# Free links

> A free wa.link opens a WhatsApp chat with your number or username, with a message already typed. No account and no cost.

A free link lets customers message you in one tap: no number to type, no contact to save. The generator on walink.com makes one in seconds with no account, and a free Walink account can hold up to 5 free links.

## Create one on walink.com

1. Open the generator on the [walink.com home page](https://walink.com/#create).
2. Under **WhatsApp account**, choose **Phone number**, pick your country and type your number, or choose **Username** and type your WhatsApp username.
3. Optionally, write a **Pre-filled message**: the text the visitor sends you when the chat opens.
4. Select **Generate my free wa.link**.

The link works right away. From the ready screen you can **Copy link**, **Download PNG** for its QR code, or **Try it** to see where it opens.

> [!TIP]
> Test a username link on WhatsApp before you share it. Walink can't check that a username exists.

## What you get

- A `wa.link` address of 6 random lowercase letters and digits, such as `wa.link/k3x9pq`.
- A chat with your phone number or your WhatsApp username. With a username, you don't have to show your number.
- An optional pre-filled message of up to 1,000 characters.
- A standard QR code, black on white, as a PNG.

## The rules

- A free link can't be edited. To change the number or the message, create a new link.
- It records no analytics: nobody can see how many people clicked it.
- The generator allows 10 links per minute from the same connection.
- A username has 3 to 35 characters: letters, numbers, periods and underscores.

## Save it to your account

Right after you create a link, the ready screen offers **Save to my account**. Saving moves the link into your account with the same address, contact and message.

1. Select **Save to my account**.
2. Sign in, or create your account with an email code or Google. See [Your account](https://walink.com/docs/account).
3. Give the link a private name if you like, then select **Add to my account**.

Saving works only within 24 hours of creating the link, from the same browser that made it, and only for the newest link that browser made. After that the link keeps working, but it can't be added to an account. Once saved, it records its clicks from that day on.

## Free links in your account

Every account can hold up to 5 free links, with or without a subscription. In the app, select **Create**, then **Free Link**.

- Same as on walink.com: a random address and a chat with an optional pre-filled message.
- It's published the moment you create it. Free links have no drafts.
- It can't be edited. You can give it a private name when you create it, but you can't rename it later.
- It has a plain QR code to download.
- Its clicks are recorded from the start and stay locked until you upgrade it.
- Deleting one frees a slot. The link stops working for everyone and can't be restored.

## Upgrade to Premium

Open a free link in your account and select **Upgrade to Premium**. It becomes a Premium Link with the same address, so everything you've printed or shared keeps working. Its click history unlocks, including the clicks recorded before the upgrade, and from then on you can edit it like any Premium Link. It keeps its random address, and there's no way back to free.

An upgrade uses one Premium Link from your subscription, at $9 a year per link. If none is available, **Get a Premium link** takes you to Billing to add one. See [Billing](https://walink.com/docs/billing).

> [!NOTE]
> A free link that isn't in your account can't be upgraded in place. To keep its address, [request its deletion](https://walink.io/request-delete-link), then create a Premium Link with the same address right away: everything already printed or shared keeps working. Or create a Premium Link with an address you choose.

## Free link or Premium Link

|                 | Free, on walink.com | Free, in your account | Premium Link                      |
| --------------- | ------------------- | --------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| Price           | Free                | Free, up to 5         | $9 a year            |
| Address         | Random              | Random                | You choose it                     |
| Opens           | A chat              | A chat                | A chat, catalog, channel or group |
| Edit later      | No                  | No                    | Anytime                           |
| Click analytics | None                | Recorded, locked      | Full reports                      |
| QR code         | Standard            | Standard              | Your colors and logo              |
| Landing page    | No                  | No                    | Optional                          |
| Account         | Not needed          | Needed                | Needed                            |

A free link does one job well: it opens a chat. A [Premium Link](https://walink.com/docs/premium-links) is for a link you print, advertise or want to measure: change the number or the message after it's out, see clicks by day, country, city, source and device, and add [message variables](https://walink.com/docs/premium-links/message-variables), a [landing page](https://walink.com/docs/premium-links/landing-page) and a [styled QR code](https://walink.com/docs/qr-codes). Each one includes a free [Multilink](https://walink.com/docs/multilink) page.