Before you delete your account, follow the steps to downgrade your subscription to the free plan. Deleting your account will not end a subscription, and you will still be charged.
When you delete your account, your personal information is completely removed within 30 days.
You'll no longer be able to edit your links, QR Codes, or Bitly Link-in-bio. You also won't be able to redirect your links or view any metrics for your account.
Some links and QR Codes will continue to work, but the process is different for each type:
- Bit.ly links
- Links using your own custom domain
- Links using a complimentary domain
- QR Codes
- Bitly Link-in-bio
Bit.ly links
Any links using our default bit.ly domain will continue to work. The back-halves used on these links cannot be re-used — whether they're automatically-generated or custom back-halves.
Links using your own custom domain
If you got your own custom domain, Bitly automatically provisioned an SSL certificate for it when you added it to your account. If you delete your account, we won't renew that SSL certificate when it expires.
The links will continue to work as long as your previous domain's DNS settings still point to Bitly's IP addresses, but users may get a warning that the link leads to a website that is not secure.
Links using a complimentary domain
If you received a complimentary domain through Bitly and you change your custom domain, we won't renew your domain with the DNS host.
Your links will continue to work until the domain registration expires. This happens one year after receiving the domain, or one year after its most recent renewal. At this point, your links will break.
QR Codes
Because each QR Code created in Bitly is basically a scannable form of a short link, the effect of downgrading your account is the same for QR Codes as it is for short links.
Any QR Codes created with bit.ly links — and any QR Codes that you created without customizing the link at all — will continue to work.
If a QR Code is connected to a link that uses a custom domain, it will be affected by your account deletion in the same way as your links.
Bitly Link-in-bio
You won't be able to edit your Link-in-bio page after deleting your account. The links on it will be affected by your account deletion in the same way as your links.
As with your short links and QR Codes, the URL for your Link-in-bio page may continue to work, depending on what domain you used for it:
- The default bit.ly domain: It will remain published after you delete your account.
- A complimentary domain: It will stop working when the domain's registration expires sometime after you delete your account.
- Your own custom domain: the Link-in-bio page will remain published. When the domain's SSL certificate expires, visitors to your Link-in-bio page may get a warning that the link leads to an insecure website.