Gull 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?
| Feature | Gull | Sink |
|---|---|---|
| Category | URL Shorteners | URL Shorteners |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | Vue |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 50 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | source, one-click |
| GitHub stars | ★ 37 | ★ 7,000 |
| First released | 2025 | 2024 |
| Replaces | bitly | 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 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 Gull 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 Gull and Sink free and open-source?
Yes. Gull is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Sink under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Gull and Sink with Docker?
Gull: check the project docs for container support. Sink: check the project docs for container support.