The best link in bio tool is the one that is strongest at the job your page actually has to do. A creator selling an ebook should care most about the commission on each sale; a café needs opening hours, a map and a WhatsApp button; an agency needs several pages and its clients' own domains. This guide gives you the checklist I use to judge any link in bio app, then goes use case by use case, including where Linktotem fits and where it doesn't.
I'm the founder of Linktotem, so read my opinion with that in mind. I've kept competitor facts to things I checked on their own websites today and linked every one. Prices and plans change often, so for the detailed side-by-side numbers I point you to our comparison pages, which list their sources and the date they were checked.
What to check before you pick a link in bio app
Most tools look the same on their homepage: a profile photo, a stack of buttons, a nice theme. The differences are in five places.
| What to check | Why it matters | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Can you publish for free? | Some tools are free forever, others only let you build or test for free | The pricing page, not the homepage |
| Commission on sales | A percentage on every sale adds up faster than a monthly fee | The help centre article on fees |
| Custom domain | yourbrand.com looks more trustworthy than a tool's subdomain | Pricing page or help centre |
| Analytics | You want clicks per link, not just page views | Feature list, ideally a demo |
| Language | Your dashboard and your visitors' page in the language you work in | Help centre, "languages" |
1. Free plan: publish or only build?
"Free" means different things. Some tools let you publish a page at no cost, usually with their branding and limits. Others let you build for free but ask you to pay to publish. Neither is wrong, but know which one you're signing up for.
2. Commission on what you sell
If you sell digital products, courses, services or accept tips through the page, this is the most important line. A tool can look cheap per month and cost you far more in fees. For example, Linktree's help centre lists a fee on direct earnings on every plan except Premium, and Beacons' help centre lists a seller fee on its free and Creator plans, with 0% from Creator Plus up. On the other side, Stan Store's help centre says Stan takes 0% of transactions and charges only a subscription. Whatever tool you choose, payment processors like Stripe or PayPal charge their own processing fee on top.
3. Custom domain
Not everyone needs one. But if you're a brand, an agency or you print your link on packaging, a custom domain is worth having. It's also not universal: Linktree's help centre says it doesn't offer custom domains to replace the linktr.ee URL, while Carrd's Pro page includes custom domains on its Pro Standard and Pro Plus plans.
4. Analytics
Page views alone don't tell you much. What you want is clicks per link, click-through rate, where visitors came from (Instagram, TikTok, a QR code) and support for UTM tags so the numbers match your Google Analytics. Check whether the analytics you need are on the plan you'll actually pay for.
5. Language
If you and your customers work in Portuguese, Spanish or anything other than English, check the dashboard, not just the public page. Linktree's help centre says its app and admin are only in English, for example. That's fine for many people and a real obstacle for others.
The best link in bio tool for each use case
A creator selling products
What matters: commission on sales, checkout that works on mobile, and email collection so you own your audience.
Here the monthly price is the smaller number. If you sell €1,000 a month in digital products, a percentage fee changes your bill much more than the difference between two subscriptions. Look for tools that take 0% on sales on the plan you'll use, then compare the monthly price.
Tools built around selling, like Stan Store and Beacons, are worth a look. Our comparison pages go through their plans and fees in detail:
ComparisonLinktotem vs Stan Store →A serious selling tool at $29 a month, with no free plan, no own domain and no Portuguese. ComparisonLinktotem vs Beacons →A creator suite with a free plan — and a 9% seller fee until you reach the $30 tier.Linktotem also takes 0% commission: products, services and tips are paid through your own Stripe account, and you only pay Stripe's processing fee. We also have forms and email collection blocks. If online courses or a large product catalogue are the core of your business, check that whatever tool you pick is built for that, not just for a few products.
A local business (restaurant, salon, clinic, shop)
What matters: opening hours, a map, a WhatsApp or call button, bookings, and a menu or price list people can read on a phone.
In my experience, this is where many link in bio tools feel thinnest, because most grew up around creators. You can often get there with links to Google Maps and a PDF menu, but a PDF menu on a phone is a bad experience.
This is the use case Linktotem was built around. There are blocks for opening hours with an "open now" label, a map, WhatsApp, Telegram and SMS buttons, bookings through Calendly, Cal.com or Google, and a menu or price list with photos. There are also ready-made templates:
TemplateRestaurants →Table bookings on WhatsApp, your menu, opening hours and directions. TemplateBeauty salons →Online booking, a price list, opening hours and gift cards.A musician or band
What matters: embeds for your latest release, links to every streaming service, tour dates, merch and a way to collect fans' emails.
A musician's page changes with every release, so ease of editing counts as much as design. Look for music and video embeds that play right on the page, and a clear way to highlight "new single" above everything else. Countdown blocks help before a release.
TemplateMusicians →Your latest release, tour dates, merch and a booking contact on one page.An agency or freelancer managing several pages
What matters: several pages under one account, custom domains per client, team access and a way to work fast.
Several pages and custom domains are part of our Pro plan: €12 a month for 5 pages, each with its own domain, and packs of 5 more when you grow. Check the domain and team rules on any tool's pricing page before you move clients over. Carrd, for example, sells plans for more than one site, and its Pro page lists custom domains on Pro Standard and Pro Plus:
ComparisonLinktotem vs Carrd →$9 a year for a one-page site — but it's a site builder, not a link in bio, and it has no business blocks.Someone who just wants it free
What matters: a free plan that lets you publish, with limits you can live with.
If paying nothing is a hard requirement, you have options. Linktotem's Free plan lets you publish with no card, with a "Made with Linktotem" badge in the footer and stats for the last 28 days. Linktree's pricing page lists a Free plan, and Beacons' help centre describes a free plan too. Lnk.Bio is in our comparisons as well; the comparison pages have the details on each free plan:
ComparisonLinktotem vs Linktree →Free to publish and the best-known name — but 9–12% of your sales, no custom domain and English only. ComparisonLinktotem vs Lnk.Bio →Cheap, multilingual and surprisingly complete — with a 5% shop fee and add-ons that stack.Just read the free plan's limits: branding you can't remove, fees on sales, or analytics that only go back a short time are all common trade-offs.
Where Linktotem fits, honestly
So you can judge it quickly:
- Price: publishing is free on the Free plan, with our badge in the footer. Starter, €5/month or €50/year (US$5/$50, R$25/R$250), removes the badge and adds scheduling, rules, pixels, a year of stats and selling, after a 14-day free trial. Details on the pricing page.
- Selling: 0% commission from us on products, services and tips, paid through your own Stripe account (selling is part of Starter).
- Local business blocks: opening hours with "open now", map, WhatsApp/Telegram/SMS, bookings, menus and price lists with photos, FAQ, testimonials.
- Analytics: views, unique visitors, clicks per link, CTR, countries, devices, referrers, channels and UTM parameters, plus QR codes and short links with scan tracking.
- Language: the dashboard is in English, European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese.
- Templates: 14 niche templates, from restaurants to lawyers. See them all on the templates page.
- With Pro: several pages and custom domains (€12 a month for 5 pages).
The full list of blocks is on the features page.
How to decide in three steps
- Write down the one job your page has. Sell, get bookings, grow a mailing list, or send people to your music. One job, not five.
- Rule tools out on the non-negotiables. Must it be free? Must it take 0% on sales? Must it be in Portuguese? Must it use your domain? Each answer removes some tools.
- Test the last two with your real content. Build the page, open it on your phone, and send it to a friend. Keep the one that makes the main job easiest.
If you want a side-by-side table for a specific tool against Linktotem, with sources and the date we checked, start at the comparison hub.
