YOURLS
YOURLS is a free, open-source self-hosted URL shortener maintained since 2009 by a community under lead maintainer Ozh Richard. It serves developers and small organizations needing branded short URLs with analytics on their own servers, with no commercial entity or paid pricing.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2009
- Headquarters—
- Headcount—
- GTM type—
- Offering—
What YOURLS does
YOURLS is a free, open-source self-hosted URL shortener software project founded in 2009 and maintained by a community of contributors under primary maintainer Ozh Richard. The product is a PHP-based application with a MySQL backend that users download, configure, and run on their own web servers to create branded short URLs on their own domain. The codebase comprises 680 files, 182 classes, 1,757 functions/methods, and 96 constants, with an extensible plugin architecture built around 379 hooks (111 actions and 268 filters) and 'dozens' of community plugins. Built-in capabilities include click analytics with historical reports, referrer tracking, and visitor geo-location; a REST/JSONP API for programmatic URL shortening, expansion, and statistics; bookmarklets for browser-based shortening; and support for custom URL protocols such as mailto:, ftp://, git://, spotify:, facetime:, and skype:. The code is MIT licensed and documentation is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
YOURLS targets two primary user segments: developers and technical users who want full control over their URL shortener and data on their own infrastructure, and small businesses and organizations that need branded short URLs with detailed analytics without paying per-link fees to commercial services such as bit.ly. Distribution is exclusively self-service via GitHub Releases, with installation guided through official documentation and community-contributed guides.
The project has no commercial entity and no formal revenue model. Funding is purely voluntary, sourced from donations and recurring sponsorships processed through GitHub Sponsors and OpenCollective, with 12+ monthly donors contributing at $1 or more per month. Sponsors receive logo placement on the GitHub README as the primary benefit. There is no pricing structure, no paid tiers, no headcount, no parent company, and no disclosed institutional investment; the legal name is 'YOURLS Contributors.' Active development continues, with releases 1.10.1 through 1.10.4 shipped between April 2025 and May 2026, following the prior major release 1.10 'Tati.'
YOURLS firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- YOURLS
- Legal name
- YOURLS Contributors
- Website
- https://yourls.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2009
- Operating status
- Operating
- Short description
- YOURLS is a free, open-source self-hosted URL shortener maintained since 2009 by a community under lead maintainer Ozh Richard. It serves developers and small organizations needing branded short URLs with analytics on their own servers, with no commercial entity or paid pricing.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
YOURLS business model
Business modelRevenue model
- Donations and Sponsorships: YOURLS is free and open-source software. Revenue is generated through voluntary donations and monthly sponsorships via GitHub Sponsors and OpenCollective. Sponsors receive logo placement on the GitHub README as a benefit of recurring sponsorships. The project is maintained by contributors without a commercial entity driving revenue.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels4 records
YOURLS product offering
Product offeringCore offering
YOURLS is a free, open-source, self-hosted URL shortener written in PHP with a MySQL backend that allows users to create and manage branded short URLs on their own domain. The software includes click analytics with historical click reports, referrer tracking and visitor geo-location, browser bookmarklets for one-click shortening, a REST/JSONP developer API, and an extensible plugin architecture with 379 hooks for customization.
Product overview
YOURLS is a single unified open-source product—a self-hosted URL shortener that provides URL shortening, statistics tracking, and a developer API as built-in features. The software is distributed as a complete PHP application that users install on their own web server. Key capabilities include: bookmarklets for easy URL shortening directly from browsers, comprehensive stats with historical click reports, referrer tracking, and visitors geo-location, a plugin architecture for extensibility, and a REST/JSONP API for developer integration. The product operates as a self-hosted solution giving users full control over their data on their own domain.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Companies that use YOURLS
Customer profileSegments2 records
YOURLS technology and API
TechnologyAPI detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
Feature6 records
YOURLS partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
YOURLS competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Kutt: Free, open-source modern URL shortener that can be self-hosted; competes head-to-head with YOURLS for developers and small organizations seeking a privacy-friendly, self-managed link tool.
- Dub: Open-source link management platform (with a managed SaaS) offering branded short links, analytics, and a modern stack — a more contemporary, well-funded direct competitor to YOURLS in the self-hosted/OSS shortener category.
- Polr: Open-source URL shortener offered as a self-hosted PHP web application with an admin panel and API, comparable in functionality and target market to YOURLS.
- Shlink: Open-source, self-hosted URL shortener built on PHP, very similar to YOURLS in deployment model and target user (developers running their own branded shortener). Directly competes for the same self-hosted niche.
Broad incumbents
- Bitly: Largest commercial URL shortener and link management platform. Targets the same end use case (short links with analytics) but delivers it as a hosted SaaS rather than self-hosted software, broadly dominating the category.
- Rebrandly: Commercial branded link management platform focused on custom-domain short URLs and analytics — the same value proposition YOURLS offers self-hosted, delivered as a subscription SaaS for marketers and brands.
- Short.io: Hosted URL shortener SaaS offering branded short domains, detailed analytics, and team features — overlapping functionality with YOURLS but with no installation requirement.
- TinyURL: One of the original public URL shorteners and still widely used; offers a basic free shortener plus a pro tier with branded domains and analytics, competing for the same link-shortening use case as YOURLS.
- BL.INK: Commercial branded link shortener and analytics platform aimed at enterprise marketing teams, offering similar analytics/referrer/geo capabilities to YOURLS but as a managed service.
Others
- ClickMeter: Link tracking and conversion analytics platform that overlaps with YOURLS's analytics/referrer/geo capabilities, but is positioned as a marketing attribution SaaS rather than a self-hosted shortener.
Market position
Strengths3 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
YOURLS social profiles
Digital presenceYOURLS compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
YOURLS financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
YOURLS leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
YOURLS funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
YOURLS M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about YOURLS
What does YOURLS do?
YOURLS is a free, open-source, self-hosted URL shortener written in PHP with a MySQL backend that allows users to create and manage branded short URLs on their own domain. The software includes click analytics with historical click reports, referrer tracking and visitor geo-location, browser bookmarklets for one-click shortening, a REST/JSONP developer API, and an extensible plugin architecture with 379 hooks for customization.
Is YOURLS a public or private company?
YOURLS is a private company. It is currently operating.
When was YOURLS founded?
YOURLS was founded in 2009.
How does YOURLS make money?
One revenue line is on record: donations and Sponsorships.
Who are YOURLS's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Kutt, Dub, Polr and Shlink. Broad incumbents are Bitly, Rebrandly, Short.io, TinyURL and BL.INK. ClickMeter is listed as an others.
Does YOURLS have an API?
Yes. YOURLS provides a RESTful API that supports both JSON and JSONP formats for URL shortening, stats retrieval, and URL expansion. The API allows developers to integrate URL shortening functionality into their own applications. Actions include: db-stats, expand, shorturl, stats, url-stats, version. Authentication can be done via signature (token) or username/password. The API is publicly accessible with configurable privacy settings. Developer documentation is at yourls.org/docs/guide/advanced/api.