Self-hosted alternatives to Bitly
Want URL shortening and click tracking without handing your data to Bitly? These 11 open-source apps run on your own server. Cheapest estimated hosting starts at about $3.5/month.
| App | Health | Stars | License | Docker | RAM (est.) | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YOURLS | Actively maintained | 12.3k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Kutt | Actively maintained | 11.2k | MIT | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Shlink | Actively maintained | 5.4k | MIT | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Chhoto URL | Actively maintained | 996 | MIT | ✓ | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| bit | Actively maintained | 109 | MIT | ✓ | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| snowshare | Actively maintained | 91 | CC0-1.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Flare | Maintained | 138 | MIT | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Simple-URL-Shortener | Slowing down | 60 | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| clink | Health unknown | – | AGPL-3.0 | – | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| Flink | Health unknown | – | MIT | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| rs-short | Health unknown | – | MPL-2.0 | – | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
The options in detail
1. YOURLS
Set of PHP scripts that will allow you to run Your Own URL Shortener. Features include password protection, URL customization, bookmarklets, statistics, API, plugins, jsonp.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-11-02. Latest release 1.10.6 (2026-08-30). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
2. Kutt
Modern URL shortener with support for custom domains and custom URLs.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-10-19. Latest release v3.2.6 (2026-07-05). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
3. Shlink
URL shortener with REST API and command line interface. Includes official progressive web application and docker images.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-11-02. Latest release v5.1.8 (2026-10-21). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
4. Chhoto URL
Simple, lightning-fast URL shortener with no bloat (fork of simply-shorten).
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-11-02. Latest release 7.10.7 (2026-11-02). Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
5. bit
Fast, lightweight, resource-efficient, compiled URL shortener.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-10-04. Latest release 1.7.0 (2026-10-05). Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
7. Flare
Nonbloated, modern, and highly configurable file/screenshot vault server with support for ShareX, Flameshot, and Spectacle. Offers OCR search and more.
Maintained Last activity 2026-11-03. Latest release rolling (2025-07-06). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
8. Simple-URL-Shortener
KISS URL shortener, public or private (with account). Minimalist and lightweight. No dependencies.
Slowing down Last activity 2025-08-28. Latest release v1.3 (2015-05-09). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
9. clink
Super-minimal link shortening service written in pure C, focusing on small executable size, portability, and ease of configuration.
Health unknown Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
10. Flink
Create QR Codes, embeddable link previews for your website and crawls/scrapes metadata.
Health unknown Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
11. rs-short
Lightweight link shortener written in Rust, with features such as caching, spambot protection and phishing detection.
Health unknown Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
Why self-host instead of Bitly?
- Own your data — it lives on a server you control, with backups you decide on.
- Predictable cost — a small VPS often replaces per-seat pricing for a whole team or family.
- No lock-in — open-source licenses let you keep running the software even if a vendor disappears.
The trade-off: you are responsible for updates, backups and security. Pick an app marked Actively maintained and with Docker support for the easiest ride.
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Bitly is a trademark of its owner; this site is not affiliated with it. Listings come from the community-maintained awesome-selfhosted list.