Question 1

Is opn.onl free to use?

Accepted Answer

Yes! opn.onl is completely free to use for personal and commercial purposes. There are no hidden fees, premium tiers, or usage limits. We're an open source project committed to keeping URL shortening accessible to everyone.

Question 2

Do I need an account to shorten links?

Accepted Answer

While you can use opn.onl without an account, creating one unlocks powerful features like analytics tracking, custom aliases, password protection, link expiration, and the ability to manage all your links in one place.

Question 3

How do I create a shortened link?

Accepted Answer

Simply paste your long URL into the input field on our homepage or dashboard and click 'Shorten'. You can optionally add a custom alias, set an expiration date, or add password protection before creating the link.

Question 4

Can I customize my short URL?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Registered users can create custom aliases for their links (e.g., opn.onl/my-brand). Custom aliases must be between 3-20 characters and can only contain letters, numbers, and hyphens.

Question 5

Do links expire?

Accepted Answer

By default, links do not expire and will work indefinitely. However, you can optionally set an expiration date when creating or editing a link. Expired links will show an error message when accessed.

Question 6

Can I password-protect my links?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely! When creating or editing a link, you can add password protection. Anyone who clicks the link will be prompted to enter the password before being redirected to the destination.

Question 7

What analytics are available?

Accepted Answer

We provide detailed analytics including total clicks, click trends over time, geographic data, device types (mobile/desktop), browser information, and referrer sources. All data is displayed in easy-to-understand charts.

Question 8

Can I generate QR codes for my links?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Every link automatically gets a QR code you can download for print, packaging, presentations, or anywhere else. Export as PNG or crisp SVG, and optionally drop in your brand colour and a centre logo.

Question 9

Do you support one-time or self-destructing links?

Accepted Answer

Yes. With burn-after-reading you can mark a link to open once (or a set number of times) and then permanently disable itself. It's opt-in — flip it on per link from the create form or the edit dialog.

Question 10

Will visitors see a warning before leaving opn.onl?

Accepted Answer

Optionally. The safe-link interstitial shows a "you're leaving to X — looks safe ✓" preview with a reputation check before redirecting. You enable it per link, so your normal links still redirect instantly.

Question 11

Can one short link go to different destinations?

Accepted Answer

Yes — with smart conditional routing you can send visitors to different URLs based on their device, OS, country or language, with an optional weighted A/B split. It reuses the same geolocation and device detection that powers your analytics, and falls back to the link's own URL when no rule matches.

Question 12

Is my link-in-bio page public?

Accepted Answer

Only if you opt in. No page exists until you claim a username, enable it, and choose which links appear — so your profile stays private until you turn it on. Pages aren't indexed by search engines by default.

Question 13

How secure is opn.onl?

Accepted Answer

We take security seriously. All connections use HTTPS encryption, passwords are hashed using bcrypt, and we support modern passkey authentication for passwordless login. Our code is open source, so security researchers can verify our practices.

Question 14

Do you track users who click my links?

Accepted Answer

We collect basic analytics data (clicks, devices, referrers, city-level location) to provide you with insights. Visitor IP addresses are truncated before storage and anonymized entirely after 13 months. We do NOT track users across websites, sell data to advertisers, or use any third-party tracking scripts.

Question 15

What is passkey authentication?

Accepted Answer

Passkeys are a modern, passwordless authentication method using your device's biometrics (fingerprint, face) or security key. They're more secure than passwords because they can't be phished or stolen. You can add a passkey in Settings.

Question 16

Can I delete my data?

Accepted Answer

Yes! You can delete individual links at any time from your dashboard. Link deletions are processed immediately. Account deletion is currently disabled on the hosted version, but if you need your account removed, please contact us at info@opn.onl.

Question 17

Do you offer an API?

Accepted Answer

Yes! All of opn.onl's functionality is available through our REST API. You can create links, retrieve analytics, and manage your links programmatically. Check the API documentation for details.

Question 18

Can I self-host opn.onl?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely! Our entire codebase is open source under the AGPL-3.0 license. You can clone the repository from GitHub and deploy your own instance with your own domain. The backend is built with Rust and the frontend with React.

Question 19

What technology does opn.onl use?

Accepted Answer

Our backend is built with Rust and the Axum web framework for performance. We use PostgreSQL for data storage with optional Redis caching for faster redirects. The frontend uses React with TypeScript and Tailwind CSS. We support WebAuthn for passkey authentication.

Question 20

How fast are the redirects?

Accepted Answer

We've optimized for speed using Rust and optional Redis caching. With Redis enabled, cached links redirect very quickly. Database lookups are efficient thanks to PostgreSQL indexing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Getting Started

Features

Security & Privacy

Technical

Still have questions?