Lynkarr vs Bitly
Bitly is a link platform first. The difference that matters is how many codes each plan lets you have, and how long it keeps the data about them.
A link management platform that also issues QR codes.
What Bitly does well
- The best-known short domain on the internet, which matters when the link itself is read aloud or printed beside a brand.
- Clicks and scans are unlimited on every tier, including the free one.
- A deep link-management product — campaigns, UTM builders, integrations — if links rather than printed codes are the job.
Side by side
| Bitly | Lynkarr | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 5 links and 2 QR codes a month. | 2 dynamic QR codes and 5 short links, held rather than monthly, plus unlimited static codes. |
| First paid tier | Core, $10 a month: 100 links, 5 QR codes a month. | Starter, $19 a month: unlimited dynamic codes and unlimited links. |
| QR codes at $29–$35 a month | Growth: 10 QR codes a month. | Starter already has no code limit at $19. |
| How long scan data is kept | 30 days on Core, 4 months on Growth, 1 year on Premium, 2 years on Enterprise. | Individual scan events for 400 days and daily rollups for seven years, the same on every paid plan. |
| Scans | Unlimited on every plan. | Unlimited on every plan, and never metered. |
Figures for Bitly read from bitly.com/pages/pricing on 29 August 2026. Ours were checked against the running product on the same day. Prices change — if you find one of these out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
The codes are counted per month, not held
Bitly's allowances are a monthly issuance: Core is a hundred links and five QR codes a month. That fits a team making new links continually. It fits badly if you print twenty codes once and then leave them on packaging for three years, because the month you make them is the month you need the allowance and every month after it you need none.
Ours are a count of what exists. The free plan holds two dynamic codes for as long as you keep them, and every paid plan holds an unlimited number.
Data retention is the quiet difference
A printed code outlives the campaign that made it, and comparing this Christmas with last Christmas needs the figures from last Christmas to still be there. On Core that window is thirty days.
We keep individual scan events for 400 days and the daily rollups for seven years on every paid plan, because a year-on-year comparison is the question a printed code is best placed to answer.
When Bitly is the better choice
Choose Bitly if the link itself is the product — a recognised short domain, link campaigns at scale, and an ecosystem of integrations around them. We are built around the printed code rather than around the link.
And one thing we do not solve at all: if you need to know who scanned a code — a named person, an audience to retarget — we cannot do that and will not add it. Our analytics identify nobody by design. That is a reason to look elsewhere and we would rather say so here than after you have paid.