URL Expander Alternatives

The URL Expander is a great tool but it has its limitations. Here are other URL expandening services which you could use to investigate a given URL. Some of these URL Expander alternatives were created by companies while others were created by hobbyist just like me. These online tools even provide APIs which you could use in your application. Other tools even have browser plugins so that you don't have to worry about copy and pasting links.

URL Expander Alternatives:

Available for testing right away

• detinyit.com - Take a short URL from over (Insert random number here) different short URL services and make it long again. Created by Daniel Clarke.
• ExpandMyURL.com - Just add water and watch that URL grow. Safer Browsing, see where your short URLs really go. ExpandMyUrl.com previews short URLs from shortening services like tinyurl.com, bit.ly and is.gd revealing where they go, so you don't get a nasty surprise when you get there.
• expandurl.com - Find the real URL before you visit. Created by Gregg Hilferding.
• LongURL.com - Browse with Confidence and Increased Security! Avoid phishing, malware, and viruses by examining short URLs before visiting them. Find out where links really take you. Created by Sean Murphy.
• PrevURL.com - PrevURL is for previewing URLs. You may preview normal URLs like http://google.com or shortened URLs like http://is.gd/w. This site uses the LongURL.com API.
• Sucuri.net - Get the real URL (plus safe options) out of a tiny/short one (supports all shortening services).
• tinyexpander.appspot.com - is a tool for resolving compressed URLs -- the kind often used in Twitter to save character space. In fact, tinyExpander was written to provide a URL-expanding API for a custom Twitter client. Now it's open to everyone. Created by Erik Smartt.
• untiny.me - some of the tiny services are blocked in some countries although the original long URL is not blocked. Untiny retrieves the original URL so you can access it - if it is not blocked too. Untiny is NOT a proxy breaker! Created by Saleh Al-Zaid.
• untr.im - Untrim those URLs using this tool.

Available as browser plugin or bookmarklet

• ChromeMUSE – Multi-URL Shortener/Expander - Is an extension to facilitate the use of URL shortening services. A short URL can be generated for any web page, using the user’s preferred shortening service. The short URL is automatically copied to the clipboard to paste into other applications. ChromeMUSE also automatically expands short URLs on any page, replacing the target URL with the original URL and displays the page title as a tooltip. The URL expansion is provided by LongURL.org, which handles links from more than 200 services. Created by Nighthound.
• Long Url Please.com - Lengthening short urls so that you don't have to. Safer and more productive browsing. See where links actually link to. Reduce uncertainty with this plugin, API or bookmarklet. Created by Darragh Curran.
• unhid.co.cc - You can easy preview short URLs from every shortening service like http://tinyurl.com revealing where they really go. With this tool you don't have to care about spam and nasty, malicious links. The bookmarklet gives you an ability to check short URLs ultra easy and fast! While browsing just click on it to activate and then click your link/URLs!

Related Tools And Articles

• - spread the word about this article or about the URL Expander.
• URL Expander - Expand those URLs!