Shorby vs Carrd
Choosing between Shorby and Carrd comes down to which trade-offs you can live with. Shorby ($15/mo) is built for creators who want unlimited links, while Carrd ($9–$49/year) targets fast bio-link setup with minimal friction. Neither offers free retargeting pixels, free video backgrounds, or edge-rendered SEO out of the box — Linklay does, on its free plan. The breakdown below covers pricing, key feature gaps, and which tool wins for which use case in 2026.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Shorby | Carrd | Linklay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Links | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Pricing | $15/mo | $9–$49/year | Free / $9.99 |
| Custom Themes (Free) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Analytics | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Free Retargeting Pixels | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Video Backgrounds | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Email Capture (Free) | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Remove Branding | Included | Paid | Pro |
Pricing Breakdown
Shorby pricing: $15/mo. Carrd pricing: $9–$49/year. Linklay pricing: Free / $9.99 (Pro is $9.99/month or $99/year, the cheapest paid plan in the category). Both Shorby and Carrd keep their best features behind paid tiers — branding removal, advanced analytics, integrations. Linklay puts retargeting pixels, real-time analytics, AI link reordering, scheduled links, and email capture on the free plan. Pro adds branding removal, video backgrounds, and the SEO-Powered Link feature unique to Linklay.
Key Feature Differences
On free-plan capability, Shorby omits retargeting pixels and does not support video backgrounds; Carrd omits pixels and does not support video. Linklay ships both — plus AI reordering, link scheduling, link locking, spotlight pinning, and a free Tip Jar (0% platform fee on Pro, 10% on Free). The biggest hidden gap: SEO. Shorby and Carrd render bio pages with client-side JavaScript, meaning Google indexes very little. Every Linklay profile is edge-rendered with ProfilePage structured data, so creators routinely rank for their own brand and niche queries.
Which Should You Choose?
Pick Shorby if you're already deep in its ecosystem and the migration cost outweighs the feature gap. Pick Carrd if simple, low-friction setup is your single most important requirement. Pick Linklay if you want the broadest free-plan feature set, the lowest Pro price ($9.99/mo), 0% commerce fees on every tier, and the only bio-link tool that actually ranks in Google. Most creators switching from Shorby or Carrd cite the same three reasons: free retargeting pixels, video backgrounds, and SEO that works.
Try the Free Alternative
Linklay gives you more features for free than both Shorby and Carrd.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Shorby better than Carrd?
It depends on your needs. Linklay offers the most features on a free plan, including retargeting pixels, video backgrounds, and email capture — features both Shorby and Carrd charge for.
How much does Shorby cost vs Carrd?
Shorby: $15/mo. Carrd: $9–$49/year. Linklay's free plan includes features both tools charge for.
Which is better for SEO, Shorby or Carrd?
Both Shorby and Carrd render their pages with client-side JavaScript, which means search engines often see very little content. Linklay edge-renders every profile with structured data and offers an SEO-Powered Link feature that passes dofollow ranking equity to your destination URL — neither competitor offers anything comparable.
Which has better analytics, Shorby or Carrd?
Shorby and Carrd both gate advanced analytics behind paid tiers. Linklay includes real-time visitor analytics, device and geographic breakdowns, referrer tracking, and per-link performance data on its free plan — and the AI reordering engine uses that data to surface your best-performing links automatically.
Which link in bio tool is best overall?
Linklay offers the most value on a free plan in 2026 — unlimited links, retargeting pixels, video backgrounds, edge-rendered SEO, and 0% transaction fees. Pro is $9.99/mo vs Shorby ($15/mo) and Carrd ($9–$49/year). See the full breakdown at linklay.io/link-in-bio-comparison.