Short URL Generator
Turn a long link into a short, tidy one you can share anywhere. Free, no sign-up.
One quick step before you shorten
Enter your email to unlock the shortener and join the newsletter.
What this URL shortener does
A long web address is awkward to share. It wraps onto two lines in a message, it gets cut off in a social media bio, and it is impossible to read aloud or type from a printed page. This tool takes any http or https link and gives you a short one in its place, in the form yamuparkoti.com/s/ab12cd. Open the short link and it forwards straight to the original address.
The short links are hosted here on yamuparkoti.com rather than on a third-party service. That means they do not stop working if some other company changes its pricing or shuts down, and there is no account to create and nothing to pay.
How to shorten a link
Before your first link, the tool asks for your email address. This does two things: it keeps automated spam off the service, and it subscribes you to the newsletter. We check the address is real and send one confirmation email. You only do this once per browser, and you can unsubscribe from any email with a single click.
- Enter your email address and press Subscribe and Continue. This is asked once.
- Paste the full address into the box. If you leave off the
https://it will be added for you. - If you want the link to read as a word rather than random characters, open Use a custom alias and type one.
- Press Shorten URL. Your short link appears straight away with a Copy button next to it.
- Paste it wherever you need it. It stays saved in the list on this page so you can find it again.
Custom aliases
By default the tool picks a random six-character code. A custom alias lets you replace that with something meaningful, so yamuparkoti.com/s/spring-sale is possible instead of yamuparkoti.com/s/k7Rp2x. An alias can be 3 to 32 characters long and may contain letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores.
Aliases are first come, first served: if somebody has already taken the one you want, the tool tells you and you can pick another. Random codes avoid the characters that are easy to misread, so there is no letter O next to a zero, and no capital I next to a lowercase L.
Where short links are worth using
- Social media bios where you only get one link and very little space.
- Printed material and slides, where somebody has to read the address and type it by hand.
- Text messages, where a long URL eats the character limit.
- QR codes, because a shorter address makes a simpler, more reliable code. You can generate one with the QR Code Generator.
- Measuring interest, since every short link counts how many times it was opened.
About the click counter
Each short link keeps a running total of how many times it has been opened, shown next to the link in your list. It is a plain count and nothing more. No cookies are set on the person clicking, no profile is built, and no visitor details are stored against a click.
The list of links on this page is kept in your own browser storage, not in an account. Clearing your browser data will empty that list, but the short links themselves keep working for everybody who has them.
Frequently asked questions
Is it free?
Yes, completely. There is no account to create, no trial and no payment. All that is asked is a working email address, which also signs you up to the newsletter. To keep automated abuse out there is a generous cap of 15 new links an hour and 60 a day per visitor. That applies only to creating links: the links themselves never expire, and there is no limit on how many times one can be clicked.
What happens if I hit the limit?
The tool says so and asks you to try again a little later. Every link you have already made carries on working normally in the meantime. The caps are set high enough that ordinary use will not reach them.
Why do you ask for my email?
Two reasons, and it is fair to state both. It keeps automated abuse off a free public tool, and it is how the newsletter list is built. The address is checked for a working mail domain, so a made-up one will not get through. Nothing is sold or shared, every email carries an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing does not stop you using the shortener.
Do the short links expire?
No. A link works until it is deliberately removed. Removing a link from the list on this page only hides it from your own view; it does not disable the link.
Can I shorten a link that is already short?
The tool will not shorten a link that already points at another shortener, or at a short link on this site. Chaining redirects together makes links slower and less trustworthy, so paste the original destination instead.
What kinds of links are allowed?
Ordinary web addresses beginning with http or https. Anything else is refused, including scripts and local addresses. Shortening the same URL twice gives you the same short link back rather than creating a duplicate.
Will the short link change my destination page?
No. The short link issues a permanent redirect to exactly the address you gave, with nothing appended and no interstitial page in between. Anyone who clicks it lands on your page directly.
Can I see how many people clicked?
Yes, the count sits beside each link in your list on this page and updates when you reload. It counts openings of the short link, so repeat visits from the same person are all counted.
More free tools
If this was useful, these might be too: the QR Code Generator turns your new short link into a scannable code, the JPEG PDF Converter moves files between images and PDFs, the Date Calculator Pro works out ages and working days, and the Word Count Checker counts words and characters.