Websites and hosting
Bitly alternatives
2 open-source projects that already do this job. Free to use - not free to run, which is what the numbers on the right are for.
The projects
YOURLS/YOURLS★12,146 GitHub starsMIT licenceSelf-hosted PHP URL shortener with link management, redirects, and plugins.Open on GitHub ↗thedevs-network/kutt★11,013 GitHub starsMIT licenceModern open-source URL shortener with web UI, link management, and API.Open on GitHub ↗
What you give up either way
- High-availability global infrastructure and 99.99% SLA
- Scale (multi-billion links and scans per year) and operational maturity
- Enterprise features: SSO, advanced permissioning, high-volume API quotas, dedicated support
- Years of integrations and marketplace connectors
- Advanced analytics retention windows and campaign-level tooling
An open-source project doing the core job proves a replacement is possible. It does not prove it matches Bitly, and it does not prove anyone has run it for a month. How we decide.