its.gd vs is.gd
The names look almost identical, so people mix them up constantly. They are two different, unrelated services. is.gd is a long-running classic shortener. its.gd is a premium short-link service built around one idea: a short link should be checked before it is activated, and honest about where it goes.
Is is.gd safe?
Mostly, yes — is.gd is a legitimate service and most links on it are harmless. But that is not really the question people are asking. What they want to know is whether this particular short link is safe, and a classic shortener cannot answer that.
Any shortener hides the destination behind a short code. That is the whole point of it, and it is also exactly what makes short links attractive to phishers and scammers. If the destination is never checked and the visitor is redirected silently, the shortener adds convenience but no safety.
its.gd was built to close that gap: we shorten links, we do not hide scams.
What actually differs
| Feature | its.gd | is.gd |
|---|---|---|
| Destination scanned before activation | 60 checks, every link | No pre-activation scan |
| Malicious destinations | Refused at creation — link is never made | Generally created, blocked later if reported |
| Interstitial before redirect | Always, with a clear safety result | Silent redirect by default |
| Destination locked after activation | Yes — no bait-and-switch | Editable links possible |
| Link preview | Append + to any link | Preview mode available |
| Abuse reporting | Public report form, fed back into scans | Abuse contact |
| Custom slugs | 4+ chars (Pro), 2–3 chars (Pro+), 1 char (Ultra) | Custom aliases, first come first served |
| Business model | Paid plans, no ads, no link resale | Free service |
Comparison based on each service's publicly documented behaviour. is.gd is an independent service and is not affiliated with its.gd.
60 checks run before the link exists.
When you paste a destination into its.gd, it is scanned immediately: 55 structural and heuristic checks (URL parsing, embedded credentials, raw IPs, dangerous file extensions, punycode and homograph hosts, brand impersonation, open-redirect parameters, phishing language, abuse-heavy TLDs and more), plus 5 live lookups on our server — DNS resolution, the redirect chain, Google Safe Browsing, the URLhaus malware database, and prior its.gd abuse reports.
A destination flagged as malicious is refused. The short link is never created. A suspicious one can still be shortened, but every visitor sees the warning first.
No scanner can promise a destination is 100% safe, and we do not claim that. We claim what we can stand behind: checked before activation, no known threats at scan time, monitored for abuse.
Every click passes a transparent interstitial.
Classic shorteners send visitors straight through. its.gd shows the destination and the safety result first: green means the scan found nothing, orange explains why a destination looks suspicious, red warns clearly before the visitor decides. The visitor always chooses to continue — it is never automatic.
You can also preview any its.gd link yourself by appending a + to it.
A shared link cannot be repointed later.
Bait and switch is the most damaging trick with short links: create a link to something clean, share it widely, build trust and clicks, then quietly change the destination to a scam. Shorteners that allow editable links leave that door open.
On its.gd the destination is locked at activation. Changing it means deleting the link and creating a new one — which is scanned again. The old short URL stops working.
It depends what the link has to carry.
For a one-off link in a private chat, any free classic shortener does the job. Nothing is at stake if it looks anonymous.
For customers, campaigns, print, packaging, podcasts, invoices or support, use a link that was checked before activation, cannot be repointed, and shows visitors where it goes. That is its.gd.
Common questions
Is is.gd safe to use?
is.gd is a long-running, legitimate URL shortener, and most is.gd links are harmless. But like every classic shortener, it hides the destination behind a short code, and the destination can be changed or point somewhere risky. Safety depends entirely on who created the link, not on the shortener itself. Always preview a short link before opening it if you do not know the sender.
Are its.gd and is.gd the same company?
No. its.gd and is.gd are separate, unrelated services. The names look similar because both use the .gd domain, but its.gd is an independent premium short-link service built around checked destinations, transparent interstitials and locked links.
What does its.gd do differently from a classic shortener?
Every destination is scanned with 60 checks before the link is activated: 55 structural and heuristic checks plus 5 live network and threat-intelligence lookups. Destinations flagged as malicious are refused at creation, suspicious ones get a warning interstitial, and every activated link has a locked destination that cannot be swapped later.
Can I preview an its.gd link before clicking it?
Yes. Append a plus sign to any its.gd link to see the destination first. Every click also passes through a transparent interstitial that shows the destination and the safety result — its.gd never redirects silently.
Can a short link's destination be changed after sharing?
On its.gd, no. Once a link is activated the destination is locked, which prevents bait-and-switch abuse where a link is shared while clean and later repointed to a scam. To change a destination you delete the link and create a new one, which is checked again.
How do I report an unsafe short link?
Anyone can report an its.gd link for review through the report page. Reported destinations are cross-checked against prior abuse reports during future scans.
Make the link feel as good as the destination.
Free links are random, Pro links are custom, Pro+ links are rare, Ultra links are a single character. Every destination is checked before activation.