clink vs Gull
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
Gull
Simple, modern URL shortener
| Feature | clink | Gull |
|---|---|---|
| Category | URL Shorteners | URL Shorteners |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Language | C | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 50 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | — | ★ 37 |
| First released | 2020 | 2025 |
| Replaces | — | bitly |
Why pick each one
Choose clink if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Written in C
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Choose Gull if…
- Released under the MPL-2.0 license
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is clink or Gull better?
Neither is universally better. Gull has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are clink and Gull free and open-source?
Yes. clink is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Gull under MPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run clink and Gull with Docker?
clink: check the project docs for container support. Gull: check the project docs for container support.