Is this link safe?

Paste the link you want checked

Not a guarantee. No known problems found means our checks did not flag it. It does not mean the link is safe.

You can check 10 links a minute, and 200 a day, from one connection.

We follow each stop, then check every address we tried

A short link can pass through several other addresses before it lands. This page is a URL expander for that chain: we ask each address where it sends you next, up to 10 stops, and we stop if that takes too long. We do not open the page in your browser, and we do not run anything on it. Asking another site where a link goes is a visit that site can see. A zip1.io link is read from our records instead, and is not visited. If the page itself sends you onward with a script, we do not follow that. We only follow the address the server names.

We will not open an address on a private or local network, including this computer. Each stop is looked up on its own, because the first address being public says nothing about the next one.

Then we check every address we tried three ways.

• Our blocklist. Destinations we already refuse to shorten, plus addresses we add after a report.
• Google Safe Browsing. What Google has already classified. It lags behind new scams, so a clear answer from Google is not the whole story.
• The domain itself. Whether the name has an address on the internet. A name with no address cannot be opened.

If a check cannot be finished, the result says so. We do not call that a clear result.

A zip1.io link also shows what we stored

Paste one of our links and we read it from our records. We do not visit it, so the check does not count as a click. We show the destination we saved, unless the link is blocked or has a password. Then we only say so, and the destination stays hidden. If the destination looks wrong, use the report form. Our abuse and takedown policy says what we remove and how to appeal.

FAQ

• Does a clear result mean the link is safe?

  No. No known problems found means our list did not match, the domain has an address on the internet, and Google Safe Browsing did not flag it. A link can still be a scam, or something those checks have not seen yet. Some sites send our checker somewhere different from where they send a person, and we cannot see that. Do not type a password or a card number on a page you opened from a link you did not expect.

• What does this URL checker look at?

  We follow the link for up to 10 stops and stop if it takes too long. We do not open the page in your browser, and we do not run scripts on it. We ask each address where it sends you next, and we do not download the page. Then we check each address against our blocklist, ask Google Safe Browsing, and check that the domain has a public address. We do not open addresses on a private or local network. A zip1.io link is looked up in our records and not visited. Our server visits each address on another site to do this, so the site may see a visit from us.

• Can I use this as a URL expander?

  Yes. Paste a short link and the page lists every stop and the final address, so you can see where it goes before you open it.

• What happens with a zip1.io link?

  We also show the destination we have stored for it, and whether we have blocked that link. A link with a password does not show its destination here. If it looks wrong, report it on the report form.

• Do you save the links people paste?

  No. We do not keep a copy of the addresses you check. Google's answer is kept for a short time under a scrambled form of each address, so a repeat check is faster. You can check 10 links a minute, and 200 a day, from one connection. A check that is refused for that limit is counted like any other limit on the site, and the count does not include the address.

• Why does the result say you could not check?

  We will not open an address on a private or local network. A domain with no address cannot be opened either, and we say so. If the chain is longer than 10 stops, or a site does not answer in time, or one of the checks does not finish, we say we could not check. That is not the same as a clear result.

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