Self-hosted alternatives to Bitly
Your own URL shortener, with your own click metrics. Below are 10 open source options you host on your own server — with no monthly per-user fee and full control of your data.
YOURLS
★ 12,087YOURLS is a 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.
Kutt
★ 10,928Modern URL shortener with support for custom domains and custom URLs.
Shlink
★ 5,116URL shortener with REST API and command line interface. Includes official progressive web application and docker images.
Chhoto URL
★ 881Simple, lightning-fast URL shortener with no bloat (fork of simply-shorten).
Flare
★ 120A nonbloated, modern, and highly configurable file/screenshot vault server with support for ShareX, Flameshot, and Spectacle. Offers OCR search and more.
bit
★ 94Fast, lightweight, resource-efficient, compiled URL shortener.
Simple-URL-Shortener
★ 58KISS URL shortener, public or private (with account). Minimalist and lightweight. No dependencies.
clink
A super-minimal link shortening service written in pure C, focusing on small executable size, portability, and ease of configuration.
Flink
Create QR Codes, embeddable link previews for your website and crawls/scrapes metadata.
rs-short
Lightweight link shortener written in Rust, with features such as caching, spambot protection and phishing detection.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free self-hosted alternative to Bitly?
Yes. We've gathered 10 self-hosted, open source alternatives to Bitly — including YOURLS, Kutt, Shlink. You run all of them on your own server.
What is the best open source alternative to Bitly?
YOURLS is one of the most popular (12,087 GitHub stars). The "best" depends on your case — compare the options below.
Do I need a server to replace Bitly?
Yes. You can use a home server (homelab) or a cheap VPS (from ~€4/mo). See the hosting suggestions on this page.