Slash vs YOURLS
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted url shorteners options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Slash
Open-source, self-hosted bookmarks and link shortener
VS
YOURLS
Your own URL shortener with stats and plugins
| Feature | Slash | YOURLS |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 69 · Good | 94 · Excellent |
| Category | URL Shorteners | URL Shorteners |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,180 | ★ 12,242 |
| First released | 2023 | 2009 |
| Replaces | Bitly, go links | Bitly |
What are Slash and YOURLS?
Slash
Slash is an open-source, self-hosted platform for sharable links and bookmarks. It lets teams create short, memorable links and organize collections of resources.
- Shareable short links
- Bookmark collections
- Team workspaces
- Browser extension
YOURLS
YOURLS is a small set of PHP scripts that lets you run your own URL shortening service with click statistics, a plugin system, and a developer API. It is one of the most popular self-hosted shorteners.
- Custom and random short URLs
- Click statistics
- Plugin architecture
- Developer API
Slash vs YOURLS: key differences
Slash is written in TypeScript, while YOURLS is built with PHP. YOURLS is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Slash. YOURLS is the more established project (first released 2009), while Slash arrived in 2023. YOURLS has the considerably larger community, at 12,242 GitHub stars versus 3,180.
Why pick each one
Choose Slash if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.2k GitHub stars)
Choose YOURLS if…
- Mature and stable
- Rich plugin ecosystem
Watch out for
- Dated admin interface
Frequently asked questions
Is Slash or YOURLS better?
Neither is universally better. YOURLS has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Slash and YOURLS free and open-source?
Yes. Slash is licensed under MIT and YOURLS under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Slash and YOURLS with Docker?
Slash: yes. YOURLS: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Slash or YOURLS?
YOURLS has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Slash. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.