Modern marketing has completely transformed due to social media’s ever-increasing popularity. Since billions of people use social media worldwide, anyone can make a name for themselves by gaining followers on social media.
The same applies to businesses, as social media marketing can match and even exceed the results that businesses get through SEO and blogging, helping them build an enormous reach to their audience simply by using the power of social media.
However, one of the biggest limitations of social media, such as Instagram, is that you can only put one link in your bio section. In light of this, bio link tools became widely used. Widely used by influencers and content creators, this clickable URL is added to the portfolio section to take followers to a collection of links such as the website, product page, landing page, or some other important page.
Essentially, these tools create a landing page that you can link to from your social media profiles. You can customize this landing page and fill it with links to wherever you want—your blog or your online shop, for example.
In this post, we will discuss Linktree vs Link in Bio in terms of key features, pricing and user experience. Let’s dive in…
About Linktree and Linkinbio (Later)
Linktree is a leader in the bio link tools space, with over 40 million users. Linktree came into existence out of the realization from social media managers that the one-link bio limit of social media platforms was an obstacle and required a solution.
As links had to be regularly changed, they figured that having a landing page with buttons on it that could showcase as many links as the customer wanted would be much more convenient. And thus, Linktree was born.
Linkin.bio, on the other hand, came from the social media tool Later and was added as an additional feature. Later is Instagram-focused, so Linkin.bio became a natural tool to add as many businesses and content creators were frustrated with only having a single link.
How Does Linktree Work? A Brief Walkthrough
When it comes to ease of signing up and using, Linktree emerges as the best choice among similar products. Because Linktree is solely focused on creating a single landing page with many links, it’s actually very easy to use — the dashboard has only a few features.
When you log into Linktree for the first time, a wizard walks you through exactly how to set up your Linktree landing page, so first-time users or users unfamiliar with how landing pages work can easily navigate through all the features— you don’t have to mess around with help boards trying to figure out what to do.
At the top of the screen, you’ll see just a few menu options:
- Links
- Appearance
- Analytics
- Settings
The ‘Links’ tab is where you create the links for your landing page. The links are displayed on a preview of your landing page on the right side of the screen. This is particularly useful because you’ll be able to see exactly what your followers will see when they click your Linktree link, allowing you to create the perfect design.
This is where you’ll add your links. There is a plethora of options here for each link, including what’s called a “leap link” that you can use to temporarily forward visitors to a destination (instead of the Linktree landing page). Other link types include thumbnail links, priority links, schedule links, and gated/locked links. However, most these links are only available with the pro version of the tool.
On top of that, there are other free link types that are used for more specific purposes as you can see here:
Options include adding videos, sharing latest Spotify music, promoting a GoFundMe page and more. You can also include a thumbnail with your link and access analytics for each link from the dashboard.
The appearance menu is easy to use as all you need to do is pick a bio image, create a title and bio, and then choose a theme or design a theme (the colors of your links and the background of the page).
Although many of the themes that come with the basic version are just fine and look nice and clean, you can get the pro version to create custom background images and videos, fonts, links and buttons. It will also allow you to remove the Linktree branding to make the page all about you and your brand.
The settings tab offers a range of integrations and advanced features. This section allows you to add social icons and support banners to your platform, as well as integrate your mailing list, e-commerce platforms, analytics tools, and connect a PayPal or Square account.
The analytics tab is where you can preview all the data including views, clicks, and money earned (in case you’re connected to an e-commerce account). Further, you can find information about the source from which visitors land on your Linktree page in terms of traffic source (Instagram, TikTok, etc.), and location in the world. All this data is vital in working out what works so you can double down on that and remove the things which aren’t bringing you much results. Note that you will have to purchase the Pro Plan to have access to this.
How Does Linkin.bio Work? A Quick Walkthrough
Link in Bio has more features than Linktree and is little more complex to use. First, the entire platform is just a feature of Later, so to access it, you need a Later account. Thankfully, you can get a free Later account, so this isn’t as much of a barrier as it might seem at first.
To access the tool, you first need to go to the Later dashboard. Then, click the ‘Link in Bio’ tab on the sidebar menu to create and edit your Link in Bio landing page.
From the beginning, you’ll see that setting up your landing page is simple. You can start by editing your profile. From here you can upload a logo, choose a name and enter a small bio to explain who you are. As you can see, we have added these for ourselves and the live preview in the middle shows how it will look to your followers.
Next up is the social links block. Here you’ll add links to all relevant platforms, including Google My Business and WhatsApp, which is handy if you have a lot of products on your Google My Business page or if you interact with customers a lot on WhatsApp. As you can see in the screenshot below, we have added our own social links such as Instagram, YouTube and X (Twitter) – which are shown as icons on the landing page.
After you’ve assembled your social links and profile, you can easily create buttons by clicking on ‘edit’ next to the buttons block. You can choose their colors and backgrounds (from the ‘design’ tab), and you can link to any URL you want. As you can see below, we’ve created a button named ‘Blog’ which links to our blog webpage.
If you wish to monetize your audience, the ideal practice includes having a link to a store, but you can also link your blog or an email capture landing page with a lead magnet. Further, the number of buttons is not limited, and you can have as many as you require.
One great feature that makes Link in Bio stand out is the ability to feature your latest Instagram or TikTok posts. You can display a collection of your recent posts, just as they appear on your profile, and add links to those posts to any website you choose. In other words, you can display your posts as they look on Instagram/TikTok but on your Link in Bio landing page – with each of these posts linking to different URLs. To use this feature, add the ‘Linked Social Posts’ block to your page then link your accounts.
Once you are happy with how your Link in Bio page looks, you can grab the URL in the upper right part of the dashboard, and add it to your social media bio.
Aesthetics and Appearance
The design capabilities of a bio link tool are often one of the most important aspects that people consider when evaluating options. If someone has hundreds or thousands of followers, there is a high chance that they want to display their links with some style.
In terms of design customizability, Linktree appears to be the better choice over Link in Bio. With Linktree, you can choose between numerous font options, design the shape and color of your buttons, and choose from a wide array of different themes. It is important to keep in mind, however, that many of these customization options come with the paid version.
To see how Linktree users can take advantage of the platform’s themes and customizability, check out these Linktree examples.
However, Linkinbio has fewer options when it comes to design. However, to be fair, the landing page tool is fundamentally different. With Link in Bio you can display the posts from your Instagram account, with an outbound link for each post. The layout of these posts is designed with a grid-like layout just like an Instagram account.
This design is the reason why many people want to use Linkinbio to begin with. However, the platform doesn’t leave as much room for customizability. Yes, you can add buttons, add a profile section and more, but there is little you can do to modify the design of these sections.
Nevertheless, Link in Bio looks extremely clean and modern, making it easy for your followers to find what they are looking for.
Pricing
Because Linktree is only a landing page generation tool, its cost is pretty reasonable. The pro version costs only $6 a month. Yes, there is a free version, and yes, you get all the features you need out of it, but if you need the available integrations and extra design features, you’ll want the pro version.
The difference between the free and paid versions is mostly based on design and integrations. Without the pro version, you are relegated to some pretty basic designs. If you like basic and clean, then the free version will work for you.
Other features, like link scheduling, priority links, and leap link functionality, are only available with the pro version, and any of the major integrations, like Mailchimp or Zapier, also require the pro version.
The paid version of Link in Bio is more expensive for the simple reason that it’s part of a much larger platform — Later. Later has a ton of functionality for multiple social media platforms so you’re paying for a social media management tool which happens to include the Link in Bio tool.
If you get the free version of Later, you can still use Linkinbio; you’re just limited in terms of (mostly) design. Depending on how many features you require – this free version may suffice for your marketing efforts.
When to Choose Linktree vs Link in Bio
You should choose Linktree if you’re looking for something that’s easy to use, yet very customizable. There are numerous theme options and many ways in which you can customize the design of your page by changing fonts, and button designs, and colors.
You’ll also want to choose Linktree if you’re on a budget. At $5/month, it’s hard to say it’s anywhere near expensive. You can add as many links as you want, and you can link to anything you can think of. The integrations are also great.
The only real drawback is the inability to add Instagram images to the landing page with links on the images, so if that’s something you really want, Linktree isn’t for you.
That’s one of the reasons you’d want to go with Linkinbio — you want to have images on your landing page, and you want to have a featured image. This can be especially important for ecommerce brands.
You’ll also want to choose Linkinbio if you need the extra features that Later offers. Linkinbio is a feature of Later, and though you can get it all for free, you have to pay to get the full social media management capabilities that Later offer.
However, if you want lots of control over the design of your page, then Linkinbio isn’t for you — it just doesn’t have that capability.
When choosing between Linktree vs Link in Bio, it always helps to try both out briefly to see firsthand which one is best for you.
You can see how other bio link tools stack up to Linktree in the following comparisons:
