Bento.me shut down: what happened to your link and how to rebuild your grid

Bento.me closed on February 13, 2026 and every bento.me link now goes to Linktree's homepage. What happened, where your link goes, how to rebuild your Bento grid and 7 Bento alternatives compared.

Published October 16, 2026 · 10 min read · by Kasbu Team

Tags: Bento Alternative, Platform Migration, Link in Bio

Bento.me shut down on February 13, 2026. We checked on October 14, 2026 that every bento.me link, whether it sits in your Instagram bio, your email signature or a printed QR code, now takes people to Linktree's homepage instead of your profile. Bento deleted its users' pages and data, so whichever tool you pick, you start again.

Kasbu is a link in bio built on the same idea Bento had: a drag-and-drop grid of resizable cards, 8 columns on desktop and 4 on mobile, with 36 card types on the free plan. Create your free page, or see real pages on Kasbu first.

Where your bento.me link goes today

On October 14, 2026 we opened bento.me, bento.me followed by different usernames, and Bento's own shutdown page. All of them end on the same place: linktr.ee, Linktree's homepage, where visitors are invited to sign up for Linktree. Even if you moved your page to Linktree, your old bento.me link does not point to it. The redirect is permanent, so the link will not start working again by itself.

Places worth checking for the old link:

• Instagram, TikTok, X, Threads and LinkedIn bios
• YouTube video descriptions and pinned comments
• Your email signature and your CV or résumé PDFs
• Printed QR codes: business cards, stickers, menus, posters
• Your GitHub profile README and portfolio sites

What happened to Bento.me: the timeline

Between the acquisition and the shutdown: about two years and eight months.

What Bento's notice promised users: an email with instructions for moving to Linktree and a "special Linktree Pro offer", deletion of all user and profile data after the deadline, and redirects from Bento pages to Linktree. Bento also said Linktree had added features "inspired by" Bento's layouts and embeds. The terms of the Pro offer were never published, and we found no evidence that Linktree moved Bento pages over automatically.

Two things other "Bento alternative" pages get wrong

• "bento.me links don't go anywhere now." They do: every one of them sends visitors to linktr.ee (checked October 14, 2026).
• "Your bento.me link redirects to your new Linktree." It doesn't. Every bento.me URL lands on the same Linktree homepage, whoever it belonged to.

How to rebuild your Bento grid on Kasbu

Bento deleted its users' pages, so there is nothing left to bring over: you rebuild the grid by hand. On Kasbu it looks like this:

1. Create your account and try to claim the same username you had on Bento: bento.me/yourname becomes kasbu.bio/yourname if it's free.
2. Start with the big tiles. Add an image card and drop in your photos. Two or more images become a carousel. The free plan includes 150 MB of storage.
3. Paste each link into a link card. Kasbu fetches the title, preview image and icon automatically.
4. Recreate your widgets with the matching cards (see the table below): Spotify, YouTube, GitHub, map, Calendly and more.
5. Use a separator card for section titles and a text card for notes.
6. Switch to the mobile view and arrange it separately. Kasbu keeps independent desktop (8 columns) and mobile (4 columns) layouts, so the phone version doesn't have to be a squeezed copy.
7. Replace your bento.me link everywhere (see the list above). For printed material, download your new QR code from Settings.

There is a longer walkthrough in our guide on how to migrate from Bento.

Where to find your old links

Bento only stored links to your content. The things they pointed to (your Spotify, YouTube, GitHub and social profiles) still exist. Rebuild from:

• Your social bios, which usually list the same links your Bento page did.
• Screenshots in your camera roll or old Stories.
• The Internet Archive: search for bento.me/yourname at web.archive.org. Some public pages were captured, but not all, and images don't always load.

You moved to Linktree and miss the grid

Your Linktree is now a complete list of your links. Open it in another tab, paste each link into a Kasbu link card (Kasbu fills in the title, preview image and icon), then arrange the grid. Keep the Linktree until your bios point to Kasbu.

Everything you used on Bento, card by card

What Bento users asked for and Bento never shipped

On Hacker News in 2024, a Bento user listed three gaps: "Grid ratios are limited. Analytics could be better. There is not background customization." Reviewers on Product Hunt asked for dark mode and page color controls. On Kasbu:

• Card sizes: resize any card on an 8-column grid.
• Analytics: total visits and a full breakdown of today's traffic (devices, countries, browsers) on Free. 7, 30 and 90-day history and city-level data on Pro.
• Backgrounds and colors: 30 animated background effects, background photos, a 24-color palette plus a free color picker, 14 fonts, glass card materials, and light and dark themes. All of it is free on every plan; colors, backgrounds and effects stopped being Pro on October 13, 2026.
• Beyond the grid: an Apple Wallet and Google Wallet pass for your page, plus a profile QR code. Both are free on every plan.

Bento alternatives compared (prices checked October 14, 2026)

Most "best Bento alternative" lists are written by one of the products on the list, and that includes this article. So each product links to its own pricing page, all checked on October 14, 2026, and below the table we list where Kasbu loses.

"Not confirmed" means we couldn't confirm it on the product's own site on October 14, 2026. If you want to compare more options, we review 10 of them in Bento.me alternatives in 2026.

Where Kasbu is not the best pick

• If you want the cheapest custom domain: Carrd Pro Standard costs $19 a year with your own domain. You design the page by hand, without ready-made cards.
• If you need unlimited links for free: own.page and Linktree don't cap links on their free plans. Kasbu caps Free at 25 cards per profile.
• If you collect contacts or forms: Avely has its own forms, an AI form builder on Pro and contact management. Kasbu only embeds Google Forms or Typeform and has no contact card (vCard).
• If you already live in Linktree's ecosystem: its integrations are wider. It has no free-form grid and no custom domain.

How not to lose your page again

No company can promise it will exist forever, and Bento gave its users 57 days' notice. Two habits that help, whatever tool you use:

• Use your own domain (Pro on Kasbu). If yourname.com points at your page, changing tools later means updating one DNS record instead of every bio, QR code and business card.
• Keep your list of links somewhere you control, like a note or a document. If a service closes again, rebuilding takes minutes instead of digging through archives.

Looking for someone's Bento page?

It's gone: bento.me/anyname now opens Linktree's homepage. To find the person, check their Instagram, TikTok or X bio for a new link, or search for their name on Kasbu Explore.

A technical note on the redirect

For the technically curious: when we requested the headers of bento.me/yourname on October 14, 2026, the server answered with status 301 (moved permanently) and a location pointing to https://linktr.ee. A 301 tells browsers and search engines that the move is final, which is why the old links send everyone to the same homepage and not to individual profiles.

Frequently asked questions

What happened to Bento.me?

Bento.me shut down on February 13, 2026, about two years and eight months after Linktree announced it had acquired the company (June 2023). The shutdown was announced on December 18, 2025, 57 days ahead. Bento said all user and profile data would be deleted.

Where does my old bento.me link go now?

To Linktree's homepage. On October 14, 2026, every bento.me URL we tested sent visitors to linktr.ee with a permanent redirect, not to the owner's Linktree profile.

Can I still recover my Bento page?

Not from Bento. The service closed on February 13, 2026, and its notice said all user and profile data would be deleted. Rebuild from your social bios, your screenshots or the Internet Archive.

Did Linktree move Bento pages over automatically?

We found no evidence of that. Bento's notice promised an email with migration instructions and a "special Linktree Pro offer", but the offer's terms were never published.

Which alternative looks most like Bento?

Look for a free-form grid of resizable cards, not a list. Kasbu, own.page, Avely, tini.bio and taap.bio work that way. Carrd builds one-page sites from sections. Linktree is a vertical list with paid grid collections.

Is Kasbu really free? What's the catch?

The free plan has no time limit and includes 25 cards and 3 pages per profile, two profiles, all 36 card types, a QR code and Wallet passes. The catch: visitors who aren't signed in see a small follow button with the Kasbu logo ("Join yourname on Kasbu"), analytics show today's breakdown only, and uploads are capped at 150 MB. Pro costs $4.99/month or $54.99/year, removes the Kasbu branding and comes with a 14-day trial the first time you subscribe.

Can I use my own domain?

Yes, on Pro. Linktree doesn't offer custom domains on any plan.

Does Kasbu have analytics?

Yes. Free shows total visits plus a full breakdown of today. Pro adds 7, 30 and 90-day history and city-level data.

Can I use Kasbu as a portfolio, like Bento?

Yes. Image carousels, Figma, Behance and GitHub cards, a résumé card and up to 3 pages per profile on Free cover most portfolios. You can see real pages on Kasbu Explore.

What was Bento.me?

Bento was a link in bio service that showed your links, photos, music and social profiles as a grid of tiles of different sizes, instead of a list of buttons. It raised a $1.6M pre-seed round led by Sequoia Arc in February 2023, according to TechCrunch.

Sources

All sources were checked on October 14, 2026. Kasbu facts come from our own product and are current as of the same date.

• TechCrunch, "Sequoia-backed Bento wants to be more than a link-in-bio tool", Feb 15, 2023: techcrunch.com
• Bento (@joinbento) on X, Jun 5, 2023: x.com/joinbento
• Tech.eu, "Sequoia-backed Bento boxed up by Linktree", Jun 6, 2023: tech.eu
• TechCrunch, "Linktree acquires link-in-bio platform Koji", Dec 14, 2023: techcrunch.com
• Eike Drescher (Bento) on X, Dec 18, 2025: x.com/eikedrescher
• AlternativeTo, "Bento to shut down in 2026 as Linktree takes over and offers migration path", Dec 2025: alternativeto.net
• Roboin, Dec 23, 2025: roboin.io
• Hacker News comment, Aug 3, 2024: news.ycombinator.com
• Bento reviews on Product Hunt: producthunt.com
• Avely: pricing, price list in EUR, Business Card
• own.page pricing: own.page/pricing
• Carrd Pro: carrd.com/pro
• tini.bio vs Bento: tini.bio/vs-bento
• taap.bio: taap.bio
• Linktree: pricing, custom domains (Oct 15, 2024), Collections (Apr 13, 2026), paid features (Jul 30, 2026)

Bring your grid back

Claim your username, drag in your first cards and set up the mobile layout separately. 25 cards and 3 pages per profile, free with no time limit and no credit card.

Create your free page, or see real pages on Kasbu for ideas.