📣

URL Shortener for Marketing Campaigns

Branded short links, per-link click analytics, and click caps for limited-time offers — without an account, a monthly bill, or per-link limits.

No Account Free Forever Click Caps Per-Link Analytics CSV / JSON Export

Why Marketing Teams Pick zip1.io

Most URL shorteners either gate the basics (custom slugs, analytics, multiple links) behind a paid plan, or require an account before you can create a single link. zip1.io does neither. The features marketers actually use day-to-day — branded slugs, click analytics, click caps, exports — work without an account, on every link, for free.

🏷️ Branded slugs

Use zip1.io/spring-launch instead of bit.ly/3xR9k. Reads better in print, copy, voiceover, and QR codes — and gives you a campaign name you can pattern-match in analytics.

🛑 Click caps

Set max-clicks to lock a link to the first 100 customers, the first 1,000 visits, or a single use. After the cap, the link stops redirecting.

🌍 Per-link analytics

Every link captures click counts, unique visitors, country, referrer, browser, and OS. View live at zip1.io/stats/<slug> or export as CSV / JSON / XLSX / XML.

🤖 API + AI integration

Programmatic creation via REST API. Or hand the whole shortener to an AI agent through the built-in MCP server — let Claude generate branded campaign URLs on demand.

Recipes for Real Campaigns

Five patterns we see marketing teams using on zip1.io today. Copy them or adapt to your stack.

1. Multi-region campaign with one slug per locale

Same offer, different landing pages per region. Use a shared prefix and a region suffix so the analytics view groups naturally:

  • zip1.io/spring-de → de.example.com/spring
  • zip1.io/spring-fr → fr.example.com/spring
  • zip1.io/spring-es → es.example.com/spring

Each link tracks its own clicks, top countries, and referrers — drop them side-by-side in a report to see which region is converting.

2. Limited-time flash offer with a click cap

Launching a "first 100 customers" promo? Cap the link at 100 clicks. After that the URL shows an expired page automatically — no need to remember to disable it.

curl -X POST http://zip1.io/api/create \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://shop.example.com/promo?code=FIRST100",
    "alias": "first-100",
    "max-clicks": 100
  }'

3. Single-use invite or beta access link

Set max-clicks: 1 and you've built a one-shot URL — perfect for invite codes, beta access, or single-recipient downloads. The link self-disables on first use.

4. Channel-tagged links for one offer

Issue a separate slug per channel so you don't need UTMs in the short URL itself:

  • zip1.io/launch-email — newsletter blast
  • zip1.io/launch-li — LinkedIn post
  • zip1.io/launch-x — X / Twitter
  • zip1.io/launch-print — print collateral, posters, business cards

Cleaner click reports, no manual UTM parsing, and you can spot-check channel performance at a glance.

5. Programmatic creation from a CRM or campaign tool

For larger drops (Black Friday, conferences, recurring campaigns) generate links from your existing tooling. The API is unauthenticated, rate-limited at 10/min, and returns JSON:

POST http://zip1.io/api/create
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "url": "https://example.com/landing/black-friday",
  "alias": "bf-2026-emea",
  "max-clicks": 5000,
  "description": "Black Friday EMEA email blast"
}

Pair this with the MCP server and you can ask Claude to mint a fresh batch of campaign URLs from a brief — no scripts to maintain.

Reading the Analytics

Once a link is live, every click updates a denormalized analytics record. The stats page (or the API) gives you:

  • Total clicks & unique clicks — by IP, deduplicated
  • Daily / weekly / monthly averages — useful for forecasting
  • Top countries — geo data via MaxMind GeoLite2
  • Top referrers — where the click came from
  • Browser & OS breakdown — desktop vs mobile share
  • Bot vs human split — bots are tagged separately so they don't pollute your numbers

Need a snapshot for a report? Hit /export/<slug>/csv (or json / xlsx / xml) for a downloadable file.

FAQ

  • Can I use zip1.io for commercial campaigns?

    Yes. zip1.io is free for personal and commercial use, with no per-link fees and no account required. The source code is open source.

  • How many links can I create?

    The default rate limit is 10 link creations per IP per minute on the API, and 5 per minute on the web form. There is no monthly cap.

  • What happens after the click cap is hit?

    The link stops redirecting and shows a "short URL expired" page. The stats page still works, so you can see exactly how many clicks landed before the cap closed.

  • Can I edit a link after I create it?

    Not currently — links are immutable once created. For campaigns where the destination might change, point the short URL at a stable redirect on your own domain that you control.

  • How long do links live?

    Forever, unless you set a click cap. Existing campaign links from years ago still resolve.

  • Can I add UTM parameters?

    Yes. The destination URL is preserved as-is, including any query string. So zip1.io/launch can point at example.com/page?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email — and the UTMs reach your analytics intact.

Related Use Cases

📊 Add Analytics to Any Link

Deep dive on the click analytics zip1.io captures and how to read them.

🎯 Custom Slugs

Make every link a memorable, branded URL.

⚡ URL Shortener API

Programmatic link creation for CRMs, marketing automation, and AI agents.

Ship Your Next Campaign

Mint a branded short link in five seconds. No account, no card, no limit.

Create a Link API Docs