Here is the limit first, because it may save you a trial. Nautis has a URL shortener with custom slugs, click analytics and QR codes. Its guide never mentions connecting your own domain. If you want links that read yourcompany.com, buy a dedicated tool. Four of them are compared below on prices read today.
The rest of this page is for the marketer doing the job: picking a short domain, getting through the DNS step without breaking the website, naming slugs so they still make sense next year, and deciding whether the whole exercise is worth it for your links.
What a branded URL shortener changes, and what it doesn't
Only one thing changes: the part of the link before the slash belongs to you. The redirect, the click counting and the QR code work the same way as on any shortener. So the case for paying rests on what that one change does for you, and it comes down to trust, memory and ownership.
Three levels are easy to confuse, and vendors' marketing often blurs them. The example below uses a made-up company, Northpine.
| Level | Example | What the reader learns | What you own |
|---|---|---|---|
| Random slug, vendor's domain | vendor.example/x7Kq2 | Nothing, and it looks like spam to some readers | Nothing |
| Custom slug, vendor's domain | vendor.example/spring-launch | What the link is about | The slug, while the vendor's service runs |
| Custom slug, your domain | go.northpine.com/spring-launch | Who sent it and what it is about | The domain, for as long as you renew it |
Ownership is the argument people miss. If you print go.northpine.com on 5,000 brochures and later change vendors, the domain comes with you. You'll still have to recreate the links at the new vendor, but nothing printed has to change. On someone else's domain, that exit doesn't exist.
Which tools put links on your domain?
Bitly, Rebrandly, Dub and Short.io all do. They differ in how much you pay before a custom domain appears, and in how they cap links. All figures below come from each vendor's own pages, as of November 2026.
| Tool | $0 option | First paid plan worth a look | Custom domains | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitly | 5 links a month, with ads, no custom domain listed | Growth, $29 a month billed as $348 a year, 500 links a month | Starts at Growth, with domain registration included | Core ($10 a month, billed yearly) doesn't list a custom domain |
| Rebrandly | 10 links a month, 100 tracked clicks a month, watermarked QR codes | Essentials, from $8 a month, 250 links a month | 1 custom and 1 free domain at $0, 2 on Essentials | The page we read didn't label which prices were annual or monthly, so confirm at checkout |
| Dub | Up to 3 custom domains, per its help docs | Pro, listed at $27 a month on its comparison page, 1,000 links a month | 10 on Pro, 100 on Business | Its pricing page showed only Business ($81 a month) and above when we read it |
| Short.io | 1,000 links, 50,000 tracked clicks a month, commercial use allowed | Hobby, $5 a month, 2,500 links | 5 at $0, 7 on Hobby, 10 on Pro ($18 a month) | Link allowances on lower plans are lifetime caps, not monthly |
Our read, from published information only. If you run a handful of campaigns and want to spend little, start with the $0 option at Short.io or Dub, because both include custom domains. Rebrandly's $0 option also has one, but 100 tracked clicks a month runs out quickly. Choose Bitly if your team already knows it and the Growth price works for you, since that's where its custom domain starts. Nobody here has run a scored hands-on test of these four, so try your own domain on the one you shortlist. If reporting matters more to you than the domain, read how to judge a URL shortener with analytics before paying.
Choosing the short domain
You have two real choices: a subdomain of the domain you already own, or a separate short domain bought for this purpose. For most companies the subdomain is the right starting point, because it costs nothing, readers already recognise the name, and it can't touch your website if you configure it correctly.
Northpine could use go.northpine.com, which is 16 characters, or buy npine.co, which is 8. The shorter one looks tidy on a business card, but a stranger has no reason to connect npine.co with Northpine. Pay for the separate domain only if character count really hurts you, such as on small packaging or in SMS.
- Say it aloud. If you can't read it over a podcast or a phone call without spelling it, pick again.
- Keep the prefix ordinary. Dub's docs suggest go, try, links and l. It doesn't support www as a subdomain.
- Skip hyphens and odd spellings in the domain itself. Those belong in slugs, if anywhere.
- Never point your main website domain at a shortener. Rebrandly's guide warns that using your existing website domain "could disable your website". Bitly's and Short.io's root-domain setups also ask you to clear conflicting records, which is fine on a spare domain and dangerous on a live one.
- Put the renewal on a company account. If a short domain lapses because it sat on a departed employee's card, every link on it dies at once, including the ones in print.
The DNS step, in plain terms
DNS is the public record that says where a domain points. Connecting a branded domain means adding one or two records at whoever manages yours, such as your registrar or Cloudflare. It takes about ten minutes of work and then some waiting. If someone else manages your DNS, send them the exact records from your vendor's dashboard rather than a description.
| Vendor | Subdomain | Root domain | Stated wait |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitly | CNAME to cname.bitly.com | Two A records on @ | Usually within 24 hours of the records propagating |
| Dub | CNAME to cname.dub.co | One A record on @ | 1 to 24 hours |
| Short.io | CNAME to cname.short.io | One A record on @, after deleting default settings | Not stated on the page we read |
| Rebrandly | Couldn't confirm a general value | Couldn't confirm a general value | Says updates take time to propagate |
Two things commonly trip people up. In the host field, type only the part before the first dot, so go and not go.northpine.com. And if Cloudflare manages your DNS, check its proxy setting: Short.io's Cloudflare guide tells you to disable the proxy so the SSL certificate can be issued. Until the certificate exists, your test link will show a browser warning, so don't announce anything until a test link opens cleanly on a phone.
A slug convention that survives a year
The domain gets all the attention, but slugs are what people actually read and what you'll be searching through later. Write the rule down before the second campaign. The version below is deliberately boring: topic first, then a channel code when one destination goes to several places.
| Link use | Slug | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Launch page, general use | spring-launch | Easy to read aloud and remember |
| Launch page, newsletter | spring-launch-nl | Same topic, sorted together, channel visible |
| Launch page, LinkedIn | spring-launch-li | Lets you compare channels link by link |
| Pricing page, permanent | pricing | Has no date, so it never looks stale |
| Webinar on a set date | webinar-mar | Time-limited, and a date is honest here |
| Avoid | draft-final2, Spring_Launch | Internal words are public, and capitals and underscores get mistyped |
Keep slugs lowercase and hyphenated, keep channel codes in a shared list, and never reuse a slug for a new destination while the old one might still be in someone's inbox. Assume every slug will be seen by a customer, a competitor and a journalist. Check your plan's allowance too: Bitly limits custom back-halves, its name for slugs, per month on every self-serve plan.
When a custom slug is good enough
A branded domain is a real recurring cost in money or attention, and many links never earn it. A readable slug on the vendor's domain is fine in these cases.
- A person is vouching for the link. A founder pasting a link into a one-to-one email or an investor note has already supplied the trust.
- The link sits inside your own materials. A slide deck or a form confirmation already carries your name around it.
- The link has a short life. A two-week webinar push won't be around for a vendor change to matter.
- You're testing whether anyone clicks at all. Find that out first, then spend on the domain.
Buy the domain when links go out cold to strangers, when they appear in print that will last longer than your current vendor might, or when the brand is the point, such as paid ads or a public campaign. If you're mostly printing, the QR code link tracking page covers what a printed code needs in addition.
What Nautis does here, and who it suits
Nautis is an AI business operating system for startups, and its URL shortener is one small module, not a link management product. Open Marketing, then URL Shortener. Paste into Enter your long URL, type an alias into Custom slug (optional), and click Shorten. The link appears in Your URLs with Copy, QR Code, Analytics and Delete buttons.
The rules are stricter than you might guess. A slug must be unique across your organization and can't be edited later, so changing one means deleting the link and creating another, and a deleted link gives anyone holding it an error. UTM tags can't be changed once the link exists. Your plan also caps how many short URLs you can create. The guides describe these links as brandable, but what they document is the slug, and there's no mention of a custom domain anywhere in them.
So it suits a team already running in Nautis, sending a form or a deck link, that wants a readable slug and basic numbers in the same workspace. It doesn't suit a marketer whose goal is links on the company's own domain, and $49 a month or more (plans, as of November 2026) is a poor price for a shortener alone. Short.io's Hobby plan is $5.
FAQ
What is a branded URL shortener?
It's a tool that creates short links on a domain you control, such as go.yourcompany.com/launch, and redirects them to the full address. You connect the domain by adding DNS records. Readers see your name in the link, and the domain stays yours if you change vendors.
Does Nautis let me use my own domain for short links?
The Nautis help center documents custom slugs on short links and never mentions custom domains, so don't plan on it. If your own domain is the requirement, use a tool that documents it, such as Bitly, Rebrandly, Dub or Short.io.
Can I use my main website domain for short links?
It's usually a bad idea. Root-domain setups ask you to change or remove the records that point the domain at your site, and Rebrandly's guide warns this path could disable your website. Use a subdomain such as go.yourcompany.com instead, which only needs one CNAME record.
Is there a free branded URL shortener?
Yes, with limits. As of November 2026, Short.io's $0 option includes 5 custom domains and 1,000 links in total, Dub's help docs allow up to 3 custom domains at no cost, and Rebrandly's includes 1 custom domain with 10 links a month. Bitly's $0 option doesn't list a custom domain.
How long does it take to set up a custom short domain?
The work takes minutes, and the wait is usually under a day. Dub states 1 to 24 hours, and Bitly says verification usually completes within 24 hours of the records propagating. Test a real link on a phone before you publish anything.
Sources
- Bitly: pricing and plan limits
- Bitly developer docs: set up a custom domain
- Rebrandly: pricing
- Rebrandly: guide to custom domains
- Dub: pricing
- Dub: comparison with Rebrandly, listing Pro limits
- Dub: how to add a custom domain
- Dub: links overview, custom domains per plan
- Short.io: pricing
- Short.io: set up your own subdomain
- Short.io: set up your own domain
- Short.io: connect a Cloudflare subdomain