Cuttly is a well-regarded link platform known for deep analytics on a generous free tier. KooLink is what we built. The comparison is about where each is strongest.
Price
Cuttly. Free tier exists (a set number of links a month), then paid plans for volume and longer analytics retention. There is a subscription.
KooLink. Free forever. Unlimited links. No signup to shorten. No monthly bill.
Signup
Cuttly. An account is required to shorten and track.
KooLink. No account to shorten. Paste a URL, get a link. You only create an account for payout-linked analytics.
Analytics
Cuttly. This is its strength — a deep free analytics tier (device, referrer, geography, retention). Real value if you need that detail.
KooLink. Honest per-link views on a free plan, with bot traffic filtered out. Simpler than Cuttly's analytics, but free and unlimited.
Link limits
Cuttly. Free tier is capped (around 30 links a month). You can hit a wall if you publish at volume.
KooLink. Unlimited. Shorten one or a thousand — there is no quota.
The 2026 difference: MCP
The thing that separates them: Cuttly does not expose a hosted MCP server. KooLink does.
https://mcp.kool.ink
Point your MCP client (Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code with Continue) at it and the agent gets a shorten_url tool. Ask it to shorten any URL and it does — no browser, no copy-paste.
There is a terminal one-liner too:
npx @koolink/koolink https://example.com/very/long/path
# → https://kool.ink/xyz
Bottom line
- You want deep analytics with a paid tier and don't mind a link cap → Cuttly is a strong choice.
- You want free, unlimited, no signup, and a shortener your AI agent can call → KooLink.
If detailed analytics on a free build matter most, Cuttly wins on that axis. If free, unlimited, and agent-ready matter, KooLink is the fit.