Most links are created with a purpose that has a deadline: a discount that ends Sunday, a registration that closes Friday, a document that should stop circulating at the end of the quarter. Yet almost every link on the web outlives its purpose, quietly redirecting people to offers that no longer exist and pages that no longer apply. A link that has outlived its job isn’t neutral — it’s a liability.
Link expiration gives a short link a lifecycle: you pick an exact date and time, and after that moment the link stops redirecting — cleanly, deliberately, and reversibly. This guide covers how expiry works, when to use it (and when a scheduled window or a click limit is the better tool), and how to set it up in under a minute.
What is link expiration?
An expiring link is a short link with a built-in end date. Until that moment it behaves exactly like any other short link — it redirects instantly, records analytics, and can be edited at will. After the expiry time passes, the link stops redirecting and answers every visit with an HTTP 410 Gone response instead.
The status code matters. A 410 is the web’s way of saying “this resource was removed on purpose” — a deliberate retirement, not an accident. Humans see a clear end-of-the-road page rather than being silently forwarded to something stale, and search-engine crawlers understand the link was retired intentionally rather than broken.
A dead link that says “gone” is honest. An expired promo that still redirects to a full-price page is a broken promise — and your visitors will remember which one you gave them.
Why links should have a deadline
The case for expiry is really a case against zombie links — links that keep forwarding traffic long after the offer, event, or agreement behind them ended:
- Limited-time offers and discount codes. Promo links escape their intended audience fast — they get pasted into deal aggregators, coupon sites and group chats. An expiry date guarantees the leak stops mattering the moment the promo ends, instead of sending bargain hunters to a checkout that rejects the code.
- Event registration deadlines. A signup link that dies when registration closes saves latecomers the frustration of filling out a form that will bounce — and saves you the support email.
- Seasonal campaign hygiene. Holiday landing pages, back-to-school bundles, launch-week specials: set the expiry when you create the link and the campaign cleans up after itself.
- Compliance and legal boundaries. When a document may only circulate until a certain date — an embargoed announcement, a time-limited disclosure, expiring partner terms — an enforced cutoff beats a calendar reminder someone might miss.
- Sensitive one-off shares. “This file link dies Friday” is a much safer sentence than “please don’t forward this.” The link enforces the boundary for you.
There’s a trust angle running through all of these. An expired promotion that keeps redirecting to a full-price page burns goodwill with the exact people who were interested enough to click. A clean 410 doesn’t.
Expiry vs. scheduled windows vs. click limits
Expiration is one of three ways to bound a link’s life on 302.sh, and picking the right one is worth ten seconds of thought:
| Expiry | Scheduled window | Click limit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bounded by | An end date & time | A start and an end | A number of clicks |
| After the boundary | 410 Gone — link is dead | Fallback URLs (coming-soon / recap) | Fallback URL or 410 |
| Best for | Offers, deadlines, compliance cutoffs | Launches with a before and an after | First-N promos, capped drops |
| Plan | Every plan, including Free | Creator and up | Business |
The rule of thumb: use a scheduled window (part of smart routing) when you want a soft landing on either side — visitors who arrive early see a coming-soon page, visitors who arrive late see a recap or a “you missed it, here’s what’s next” page. Use expiry when the link must simply die — no forwarding, no substitute, gone. And use a click limit when the constraint is volume rather than time.
How to set an expiry date on a short link
Expiry is one checkbox in the create-link form:
- Create a new link in the 302.sh dashboard (or open an existing one to edit).
- Open the Expiry section of the form.
- Tick Set expiry and pick the date and time the link should stop working. Until you tick it, links never expire.
- Create the link. Everything else — analytics, editing, QR codes — works as normal right up to the deadline.
Every click before expiry lands in your 90-day click analytics as usual, so the campaign report is complete even after the link goes dark.
Expiry is reversible — the short URL is never lost
An expiry date is a setting, not a self-destruct. You can extend it when the promo gets a second week, remove it entirely when a temporary page becomes permanent, or revive an already-expired link by clearing or moving the date — the same short URL starts redirecting again immediately. Because 302.sh serves 302 redirects (never cached 301s), every one of those changes takes effect for all visitors on their very next click.
One thing expiry is not: a quota. On 302.sh, redirects are unlimited on every plan — an expiry date you set is the only thing that ever stops a link. Your plan’s limits never do.
Frequently asked questions
What does a visitor see after a link expires?
An expired 302.sh link stops redirecting and answers with an HTTP 410 Gone response. 410 is a deliberate signal — to both humans and search-engine crawlers — that the link was retired on purpose, not that something is broken. The visitor is not silently forwarded anywhere.
Can I un-expire or extend an expired link?
Yes. Expiry is fully editable at any time: extend the date, remove it entirely, or revive an already-expired link by clearing or moving the date. The short URL itself is never lost — the moment you clear the expiry, the same link starts redirecting again.
Is link expiration free?
Yes. Link expiration is included on every 302.sh plan, including the free tier. You can set, edit and remove expiry dates without upgrading.
What’s the difference between expiry, a scheduled window, and a click limit?
Expiry is a hard stop by date: after the moment you choose, the link returns 410 Gone. A scheduled window (part of smart routing, Creator plan and up) has a start and an end and can serve friendly fallback pages — a coming-soon page before it opens and a recap page after it closes. A click limit (Business plan) caps a link by number of clicks instead of by date. Use a schedule for a soft landing, expiry when the link must simply die, and a click limit when the constraint is volume, not time.