🔗 URL Unshortener

Trace redirect chains and safely unshorten obfuscated links without risking execution in a standard web browser. Scraping the web often yields datasets filled with tinyurl, bit.ly, or custom short links that mask the true destination. Processing these blindly can lead your crawlers into infinite redirect loops or expose your systems to malicious payloads. This resolver acts as a hardened proxy, systematically expanding shortened URLs to extract the final destination link while safely discarding any executable scripts. Developers and data engineers use this tool to sanitize massive URL lists, schedule automated link-checking workflows, and validate data integrity before loading it into downstream databases. By running this extraction process, you gain deep visibility into the exact path a URL takes. The results explicitly detail every intermediate hop, logging the exact HTTP status codes (like 301, 302, or 404) encountered along the way. You can seamlessly identify broken links, detect insecure HTTP downgrades, and flag toxic domains. Ensure your scraped contact details and website lists contain only clean, verified, and direct endpoints.

Store Quickstart

Start with the Quickstart template (3 demo shortened URLs). For bulk processing, use Bulk Resolve (1,000 URLs, concurrency 20).

Key Features

• 🔓 Expand all shorteners — Works with bit.ly, t.co, goo.gl, tinyurl, ow.ly, buff.ly, and more
• 🔗 Full redirect chain — Every hop logged with URL + status code
• 🔄 Loop detection — Identifies infinite redirect loops and cyclic redirects
• 🔒 HTTPS downgrade detection — Flags URLs where https redirects to http
• ⚡ Bulk processing — Up to 1,000 URLs per run with 1-20 concurrency
• 📊 Hop count stats — Total hops per URL for ad network / tracker analysis

Use Cases

Who	Why
Ad fraud analysts	Detect cloaking by tracing redirect chains in ad URLs
Security teams	Resolve phishing links without clicking to identify payloads
Social media analysts	Expand t.co links from X/Twitter datasets for attribution
SEO auditors	Verify outbound shortened links resolve to intended destinations
Journalism/OSINT	Investigate URL patterns in misinformation campaigns

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
urls	string[]	(required)	Shortened URLs to resolve (max 1000)
maxRedirects	integer	10	Max redirect hops (1-20)
concurrency	integer	10	Parallel requests (1-20)

Input Example

{
  "urls": ["https://bit.ly/3abcdef", "https://t.co/xyz", "https://goo.gl/abc123"],
  "maxRedirects": 10,
  "concurrency": 10
}

Input Examples

Example: Resolve single short URL

{
  "urls": [
    "https://bit.ly/abc"
  ]
}

Example: Bulk batch with safety advisory

{
  "urls": [
    "https://bit.ly/x1",
    "https://t.co/abc",
    "https://tinyurl.com/y3"
  ],
  "includeSafetyAdvisory": true
}

Example: Phishing detection workflow

{
  "urls": [
    "https://bit.ly/suspicious"
  ],
  "maxRedirectChain": 10,
  "recordIntermediateRedirects": true,
  "abortOnLoop": true
}

Output

Field	Type	Description
originalUrl	string	The short URL provided as input
finalUrl	string	The final destination URL after all redirects
redirectChain	string[]	Full chain of intermediate URLs
totalHops	integer	Number of redirects followed
hasLoop	boolean	True if a redirect loop was detected
isHttpsDowngrade	boolean	True if any HTTPS→HTTP downgrade occurred
statusCode	integer	Final HTTP status code
error	string	null

Output Example

{
  "originalUrl": "https://bit.ly/3abcdef",
  "chain": [
    {"url": "https://bit.ly/3abcdef", "statusCode": 301},
    {"url": "https://example.com/landing", "statusCode": 200}
  ],
  "finalUrl": "https://example.com/landing",
  "totalHops": 2,
  "hasLoop": false,
  "isHttpsDowngrade": false
}

API Usage

Run this actor programmatically using the Apify API. Replace YOUR_API_TOKEN with your token from Apify Console → Settings → Integrations.

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/taroyamada~url-shortener-resolver/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "urls": ["https://bit.ly/3abcdef", "https://t.co/xyz", "https://goo.gl/abc123"], "maxRedirects": 10, "concurrency": 10 }'

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("taroyamada/url-shortener-resolver").call(run_input={
  "urls": ["https://bit.ly/3abcdef", "https://t.co/xyz", "https://goo.gl/abc123"],
  "maxRedirects": 10,
  "concurrency": 10
})

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

JavaScript / Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('taroyamada/url-shortener-resolver').call({
  "urls": ["https://bit.ly/3abcdef", "https://t.co/xyz", "https://goo.gl/abc123"],
  "maxRedirects": 10,
  "concurrency": 10
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Tips & Limitations

• Detect malicious URL chains by checking hasLoop and isHttpsDowngrade flags.
• Default maxRedirects: 10 is safe for legitimate shorteners. Increase only if needed.
• Use this before clicking any unknown short link in security-sensitive workflows.
• Combine with Meta Tag Analyzer to inspect the destination page metadata.

See also (Link analysis cluster)

• Subdomain Finder & CT Log Scraper — Discovery layer for the same domain footprint analysis workflow.

FAQ

What if the short URL is dead?

The chain shows the final status code (e.g., 404). hasLoop will be false; finalUrl will be the last URL reached.

Can it handle JavaScript redirects?

No — this is HTTP-level only. JS-based redirects (meta refresh, window.location) require a browser.

Is bit.ly rate-limited?

bit.ly may rate-limit aggressive requests. Use concurrency ≤ 10 for safety on shortener-heavy batches.

Will this follow tracking parameters?

Yes. The full URL including UTM tags is preserved at each hop.

Which shorteners are supported?

Any HTTP-based redirect — bit.ly, t.co, tinyurl, goo.gl, lnkd.in, custom shorteners. No special integration needed.

Will it click through tracking pixels?

It follows server-side HTTP redirects only, not JavaScript or meta-refresh redirects.

Related Actors

URL/Link Tools cluster — explore related Apify tools:

• 🔗 URL Health Checker — Bulk-check HTTP status codes, redirects, SSL validity, and response times for thousands of URLs.
• 🔗 Broken Link Checker — Crawl websites to find broken links, 404 errors, and dead URLs.
• 🏷️ Meta Tag Analyzer — Analyze meta tags, Open Graph, Twitter Cards, JSON-LD, and hreflang for any URL.
• 📚 Wayback Machine Checker — Check if URLs are archived on the Wayback Machine and find closest snapshots by date.
• Sitemap Analyzer API | sitemap.xml SEO Audit — Analyze sitemap.
• Schema.org Validator API | JSON-LD + Microdata — Validate JSON-LD and Microdata across multiple pages, score markup quality, and flag missing or malformed Schema.
• Site Governance Monitor | Robots, Sitemap & Schema — Recurring robots.
• RDAP Domain Monitor API | Ownership + Expiry — Monitor domain registration data via RDAP and track expiry, registrar, nameserver, and ownership changes in structured rows.
• Domain Security Audit API | SSL Expiry, DMARC, Domain Expiry — Summary-first portfolio monitor for SSL expiry, DMARC/SPF/DKIM, domain expiry/ownership, and security headers with remediation-ready outputs.

Cost

Pay Per Event:

• actor-start: $0.01 (flat fee per run)
• dataset-item: $0.002 per output item

Example: 1,000 items = $0.01 + (1,000 × $0.002) = $2.01

No subscription required — you only pay for what you use.

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