YOURLS

YOURLS has a number of selling points that make it an appealing solution for URL shortening. It is completely free since the software is open-source, which means you can also adapt the software to your exact needs without worrying about copyright infringement. You can set the system to be either Public or Private, and if you only want your own links, you should select Private. The software contains the ability to create keywords for the URLs that are customized or sequential, and you can share and shorten links easily with the bookmarks tool. Statistical analysis is easily possible thanks to the click reports, geo-location tracking, and tracking of referrers. Using the tool is quite easy since it has a sleek, modern interface, and you can easily add new functionality thanks to the comprehensive plugin feature. Installing the code is simple as well and happens without much effort on your part. It comes with files that are examples of the type you might create for you initial UI, and you can use them for as long as you need while you develop something more permanent. YOURLS is capable of creating personalized keywords of up to 200 characters in length, which provides a tremendous number of options. The number of potential combinations is itself a number with 355 digits. You can choose to use either base 36 or base 62 encoding, but it's important that you use the same setting continuously to avoid changing other URLs. It doesn't really matter what hosting service you choose for your new URL shortener. It is unlikely that your app will become as popular as some of the existing players, so choose the best shared hosting service provider you can find for a fair price. If you can buy domains in exotic top levels, like .li or .in, you can save even more money without sacrificing quality. One potential downside to the software is that it cannot be installed in a directory that already has WordPress or another such software system installed. This is because the way YOURLS handles URLs is different. You can get the same results by creating a subdirectory for the software. By default, the YOURLS system will produce URLs with sequential order, but you can take advantage of a dedicated plugin if you prefer a randomized order. Stats are updated at every instance of a request for a shortened URL, although it is possible for certain apps to skip over the short URL if the landing page is still within the system cache. Remember that if you select base 36 encoding, you won't be able to include capital characters in your keyword.