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the short version
"Free link-in-bio" is one of the most over-claimed phrases in this category. Almost every tool has a free tier; almost no free tier is genuinely usable for a creator who's growing. The free version is typically engineered as a top-of-funnel that nudges you toward Pro within weeks — either through view caps, branding lock-in, paywalled custom domains, missing analytics, or a combination.
This is the version of the comparison that names what's actually free, what's gated, and what specifically you'll bump into in your first 90 days. We list seven tools — Linktree, Beacons, Stan Store, Carrd, Bento, Lnk.bio, and linkboo — and call out the friction points on each free tier honestly.
A note before the list: this piece compares mainstream link-in-bio free tiers. If you're looking for a comparison framed around migration from Linktree, see /linktree-alternatives. If you're looking for the broader best-of comparison, see /best-link-in-bio. If you're comparing escape-flow tools specifically, see /guides/best-in-app-browser-escape-tools-compared.
the four ways a "free" link-in-bio tool is actually limited
Before the per-tool breakdown, here's how the gates work. Most tools use some combination of these four; the diabolical ones use all four.
1. The branded URL
Every free tier puts the tool's name in your bio link URL — linktr.ee/yourhandle, beacons.ai/yourhandle, stan.store/yourhandle. That URL is on your Instagram and TikTok bios in front of every viewer, every day. It's a small but constant ad for the tool. Removing it requires the paid tier. Exception: linkboo's free tier doesn't add this branding.
2. The "powered by" footer
A small text label at the bottom of your page — "Made with Carrd," "Powered by Beacons," "Linktree" — that tells your visitors what tool you used. Some creators don't mind; some find it actively undermines their brand. Removing it is Pro-tier on every tool we tested except linkboo (free tier excludes it under 1,000 monthly clicks).
3. Custom domain access
Almost every tool gates custom domain mapping behind Pro. If you own yourname.com and want your bio link to be links.yourname.com instead of tool.com/yourname, you need to pay. Exceptions: linkboo and Bento both include custom domain on free.
4. View caps, click caps, feature caps
Some tools throttle the free tier directly — Beacons caps at 1,000 page views/month (a single viral TikTok can blow through this in a day), Taplink caps at 100 visitors/month. Some tools cap features instead: Linktree's free tier has no analytics worth using, no email capture, no scheduling. linkboo's free tier is capped at 1,000 monthly clicks; beyond that the page keeps working but Pro features unlock at higher tiers.
The honest framing: the free tier is the funnel for the paid tier. Pick the tool whose free-tier limits you can live with, and whose paid tier is fair when you outgrow free.
linktree (free)
What you get: Unlimited links, basic themes, basic click counts, the linktr.ee/yourhandle URL.
What's gated: Branding removal, custom domain, advanced analytics, email/SMS capture, scheduling, custom themes, link scheduling, payment buttons, integrations. Everything anyone would actually want is Pro ($5/month).
The catch: The branded URL stays on your bio forever unless you upgrade. Linktree's free tier is engineered as a long brand-impression: every visitor to your bio page is a visitor Linktree can pixel for their own retargeting. The free tier works fine; it's just deliberately limited so Pro looks necessary within weeks.
Honest take: Genuinely usable for very early-stage creators or people who don't care about branding on their bio URL. The fastest tool to onboard. The slowest to outgrow because there's a low ceiling on what free does.
beacons (free)
What you get: Up to 1,000 page views/month, basic themes, basic analytics, the beacons.ai/yourhandle URL, Beacons footer branding.
What's gated: The view cap is the killer — viral TikTok traffic can blow 1,000 views in a single morning, after which your page silently degrades or stops serving (depending on plan). Branding removal, custom domain, advanced analytics, the digital store, appointment booking, gigs marketplace — all Creator Pro ($10/month) or above.
The catch: The 1,000 page-view cap is the only such cap we've seen on a major link-in-bio free tier and it's the structural reason the free plan doesn't scale. The view metering also creates a perverse incentive: a successful post that drives bio-link traffic actively breaks your bio page if you haven't upgraded.
Honest take: Don't ship a serious campaign on Beacons free. The view cap is a tripwire, not a starting point. If you like Beacons' UI and templates, plan to be on Pro from week one.
stan store (free)
What you get: None — Stan Store doesn't have a free tier. There's a 14-day trial of the $29/month Starter plan.
Honest take: Stan isn't really competing in the free-tier conversation. It's a paid digital storefront product priced for creators who are already selling things and treating the link-in-bio page as a small surface around their commerce. If you're not selling digital products, Stan isn't the tool. If you are, the question isn't "is the free tier good" — it's whether $29/month is worth it for the store flow specifically (and the answer for digital-product creators is usually yes).
carrd (free)
What you get: Up to 3 sites, all of Carrd's core features, full design control. "Made with Carrd" footer credit on every page. No custom domain on free.
What's gated: Custom domain ($9/year on Pro Lite), email forms, embedded widgets that need server-side processing, password protection. The paid tiers are radically cheap — $9/year, $19/year, $49/year — which makes the "free" conversation kind of academic.
The catch: The Made-With-Carrd footer is the only meaningful free-tier branding. It's a small text link, not a full URL stamp. Compared to the branding most tools put on free pages, Carrd's is among the least intrusive.
Honest take: Carrd's free tier is genuinely good if you want a designed page and don't need a custom domain. And the upgrade to Pro Lite ($9 once-a-year) makes the free conversation moot — almost no one is going to refuse to pay $9 once a year to remove the footer. The tool is just fairly priced.
bento (free)
What you get: All core features. Custom Bento URL. Bento branding on the page. Custom domain mapping (rare on free tiers). Basic analytics.
What's gated: Branding removal, advanced analytics, integrations, advanced design unlocks — all Pro ($5/month).
The catch: The free tier here is actually generous. Custom domain on free is unusual and meaningful — it means you can run your bio link on links.yourname.com from day one without paying, which most tools don't allow.
Honest take: Bento's free tier is among the best in the category for serious-but-not-yet-paying creators. The visual grid layout fits some creator brands well (designers, photographers, lifestyle) and worse fits others (storefront sellers). The in-app browser problem still applies — Bento links land in webviews the same as everyone else's.
lnk.bio (free)
What you get: Unlimited links, Lnk.bio branding on the page, the lnk.bio/handle URL, basic stats. Genuinely unmetered.
What's gated: Branding removal, analytics, custom URL options — all paid, but the structure is unusual: $0.99/month basic, $9.99/year Pro, or $24.99 one-time lifetime payment.
The catch: The free tier has the dated UI working against it. Lnk.bio is functional but feels like a 2018 product in 2026. The "deeplinking" feature exists but is a setting buried in advanced options, not a structural escape flow — it works for some destinations and silently fails for others.
Honest take: If you want set-and-forget free, Lnk.bio is fine. The $25 lifetime upgrade is a wild deal if you commit to the tool long-term. Plan for the dated feel.
linkboo (free)
What you get: Up to 1,000 monthly clicks. No "linkboo" branding on the page. No linkboo URL stamp visible to your viewers. Custom domain mapping on free (no credit card required). Full analytics. The escape flow on by default for every link.
What's gated: Higher click volume (Pro at $9/month flat for up to 50K monthly clicks; Agency at $39/month for unlimited handles with white-label). Some integrations are Pro-only. Bulk operations are Agency-only.
The catch: The 1,000-monthly-click cap is the equivalent of Beacons' 1,000-page-view cap, but it counts clicks (an outbound tap on a link, the thing you want) rather than page views (a visit to your page). For most creators at early or mid stage, 1,000 clicks/month is meaningful headroom. If you're past that, $9/month Pro is the upgrade.
Honest take: linkboo's free tier is the only one in this list that includes (1) no branding lock-in, (2) custom domain mapping, and (3) the escape flow that actually fixes the in-app browser problem your bio link is losing conversions to. The click cap is the gate; everything else is genuinely free. That's the wedge.
the free-tier comparison, side by side
| Tool | Free-tier branded URL? | "Powered by" footer? | Custom domain on free? | Cap on free | Escape flow on free |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linktree | Yes (linktr.ee/handle) |
Yes | No | Soft (Pro pushes hard on features) | No |
| Beacons | Yes (beacons.ai/handle) |
Yes | No | 1,000 page views/month | No |
| Stan Store | n/a (no free tier) | — | — | — | — |
| Carrd | Yes (yourname.carrd.co) |
Yes (small text) | No (Pro Lite $9/yr) | 3 sites | No |
| Bento | Yes (bento.me/handle) |
Yes | Yes | Soft | No |
| Lnk.bio | Yes (lnk.bio/handle) |
Yes | No | Unmetered | Limited (advanced setting, not structural) |
| linkboo | No | No | Yes | 1,000 clicks/month | Yes |
Read down the columns: the only tool whose free tier lacks branding lock-in is linkboo. The only tools whose free tiers include custom domain are linkboo and Bento. The only tool whose free tier includes the escape flow at all is linkboo. The cap on linkboo (1,000 clicks) is meaningfully different from the cap on Beacons (1,000 page views) — clicks are outbound taps you wanted; page views include every visitor.
what "free" should mean to a serious creator
Three honest questions to ask of any "free" link-in-bio tool:
1. Does the free tier work the same as the paid tier on the things that matter?
Most tools have a free tier that's functionally a demo. The page loads, the buttons click, the analytics are present-but-stripped. The features that matter for conversion (custom domain, branding removal, the escape flow) are gated. If your bio link is the single most clicked URL of your work, paying $5–$10/month to make it not be a demo is not unreasonable.
2. Is the upgrade path fair?
Some tools have generous free tiers and reasonable paid tiers (Carrd, Bento). Some tools have stripped free tiers and reasonable paid tiers (Linktree, Beacons). Some tools have free trials and expensive paid tiers (Stan). Some tools have one-time payment options (Lnk.bio). The right "free" for you depends on whether you're staying free forever or planning to upgrade — and what the upgrade costs at the volume you actually expect to hit.
3. What's silently broken on the free tier that the paid tier doesn't fix either?
The in-app browser problem is the answer for almost every free tool except linkboo. Your free Linktree, free Beacons, free Bento, free Lnk.bio bio link is going to lose 30–70% of conversions on traffic to destinations that require the viewer to be logged in — Amazon, OnlyFans, Spotify, Etsy, Shopify, Substack, ticketing, fintech. Paying for Pro on those tools doesn't fix it. The architecture doesn't fix it. The full breakdown is at /guides/in-app-browser-logged-out.
If your bio link is sending viewers to destinations where being logged-in matters, the free-tier question stops being "branding or no branding" and starts being "is the link layer actually working." That's the linkboo wedge.
three honest recommendations
If you want to actually start something today, three useful answers depending on what you're optimizing for:
If you're brand-new and want the lowest-friction start ever — Linktree free. It's the fastest tool to ship and the default-good answer for "I have no link in bio and need one in five minutes." You'll outgrow it; that's fine.
If you want the best free-tier value for design-led creators — Bento. Custom domain on free is rare, the grid layout is genuinely different, and the upgrade is reasonable.
If your bio link is routing to destinations where being logged in matters — linkboo. The free tier includes the escape flow, custom domain, no branding, and 1,000 clicks/month. The upgrade is flat $9/month. The conversion lift over a "free" Linktree on Amazon, Spotify, OnlyFans, Etsy, Shopify destinations is structural, not marginal.
Try linkboo free → — no credit card, no branding, escape flow on.
the bottom line
Free link-in-bio tools are not all the same. The free tier on Linktree and the free tier on linkboo solve very different problems — one ships a fast demo, the other ships a working link layer with branding-free hosting and the escape flow on. Bento sits between them with the best free-tier flexibility for design-led creators. Carrd's free tier is honest in a category where most aren't. Stan doesn't really play in this space.
Pick the free tier whose limits you can live with, and whose paid tier is fair if you upgrade. The wrong question is "which is most generous" — the right question is "which one's free tier doesn't silently break the thing my bio link is supposed to do."