Kutt vs Polr
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted url shorteners options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Kutt | Polr |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 21 · At risk |
| Category | URL Shorteners | URL Shorteners |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,119 | ★ 5,096 |
| First released | 2017 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Bitly, TinyURL | Bitly |
What are Kutt and Polr?
Kutt
Kutt is a free and open-source URL shortener with a clean interface, custom domains, link expiration, and detailed statistics. It offers both a web UI and a REST API.
- Custom domains and slugs
- Link expiration
- Visit statistics
- Public REST API
Polr
Polr is a self-hosted link shortener built with Laravel that offers a minimalist interface, an API, and basic analytics. It is designed to be quick to deploy and easy to use.
- Minimalist link shortener
- Developer API
- Basic click analytics
- Laravel-based
Kutt vs Polr: key differences
Kutt is written in JavaScript, while Polr is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Kutt versus GPL-2.0 for Polr. Polr is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Kutt. Polr is the more established project (first released 2014), while Kutt arrived in 2017. Kutt has the considerably larger community, at 11,119 GitHub stars versus 5,096.
Why pick each one
Choose Polr if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 5.1k GitHub stars
- Written in PHP
Frequently asked questions
Is Kutt or Polr better?
Neither is universally better. Kutt has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Kutt and Polr free and open-source?
Yes. Kutt is licensed under MIT and Polr under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kutt and Polr with Docker?
Kutt: yes. Polr: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Kutt or Polr?
Polr has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Kutt. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.