Shorten a URL for Free
Paste a long URL to create a short, shareable link in seconds with no signup.
No sign-up. Links don't expire.
Shorten a Link turns any long URL into a short, easy-to-share link, so you can post cleaner links without breaking a message's layout or looking like spam.
What actually happens when you shorten a link?
The tool generates a short, unique code and stores it alongside your original long URL; visiting the short link redirects the visitor straight to the original address. It's useful anywhere a long URL — especially one stuffed with tracking parameters — would look cluttered or risk getting cut off, like a text message, a printed flyer, or a character-limited social post.
Does shortening a link change where it actually goes, or is it safe to click?
No — a shortened link redirects to exactly the same destination as the original URL you entered, nothing more. The one real tradeoff of any shortened link, on any service, is that the destination isn't visible until you click it, which is worth keeping in mind before clicking a shortened link from a source you don't trust.
Does this require an account, and is the short link permanent?
No account is needed — paste a URL and get a short link back immediately. Short links are stored on the server so they keep working over time, letting you reuse the same short link indefinitely rather than it expiring after a set period.
Who actually came up with the idea of shrinking a URL down to a few characters?
Web developer Kevin Gilbertson, solving a personal annoyance in January 2002. Long links from his own unicycling website kept breaking when emailed to subscribers — anything over about 80 characters would get cut off mid-address by some email clients and lead nowhere. His fix was TinyURL, the first notable URL shortener and still one of the oldest services of its kind still running today: paste a long link in, get back something like tinyurl.com/abc123. It solved exactly the same problem this tool solves — an ugly, unreliable long link — and the idea proved durable enough that Bitly and a wave of other shorteners followed it six years later, in 2008, turning a fix for one unicyclist's email newsletter into a permanent category of web tool.
Is Shorten a Link free to use?
Yes. Shorten a Link is completely free, with no sign-up and no usage limits.
Do I need to install any software?
No installation is required. Shorten a Link runs in your browser and creates the short link on our server so it works anywhere.
Is my data kept private?
We store only the short link mapping and click count needed to make the link work — no account or personal data is required.