How do I password protect a short link?

Set a password when you create the link, or edit an existing link and add one. Anyone opening the link is asked for it before the redirect happens.

Can I remove the password later?

Yes. Clearing the password makes the link public again, without changing the short URL, so anything already printed or shared keeps working.

Does the password protect the destination page?

No. It gates the short link. Anyone who already knows the destination URL can still reach it directly, so this protects the link you share, not the page itself.

Password protected short links

Share a link publicly and still control who opens it. The password sits on the link, not on the destination, so the page behind it needs no changes.

Three steps, no change to your site

A protected link behaves like any other until someone opens it. At that point Planck asks for the password and only redirects once it matches.

Set the password

When you create the link, or later by editing one that already exists.

Share them separately

The short link travels wherever it likes. The password goes through a different channel.

Open it up later

Remove the password when the link should be public. The short URL never changes.

When this earns its place

The case is always the same: the short link travels further than you intended. A link in a deck that gets forwarded, a QR code on a printed handout, a URL pasted into a group chat.

Password length	Up to 128 characters.
Storage	Encrypted at rest. The API reports whether a password is set, never the value.
Changing it	Add, change or remove at any time without changing the short URL.
Combining	Works alongside expiry by date or by click count, so a link can be private and temporary at once.
Statistics	A separate password can gate the statistics page, so you can share the numbers without sharing the dashboard.

What it is not

It is access control on the link, not on the content. If the destination URL is guessable or already public, the password does not hide it. For genuinely confidential material, protect the destination as well.

Setting it through the API

curl -X POST https://planck.to/api/v1/links \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://example.com/quarterly-report.pdf",
    "domain_id": 1,
    "password": "a-shared-secret"
  }'

The response reports password as true or false rather than echoing the value. Full API reference

Which plans include it

Password protection is available on: Professional, Agency.

Read live from the plan records, so this cannot drift from what is on sale.

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