Open-source alternatives to Bitly
4 alternatives, ranked by a published maintenance score computed from live GitHub signals (fetched 2026-09-04). We flag unmaintained projects on both sides — including Bitly itself when the data says so.
About Bitly: Proprietary SaaS; free tier keeps shrinking (link caps, no custom domains). It is closed-source, so the same public maintenance signals do not exist for it — we score only the alternatives below.
The alternatives
Shlink
Self-hosted URL shortener with detailed visit stats and API.
How this 87/100 was computed
| Last commit | 29 days ago | 40/40 |
|---|---|---|
| Latest release | 2 months ago | 25/25 |
| Community size | GitHub stars | 12/15 |
| Open-issue trend | not enough history yet — needs snapshots 21+ days apart; neutral 10/20 awarded meanwhile | 10/20 |
| Total | 87/100 |
YOURLS
The classic PHP URL shortener you run on your own domain.
How this 87/100 was computed
| Last commit | 4 days ago | 40/40 |
|---|---|---|
| Latest release | 5 days ago | 25/25 |
| Community size | GitHub stars | 12/15 |
| Open-issue trend | not enough history yet — needs snapshots 21+ days apart; neutral 10/20 awarded meanwhile | 10/20 |
| Total | 87/100 |
Kutt
Modern URL shortener with custom domains and stats.
How this 87/100 was computed
| Last commit | yesterday | 40/40 |
|---|---|---|
| Latest release | 2 months ago | 25/25 |
| Community size | GitHub stars | 12/15 |
| Open-issue trend | not enough history yet — needs snapshots 21+ days apart; neutral 10/20 awarded meanwhile | 10/20 |
| Total | 87/100 |
Dub
Link management platform with analytics, open-source core.
How this 65/100 was computed
| Last commit | today | 40/40 |
|---|---|---|
| Latest release | none found | 0/25 |
| Community size | GitHub stars | 15/15 |
| Open-issue trend | not enough history yet — needs snapshots 21+ days apart; neutral 10/20 awarded meanwhile | 10/20 |
| Total | 65/100 |