How to Track Link Clicks Without Paying for Analytics Tools

If you're sharing links on social media, in emails, or on printed materials and want to know whether anyone is actually clicking them, you don't need a full analytics platform or a marketing budget — a free URL shortener with built-in click tracking gets you 90% of the way there.

What a shortened link can tell you

Every time someone clicks a shortened link, the shortener logs the click before redirecting to the destination. That gives you a running total of clicks per link, which is enough to answer the questions that actually matter day to day: is this campaign working, is anyone reading this post, which of my links get the most traffic.

Why this beats installing analytics on every destination

If you're linking to third-party sites, PDFs, app store listings, or pages you don't control, you often can't install a tracking pixel at all. A tracked short link works regardless of where it points, since the tracking happens at the redirect step, not on the destination page.

How to set it up

1. Create a free account on SaveIt's URL shortener.
2. Shorten each link you plan to share — social posts, email campaigns, bio links, QR codes.
3. Check your dashboard any time to see click counts per link, updated in real time.

No spreadsheets, no paid plan, no tracking pixel to install — just a link that happens to count its own clicks.