URLs are rarely short and sweet. They usually contain multiple keywords and are accompanied by extra parameters to help with the tracking of different campaigns or incoming traffic. These long URLs with so many parameters can sometimes be off-putting for potential visitors. Therefore, it's usually a better idea to use a URL shortener script and share these shortened URLs on social media and in other places.
Besides being used by individual websites, URL shortening scripts are also used as a standalone service to sell paid membership plans to clients to allow them to shorten their own URLs.
In this post, we will list some of the best PHP URL shortener scripts that you can use to create your own URL shortener. You can use them to create a monetized link shortening service, track your own URLs and campaigns across the web, or share website posts on social media with short URLs for extra analytics information.
PHP URL Shortener Scripts on CodeCanyon
There are about 30 different PHP URL shortener scripts on CodeCanyon. While all of them serve the same purpose of shortening URLs, they each offer some unique features to set them apart.
You can buy some of these scripts for as little as $6, and all the premium PHP URL shortener scripts that you buy from CodeCanyon will come with free lifetime updates and six months of free support.
Best PHP URL Shortener Scripts
In this section, I will briefly review the features of the best PHP URL shortener scripts that you can buy on CodeCanyon. Let's get started!
1. Best Seller: Premium URL Shortener
This Premium URL Shortener is built from scratch, without the use of any PHP frameworks, and it was created with performance in mind. It has been around for seven years now, with a lot of great customer reviews.
It comes with a nice set of common and unique features that you expect in a URL shortener script. You can use this script as either a private or a public URL shortener for monetization.
The full-featured admin panel gives you control over all aspects of the URL shortener, like advertising, reCaptcha, user registration, themes, maintenance, and URL filters.
It comes with a responsive URL shortener template and built-in template editor so that you can tweak the design of the script without worrying about the underlying link shortener code. The templates have been tested extensively on all modern browsers and mobile devices.
There are many other features like a geotargeting system, powerful API, Facebook Connect, and Twitter login, all of which make the Premium URL Shortener worth checking out.
2. Trending: BioLinks—Instagram and TikTok Bio Links and Shortener
Biolinks solves two problems in one: it shortens your Instagram and TikTok bio line, and at the same time shortens your URLs!
It's a highly customizable PHP shortener script that comes with a lot of interesting features. Users can create unlimited bio link pages and shortened URLs. They can embed YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify, Twitch, Vimeo or TikTok to their bio link pages. They also have the advantage of two-factor authentication for security.
On the admin side you can manage and delete users including pages and links create by users. Also, you can offer custom made subscription plans and earn money by charging one time, recurring or lifetime payments. You can give users the options of paying using PayPal, Stripe, or bank transfers.
To prevent spamming and phishing, Biolinks is equipped with Phishtank and Google safe browsing.
3. BeLink—Ultimate URL Shortener
The BeLink URL shortener comes with an easy-to-use installer so that you can start shortening links in minutes. You can use it either as a public or a private URL shortener.
You get a lot of options to fully control the behavior of shortened URLs. For example, you have different redirection options like redirecting to long URLs immediately or waiting for a few seconds before redirection. You can set expiration dates for the links. They can also be password protected or geo-targeted.
The relevant statistics of different links created by a user like total clicks, countries, referrers, devices and browsers are also displayed to the clients who created those links.
The script offers an admin panel that allows you to make changes to the overall functionality of the script. This includes things like managing the users and their roles, setting permissions, etc.
4. URL Shortener
The URL shortener allows your users to create short URLs with a single click. It also generates a QR code which can be scanned to open the original link. The link shortening page contains sharing buttons for popular social media websites, making it easier for everyone to instantly share the links on the favorite platforms.
The clean and friendly user interface, along with small but useful features like the autocopy button, make it a great tool for use within a larger project.
This simple url shortener script is SEO friendly and comes with support for Open Graph tags. This URL Shortener is ideal for people who just want a link shortening script that can be easily integrated within a larger project.
5. AdLinkFly—Monetized URL Shortener
The AdLinkFly Monetized URL Shortener is different from all the other URL shorteners we have mentioned so far. It is a full-fledged solution designed to monetize short URLs with a service similar to AdFly.
Each shortened URL will display advertisements before taking users to the final URL. This way, your service generates revenue based on ad impressions. Members can simply shorten URLs and earn money in the process whenever these URLs generate ad impressions.
It will allow all members to shorten links. They are then allowed to keep a share of the profit made due to advertising. Basically, any member who joins your AdLinkFly URL shortening service will be able to earn money by shortening URLs.
This script supports multiple payment gateways including PayPal, Payza, Bitcoin, Skrill, WebMoney, etc. Publishers can withdraw their earned money using any of these services.
It also comes with a built-in referral program. This is a great way to spread the word about your awesome link-shortening service.
The dashboard provides brief reports about link clicks and total earnings for both the admin and the joining members.
Administrators can create unlimited pages, which are fully editable and can also be deleted if needed. You can also implement a basic blogging system where visitors can post comments.
6. Linkity—Business URL Shortener
The Linkity Business URL Shortener is meant to be used as a private URL shortener for your own business or website.
The admin dashboard has a modern and beautiful design inspired by the material design philosophy. The use of AJAX makes it easier for you to view and update different things in the dashboard without constant reloads. This creates a smooth user experience.
There is detailed analytics information about different links in the dashboard. This includes things like viewer countries, device types, browsers, operating systems, referring sites, etc.
The script supports multiple types of databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MariaDB.
You should definitely consider Linkity—Business URL Shortener as a viable solution if you are looking for a private URL shortener that offers basic analytical data about the shortened links.
7. Mighty URL Shortener
Mighty URL Shortener is written in PHP and comes with a lot of interesting features. The script will work on all kinds of shared, VPS and dedicated hosting plans as long as they fulfill the standard requirements mentioned on the plugin description page.
The mighty url shortener short url script offers advanced analytics reports where you can see the breakdown of link clicks based on countries, cities, devices, browsers, referrers, or social media counts.
It also comes with smart targeting so that you can use the same URL and take different actions based on the country, operating system, or device type of the user.
You can use it to create an unlimited number of membership plans. Each membership plan will have a preset limit defined by you to take different actions. This includes things like the maximum number of shortened URLs per day or per month. There are many other abilities that you can turn on and off for different membership plans.
There is a CAPTCHA system to prevent abuse. You can also accept payment from members using a lot of different gateways like PayPal, Stripe, Payza, Skrill, etc.
8. Shortny—The URL Shortener
Shortny is also a nice little URL shortener script with all the basic features that you expect in a URL shortener. It is incredibly easy to set up and use.
The front-end of the script has a nice responsive design with an optional dark theme. You can use it to create shortened URLs with custom text. The links can also be password protected.
The back-end offers the functionality to delete any old shortened URLs, add or edit the ads displayed on the webpage, and edit the CSS to customize the look of the website. All the input is properly validated for additional security.
9. phpShort—URL Shortener Platform
phpShort is an advanced URL shortener platform that allows you to easily shorten links, target your audience based on their location or platform. This URL shortener with statistics provides analytics insights for the shortened links also based on user's location and preferences.
It is built with the Laravel framework on the back-end and bootstrap on the front-end, both of which makes it extremely easy to customize and expand in the future.
The interface is highly responsive adapts to all types of devices from desktops, tablets and smartphones. It is also highly optimized for regular and high DPI screens.
phpShort is a multi-language adaptable system that also allows you to run your own link subscription-based shortening platform that offers users different plans to choose from. For this you'll need an extended subscription.
10. Lara—Powerful URL shortener
Laralink is a link shortener which allows you to manage links from a simple dashboard with advanced analytics.
Users can create short links from other more complex and long URLs. Links can also be created by anonymous users, in this case analysis of visits for all links will only be visible from the admin panel.
The installation is very fast and simple, you just have to have a database ready, then unzip the files on your server and access the installation wizard through the browser.
Free PHP URL Shortener Scripts
After looking at the best PHP URL shortener scripts on CodeCanyon, let's review some free URL shortener scripts.
Before listing the free alternatives, I would like to mention that there is a good chance that the free alternatives will not offer as many features as the premium URL shortener scripts. The premium scripts also come with free lifetime updates and six months of free support. This should be enough to get you up and running.
Now, here are some of the best free PHP URL shortener scripts:
YOURLS
The name YOURLS is short for Your Own URL Shortener. As the name suggests, you can use this script to create your own PHP-based URL shortener. It gives you full control over your data and provides detailed stats and analytics information.
Polr
The next free PHP URL shortener on our list is Polr. It also gives you the option to create a self-hosted URL shortener with a robust API.
PHP URL Shortener
This PHP URL Shortener script allows you to create as many as 42 billion unique URLs with just six characters. It is quite fast and uses very little server resources. It also comes with an API to give you the option of creating short URLs on the fly.
Which PHP URL Shortener Script Is Best for You?
All the PHP URL shortener scripts from CodeCanyon that we reviewed in this post have something unique to offer in terms of functionality. The ideal script for you will depend on how you want to use it.
Are you looking for a URL shortener that can be part of your larger project? In this case, you should go ahead and choose either Shortny or URL Shortener.
Do you want to sell the URL shortener as a service under different membership plans? The Premium URL Shortener and Mighty URL Shortener will serve you well here.
If you want to monetize the URL shortener using advertisements, then AdLinkFly has everything that you might need. It is a fully fledged URL shortening service to create short URLs and earn money using advertising.
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This post has been updated with contributions from Franc Lucas. Franc is a writer for Envato Tuts+ who enjoys exploring the world of SaaS.
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