What is Bitly and what is it used for?
Bitly is a link and QR code management platform that shortens URLs, creates branded links and shows how many people clicked or scanned each one.
You paste a long URL and get a short link, on the bit.ly domain or, on paid plans, on your own domain. You can customize the end of the link and add UTM parameters to identify where traffic came from in campaigns. The same dashboard generates dynamic QR codes, with colors, a logo and frames, and lets you change the destination of an already printed QR without changing the code's design.
Analytics brings clicks, QR scans and views of Bitly Pages together in one place, with breakdowns by location, referrer, device and date. Bitly Pages, which the free plan includes in limited numbers, builds simple pages to gather links.
The platform has an API to generate links and QR codes in volume, and integrations with tools such as Canva, HubSpot and Shopify.
Who uses it: marketing and communications teams that share links on social media, email, SMS and printed material and need to know what worked.






