Use Bitly now; do not build new campaigns on Goo.gl. Goo.gl was great when it worked, but Google shut down its URL shortener for new users in 2019, and Google says existing goo.gl links will stop working after August 25, 2025 [source: Google]. That makes this comparison pretty simple. Bitly is still alive, still updating, and still built for link tracking.
TLDR: Goo.gl is basically a retired tool. Bitly is the safer pick for short links, branded links, QR codes, and click reports. For example, a small bakery sharing 20 weekly Instagram links could use Bitly to see that 64% of clicks came from mobile and 31% came from email. Goo.gl cannot help with that anymore, and soon old goo.gl links may break.
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Goo.gl vs Bitly: the quick winner
Bitly wins for almost everyone. That includes marketers, creators, shops, event teams, nonprofits, and anyone who hates guessing where clicks came from.
Goo.gl was clean. It was fast. It was very Google. You pasted a long URL, got a short one, and moved on with your life. Lovely.
But it is not a real option anymore. That is the big issue. You cannot treat a retired tool like a business system. That is how broken links happen. And broken links are tiny little traps for your customers.
Bitly, on the other hand, is a full link management tool. It shortens links. It tracks clicks. It can use branded domains. It can create QR codes. It can help you fix messy campaign links before your boss asks why traffic looks weird.
What was Goo.gl?
Goo.gl was Google’s URL shortener. It turned long links into short links that started with goo.gl. For years, it was a handy little tool.
A link like this:
https://example.com/blog/summer-sale-campaign-tracking-email-version-three
could become something like this:
https://goo.gl/abc123
Nice. Tiny. Shareable.
The annoying part is that Google moved away from it. Honestly, it feels like the shortest links got the longest goodbye. Goo.gl is no longer the thing you reach for when launching a campaign today.
What is Bitly?
Bitly is a URL shortener and link management platform. That sounds fancy. It just means it helps you create short links and understand what happens after people click.
You can use Bitly for:
- Short links for social posts.
- Branded links like go.yourbrand.com/sale.
- Click analytics by channel, device, and location.
- QR codes for flyers, menus, and packaging.
- Campaign tracking for ads and emails.
Bitly says its platform supports link management, QR Codes, and link analytics [source: Bitly]. That is the kind of boring sentence that becomes exciting when your team needs answers fast.
The main difference
Goo.gl is old storage. Bitly is a working toolbox.
That is the core difference.
Goo.gl shortened links. Bitly manages links. That extra word matters.
With Goo.gl, the job was mostly done after the short link was created. With Bitly, the job continues. You can watch clicks. You can organize links. You can use one branded style across your campaigns. You can see what worked and what flopped.
It drives me crazy when teams still paste raw links into posts and then ask why they cannot measure results. That is like throwing party invites into the wind and asking which breeze sold tickets.
Ease of use
Goo.gl was very easy. Paste. Shorten. Copy. Done.
Bitly is also easy, but it has more buttons. That is both good and mildly irritating.
If you only need one short link, Bitly takes a few more seconds than Goo.gl used to. You may need to sign in. You may see options for custom back halves, tags, QR codes, and campaign settings.
That can feel like overkill.
But those tools are useful once you create more than five links per month. After that, your old “just paste it somewhere” system turns into chaos.
Analytics: Bitly crushes Goo.gl
This is where Bitly pulls far ahead.
Good link analytics answer simple questions:
- How many people clicked?
- Which post worked best?
- Did mobile users click more?
- Which country sent the most traffic?
- Did the QR code on the poster work?
Goo.gl had basic tracking in its day. But that day is gone.
Bitly gives you a clearer picture. You can compare links. You can track channels. You can plug short links into email, social, print, video captions, and ads.
Say you run a local gym. You share one link on Instagram, one in an email, and one on a lobby poster as a QR code. After one week, Bitly might show:
- 412 clicks from Instagram.
- 188 clicks from email.
- 73 scans from the lobby poster.
- 82% mobile traffic.
Now you know where to push harder. You are not guessing. You are not squinting at random web traffic. You have a clue. A useful one.
Branding and trust
Short links can look suspicious. We have all seen weird links that feel like they might steal your password, your lunch, and your peace.
This is why branded links matter.
A generic short link might look like this:
bit.ly/4xY92kP
A branded short link might look like this:
shop.brandname.com/summer
The second one feels safer. It also looks cleaner in ads, podcasts, SMS messages, and packaging.
Goo.gl did not give modern teams much room here. Bitly does. If trust matters, branded links are a strong reason to choose Bitly.
QR codes
QR codes are back. Restaurants use them. Events use them. Product boxes use them. Even dentists use them now, which feels oddly aggressive.
Bitly makes QR codes part of the link workflow. That is handy.
You can create a short link and a QR code for the same destination. Then you can track scans. This is great for offline campaigns.
For example:
- A banner at a trade show.
- A postcard in a mail campaign.
- A sticker on a coffee cup.
- A menu at a food truck.
With Goo.gl, this kind of setup is not realistic now. With Bitly, it is normal.
When Goo.gl still matters
Goo.gl matters if you already have old goo.gl links in the wild.
Check your old emails. Check PDF files. Check social bios. Check blog posts. Check printed materials if you still have them.
If you find goo.gl links, replace them. Do it soon. Expect to waste time on this if your team has years of old campaigns. It is boring work, but broken links are worse.
Make a simple spreadsheet with:
- The old goo.gl link.
- Where it appears.
- The final destination URL.
- The new Bitly link.
- The date it was replaced.
Not glamorous. Very useful.
Pricing and plans
Goo.gl is not a pricing question anymore. It is not a current product for new link campaigns.
Bitly has free and paid options. The free plan may work for casual users. Paid plans make more sense for teams that need branded domains, higher link limits, deeper analytics, or more control.
If you are a solo creator, start small. If you run paid ads or client campaigns, use a proper plan. The cost is easier to defend when one fixed tracking mistake saves a campaign report.
Best use cases for Bitly
Bitly is a strong fit for:
- Social media managers who post many campaign links.
- Email marketers who need clean tracking.
- Small businesses that share offers online and offline.
- Event teams that use QR codes on signs and tickets.
- Creators who want neater links in bios and captions.
- Agencies that manage links for many clients.
Final verdict
Choose Bitly. Goo.gl had a good run, but it is no longer the right tool for URL shortening or link management.
If all you want is a tiny link, Bitly does that. If you want tracking, branded links, QR codes, and campaign data, Bitly does that too.
The smart move is simple. Stop creating anything around Goo.gl. Audit your old goo.gl links. Replace them with Bitly or another active short link tool. Your future reports will be cleaner. Your users will hit fewer dead ends. And your links will stop feeling like mystery doors on the internet.
