Move your links from Bitly and keep every address working
Export your links from Bitly as a CSV file, upload it to ShortZen, and each link is recreated with the same slug on your own domain.
1. Export from Bitly
Bitly’s own steps, as its documentation describes them.
- In Bitly, open the Links page.
- Choose Export, then the email address the file should go to.Bitly emails the export. Its help centre says a large export can take up to 30 minutes.
- Open the email and choose View Report.The CSV file downloads.
- Bitly’s help centre lists the export as a feature of some paid plans.
- Selecting up to 100 links on the Links page and choosing Export downloads them directly instead.
Checked against Bitly help centre: exporting links on . Bitly may change these steps; its help centre is the authority.
2. What the importer reads
Upload the file and the format is detected. These are the Bitly columns it looks for.
- Destination
- Where the link goes.
- long_url
- Slug
- Kept as it is, so the address stays the same on your domain.
- bitlink · custom_bitlink
- Title
- Carried when the file has it.
- title
- Creation date
- Carried when the file has it.
- created_at
- Total clicks
- Becomes the link’s starting count; per-day history is not carried.
- total_clicks · clicks
If the file is not recognised, rename its columns to destinationUrl, slug and title, and upload it again. Any service's file works in that shape.
3. Keep your addresses working
The step that decides whether printed links survive the move.
- Links on your own domain
- Verify that domain in ShortZen before you import. When its DNS points here, every address you printed or posted resolves exactly as before.
- your domain
- Links on Bitly’s own domain
- An address on a domain Bitly owns belongs to Bitly. The destination and title can come across, but that address stops working when you leave.
- shared domain
Which plans can import
The importer starts on Starter, and paid plans cannot be bought yet. The free plan has no migration allowance.
Each paid plan has a one-time allowance of links to bring in (Starter 2,000, Pro 10,000, Business 50,000), separate from the monthly link quota. A committed import can be undone.
How the importer worksSwitching from RebrandlySwitching from Short.ioSwitching from Dub
Start on Free, bring your links when you upgrade
Make your workspace and verify your domain now. The importer is on paid plans, and the links you make on Free stay with you.