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GitHub Gist VS Bitly

Compare GitHub Gist VS Bitly and see what are their differences

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GitHub Gist logo GitHub Gist

Gist is a simple way to share snippets and pastes with others.

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.
  • GitHub Gist Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-28
  • Bitly Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-18

GitHub Gist features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    GitHub Gist provides a simple interface for creating and sharing code snippets or textual information. Users can quickly create new gists without needing to set up a full repository.
  • Version Control
    Each gist benefits from built-in version control, allowing users to track changes and roll back to previous versions if necessary.
  • Collaboration
    Gists can be shared with others easily, and collaborators can comment on, suggest changes, and fork the gist for further modification, making it a good tool for code reviews and quick sharing.
  • Embed and Share
    Gists can be embedded into websites and blogs, making it easy to share code in a readable and aesthetically pleasing way.
  • Public or Private
    Users have the option to create public or secret gists, offering flexibility in terms of visibility and accessibility.

Possible disadvantages of GitHub Gist

  • Limited Features
    Gists are not full-fledged repositories and lack many features that GitHub repositories offer, such as project management tools and issue tracking.
  • Search and Organization
    Managing and finding gists can become challenging as there is no internal folder structure or advanced search capability to organize them effectively.
  • Security
    While gists can be made private, they are still accessible by anyone who has the URL. They do not provide the same level of access control as private GitHub repositories.
  • Limited Collaboration
    While gists support basic collaboration through comments and forks, they do not offer the comprehensive collaboration tools available in full GitHub repositories, such as detailed pull requests and issue tracking.
  • File Size Limitation
    Gists have a file size limit, making them unsuitable for larger files or projects. This limits their use for anything beyond simple or small code snippets.

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.

GitHub Gist videos

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Deploy Website using GitHub Pages in less than 10 mins

Bitly videos

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Bitly Review

More videos:

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

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to GitHub Gist and Bitly)

GitHub Gist

Bitly

Design Playground
100 100%
Design Playground
0% 0
Link Management
0 0%
Link Management
100% 100
JavaScript
100 100%
JavaScript
0% 0
URL Shortener
0 0%
URL Shortener
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using GitHub Gist and Bitly. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

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

GitHub Gist Reviews

We have no reviews of GitHub Gist yet.
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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”.
Source: startupbonsai.com
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.
Source: contentastro.com
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.
Source: www.regendus.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Bitly should be more popular than GitHub Gist. It has been mentiond 23 times since March 2021. 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.

GitHub Gist mentions (8)

  • Help…I’m slightly embarrassed to post this…but could anyone look at my profile and let me know if there are any “newbie red flags”. I’ve fallen in love with Python and decided to post projects from the classes I’ve taken. I’ve got more advanced projects to post and still have some project cleaning!
    If you are learning things, you could also create github gists. That way your repos will only be coding related, while you can create tutorials / work exercises in gists. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Best Practice for keeping a library of code/functions to reuse in future projects
    I use Github, both for full repos and for short gists. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Flutter Challenges: Challenge 02
    On the other hand, shared DartPads are just gists on GitHub so theoretically they can include code that works with different packages. Of course, such gists will not compile in DartPad and will be displayed as having errors :(. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Best way to make notes about coding?
    Perhaps github gists? https://gist.github.com/discover. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Some information that may be useful on the *nature of the problem* posed by the pandemic and SARS-cov-2 virus
    I looked at Github gists, but they are focused in displaying the markdown sourcecode (so e.g. Hyperlinks won't be clickable [1] ). Options just don't seem to be focused on simply hosting PDFs/information with clickable references. Source: over 3 years ago
View more

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 1 month 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 / about 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 / 2 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 / 7 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

Pastebin.com - Pastebin.com is a website where you can store text for a certain period of time.

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

PrivateBin - PrivateBin is a minimalist, open source online pastebin where the server has zero knowledge of...

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

hastebin - Pad editor for source code.

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.

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