Kutt vs Short.io
Kutt and Short.io are both URL shortener software. Kutt is open source under MIT, with 11k GitHub stars. Short.io is a commercial product from Short.io.
Which to pick
- Pick Kutt when
- You want a modern self-hosted Bitly alternative with a clean interface.
- Pick Short.io when
- A small business wants branded short links on its own domain at low or no cost.
Side by side
A URL shortener with custom domains, link editing, statistics and user management, available as kutt.to or self-hosted.
A link shortener with custom branded domains, analytics, QR codes and an API, free for up to 1,000 links.
The old kutt.it domain is no longer theirs and may be a phishing site; use kutt.to or your own instance.
A small vendor, and analytics are simpler than on the larger marketing platforms.
Production-ready (both)
Self-hosted server and cloud service
Cloud service
JavaScript, Node.js, Express, SQLite, PostgreSQL and Redis
Not published
Open source, MIT (permissive)
Closed source, sold by Short.io
You can build it into a product you sell, as long as you keep its copyright notice.
Closed source: you use it under the maker's terms and cannot change or resell the code.
11k GitHub stars
No Wikipedia article of its own
Established: started 8 years ago, latest release v3.2.6.
Not known
Other comparisons
More URL shorteners
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-03 from makers' descriptions, Wikipedia, READMEs and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.