A Bitly link points at one URL. On every Bitly plan, changing that URL is a metered action called a redirect. Ziglink treats the destination as a decision, not a setting: every click is evaluated at the edge and routed where your rules say it should go right now.
Edit destinations and rules as often as you want. The URL you printed never changes; the answer behind it does.
Ziglink calls it editing a link. Bitly calls it a redirect, and counts them.
Bitly’s free plan treats a link’s destination as locked in: pick where it points once, and changing it requires a paid plan. Every paid plan then meters that action too. Bitly calls a destination change a redirect, and each one draws down a monthly allowance built into the plan you’re on.
It’s the printed-sign model: paint the destination once, and repainting it costs you. Ziglink assumes the opposite, that destinations move. A link is a question asked fresh on every click, not an answer written down once. Editing the destination, or the rules behind it, never touches a meter, on the free tier or any paid one.
To be fair: Bitly is the household name, and it does static shortening at scale. If a link genuinely points at one URL forever, the meter never bothers you. This page is about the day it doesn’t.
bitly
ziglink
A Bitly link stores an answer. A Ziglink stores the question.
Three rule types, geo, device and time, combine into one priority tree. Ziglink evaluates them in order: the first rule that matches wins, and anything left over falls through to a default destination. Bitly has none of this: no time-based routing, no way to combine conditions into a tree, just a static pointer from short link to long link.
Because the decision happens on every click, the same URL is correct at once in your bio, in a newsletter sent last month, on a podcast description, and on a QR code printed on a poster. Nobody needs the current version of the link; there isn’t one.
And because Ziglink knows which branch of the tree caught each click, the analytics behind the link show which rule fired, not just that a click happened.
one click ↓ ziglink
None of these are edge cases. They are what links do a week after you share them.
The offer runs for two weeks, then the link needs to fall back to your regular page. Ziglink switches on the date automatically; nobody has to remember to change anything.
The article got a new home, the store changed platforms, the doc moved into a new folder. Edit the destination once and every surface that already has the link, printed or posted, follows it there.
Registration before the doors open, the livestream itself while it runs, the replay once it is over. One link carries all three phases without you touching it at the transition.
The link went out in a newsletter, a post, a printed flyer, pointed at the wrong page. Fix the destination behind the link and the mistake disappears from every copy already in the wild.
Not a formal experiment, just a hunch that a different landing page converts better. Swap the destination, watch the analytics for a while, keep whichever one performs.
Structural differences first, current plan numbers second. The numbers are a snapshot; the structure isn’t.
| aspect | ziglink | bitly |
|---|---|---|
| Editing a link’s destination | Unlimited, on every plan | Locked on Free; metered on every paid plan |
| Click analytics on the free tier | ✓ | — |
| Links on the free tier | 10 active links | 5 links/month |
| Time-based routing | ✓ | — |
| Combinable rules (geo + device + time) | ✓ | — |
| Which rule matched each click | ✓ | — |
| Analytics retention | 90 days free, forever on paid | 30 days to 1 year, by plan |
| Destination changes on paid plans | Unlimited, no meter | 5/mo (Core), 20/mo (Growth), 110/mo (Premium) |
| Custom domains | Business (3) | Growth+ |
| QR codes on the free tier | ✓ | 2/month |
the redirect ladder
Bitly plan details as of July 2026, per bitly.com pricing and help pages. Features and prices change; treat this table as a dated snapshot. Bitly is a trademark of Bitly, Inc. Ziglink is not affiliated with or endorsed by Bitly.
What maps to what, and what to do about the links you leave behind.
Recreating your Bitly links by hand works fine for a handful. For a full list, CSV import is available on Pro and above and brings destinations and slugs across in one pass.
UTM parameters already in a destination URL carry over automatically. QR codes don’t transfer between providers, so any printed code gets a new one on its next print run; the ones already out in the world keep pointing at Bitly until you retire them.
Click history doesn’t migrate. That’s true of any switch between shorteners, Bitly included, not something specific to Ziglink.
One honest note: your old bit.ly URLs keep resolving wherever they last pointed, and changing that destination is exactly the metered action this page has been about. The next link you print is worth making one you can always edit.
day one ↓ ziglink
No plan change to add a rule, and no meter to watch when your first destination stops being the right one.
The questions people ask before switching away from a metered redirect.
On Bitly’s free plan, no: destinations are locked once set. On every paid plan you can, but each change is a metered “redirect” that draws from a monthly allowance. On Ziglink, editing a destination or a rule is unlimited and free, on every tier.
Ziglink. Bitly’s free plan doesn’t include click analytics at all. Ziglink’s free tier includes 90 days of analytics history, no credit card required.
The free tier includes 1,000 clicks a month. Paid plans raise that ceiling; there is no per-click or per-redirect fee.
10 active links at a time, not per month. Archiving a link you no longer need frees up a slot for a new one.
No. A Bitly link resolves to whatever destination you last set, with no concept of a schedule. Ziglink’s time-based rules route by date range or hour of day, included on every plan.
Yes, CSV import is available on Pro and above. The bit.ly URLs themselves don’t transfer between providers, so importing brings your destinations and slugs into Ziglink as new links rather than moving the old ones.
They keep working, under Bitly’s terms, until you or Bitly retire them. Switching providers doesn’t redirect or delete them on its own.
Yes, on the Business plan, with up to 3 custom domains. Bitly requires a Growth-tier plan or higher for the same.
Yes, free, and not capped separately from your link count the way Bitly’s 2-a-month free allowance is. Ziglink QR codes share the link’s routing rules and track scans separately, on viaqr.io.
Yes. The free tier includes 10 active links, 1,000 clicks a month, and every routing rule, no credit card required.
Start with 10 active links and 1,000 clicks a month, then edit destinations as often as you need. No credit card required.