing leads for side projects. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Bitly and Listmonk, you can also consider the following products

TinyURL - Are you sick of posting URLs in emails only to have it break when sent causing the recipient to...

MailChimp - MailChimp is the best way to design, send, and share email newsletters.

Rebrandly - Rebrandly is the easiest way to create, share and manage branded links.

Sendy - Sendy is a self hosted newsletter app that sends emails 100x cheaper via Amazon SES

YOURLS - YOURLS is a website that contains all the tools you need to create and launch your very own URL shortener. URL shorteners like bitly or TinyURL are fine for public use, but they offer limited options in terms of URL customization.

TinyLetter - Start writing your own newsletter instantly.