Shlink
The definitive self-hosted URL shortener: your domain, your database, your click data.
About
Shlink is a PHP-based open-source URL shortener distributed under the MIT license, with over 4,600 GitHub stars (third-party count, October 2026). It is built for teams that refuse to hand their link data to a SaaS vendor: you run it on your own infrastructure, serve short links from your own domains, and keep every click record in your own database. There is no subscription and no feature gating; everything is available to every user. Features include unlimited custom domains from one instance, custom slugs, a full REST API plus a CLI (API key management is CLI-only by design), a progressive-web-app admin client, Docker deployment, automatic QR codes for every link, link expiration and password protection, and anonymized visit stats with geolocation via MaxMind GeoLite2. It supports MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and SQLite.
Shlink is the right answer when link data is sensitive or when SaaS per-link pricing gets silly, and it replaced Bitly for teams cited in community write-ups. The price is operational: you host, update, and secure it yourself, and the PHP stack does not fit every shop. No published independent benchmarks for redirect throughput.
What it can do
- Self-hosted URL shortening with full data ownership
- Unlimited custom short domains from one instance
- Custom human-friendly slugs
- Full REST API plus a feature-complete CLI
- Progressive web app admin client
- Docker-native deployment
- Automatic QR code generation for every link
- Anonymized visit stats with geolocation
- Link expiration dates and password protection
- Multi-database support: MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, SQLite
- No subscriptions, no feature gating, MIT licensed
Setup
docker run with your domain env vars, or download a dist file and host it on PHP with MySQL/Postgres; manage via CLI, REST API, or the web PWA.
Prerequisites
A server or container host, a domain for short links, and PHP with a supported database.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 8/10
Scored 8/10 (verified tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: shlink.io documents the MIT license, the PHP/Mezzio stack, Docker deployment, the REST API and CLI, and the PWA client; third-party trackers put it above 4,600 GitHub stars with a September 2026 release. Strengths: the most complete self-hosted shortener, zero vendor lock-in, permissive MIT license. Docked for: (1) self-hosting means you own uptime, updates, and security; (2) the PHP stack is a poor fit for teams standardized elsewhere; (3) the star count is a third-party figure rather than a live GitHub read. License: MIT.
★ 4,600 GitHub stars
How the trust score is built
Full methodology →- Adoption · stars/downloads, log-scaled vs peers
- 7.0/10
- Maintenance · recency, releases, issue load
- 8.0/10
- Openness · license + docs
- 10.0/10
- Manual review · sanity read + red-flag check
- 8.0/10
- · PHP-based open-source shortener (Mezzio, Doctrine, Symfony)
- · MIT license; hosted on GitHub
- · 4,600+ GitHub stars (third-party count, October 2026)
- · Unlimited custom short domains from one instance
- · Full REST API plus CLI (API key management CLI-only by design)
- · Progressive web app admin client; Docker deployment
- · Automatic QR codes; link expiration and password protection
- · Anonymized visit stats with geolocation (MaxMind GeoLite2)
- · MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, SQLite support
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.