Updated 23 October 2026
The best link in bio tools in 2026
Short answer: For most creators the best link in bio tool in 2026 is eltree: it is free with no watermark, shows your content as a visual grid instead of a list of buttons, and can take tips and sell products, downloads and services from a built-in shop. Linktree is the best known, Beacons is stronger for email marketing and large stores, Carrd for full design control, and Bio.link for the simplest free link list.
We make eltree, so weigh that. Every other tool below is described from its own public pricing and help pages (checked 2026-09-21), including where it beats us.
Quick picks
Best overall, and best free
eltree
Free with no watermark, a visual content grid, tips and a built-in shop. Pro adds your own domain for £2.99/mo.
Best for email marketing and big stores
Beacons
A whole creator business suite: store, email list, media kit. More to learn, and paid plans for the best parts.
Best known
Linktree
The name audiences recognise, with a large integration library. Themes and colours are mostly paid, and no custom domains.
Best for designing it yourself
Carrd
A blank canvas for one-page sites. You do the layout work.
Best simple free list
Bio.link
A tidy free list of links with no fuss.
Best for bookings and forms
Taplink
Payment, booking and enquiry blocks for small businesses.
What is a link in bio tool?
A link in bio tool gives you one web page that holds all your links, so the single link Instagram, TikTok and X allow on your profile can lead everywhere you want. Good ones also let fans tip you, sell from the page, show your content visually and tell you what people click. eltree, Linktree, Beacons, Carrd and Bio.link are the best-known examples.
How we judged them
- Is the free plan real? No trial, no forced watermark, design not paywalled.
- Can it pay you? Tips, selling products, downloads and services, and what the platform takes.
- Does it show your content? A visual page beats a list of labels for visual creators.
- What does the upgrade cost? Custom domain, analytics and lower fees, and at what price.
- How fast is it? To set up, and to change when your content does.
The ranking
eltree
The free link in bio that pays you: a visual grid of your content, tips and a built-in shop.
- Free plan
- Yes — the page, every design feature, tips and a shop, no watermark
- Paid from
- Pro £2.99/mo, or £24.99/year (£2.08/mo)
- Best for
- Creators, artists, musicians and small sellers who want a good-looking free page that can take tips and sell a few things.
Good
- Free with no watermark and no credit card
- Content shown as a thumbnail grid, built automatically from your links
- Tips and a shop for products, downloads and services, free to switch on
- Your own domain, a song under your bio and a weekly report on Pro (£2.99/mo)
Watch out for
- Takes 10% of tips and sales on free (5% on Pro); some tools take 0%
- No email capture or link scheduling
- The shop suits a handful of products, not a big catalogue
Linktree
The original link-in-bio tool, and still the default for most people.
- Free plan
- Yes — unlimited links, a small set of themes, basic click counts.
- Paid from
- Starter $6/mo annual ($8 monthly), Pro $12/mo annual ($15), Premium $30/mo annual ($35)
- Best for
- Anyone who wants the most familiar, most widely recognised option and does not mind paying to customise it.
Good
- Enormous brand recognition — audiences know what a Linktree link is
- Very large integration library (Spotify, Shopify, Mailchimp, Cameo and many more)
- Mature commerce, tipping and email/SMS capture on paid plans
Watch out for
- 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
Beacons
A whole creator business suite that happens to include a link-in-bio.
- Free plan
- Yes — link page plus a limited set of blocks, with Beacons branding.
- Paid from
- Creator $10/mo ($100/yr), Creator Plus $30/mo, Creator Max $90/mo
- Best for
- Creators running a business — media kits, brand deals, email lists and a storefront in one place.
Good
- Built-in store and digital product sales
- Media kit builder aimed at pitching brands
- Email marketing included rather than bolted on
Watch out for
- Considerably more product than a link-in-bio needs, with the learning curve to match
- The free tier carries Beacons branding
Carrd
A one-page website builder that many people use as a link-in-bio.
- Free plan
- Yes — up to three sites on a carrd.co subdomain, no custom domain.
- Paid from
- Pro Lite from $9/year, Pro Standard from $19/year, Pro Plus from $49/year
- Best for
- People who want genuine design control and are comfortable building a page element by element.
Good
- Real design freedom — you control the layout, not a template
- Extremely cheap for what it is, billed annually
- Custom domains on paid plans, at a low price
Watch out for
- 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
A clean, genuinely generous free link-in-bio.
- Free plan
- Yes — unlimited links, several themes, basic analytics, no forced branding.
- Paid from
- Single Pro plan, $7.49/mo billed annually
- Best for
- People who want a tidy free link list with no fuss and no upsell pressure.
Good
- Genuinely usable free tier without heavy branding
- Very simple to set up
- Short, clean URLs
Watch out for
- Visually plain — a styled link list, not a content showcase
- No automatic thumbnail extraction from URLs
Taplink
Block-based mini-sites with payments and forms built in.
- Free plan
- Yes — basic blocks with Taplink branding.
- Paid from
- Pro $4/mo annual, Business $8/mo annual
- Best for
- Small businesses taking bookings, payments or enquiries straight from a bio link.
Good
- Payment and booking blocks at a low price
- Contact and enquiry forms included
- Multi-page structure available on paid tiers
Watch out for
- Free tier carries Taplink branding
- Block editing is fiddlier than picking a theme
Later (Link in Bio)
A social scheduling platform whose link-in-bio is a companion feature.
- Free plan
- Limited free tier focused on scheduling, not the link page.
- Paid from
- Starter $18.75/mo annual, Growth $37.50/mo, Scale $82.50/mo
- Best for
- Teams already using Later to schedule Instagram, who want a shoppable link page tied to their posts.
Good
- Link page mirrors your real Instagram grid
- Strong visual planning and scheduling tools
- Solid analytics across scheduled content
Watch out for
- Expensive if the link page is all you want
- The link page is a secondary feature, not the focus
Lnk.Bio
The budget option, with an unusual one-off lifetime payment.
- Free plan
- Yes, but capped — a limited number of links on the free tier.
- Paid from
- Mini $0.99/mo, Unique $24.99 one-off, Ultra $89.99/yr; custom domain add-on $39.99/yr
- Best for
- People who hate subscriptions and want to pay once and forget about it.
Good
- One-off lifetime payment option — rare in this category
- Very cheap monthly tier
- Simple, fast, no bloat
Watch out for
- The free tier limits the number of links
- Dated interface next to newer tools
Shorby
A marketing-led link tool built around messenger links and retargeting.
- Free plan
- No free plan — trial only.
- Paid from
- Start $9/mo, Rocket $15/mo
- Best for
- Marketers and agencies running paid traffic who need retargeting pixels on the link page.
Good
- Retargeting pixels on the link page (Facebook, Google and others)
- Messenger and deep-link handling
- Built for managing many links and campaigns at once
Watch out for
- No free plan at all
- Expensive relative to creator-focused tools
Also worth knowing: Stan Store is built for selling digital products and courses and takes no platform commission, but it has no free plan.
Side by side
| eltree | Linktree | Beacons | Carrd | Bio.link | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes — the page, every design feature, tips and a shop, no watermark | Yes — unlimited links, limited themes | Yes, with Beacons branding | Yes — up to three sites on a carrd.co subdomain | Yes — unlimited links, no heavy branding |
| Paid plan from | Free; Pro £2.99/mo or £24.99/yr; Seller £9.99/mo | From $6/mo billed yearly ($8 monthly) | From $10/mo | From $9/year | From $7.49/mo billed yearly |
| Page layout | Visual content grid, link rows, or both | Vertical list of text buttons | Stacked blocks | Whatever you build — it is a page builder | Styled list of links |
| Monetisation | Tips and a built-in shop (products, downloads, services) via Stripe, free to switch on | Tips, commerce and integrations on paid plans | Full store, digital products, tips and invoicing | Via embeds and third-party checkout | Tip and payment links |
| Platform fee on money you take | 10% on the free plan, 5% on Pro, 0% on shop sales on Seller, plus Stripe’s processing charge | 12% on the free plan, 9% on Starter and Pro, 0% on Premium | 9% on Free and Creator, 0% on Creator Plus and Max | No Carrd fee — you embed your own checkout, so your provider’s fees apply | Not stated on their pricing page |
| Custom domain | Yes, on Pro (£2.99/mo); eltree.app/yourname keeps working too | No — Linktree’s help centre states it does not offer custom domains | Yes, on paid plans | Yes, on paid plans | Yes, on the paid tier |
| Branding on free pages | Optional badge you can switch off | Linktree branding on free pages | Beacons branding on the free tier | No forced branding | Minimal on free pages |
Questions people ask
What is the best link in bio tool in 2026?
For most creators the best link in bio tool in 2026 is eltree: it is free with no watermark, shows your content as a visual grid instead of a list of buttons, and can take tips and sell products, downloads and services from a built-in shop. Linktree is the best known, Beacons is stronger for email marketing and large stores, Carrd for full design control, and Bio.link for the simplest free link list.
What is a link in bio tool?
A link in bio tool gives you one web page that holds all your links, so the single link Instagram, TikTok and X allow on your profile can lead everywhere you want. Good ones also let fans tip you, sell from the page, show your content visually and tell you what people click. eltree, Linktree, Beacons, Carrd and Bio.link are the best-known examples.
What is the best free link in bio?
eltree is the best free link in bio for most people: the page, every theme and font, custom colours, up to 6 link rows and 9 tiles, tips and a shop are all free, with no watermark and no credit card. Bio.link is a good free choice for a plain link list, and Carrd is free for up to three hand-designed sites.
What is the best free Linktree alternative?
eltree is the best free Linktree alternative if you want a page that shows your content as a visual grid, free design controls that Linktree charges for, a free shop, and your own domain on a £2.99/month Pro plan, which Linktree does not offer at all. Beacons suits creators who need email marketing and a large store; Bio.link suits people who want the simplest free list.
What are the best Linktree alternatives?
The best Linktree alternatives in 2026 are eltree (free, visual, with tips, a shop and a cheap custom domain), Beacons (a full creator business suite with email and a store), Carrd (design it yourself), Bio.link (a simple free list), Taplink (bookings and forms) and Later (if you already schedule Instagram posts with it).
Which link in bio tools let you sell products?
eltree has a free built-in shop for physical products, digital downloads and services, with Stripe checkout, delivery addresses, download links and order emails; it takes 10% of the item price on the free plan, 5% on Pro and 0% on the £9.99/month Seller plan, never anything on delivery. Beacons and Stan Store have bigger storefronts on paid plans, and Linktree sells through its commerce features with a 12% fee on its free plan.
What is the best link in bio for Instagram?
The best link in bio for Instagram is one that looks as visual as your grid: eltree turns each link into a thumbnail tile automatically, takes tips and sells from the page, and is free. Paste eltree.app/yourname into Edit Profile → Links on Instagram.
What is the best link in bio for TikTok?
For TikTok, eltree works well because it shows your videos and links as thumbnails, loads fast on phones and lets fans tip you or buy from your shop without leaving the page. Add eltree.app/yourname to the Website field on your TikTok profile once your account can show a link.
Which link in bio lets you use your own domain cheaply?
eltree Pro includes your own domain (yourname.com or links.yourbrand.com) for £2.99 a month or £24.99 a year, and your eltree.app link keeps working. Carrd and Bio.link also offer custom domains on paid plans; Linktree does not offer them.