Gull vs rs-short
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?
Gull
Simple, modern URL shortener
VS
rs-short
Lightweight link shortener written in Rust, with features such as
| Feature | Gull | rs-short |
|---|---|---|
| Category | URL Shorteners | URL Shorteners |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 50 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 37 | — |
| First released | 2025 | 2020 |
| Replaces | bitly | — |
Why pick each one
Choose Gull if…
- Released under the MPL-2.0 license
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Choose rs-short if…
- Released under the MPL-2.0 license
- Written in Rust
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Gull or rs-short 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 Gull and rs-short free and open-source?
Yes. Gull is licensed under MPL-2.0 and rs-short under MPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gull and rs-short with Docker?
Gull: check the project docs for container support. rs-short: check the project docs for container support.