If you want a free link-in-bio that shows your content rather than listing it, use eltree. It is free with no watermark, it pulls thumbnails from your links automatically, and it does not charge for themes, fonts or colours the way Linktree does.
But it is not the right answer for everyone, and this page says so plainly:
Need a big store or an email list? Choose Beacons. eltree\u2019s free shop suits a handful of products, downloads or services.
Just want a tidy free link list?Bio.link is excellent and very simple.
eltree is made by the team behind this site, so treat the recommendation with the scepticism it deserves. Everything below is checked against each vendor's own public pricing page, and every entry includes a "what it does better than eltree" section. If a competitor wins on something, it says so.
Pricing last checked 2026-09-21. Vendors change prices — check theirs before committing.
All eight at a glance
Free plan quality, entry price, and the single thing each tool is genuinely best at.
Linktree defined the category and is still the safest default: it is stable, everybody recognises the URL, and the free tier genuinely works for a simple list of links. What you are paying for on the upper tiers is customisation and commerce — the design controls, the analytics depth and the integrations all sit behind the paywall.
What it does better than eltree
Email and SMS subscriber capture built in; eltree has no capture form at all
Link scheduling, which eltree does not offer
A far bigger third-party integration catalogue
Where it falls short
Free pages are a vertical list of text buttons with no visual preview of your content
Theme and colour customisation is largely a paid feature
Creator $10/mo ($100/yr), Creator Plus $30/mo, Creator Max $90/mo
Beacons is the most feature-dense option in this list. It bundles a link page with a store, an email tool, a media kit builder, invoicing and brand-deal tooling. That is genuinely useful if you need those things; it is a lot of product to navigate if you only wanted a good-looking bio link.
What it does better than eltree
A bigger storefront — Beacons handles larger catalogues and more selling tools; eltree’s shop suits a handful of products, downloads or services
A lower platform fee on the free plan — 9% against eltree’s 10%, and 0% on its upper tiers
Email marketing and subscriber capture, which eltree does not have
Where it falls short
Considerably more product than a link-in-bio needs, with the learning curve to match
Pro Lite from $9/year, Pro Standard from $19/year, Pro Plus from $49/year
Carrd is not really a link-in-bio tool — it is a very good one-page site builder, and a bio link is one of the things you can build with it. That trade is the whole story: you get far more layout freedom than any link-in-bio tool offers, in exchange for having to design the page yourself and wire up anything dynamic.
What it does better than eltree
Total layout control — eltree gives you themes and two layout modes, not a canvas
Custom domains for a low annual price
Contact and signup forms
Where it falls short
You build everything by hand — nothing is auto-generated from your links
No creator-specific features: no reactions, no stories, no directory, no tips
Bio.link is the closest thing to a straightforward free competitor. The free tier is unusually generous for the category, the interface is simple, and it does not push you toward a paid plan on every screen. It is also deliberately plain — a list of links, styled nicely, and not much more.
What it does better than eltree
Arguably simpler for someone who genuinely only wants five text links
Where it falls short
Visually plain — a styled link list, not a content showcase
Lnk.Bio competes almost entirely on price. The headline feature is the one-off lifetime payment, which no other tool in this list offers and which genuinely works out cheaper than years of any subscription. The product itself is basic, and the free tier caps how many links you can add.
What it does better than eltree
A lifetime one-off payment option, which eltree does not offer
A cheaper paid tier than eltree Pro, and a $24.99 one-off that never renews
Shorby is not aimed at creators. It is aimed at marketers: retargeting pixels, messenger deep links, UTM handling and campaign-level link management. If you are running ads and want your bio link inside that funnel, it does things the creator tools do not. If you are a creator, you are paying for machinery you will not use.
Taplink sits between a link-in-bio and a small business site. The block system covers forms, payment buttons, booking and messenger links, which makes it genuinely practical for a salon, tutor or small shop. For a creator showing off content it is more machinery than the job needs.
What it does better than eltree
Bookings and appointment slots, which eltree does not do
No platform commission at all — Taplink takes 0% where eltree takes 10% on free and 5% on Pro
Later is a social media scheduler first. Its Link in Bio feature maps your bio page to your actual Instagram grid, so a visitor taps the post they saw and lands where it points. That is a genuinely smart integration if you already schedule in Later — and the reason to buy Later is the scheduler, not the link page.
What it does better than eltree
Instagram scheduling and visual planning are far deeper than eltree Pro’s posting tools
Grid-matched shoppable link pages tied to specific posts
Mature team and multi-client workflows
Where it falls short
Expensive if the link page is all you want
The link page is a secondary feature, not the focus
For a page that shows your content visually, eltree is the strongest free option: the content grid, all seven themes, 30+ fonts, custom colours, reactions, stories and fan tips are free with no watermark. Bio.link is the better pick if you want the simplest possible free link list, and Carrd is better if you want to design the page yourself. Beacons is the one to choose if you need a store and an email list rather than a bio page.
Is there a completely free alternative to Linktree?
Yes. eltree and Bio.link both have free tiers with no forced watermark. Carrd is free for up to three sites on its own subdomain. Beacons and Taplink have free tiers but place their own branding on free pages, and Shorby has no free plan at all.
Do I lose anything by leaving Linktree?
Possibly. Linktree has built-in email and SMS capture, link scheduling and a much larger integration library, which eltree does not. What you gain is a visual page, free customisation, a free built-in shop, and your own domain on Pro at £2.99/mo, which Linktree does not offer. If an email list is central to how you work, Linktree or Beacons is the better fit.
How do I move my links from Linktree to another tool?
There is no export from Linktree, so it is a copy-and-paste job. Open your Linktree page, copy each destination URL, and paste them into the new tool. In eltree, pasting a URL pulls the thumbnail and title automatically, so a typical page of eight to ten links takes a few minutes. Then change the single link in your Instagram, TikTok or X bio to the new URL.