clink vs Sink
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
Sink
Serverless URL shortener with built-in analytics
| Feature | clink | Sink |
|---|---|---|
| Category | URL Shorteners | URL Shorteners |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C | Vue |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | source, one-click |
| GitHub stars | — | ★ 7,000 |
| First released | 2020 | 2024 |
| 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 Sink if…
- Released under the MIT license
- One-click install on common self-host platforms
- Mature project with 7k GitHub stars
- Written in Vue
Frequently asked questions
Is clink or Sink better?
Neither is universally better. Sink has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are clink and Sink free and open-source?
Yes. clink is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Sink under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run clink and Sink with Docker?
clink: check the project docs for container support. Sink: check the project docs for container support.