clink vs Flink
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted url shorteners options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
clink
A super-minimal link shortening service written in pure C, focusing on
VS
Flink
Create QR Codes, embeddable link previews for your website and
| Feature | clink | Flink |
|---|---|---|
| Category | URL Shorteners | URL Shorteners |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C | Docker |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | — | — |
| First released | 2020 | 2020 |
| Replaces | — | — |
Why pick each one
Choose clink if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Written in C
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Choose Flink if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Docker
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is clink or Flink better?
Neither is universally better. clink has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are clink and Flink free and open-source?
Yes. clink is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Flink under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run clink and Flink with Docker?
clink: check the project docs for container support. Flink: yes.