bitly vs TinyURL

Bitly is one of the oldest and largest link shorteners, meaning you can trust that it won't go away anytime soon.

You can set up bitly to use a custom domain, so you don't have to develop or maintain your own.

When people see a bit.ly link, they don't usually think, "ooh sketchy link".

The bitly API provides jsonp callbacks, XML, CORS, and data metrics. The API is simple, and easy to use with good documentation. It is clearly thought out and is up to date with support for new API technologies.

Bitly provides bit.ly bitly.com and j.mp

If character count matters, you cannot get a domain shorter than j.mp

Anti spam measure and tools mean people that follow your bitly links can be confident that they won't lead to a dangerous site. Bitly links cannot be changed, meaning a trusted link will stay safe.

Bitly has a bookmarklet for creating short links very quickly.

TinyURL allows users to create more descriptive short URLs rather than a randomly generated mix of letters and numbers.

You don't have to create an account or sign-up to use the service, just paste your long URL in the form and click a button.

Shortened URLs are kept and do not expire after some time.

On TinyURL's website you can enable URL previews if you want to see where the link goes before clicking on it.

TinyURL is completely free to use. The developer only asks for donations.

TinyURL provides a bookmarklet that you can add to your browser's toolbar or bookmarks bar as a button, and shorten the URL of any website you're on just by clicking this button. It works with most browsers and platforms, as long as your browser allows javascript in bookmarks.