Self-hosted alternatives to Bitly
Free links now expire, and a dead short link breaks every place it was ever pasted.
Below are 10 open-source projects that cover the same ground, each scored 0–100 on how actively it is actually maintained — commit volume, release cadence and recent trend. 2 of the 10 are currently rated healthy or better. Ordering reflects that score, not sponsorship.
| Project | Health | Activity (11 mo) | Stars | Licence | Last release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YOURLS YOURLS is a set of PHP scripts that will allow you to run Your Own URL Shortener. Features include password pr | Healthy · 70 | 12k | MIT | 30 Aug 2026 | |
| Chhoto URL Simple, lightning-fast URL shortener with no bloat (fork of simply-shorten). | Healthy · 68 | 976 | MIT | 23 Sept 2026 | |
| Shlink URL shortener with REST API and command line interface. Includes official progressive web application and dock | Steady · 67 | 5.3k | MIT | 21 Sept 2026 | |
| snowshare File and link sharing platform with URL shortening, code snippet sharing, and file uploads, featuring customiz | Steady · 57 | 87 | CC0-1.0 | 25 Sept 2026 | |
| Kutt Modern URL shortener with support for custom domains and custom URLs. | Steady · 56 | 11k | MIT | 5 Jul 2026 | |
| bit Fast, lightweight, resource-efficient, compiled URL shortener. | Slowing · 48 | 107 | MIT | 7 Aug 2026 | |
| Flare A nonbloated, modern, and highly configurable file/screenshot vault server with support for ShareX, Flameshot, | At risk · 24 | 137 | MIT | 6 Jul 2025 | |
| Simple-URL-Shortener KISS URL shortener, public or private (with account). Minimalist and lightweight. No dependencies. | At risk · 2 | 60 | MIT | 9 May 2015 | |
| clink A super-minimal link shortening service written in pure C, focusing on small executable size, portability, and | Unrated | — | AGPL-3.0 | — | |
| Flink Create QR Codes, embeddable link previews for your website and crawls/scrapes metadata. | Unrated | — | MIT | — |
How these were picked
Every project listed here is open source and can run entirely on hardware you control. We start from the categories that match Bitly's job — URL Shorteners — then rank by health score so that a popular-but-abandoned project never appears above a smaller one that is actively shipping. The scoring method is documented in full.
The scores are recomputed from repository data on every rebuild, so this page reflects the state of these projects as of 1 Oct 2026 — not the day it was written.
YOURLS
YOURLS 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.
Best fit: It suits administrators who want complete control over their redirected links and statistics without relying on external third-party services.
Worth knowing: Because it relies on a mature PHP codebase, you should expect to handle routine security maintenance and configuration tuning yourself.
Chhoto URL
Simple, lightning-fast URL shortener with no bloat (fork of simply-shorten).
Best fit: Self-hosters who want a fast, low-resource link shortener without the overhead of heavy enterprise frameworks.
Worth knowing: It is a minimalist fork with limited advanced features compared to more established redirection platforms, meaning you may miss complex analytics or user management out of the box.
Shlink
URL shortener with REST API and command line interface. Includes official progressive web application and docker images.
Best fit: It suits developers and teams who require a private URL shortening service with programmatic access via an API.
Worth knowing: You will need to maintain and secure your own instance, which overlaps with many simpler open-source redirection tools.
snowshare
File and link sharing platform with URL shortening, code snippet sharing, and file uploads, featuring customizable expiration, privacy settings, and QR codes.
Best fit: It suits small teams or individuals who want a single, self-hosted interface for handling quick file transfers, pastebin tasks, and link shortening.
Worth knowing: With a modest repository size and steady maintenance score, it may lack the extensive community support and plugin ecosystem found in more established alternatives.
Kutt
Modern URL shortener with support for custom domains and custom URLs.
Best fit: This is a good fit if you need to run your own branding for short links rather than relying on a third-party SaaS provider.
Worth knowing: Maintenance activity is moderate, meaning you should be prepared to handle potential security updates or community patches yourself.