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TinyURL VS tawk.to

Compare TinyURL VS tawk.to and see what are their differences

TinyURL

The first notable URL shortener, online since 2002. Branded short links on your own domain, with click analytics that count human and bot traffic separately, QR codes, editable destinations, bulk creation and a REST API.

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Freemium $11 / Monthly (Pro - 125 links/mo)
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tawk.to

tawk.to is a free live chat app that lets you monitor and chat with visitors on your website or from a free customizable page

Rating
0 reviews
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AgentClara
AgentClara is a UK AI receptionist that answers calls, books clients, and handles follow-ups 24/7 for service businesses and agencies. Free AI agents for website chat, SMS, social media and email included. Set up online with a free number in minutes sponsored
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Which is more popular?

Based on our record, tawk.to should be more popular than TinyURL. It has been mentioned 47 times since March 2021.

social mentions
6 vs 47
URL Shortener popularity
100% vs 0%

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

TinyURL
tawk.to
Website tinyurl.com tawk.to
Pricing
Freemium $11 / Monthly (Pro - 125 links/mo) Official pricing
—
Company Startup from the United States · 20 - 49 employees · 2002 Startup from the United States
Listed in
Link Management URL Shortener Branded URLs Links +1
Customer Support Customer Service Help Desk Live Chat +1

About TinyURL and tawk.to

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

TinyURL
tawk.to

TinyURL is a URL shortening and link management platform, and was the first notable URL shortener when it launched in January 2002. It now serves over 4.4 million registered users and has created billions of links. Free accounts cover 30 links a month, with links that never expire. Paid plans...

Read more about TinyURL

No description of tawk.to yet.

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

TinyURL 8 features
tawk.to 6 features
  • Ease of Use
    TinyURL offers a very simple interface that allows users to create shortened URLs quickly without needing to register or log in.
  • Custom Aliases
    Users have the option to create custom aliases for their shortened links, making them more memorable and meaningful.
  • Link Analytics
    Every link reports clicks over time, referrer, geography, device type, operating system and browser, with human and bot clicks counted separately and two years of history retained.
  • Links That Never Expire
    Links created on the free plan do not expire, so shortened URLs stay valid in print, packaging and archived content.
  • Branded Domains
    Shorten links on your own custom domain or subdomain rather than a shared one. One branded domain on the free plan, three on paid plans.
  • Editable Destinations
    A link destination can be changed after the link has been shared, so a URL already printed or posted can be repointed without being reissued.
  • QR Code Generation
    Generate QR codes for shortened links, for packaging, print and other offline placements.
  • REST API and Bulk Creation
    Documented REST API (OpenAPI 3.0, bearer-token auth) for link creation, updates and analytics retrieval, plus bulk batch endpoints for high-volume workflows.
  • Free Plan
    tawk.to offers a fully-featured free plan that includes unlimited agents, chat history, and more. This is beneficial for small businesses and startups that want a cost-effective solution.
  • Customizable Widget
    The chat widget is highly customizable, allowing businesses to tailor its appearance and functionality to match their branding and user experience needs.
  • Multilingual Support
    tawk.to supports multiple languages, making it a versatile tool for businesses that operate in diverse markets.
  • Integration with Other Tools
    The platform integrates seamlessly with various third-party tools and services, including CMS, CRM systems, and social media platforms, streamlining business operations.
  • Mobile App
    tawk.to offers a mobile app for both iOS and Android, allowing customer service teams to manage chats and assist customers on the go.
  • Reports and Analytics
    The platform provides comprehensive reports and analytics, giving businesses insights into customer interactions and agent performance.

Possible disadvantages

  • Limited Features on Free Plan
    While the free plan is robust, some premium features such as white-labeling, video and voice chat are only available on paid tiers.
  • No Automation Features
    tawk.to lacks advanced automation features such as chatbots, which are available in some competing live chat solutions.
  • User Interface Complexity
    Some users find the user interface to be complicated and not as intuitive as other live chat solutions, which can result in a steeper learning curve.
  • Customer Support
    While tawk.to offers a comprehensive help center, some users have reported that response times from customer support can be slow during peak times.
  • Dependency on Internet Connection
    Like most cloud-based services, tawk.to depends on a stable internet connection. Downtime or slow internet can severely hamper its functionality.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

TinyURL
tawk.to

Overall verdict

  • TinyURL is considered a good and reliable service for those who need to create short URLs for personal or professional purposes. It is especially valuable for its simplicity and no-cost offering, appealing to users who need straightforward URL shortening without additional features.

Why this product is good

  • TinyURL is a popular URL shortening service that allows users to convert long, cumbersome URLs into shorter, more manageable links. This is particularly useful for sharing links on social media, in emails, or in printed materials where space is limited. TinyURL is easy to use, doesn't require an account, and offers free shortening services. The ability to create custom aliases also adds a layer of personalization and memorability to the links.

Recommended for

    TinyURL is recommended for individuals, small businesses, and organizations that need a quick and simple way to shorten URLs for social media posts, email campaigns, print materials, or casual link sharing without requiring advanced tracking or analytics features.

Overall verdict

  • Overall, Tawk.to is a good solution for businesses seeking an affordable, feature-rich live chat tool to enhance their customer service. While it does lack some advanced features found in paid alternatives, its cost-effectiveness and ease of use make it a popular choice among small to medium-sized businesses.

Why this product is good

  • Tawk.to is a widely used live chat solution that offers various features beneficial for businesses looking to improve customer communication. It is primarily appreciated for being free, easy to integrate with websites, and offering features like chat monitoring, visitor tracking, and multilingual chat support. Additionally, it provides mobile apps for both iOS and Android, allowing customer support agents to respond to queries on-the-go.

Recommended for

    Small to medium-sized businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs looking for a budget-friendly chat solution to engage with website visitors in real-time and improve their customer support experience.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

TinyURL 0 videos + Add
tawk.to 3 videos + Add

No TinyURL videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Tawk.to review — unbelievably rich live chat software for free

More videos

  • - Free Shopify live chat app? Tawk.to - Honest Review by EcomExperts.io
  • - Complete Tawk.to Live Chat Product Review Video

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
TinyURL
tawk.to
100% 100%
URL Shortener
0% 0%
0% 0%
Customer Support
100% 100%
100% 100%
Link Management
0% 0%
0% 0%
Live Chat
100% 100%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing TinyURL and tawk.to.

What makes your product unique?

TinyURL's answer

TinyURL has been running continuously since January 2002, which makes it the first notable URL shortening service and one of the oldest still operating. For a link shortener that longevity is the product, not trivia: a short link is only useful for as long as it still resolves, and links created here don't expire.

Three things set it apart day to day:

  • Human and bot clicks are reported separately. Most shorteners report raw click totals that quietly include crawlers and link-preview bots, so reported traffic reads higher than the real audience. Separating them means the numbers can be trusted for attribution.
  • Destinations stay editable after a link is published. A link already printed on packaging or posted to social can be repointed without reissuing it.
  • A permanent free tier, not a trial - 30 links a month, one branded domain, links that never expire.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

TinyURL's answer

Three practical reasons, depending on what you need:

  • You want attribution you can trust. Analytics cover clicks over time, referrer, geography, device, OS, browser and language, retained for two years, with bot traffic separated out.
  • You want your own brand on the link. Bring your own domain or subdomain on any plan, with up to three branded domains on paid tiers.
  • You want links that outlive the campaign. Twenty-four years of continuous operation, and a free tier that doesn't expire, matter when a link is printed on something you can't reprint.

Pricing starts free and goes to $9/month billed annually ($11 month-to-month) for 125 links a month with unlimited tracked clicks. Bulk plans handle 50,000 links a month for agencies and high-volume senders, and there's a REST API for automating the whole lifecycle.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

TinyURL's answer

  • Marketing teams running campaigns across several channels who need per-link attribution rather than a single lumped traffic figure
  • Social media managers and creators working inside character limits, who want a branded link rather than a generic one
  • Agencies managing links for multiple clients, each on its own branded domain
  • Developers automating link creation and analytics through the REST API
  • Enterprises needing SLA-backed uptime and compliance support
  • Educational Institutions
  • The healthcare industry

It also has a long tail of individual users who simply need a link shortened, which the free tier covers without an account upgrade.

What's the story behind your product?

TinyURL's answer

Kevin Gilbertson, a web developer, launched TinyURL in January 2002 so he could link directly to newsgroup postings, which at the time had long and unwieldy addresses. It was the first notable URL shortening service, and it arrived years before shortening became a category.

Twitter used TinyURL as its default shortener until May 2009, which put it in front of a mass audience during the period when character limits made short links essential.

Since then it's grown from a single-purpose utility into a link management platform: branded domains, click analytics with two years of retained history, editable destinations, QR codes, bulk creation and a REST API. It now serves over 4.4 million registered users and has created billions of links.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

TinyURL's answer

TinyURL is a cloud-hosted web application, accessible from any browser with no install. Its public interface is a REST API (v2.4.2) published as an OpenAPI 3.0 specification and authenticated with bearer tokens, covering link creation, editing, destination changes, analytics retrieval and bulk batch processing.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

TinyURL's answer

Twitter used TinyURL as its default URL shortener until May 2009.

User comments

Share your experience with using TinyURL and tawk.to. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

TinyURL no reviews yet
tawk.to no reviews yet

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Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

TinyURL 6 mentions
tawk.to 47 mentions
  • 🔐 Design a TinyURL System (Like Bit.ly) — From Scratch
    Import string Class TinyURL: def __init__(self): self.url_to_code = {} self.code_to_url = {} self.counter = 1 self.alphabet = string.ascii_letters + string.digits def encode_base62(self, num): ... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • 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... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year 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 / about 2 years ago

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  • Integrate Live chat function , Visitor to post Author.
    I've tried tawk.to and created separate agent profiles for each dealer but I cannot find how to restrict access only to their listings so not everyone can join the others live chat as it happens atm. Has anyone tried something like... Source: over 3 years ago
  • WordPress store customers info getting compromised help
    Also, if possible, find their IP from tawk.to and block it in your firewall, or ask your hosting provider to block it. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Chatbot recommendations
    I've used tawk.to in the past, but I wondered what else is out there / what others use and recommend. Source: over 3 years ago

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Alternatives to TinyURL and tawk.to

When comparing TinyURL and tawk.to, you can also consider the following products.

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