Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Shlink VS Stretch layout engine

Compare Shlink VS Stretch layout engine and see what are their differences

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Shlink logo Shlink

A self-hosted URL shortener

Stretch layout engine logo Stretch layout engine

High performance, cross-platform layout engine in Rust
  • Shlink Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-04-08
  • Stretch layout engine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-09-08

Shlink features and specs

  • Self-Hosted
    Shlink is a self-hosted URL shortener, providing full control over your data. You can deploy it on your own server and manage the privacy and security of your shortened links.
  • Custom Domains
    Shlink supports the use of custom domains for shortened URLs, allowing you to maintain consistent branding and a professional appearance.
  • Detailed Analytics
    Shlink offers comprehensive analytics, including geographic breakdowns, referrers, and device types, allowing you to gain valuable insights into your link traffic.
  • REST API
    Shlink comes with a powerful REST API, enabling developers to integrate URL shortening functionality into their own applications with ease.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source project, Shlink invites community contributions and code audits, ensuring the software continues to improve and remain secure.
  • QR Code Generation
    Shlink can automatically generate QR codes for each shortened URL, providing an easy way to share links in physical media.
  • Webhooks
    Shlink supports webhooks, allowing for real-time notifications and triggering of actions when certain events, such as link clicks, occur.

Possible disadvantages of Shlink

  • Setup Complexity
    Setting up Shlink requires some technical knowledge, including server management and configuration, which might be a barrier for users without technical expertise.
  • Maintenance
    As a self-hosted solution, Shlink requires regular maintenance and updates to ensure security and performance, which can be time-consuming.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running Shlink on your own server can consume significant resources, especially with high traffic volumes, necessitating a robust hosting environment.
  • Lack of Premium Support
    Being an open-source project, Shlink does not offer official, dedicated premium support, which might be a drawback for businesses needing immediate assistance.
  • Learning Curve
    The extensive feature set and customization options of Shlink come with a learning curve, requiring time and effort to master all functionalities.

Stretch layout engine features and specs

  • Flexibility
    Stretch is inspired by CSS Flexbox, offering developers a powerful tool to handle complex layouts with ease, allowing UI components to dynamically adapt to different screen sizes and orientations.
  • Performance
    The engine is optimized for performance, enabling quick layout calculations which are crucial for rendering complex UI efficiently on both web and mobile platforms.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Stretch is designed to be cross-platform, making it suitable for building applications that need to run on multiple platforms while maintaining consistent UI behavior across them.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source project, Stretch allows developers to contribute to its development, providing transparency and the opportunity for community-driven improvements.

Possible disadvantages of Stretch layout engine

  • Complexity
    The flexibility that Stretch offers can lead to complexity, especially for developers who are not familiar with CSS Flexbox concepts, potentially increasing the learning curve.
  • Limited Community Support
    Compared to more established layout engines, Stretch may have limited community support and resources, which can be challenging when troubleshooting or seeking guidance.
  • Maturity
    As a relatively new project, Stretch may not be as battle-tested as older layout engines, potentially leading to undiscovered bugs or missing features.
  • Documentation Gaps
    The documentation might not be as comprehensive as that of other well-established layout engines, potentially hindering developers who are trying to implement it.

Analysis of Shlink

Overall verdict

  • Shlink is a robust and flexible URL shortening solution, particularly favored by those who prefer self-hosting for privacy reasons. Its comprehensive set of features and ease of integration make it a good choice for users with technical knowledge who want to maintain their data sovereignty.

Why this product is good

  • Shlink is a self-hosted URL shortener that provides privacy-focused features. It allows you to create and manage short links with advanced features like custom slugs, URL tags, and detailed analytics. Its self-hosted nature ensures that you have full control over your data, which is a significant advantage for those concerned with privacy and data ownership. Additionally, Shlink supports features such as QR code generation, REST API integrations, and Geolocation and Device Targeting for enhanced link customization.

Recommended for

  • Tech-savvy individuals or organizations seeking to self-host their URL shortener
  • Privacy-conscious users who want to retain control over their data
  • Developers looking for a URL shortener with robust API support
  • Businesses that require advanced analytics and customization features for their URLs

Analysis of Stretch layout engine

Overall verdict

  • Stretch is a solid, lightweight cross-platform flexbox layout engine written in Rust that faithfully implements the CSS flexbox specification, making it a good choice for developers needing predictable UI layout outside the browser. However, it's worth noting the original project is no longer actively maintained and has been effectively succeeded by Taffy, so new projects may want to consider that fork.

Why this product is good

  • Written in Rust, offering strong performance and memory safety for layout computation
  • Implements the CSS flexbox specification faithfully, giving predictable and familiar layout behavior
  • Cross-platform and lightweight, with no dependency on a browser or web rendering engine
  • Provides bindings that make it usable from multiple languages and UI frameworks
  • Open source and useful as a foundation for building custom UI toolkits and game/app interfaces

Recommended for

  • Developers building custom UI frameworks or design tools that need flexbox layout without a browser
  • Rust projects requiring a fast, embeddable layout engine
  • Game developers and app builders needing predictable, CSS-like layout logic
  • Teams already familiar with flexbox who want that model in a native environment
  • Projects that can also evaluate the actively maintained successor, Taffy, for long-term support

Shlink videos

2020 Wine Reviews: Shlink Haus Wines

Stretch layout engine videos

No Stretch layout engine videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Shlink and Stretch layout engine)
Link Management
100 100%
0% 0
URL Shortener
100 100%
0% 0
Branded URLs
100 100%
0% 0
Online Services
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Shlink seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 14 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Shlink mentions (14)

  • How I Built a Scalable, Free URL Shortener.
    Building a URL shortener from scratch? Nah, youโ€™re crazy! Instead, we grabbed a trusty open-source solution thatโ€™s already been battle-tested. By using this ready-made tool, we skipped the drama of starting from zero and cut our development time way down. This gave us more time to focus on making our app and management system even betterโ€”plus, it saved us from pulling out our hair! - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • Show HN: An open-source alternative to Bitly
    Last big project at my old job was for an appointment notification service. In addition to making messages longer and thus costing us more, counterintuitively the unshortened URLs got flagged as spam by automated systems and end users more than shortened. However, you canโ€™t use bitly or other free/public shorteners; use one hosted on your own domain. I used shlink https://shlink.io/. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • Copying microsofts aka.ms links with our internal Dns to help stop phishing
    IF you just want to setup an internal link shortener, there is software out there for it. We do it at my company. The best one I've found is Shlink: https://shlink.io/. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Shlink CLI issue
    I have just set up shlink.io via /r/portainer and docker-compose. Now I have tried opening the CLI to generate an API key which I need for the shlink web interface but unfortunately it closes in a fraction of a second after bin/cli, showing all available arguments. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Permanent URL to file possible?
    Are you looking for stable HTTP/S URLs that you can publish for others to access? One solution to that might be to purchase your own domain and host a little redirector service that bounces the consumer to the real, currently active, cloud URL. Something like https://shlink.io/ might work (but Iโ€™ve not used it, and thatโ€™s just a suggestion not a recommendation!). Source: over 3 years ago
View more

Stretch layout engine mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Stretch layout engine yet. Tracking of Stretch layout engine recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Shlink and Stretch layout engine, you can also consider the following products

Bitly - Get the most out of your social and online marketing efforts. Own, understand and activate your best audience through the power of the link with Bitly Enterprise.

Yoga layout engine - Flexbox-based, cross-platform layout engine from Facebook.

Polr - An open source URL shortener. A great non-profit and free alternative to bit.ly, TinyURL, or goo.gl.

YOURLS - YOURLS is a website that contains all the tools you need to create and launch your very own URL shortener. URL shorteners like bitly or TinyURL are fine for public use, but they offer limited options in terms of URL customization.

TinyURL - Are you sick of posting URLs in emails only to have it break when sent causing the recipient to...

Lstu - A nice and open source url shortener. You can use it as service or install it on your own server.