Products / Mail & messages
Hoq Link
Short links and QR codes on your own domain, with every version kept.
What it does
Hoq Link makes short links on the domains connected to your workspace. Pick the address yourself or take a random one, choose the redirect type, and download the QR code as an SVG for print.
Each change goes out to the redirect servers and is live within seconds. The redirect servers answer from their own copy of your links, so they keep working when the console or storage is down.
Every edit is kept with who made it, and you can go back to any earlier version in one step. Mark a link as printed and Link asks before anyone changes or deletes it. An agent working through the API cannot move a printed link at all.
Pattern routes send a whole family of addresses, such as every gift-card number under one prefix, to a destination built from the address. You can export everything as CSV, JSON, or a redirect file for Caddy, nginx or Netlify.
In numbers
5redirect types: 301, 302, 303, 307, 308
10 slongest a browser caches a redirect
1,000links deleted in one step, at most
5export formats: CSV, JSON, Caddy, nginx, Netlify
Specifications
| Where your links live | One workspace file in your own Hoq Storage holds the links, routes and their history. |
|---|---|
| How fast a change is live | Changes go out through one ordered, signed log; every redirect server shows the same thing within seconds. |
| Redirect types | 301, 302, 303, 307 or 308. New links default to 302. |
| Browser caching | Browsers may remember a redirect for 10 seconds, so an edited link takes effect quickly. |
| Random addresses | Drawn from 32 letters and digits that cannot be mistaken for each other (no 0, 1, l or o). |
| Start and end dates | A link can switch on at one time and off at another, and send late visitors to a different page. |
| Tracking tags | The visitor's query string is added to the destination without overwriting tags the link already sets. |
| Click records | Country, browser and referring site for each click. The visitor's IP address is not kept. Previews, crawlers and scripts are marked as bots. |
| Export | CSV, JSON, or a Caddy, nginx or Netlify redirect file any web server can serve. |
| Addresses | An address is never handed out twice, and a deleted address on a shared domain is never given to a different link. |
Features
14 features, all in beta. Listed from the product's feature ledger; each row shows the day it was last checked.
| A workspace is a file | Keeps a workspace's links, routes and their history in one file in the owner's Hoq Storage. | Checked 2026-10-08 |
| Short links on your domains | Makes a link on any domain connected to the workspace, with your own address or a random one. | Checked 2026-10-08 |
| Live in seconds | Sends every change to the redirect servers, which serve it within seconds. | Checked 2026-10-08 |
| Addresses are never shared | Refuses an address already used by anyone, on any workspace. | Checked 2026-10-08 |
| Every version kept | Keeps each change to a link with who made it, and goes back to any earlier version in one step. | Checked 2026-10-08 |
| Printed links protected | Asks before changing or deleting a link marked as printed, because every printed copy follows it. | Checked 2026-10-08 |
| Pattern routes | Sends whole families of addresses, such as gift-card numbers, to a destination built from the address. | Checked 2026-10-08 |
| QR codes | Shows each link's QR code and downloads it as an SVG for print. | Checked 2026-10-08 |
| Delete many at once | Selects links in the list and deletes up to 1,000 in one step, asking first when any are printed. | Checked 2026-10-09 |
| Search | Finds links by address, destination, title, notes or tag. | Checked 2026-10-08 |
| Take them with you | Exports every link as CSV, JSON or a Caddy, nginx or Netlify redirect file any web server can serve. | Checked 2026-10-08 |
| JSON API | Runs every console action with a `link:use` key. | Checked 2026-10-08 |
| MCP tools | Lets agents list, read, make and change links. | Checked 2026-10-08 |
| Agents cannot move printed links | Refuses an agent that tries to redirect or delete a printed link, whatever it sends. | Checked 2026-10-08 |
Works with
- Hoq CardEvery Hoq Card code under hoq.link/C/ is served by one Link pattern route.
- storageThe workspace file sits in your Hoq Storage drive.
Your data
| Where it is kept | In one workspace file in your own Hoq Storage drive. Redirect servers hold a read-only copy. |
|---|---|
| Getting it out | Every link as CSV, JSON, or a Caddy, nginx or Netlify redirect file. |
| If you leave | Export the redirect file and serve it from any web server. A published account-closing flow was not found. |
APIs and standards
- JSON API: every console action with a Bearer key (scope link:use)
- MCP server: 7 tools (links_list, link_get, link_history, link_create, link_update, routes_list, domains_list)
- Standard: HTTP redirects (301, 302, 303, 307, 308)
- Standard: SVG QR codes
- Standard: Internationalized domain names and paths
Compared
| Checked 2026-11-01 | Hoq Link | Bitly | Rebrandly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan | Not published | Core: $10/mo billed annually ($120/yr)1 | Essentials: $8/mo billed annually, $11 monthly2 |
| Links per month | No published cap | 100 (Core) to 3,000 (Premium)1 | 250 (Essentials) to 3,500 (Growth)2 |
| Changing where a link goes | Any number of edits, each version kept and restorable | 5 redirects/mo (Core) to 110/mo (Premium)1 | 10 edits/mo (Essentials) to 150/mo (Growth)2 |
| Custom domain | Domains are connected to your workspace by Hoq; adding your own from the console is planned | 1 complimentary domain from Growth ($29/mo)1 | 1 on Free, 2 on Essentials2 |
| Click analytics in the console | Clicks are recorded; the console view is planned | 30 days (Core) to 1 year (Premium) of history1 | Total and unique clicks from Essentials; up to 2 years on Enterprise2 |
| Redirect types | 301, 302, 303, 307, 308 | not published1 | 301 listed on every plan2 |
| Bulk creation | Many links in one call with the API links.import action (JSON list) | 100 links per upload (Growth), 3,000 (Premium)1 | not published2 |
| API | Every console action, plus MCP tools for agents | 1,000 to 50,000 requests/month by plan1 | 100 to 1,000 calls/minute by plan2 |
| Export to self-host | Caddy, nginx and Netlify redirect files | not published1 | not published2 |