Polr vs Sink
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted url shorteners options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Polr | Sink |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | ≈5-minute setup |
| Health score | 21 · At risk | 91 · Excellent |
| Category | URL Shorteners | URL Shorteners |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Vue |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | source, one-click |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,096 | ★ 7,155 |
| First released | 2014 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Bitly | Bitly |
What are Polr and Sink?
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
Sink
Sink is a fast and minimal URL shortener built to run on Cloudflare Workers and KV but also self-hostable. It includes link analytics powered by an analytics engine.
- Built-in link analytics
- Minimal fast redirects
- Edge deployment
- Clean dashboard
Polr vs Sink: key differences
Polr is written in PHP, while Sink is built with Vue. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for Polr versus MIT for Sink. Sink is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Polr. Polr is the more established project (first released 2014), while Sink arrived in 2024. Polr lists first-class Docker deployment; Sink does not.
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
Choose Sink if…
- Released under the MIT license
- One-click install on common self-host platforms
- Mature project with 7.2k GitHub stars
- Written in Vue
Frequently asked questions
Is Polr 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 Polr and Sink free and open-source?
Yes. Polr is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Sink under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Polr and Sink with Docker?
Polr: yes. Sink: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Polr or Sink?
Sink has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Polr. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.