Best Domain Redirect Tools

Updated April 2026.

A domain redirect tool is a service that forwards traffic from one domain to another without requiring you to run a server. The good ones handle SSL certificates automatically. The bad ones (most registrar forwarding included) break silently the moment someone clicks an HTTPS link.

Below are five tools that actually solve that problem, plus the registrar option that probably caused it. No affiliate links, no "top 10 lists" padded with URL shorteners that have nothing to do with domain redirects.

Key Takeaways

• Most registrar domain forwarding does not handle HTTPS. If someone visits your old domain over HTTPS (which browsers now default to), they get a certificate error instead of a redirect.
• DNS-based redirect services (redirect.pizza, urllo, RedirHub) solve this by provisioning SSL certificates automatically. No server required.
• redirection.io takes a different approach: an agent installed on your server. More powerful, but not suitable for domains without hosting.
• Cloudflare Redirect Rules work if you already use Cloudflare for DNS. Not worth onboarding as a new vendor just for redirects.
• Match the pricing model to your usage: some services charge by domain count, others by request volume.

What to Look For in a Domain Redirect Service

Before comparing redirect tools, you need to know which features actually matter. Most buyers get stuck on brand recognition or pricing and miss the technical requirements that cause problems later.

HTTPS/SSL Handling

This is the single most common failure point. When you redirect https://old-domain.com to your new site, the browser needs a valid SSL certificate for the old domain first, before the redirect happens. Most registrar forwarding services don't provide this, which breaks the redirect entirely for HTTPS traffic.

Here's what happens technically:

A user clicks a link to https://old-domain.com. Their browser initiates a TLS handshake, expecting a valid certificate. If no valid cert exists, the connection fails with ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR or similar. The redirect never even fires. The user sees an error page, not your destination.

This matters more than ever because browsers and email clients now default to HTTPS. When someone shares your old URL on Slack, LinkedIn, or in an email, the link preview tries HTTPS first. No valid cert means a broken preview, a warning badge, or no preview at all.

Any serious redirect service must either provision SSL certificates automatically (like Let's Encrypt, refreshed before expiration) or provide clear documentation for bringing your own. If the service doesn't explicitly address this, expect broken HTTPS redirects.

"The TLS handshake happens before the HTTP redirect. There's no way around that. If there's no valid cert on the old domain, the browser kills the connection before your redirect rule even gets a chance to fire. That's not a bug in your setup, it's how TLS works." -- Michel Bardelmeijer, Tech Lead at redirect.pizza

For a detailed technical breakdown, see Why HTTPS Redirects Break (And How DNS-Level Fixes It).

Path and Query Forwarding

There's a significant difference between:

• old-domain.com/products/widget?ref=123 -> new-site.com (path stripped)
• old-domain.com/products/widget?ref=123 -> new-site.com/products/widget?ref=123 (path preserved)

The first approach loses your SEO value and breaks tracking. The second preserves everything. Not all services offer both, and some charge extra for path preservation.

Bulk Management

If you're managing five domains, any tool works. At 50+ domains, you need CSV import, bulk editing, and ideally a REST API. Nobody wants to click "Add redirect" 200 times on a Monday morning. If the tool doesn't have an API, you're locked into their dashboard forever.

Redirect Types

Most use cases need 301 (permanent) or 302 (temporary) redirects. Some services also offer 307/308 (method-preserving) or frame/masking redirects. For domain-to-domain forwarding, 301s handle 95% of scenarios. Don't pay extra for redirect types you'll never use. For a quick decision framework, see 301 or 302? How to Decide in 10 Seconds.

Analytics

Do you need to know which redirects fire and when? Basic analytics (hit counts, timestamps) are helpful for verifying migrations worked. Advanced analytics (geographic distribution, user agents, broken destination monitoring) matter more for ongoing marketing campaigns.

Pricing Model

Services charge by source domains, requests, or both. A domain portfolio company with 500 domains and minimal traffic has different needs than a marketing team running high-traffic campaign redirects from five URLs. Match the pricing model to your actual usage pattern.

Domain Redirect Services Compared

redirect.pizza

DNS-based redirect service. Point your A/AAAA records to their infrastructure, configure redirects in the dashboard, and SSL certificates are provisioned automatically via Let's Encrypt. No server, no cert management, no cron jobs checking expiry dates at 3 AM. ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type 2 certified.

Best for: Teams managing 5-500 domains who want zero infrastructure overhead.

Pricing: Free tier (Margherita) with 5 source hostnames and 250,000 requests/month. Paid tiers scale by hostname count, with progressively more features (regex matching, wildcard subdomains, destination monitoring, email forwarding). Business tier adds white-glove import assistance, WAF, raw analytics, and priority support. Enterprise tier adds dedicated IP, 100% uptime SLA, phone support, and a dedicated account manager. See redirect.pizza/pricing for current plans.

Strengths: Automatic SSL provisioning solves the HTTPS problem without configuration. Import/export available on all tiers (CSV, not just one-by-one). Full REST API for automation. Destination monitoring on Pro and above alerts you when target URLs break, so you find out before your users do. The free tier is genuinely usable for small portfolios, not a bait-and-switch.

Limitations: DNS-based approach means you're changing nameservers or adding A/AAAA records. If your DNS is locked down by corporate policy or managed by a team that takes two weeks to approve a record change, factor that in. No on-premise option. No conditional redirects based on headers or user agent (for that, see redirection.io).

urllo (formerly EasyRedir)

Rebranded from EasyRedir in late 2024. Similar DNS-based approach to redirect.pizza, positioned squarely at enterprise buyers. SOC 2 Type 2 certified. Over a decade of operating history under the EasyRedir name.

Best for: Large enterprises requiring compliance certifications and dedicated account management.

Pricing: No free tier (14-day trial only). Entry tier is limited in source URLs and team seats. Higher tiers scale by usage with bulk imports and unlimited team members. Enterprise features like SSO, audit logs, and enhanced security controls are paid add-ons on top of base tier pricing. See urllo.com/pricing for current plans.

Strengths: SOC 2 compliance for enterprises that require it during procurement. Well-established brand with enterprise clients including Eurostar. Unlimited traffic on all paid tiers. API available for automation. Automatic SSL via Let's Encrypt, same as redirect.pizza.

Limitations: No free tier means you can't test at your own pace. The add-on model for enterprise features (SSO, advanced match settings, enhanced security) means the sticker price can climb fast. Entry tier restrictions on source URLs and team members make it hard to evaluate at scale during the trial.

Worth knowing: The rebrand from EasyRedir to urllo in late 2024 confused a lot of existing customers and disrupted their search presence. If you want to read reviews with actual usage history, search for "EasyRedir" on G2 or Capterra. The product is the same, the name isn't.

redirection.io

A different approach: reverse proxy with an agent you install on your server. More powerful rule engine but requires more setup.

Best for: Development teams handling complex site migrations with advanced redirect logic.

Pricing: Free tier with limited rules and short log retention. Paid tiers scale by rule count with longer retention and professional support. See redirection.io/pricing for current plans.

Strengths: Powerful redirect rule engine with regex, conditions, and A/B testing capability. Detailed SEO-focused analytics. Integrates with popular CMS platforms. Agent-based approach means redirects happen at your server level, giving you more control.

Limitations: Requires agent installation on your server, not "set DNS and forget." If you're redirecting parked domains without hosting, this doesn't work. More complex setup than DNS-based alternatives. Overkill for simple domain-to-domain forwarding.

Worth knowing: If you're running Laravel or Symfony, their agent integrates natively and setup is quick. Vanilla Apache or Nginx? Expect more configuration time than the docs suggest. The agent approach also means redirect performance depends on your server, not theirs. At high traffic volumes, that's either an advantage (you control the infrastructure) or a headache (you maintain the infrastructure).

When to use: You're migrating a complex site with hundreds of URL patterns, need conditional redirects, or want redirect logic integrated with your existing hosting stack.

RedirHub

DNS-based service focused on domain portfolios and marketing campaigns. Claims 100ms-level global latency, which would make them the fastest in this list if accurate.

Best for: Domain investors and marketing teams running campaign-specific URLs.

Pricing: Free tier with limited domains and requests. Paid tiers scale by domain count and request volume. See redirhub.com for current plans.

Strengths: Simple interface optimized for domain portfolios. Reasonable free tier for testing. Good fit for parking domains during transitions. Recently added QR code hosting and a REST API with documented endpoints.

Limitations: Domain caps on all tiers. Less focus on enterprise features (no SSO, limited compliance options). Fewer integrations than competitors.

Worth knowing: RedirHub operates a separate website (urlredirectservice.com) that publishes "independent" comparisons of redirect tools where RedirHub consistently comes out on top. Keep that in mind when you encounter their content in search results. The product itself is solid for its target market, but the marketing is aggressive.

Cloudflare Redirect Rules

If you already use Cloudflare for DNS and CDN, redirect rules are built in. No separate service needed.

Best for: Teams already using Cloudflare who need occasional redirects within their existing stack.

Two different features to understand:

• Single redirects: per-rule redirects with expression matching. Lower limits on free/paid plans.
• Bulk redirects: list-based redirects for high volumes. Higher limits but different setup process.

These have different quotas, interfaces, and configuration methods. Check which applies to your use case.

Pricing: Free tier includes both features with limits. Paid plans (Pro, Business, Enterprise) increase quotas. See Cloudflare docs for current limits.

Strengths: If you're already on Cloudflare, no new vendor relationship. Redirect rules integrate with their broader security/performance stack. Enterprise tier scales to massive volumes.

Limitations: Only works if Cloudflare manages your DNS. Not a purpose-built redirect service, so documentation and interface are harder to navigate for redirect-specific tasks. The distinction between Single and Bulk Redirects creates confusion for new users. And if you're following an older tutorial that mentions "Page Rules" for redirects: those are deprecated. Redirect Rules replaced them.

When to use: You're already running Cloudflare for DNS/CDN and your redirect needs are secondary to your existing infrastructure.

Your Domain Registrar

Most registrars (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Porkbun, etc.) offer basic domain forwarding. Sometimes free, sometimes buried in a settings page you didn't know existed.

Best for: Single domain, temporary redirects where HTTPS isn't critical.

Pricing: Varies. Often "free" with domain registration, though some registrars have started charging for what used to be free (Network Solutions and Domain.com, notably).

Critical limitation: Most registrar forwarding does NOT handle HTTPS. Full stop. If someone visits https://your-domain.com, they get a certificate error before any redirect happens. This breaks traffic from browsers, email clients, and any link preview generated in the last five years.

When to use: HTTP-only redirects (increasingly rare), temporary testing, or situations where you absolutely cannot add a new vendor.

Feature Comparison Table

Feature availability as of April 2026. Check vendor pricing pages for current limits.

Pricing at a Glance

Exact pricing depends on your domain count and feature needs, but here's a ballpark so you don't have to open five tabs:

Prices are approximate and in USD. redirect.pizza bills in EUR. All vendors may adjust pricing. Verify before committing.

The pattern: DNS-based services (redirect.pizza, urllo, RedirHub) charge by source domain count. redirection.io charges by rule count. Cloudflare bundles redirects into their broader plans. For most domain-to-domain forwarding, the DNS-based model is more predictable.

Which Redirect Service Should You Use?

You have 1-5 domains and minimal budget:
Start with redirect.pizza's free tier (yes, it's actually called Margherita) or RedirHub's free plan. Both provide enough capacity for small portfolios with automatic SSL.

You manage 20-100 domains with mixed traffic:
redirect.pizza Pro or urllo Performance. Pro gives you regex matching, wildcard subdomains, and destination monitoring. For larger portfolios needing white-glove import assistance, consider Business tier.

You need HTTPS redirects for domains without hosting:
redirect.pizza, urllo, or RedirHub. These DNS-based services work without a server. redirection.io requires agent installation on existing infrastructure.

You're running a complex site migration with URL pattern rewrites:
redirection.io. If you need redirect decisions based on request headers or other conditions, it's the most capable option. For straightforward path-based migrations, redirect.pizza Pro handles most scenarios.

Your company already uses Cloudflare:
Try Cloudflare Redirect Rules first. If your needs are simple and you're already paying for Cloudflare, adding another vendor is unnecessary overhead. Switch to a dedicated service if you hit limits or need better redirect-specific tooling.

You need SOC 2 compliance documentation:
redirect.pizza, urllo, or Cloudflare Enterprise. All three hold SOC 2 Type 2 certifications.

You're a domain portfolio investor managing 500+ domains:
Compare RedirHub Business and redirect.pizza Enterprise. Both target this use case, but pricing and limits vary. Get quotes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Guides

• URL Redirects: The Complete Guide to 301, 302 and HTTPS
• Why HTTPS Redirects Break (And How DNS-Level Fixes It)
• How to Set Up a Domain Redirect in 3 Minutes (No Server Required)
• Domain Migration SEO Checklist

Ready to set up your first redirect? Get started with redirect.pizza - free plan, no credit card required.