goo.gl Alternative: Which Links Still Work, What to Use Now

If you need a goo.gl alternative for new links, any current URL shortener will do: Google stopped creating goo.gl links in 2019. The more useful question is what happened to your old ones. Since 25 August 2025, goo.gl links that showed no activity in late 2024 no longer redirect; every other goo.gl link still works (Google, 1 August 2025), and Google said in 2024 that links made by Google apps such as Maps keep working (Google Developers Blog, 18 July 2024).

The rest of this post covers the timeline, how to check a link, what to do about printed ones, and how to choose a shortener so this doesn't happen to you twice.

The goo.gl timeline

Google's July 2024 post also says "goo.gl links generated via Google apps (such as Maps sharing) will continue to function."

Do my goo.gl links still work?

Open the link. Google's advice in the August 2025 update is exactly that: if it redirects you without a message, it will keep working. If you saw the warning "This link will no longer work in the near future" before 25 August 2025, the link was on the deactivation list and no longer redirects.

To check a long list without clicking each one, ask for the headers and see where each link points:

while read -r url; do
  printf '%s  ' "$url"
  curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code} %{redirect_url}\n" "$url"
done < googl-links.txt

Put one goo.gl URL per line in googl-links.txt. A working link prints a 3xx status and its destination; anything else needs a closer look in a browser.

What to do with printed goo.gl links

A goo.gl link on a poster, a book page or a product box can't be edited, and if it was deactivated, nothing on Google's side will bring it back. Your options, in order:

1. 1.
   Check it first. If it still redirects, leave it alone; Google says active links are preserved.
2. 2.
   Fix the next print run. Use a new short link, ideally one whose destination you can change later.
3. 3.
   Fix what you can still edit. Websites, PDFs you host, email templates and app store listings can all take a new link today.
4. 4.
   Help people who arrive late. If the old link pointed at your own site, make sure the destination URL itself still works; people who find it some other way shouldn't hit a dead end too.

The same advice applies to any shortener. A short link is only as permanent as the service behind it, and once it's on paper you can't take it back.

Firebase Dynamic Links

Firebase Dynamic Links, which Google suggested to developers in 2018, shut down on 25 August 2025 as well. Its FAQ says clicked links now return "a HTTP 404 status response to end users" (Firebase, updated 13 October 2026). Those were app deep links, a different job from a plain short link; SendURL doesn't do deep linking, so we won't pretend to replace them.

goo.gl alternatives compared

For plain short links, here is what each common replacement offers on its free plan, from each vendor's pricing page on 15 October 2026 (Dub's destination edits from its link help article). The free Bitly alternatives comparison has the full table, with sources.

If most of your old goo.gl links pointed at Google Docs, Drive, Forms or Maps, Dub also runs ggl.link, which it describes as "a free, branded successor to goo.gl for your Google links" (Dub, updated 22 January 2025).

What to look for so it doesn't happen again

goo.gl users had seven years' notice, which is generous. Smaller services can close with less. When you pick a replacement, check these:

• Your own domain. The strongest protection. If links live on a domain you control, you can point that domain at another shortener and every printed link keeps working. Short.io (up to 5 domains) and Dub (up to 3) let you connect a domain you own on their free plans. Rebrandly's free plan includes a yourbrand.bio address; check who holds it before relying on it. Bitly needs Growth. SendURL has no custom domains: every link is on snu.to, which we control, not you.
• Editable destinations. If a page moves, you change where the short link points instead of reprinting. On SendURL this is one API call; the console has no form for it.
• Disable instead of delete. A link you switch off can come back. SendURL's console has no delete button; a disabled link shows "Link not found" and keeps its slug, QR code and history.
• An export path. You should be able to pull every link and its destination in one go. On SendURL that's the API (below); there's no CSV export button.
• What happens if you stop paying. Read the plan page: do links keep redirecting on the free tier?
• Your own record. Whatever service you use, keep a list of every short link and where it points. Pew Research Center found that 38% of web pages that existed in 2013 were no longer accessible by October 2023 (Pew, 17 May 2024). Links break; the list is how you fix them.

Keep your own copy of every link

SendURL's API is on every plan, so a short script can write all your links and destinations to a CSV file. Create an API key in the console, then:

export SENDURL_API_KEY="snu_…"
python3 export_links.py

import csv
import json
import os
import time
import urllib.parse
import urllib.request

API = "https://api.sendurl.to/api/v1"
HEADERS = {
    "Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['SENDURL_API_KEY']}",
    # Cloudflare refuses Python's default urllib user agent, so name the script.
    "User-Agent": "sendurl-link-export/1.0",
}


def get(path, params):
    url = f"{API}{path}?{urllib.parse.urlencode(params)}"
    with urllib.request.urlopen(urllib.request.Request(url, headers=HEADERS)) as res:
        return json.load(res)


with open("sendurl-links.csv", "w", newline="") as f:
    out = csv.writer(f)
    out.writerow(["shortUrl", "destinationUrl", "title", "active", "expiresAt", "createdAt"])
    params = {"limit": 10}
    while True:
        page = get("/links", params)
        for link in page["links"]:
            out.writerow([link["shortUrl"], link["destinationUrl"], link["title"],
                          link["active"], link["expiresAt"], link["createdAt"]])
        if not page["pagination"]["hasMore"]:
            break
        params["cursor"] = page["pagination"]["nextCursor"]
        time.sleep(0.25)  # stays under the API's 50 requests per 10 seconds

The list endpoint returns 10 links per page with a cursor for the next one (pagination). It uses only Python's standard library. To pull click records as well, see the Python guide to the URL shortener API.

We're a small service, and we'd rather say so than promise forever. The protection that works with any shortener, us included, is that list: if a service goes away, you know every destination and can recreate the links somewhere else.

Checklist: moving on from goo.gl

• List every goo.gl link you've published: site, documents, emails, print.
• Check each one (the loop above, or open it). Note which are dead.
• Replace dead links everywhere you can still edit.
• Make new links on a service where you can change the destination.
• Prefer a domain you control if your links go on paper for years.
• Export your links regularly and keep the file somewhere you own.

For how a short link works under the hood (the lookup, the 302, and what 404 and 410 mean), see how URL shorteners work. To make a replacement link now, use the free URL shortener on the home page; how to shorten a URL for free walks through it on the web, a phone and the API.