SHSelfHostIndex

Polr vs YOURLS

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?
PO Polr Quick, modern and open-source link shortener VS YO YOURLS Your own URL shortener with stats and plugins
FeaturePolrYOURLS
CategoryURL ShortenersURL Shorteners
LicenseGPL-2.0MIT
LanguagePHPPHP
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM256 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 5,097★ 12,146
First released20142009
ReplacesBitlyBitly

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
Polr details

Choose YOURLS if…

  • Mature and stable
  • Rich plugin ecosystem
YOURLS details

Frequently asked questions

Is Polr or YOURLS better?

YOURLS is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Polr if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Polr and YOURLS free and open-source?

Yes. Polr is licensed under GPL-2.0 and YOURLS under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Polr and YOURLS with Docker?

Polr: yes. YOURLS: yes.

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