With the increase in popularity and use of social media platforms like Instagram, bio link tools have also become widely used as well. This clickable URL is used by many influencers today, as it takes the followers to their own website, landing page, or product that they are currently promoting. As social media channels like Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter) and LinkedIn normally allow one clickable URL, a link in bio tool becomes very useful.
Direct.me and Linktree in particular are some of the most well-known tools of their kind.
Although both the tools can be conveniently used to add multiple links to a bio, there are major differences between these platforms that are noteworthy.
In this post, we will discuss the differences between Direct.me vs Linktree in terms of features, user experience, and designs of the bio link pages you can create with each.
Lets dive in.
Click here for a full list of various link in bio tools
About Direct.me and Linktree
Direct.me is a free tool designed to help creators engage, grow, and earn with their followers. You can create visually stunning link in bio pages, place the link in your bio on any social media platform, or embed it in email signatures, video descriptions, and live streams. You can even connect your page to the offline world using your unique QR code. Every Direct.me page is different, but be sure to include the basics about your social media accounts, your website, or wherever you do business.
With a massive 18 million+ users, Linktree is truly a leader in the bio link tools space. It emerged among the first companies that offered solutions for overcoming the one-link limitation on Instagram bios.
Today, Linktree has transformed into the most popular bio link tool as users appreciate its regular updates and new features that make the tool effective for adding links to the bio.
How Does Direct.me Work? A Brief Dashboard Walkthrough…
Upon signing up for Direct.me, you are taken to the main dashboard:
The platform guides you through setting up your page with a series of prompts such as adding new links, connecting your Stripe account for monetization and connecting your social media accounts. However, you are also free to build your page at your own pace.
By clicking the “Add New Link” button, you are able to add many different elements to your page. Here are just some of them:
The new elements added will be shown under the “Links” tab. Here you can see a URL of our website has been added and is now shown as a block (it also shows up in the preview box on the right):
Adding elements is extremely easy, and reordering them is even easier as you only need to drag and drop them. You can even see the preview of the changes made in real-time.
The ‘Styling’ tab is where you go to personalise the look of your link page. From here, you can change many different things – from your header and background to the link styling and colours.
Unfortunately, though, there aren’t any pre-built themes from which you can choose, a feature common amongst other links in bio tools such as Linktree. Despite this, it is quite easy to build your own theme from scratch using their styling tab.
If you want to download apps for your page, you can go to the app store within Direct.me. You can browse through various Direct.me and third-party apps:
These apps can be great when it comes to customizing your page. For instance, you can add things like an embedded Spotify playlist or and contact form. With the Buy Me A Coffee app, you can enable your followers to support you by paying a small tip. There are many possibilities.
Moving on, you can check out the performance of your page by clicking on the stats tab:
This section provides basic data on the performance of your bio link page, including the number of views, clicks, click-through rate, and where in the world people are viewing your page. This data can be very useful in terms of seeing what works and doesn’t work for your link in bio page.
Direct.me also features a Discover tab where you can explore the profiles of other Direct.me users which is great for finding inspiration for your own Direct.me page:
You can not only follow Direct.me users, who include well-known celebrities as well as average Joe social media users, but also message them directly.
This is certainly a feature that not every bio link tool has and its something that makes Direct.me stand out in the world of bio link tools.
How Does Linktree Work? A Brief Dashboard Walkthrough…
Once the signup process is complete, you can see the dashboard where you can view and add your links. You’ll also be able to view a preview of your page on the right which gives real-time updates each time you make a change:
You can add unlimited links from the first page you visit. In comparison to Direct.me, Linktree emerges as a more flexible option for different link types. The following link types are available on Linktree’s free version:
- Music links: Links for music from apps like Spotify, Soundcloud, and other platforms that can be played from your page
- Video links: Embedded videos from YouTube, TikTok, and other sources
- Store link: For displaying products from ecommerce stores
- Form link: For collecting email addresses
- Support me link: Can be used to collect donations for a cause
- Request link: For receiving requests and payments from visitors
There are also these additional link types:
- Leap links: Can be used to forward visitors directly to a destination, bypassing your Linktree altogether
- Priority links: A great way to highlight your most important links
- Schedule links: This gives you the ability to schedule when you want your links to appear
- Gated links: These links require visitors to enter a password of some sort to click through them
For better customization, Linktree provides the option to add thumbnails or icons to your links. You can also view the analytics for each link displayed.
Once you’ve completed adding the links of your choice, you should move forward to the “Appearance tab” and customize the design of your landing page. Here you get to add your profile pic and bio text.
Next comes choosing the theme that suits your page. Even though you get a few options to choose in the free plan, you should upgrade to the paid version to unlock more designs to select the perfect one. Each theme has a different design, color scheme and button shapes for your links.
After choosing a befitting theme, you can move on to the settings tab. This tab provides an option to configure settings such as mailing list integrations, ecommerce integrations, social icons, and more.
You can click on the analytics tab to view the performance of your links in terms of visits to your link in the bio page and the number of clicks for each link. The pro version is even better as it offers valuable statistics such as the referral source for Linktree page visits (where visitors have come from on the web to view your Linktree page) and more.
Aesthetics and Appearance
In terms of aesthetics and appearance, Linktree emerges as the better choice as compared to Direct.me due to its better selection of themes and more options to choose from.
As previously mentioned for Direct.me, you have the freedom to create your own custom theme by customizing everything from background image or pattern to button design, the header of your page and more. However, this is a lengthy process that users could find challenging to complete.
Linktree offers pre-built themes but you can only access a handful of them free of cost as most themes are premium and require a paid plan to access.
The paid plans also enables you to change the colors of your buttons, change fonts, upload a custom background, and more. Linktree’s design editor is also extremely intuitive, making it easy to build out a beautiful custom design for your page in just a matter of minutes.
Nevertheless, keep in mind that if you want these design capabilities, you will have to bite the bullet and get a paid plan.
Pricing Comparison
One of the greatest benefits of Direct.me is that you get access to almost all the features on the free plan. All the features that you get, which are often premium paid features on other platforms, are completely free. The features that are considered Premium or Pro, such as unlimited links, analytics, styling, and social icons are available for free. Direct.me considers itself as your partner in your audience following, not as a service provider. So it makes money when you make money through Direct.me platform.
Remember that you can sell products, membership programs, and even collect donations through the platform. Direct.me will simply take a small percentage of every transaction that happens through the platform.
Direct.me do however still offer a Pro Plan for $15/month which give you the additional benefits:
- Remove branding.
- Custom domain.
- Advanced messaging.
- Upgrade stats.
- A Pro badge on Your Profile.
Linktree offers four plans:
A free version with the following features:
- NFT Lock and Gallery
- Music Pre-Save
- Bandsintown Link App
- Contact Details and Form Link Apps
- Pinterest Link Embeds
- Audiomack Link App
- Podcast Link App
- Social Icons, and
- Unlimited Links, and many more
Starter ($5/month), which includes all the features of the Free Plan plus:
- Buttons and Font Styles
- Extended Themes
- NFT Background
- Custom or Stock Background Images & Videos
- Support Banner
- Social Icons
- Individual Link Analytics, and more
Pro $9/month, which includes all the features of the Starter Plan plus:
- Global UTM Parameters
- Facebook Conversion API
- Google Analytics
- SEO Settings
- Zapier Integration
- Custom T&Cs, and more
Premium ($24/month), which includes all the features of the Pro Plan plus:
- Customer Success Manager
- Data Exports
- Onboarding Call
- Exclusive Content
The paid plans give you additional features such as access to different link types, custom backgrounds, integrations with other marketing platforms, advanced analytics, the ability to add other admins, and more.
All in all, Direct.me’s plans are slightly more affordable than Linktree’s comparable plans.
Direct.me vs Linktree: Which Is Best For Me?
Direct.me is the best solution for users looking for a free bio link with powerful features.
The platform really does pride itself in offering free features that are typically paid features on other bio link tools. If this resonates with you or if you don’t have the budget for a paid tool, this might be the tool for you. However, you should look for other options if you prioritize design over other aspects, as Direct.me has no theme selection and its design editing features aren’t easy to use.
On the other hand, Linktree is no doubt one of the best premium solutions that comes with a reasonable monthly subscription cost. The free version is still limited and doesn’t match the free features that you get while using Direct.me.
Nevertheless, Linktree is undoubtedly one of the most established players in the bio link tool space. If you are interested in using a well-established tool that has refined its product since its establishment in 2016, Linktree might be the best choice for you.
