Software Alternatives & Startups

YOURLS VS GraphPilot

Compare YOURLS VS GraphPilot and see what are their differences

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.

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Open source
GraphPilot

GraphPilot is a managed edge cache for GraphQL and plain HTTP APIs that purges cached responses automatically when a GraphQL mutation returns an object they contain.

No screenshot yet
Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Freemium €149 / Monthly (Jet plan, 500K request units/mo, excl. VAT)
Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, YOURLS seems to be more popular. It has been mentioned 21 times since March 2021.

social mentions
21 vs 0
URL Shortener popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
240+ vs 1

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

YOURLS
GraphPilot
Website yourls.org graphpilot.io
Pricing
Open source
Freemium €149 / Monthly (Jet plan, 500K request units/mo, excl. VAT) Official pricing
Platforms —
Web SaaS MacOS Linux Windows +2
Company — Startup from Germany · 1 - 9 employees · 2026
Listed in

About YOURLS and GraphPilot

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

YOURLS
GraphPilot

No description of YOURLS yet.

GraphPilot is a managed edge cache for GraphQL APIs and plain HTTP endpoints. It takes read traffic off your origin, answers cached requests from the edge in milliseconds, and clears cached responses automatically when your data changes. How it works Schema-driven caching: GraphPilot reads your...

Read more about GraphPilot

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

YOURLS 5 features
GraphPilot 16 features
  • Self-Hosted
    YOURLS allows you to host the URL shortening service on your own server, giving you full control over your data and avoiding reliance on third-party services.
  • Customization
    Since YOURLS is an open-source platform, you can customize it according to your needs, adding personalized branding and functionalities.
  • Analytics
    It offers detailed analytics for each shortened URL, including click counts, referrers, and geographical data, helping you understand your audience better.
  • Plugin Support
    YOURLS supports plugins, allowing you to extend its functionality with additional features like spam filtering, link previews, and more.
  • Free and Open-Source
    The platform is free to use and open-source, meaning there are no licensing costs and you benefit from a community of developers constantly improving the software.

Possible disadvantages

  • Technical Expertise Required
    Setting up and maintaining a YOURLS instance requires technical expertise, including knowledge of web servers and databases, which may not be suitable for non-technical users.
  • Hosting Costs
    Since YOURLS is self-hosted, you will incur costs for web hosting, domain registration, and potentially higher server resources if your service becomes popular.
  • Maintenance
    You are responsible for all maintenance tasks, such as updating software and ensuring security, which can be time-consuming.
  • Scalability Issues
    Depending on your hosting solution, you may face challenges in scaling the service to handle high volumes of traffic efficiently.
  • Limited Built-In Features
    While YOURLS is highly customizable through plugins, the out-of-the-box features are relatively basic when compared to some commercial URL shortening services.
  • Edge caching for GraphQL
    Caches GraphQL queries over GET, POST and QUERY at the edge, keyed by query text, operation name and variables
  • Plain HTTP and REST caching
    Caches any HTTP API based on your origin's Cache-Control headers
  • Schema-driven cache keys
    Reads your schema and adds key fields to queries, so every cached response knows which objects it contains
  • Automatic invalidation
    Purges cached responses that contain an object when a GraphQL mutation returns it
  • Custom and composite keys
    @surrogateKey for custom and composite keys, with support for interfaces and unions
  • Purge API and CLI
    Purge by key, cache key, request id or query hash, hard or soft, via API, the gpilot CLI or the Cockpit
  • Cache partitioning
    Separate cache entries per user, organization, locale or verified JWT claim
  • Request collapsing
    Concurrent identical requests share one origin fetch per edge location
  • Persisted queries
    Persisted queries and trusted documents
  • Edge security
    JWT and API key verification, request signing, query depth and document size limits, introspection blocked by default
  • Cockpit insights
    Per-request telemetry for hit rate, latency and origin traffic, with a history of purges
  • Federation Support
    Sits in front of your federation router and caches the composed supergraph
  • Origin shielding
    Fewer origin requests through a shield location (paid plans)
  • Global Edge Network
    Runs on Fastly's global edge network
  • Config As Code
    Deploy with gpilot.toml and your schema.graphql
  • Free Plan
    Glider plan, free to start

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

YOURLS
GraphPilot

Overall verdict

  • YOURLS is a great choice for individuals or organizations looking for a customizable and secure URL shortening solution. It is particularly suitable for those who want to avoid relying on third-party services.

Why this product is good

  • YOURLS (Your URL Shortener) is a self-hosted URL shortening service that provides full control over your short URLs. It allows users to customize and manage their links, track their analytics, and ensure privacy and security since it's hosted on your own server. Its open-source nature ensures transparency and the ability to modify the functionality as needed.

Recommended for

  • Businesses that need branded and secure short URLs.
  • Developers looking for an open-source URL shortener they can customize.
  • Organizations prioritizing data privacy and control.
  • Bloggers or marketers who want to track detailed analytics of their links.

No analysis of GraphPilot yet.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

YOURLS 1 video + Add
GraphPilot 0 videos + Add

How to make a URL Shorter with YOURLS

No GraphPilot videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
YOURLS
GraphPilot
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
API
100% 100%
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing YOURLS and GraphPilot.

What's the story behind your product?

GraphPilot's answer:

GraphPilot is built by Kay Schecker, a solo founder from Düsseldorf, Germany. Caching GraphQL at the edge is easy to start and hard to get right: most setups end up choosing between short TTLs and purging far too much. GraphPilot was built to use the schema itself as the source of truth for what a response contains, so invalidation can be precise. The slogan says it: "We fly the complexity so you don't have to."

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

GraphPilot's answer:

Choose GraphPilot if you want caching that is driven by your schema and invalidation you can verify. Setup is a config file plus your schema, and you are live in minutes. It works with Apollo Server, GraphQL Yoga, PostGraphile and federation routers, and it also caches plain HTTP APIs. It runs on Fastly's global edge network, is built and operated in Germany, and has a free plan (Glider) so you can test it on real traffic before you pay.

What makes your product unique?

GraphPilot's answer:

GraphPilot reads your GraphQL schema and turns it into cache keys. It adds the key fields each query needs, removes them from the response again, and tags every cached response with the objects it contains. When a mutation returns a changed object, GraphPilot purges the responses that contain it, without hand-written cache tags or short TTLs as a safety net. You can see each purge, with its reason, in the Cockpit.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

GraphPilot's answer:

Engineering teams running GraphQL in production with read-heavy traffic: e-commerce, marketplaces, content platforms, SaaS dashboards and mobile app backends. Typically a platform or backend team that wants less origin load and lower latency without building and maintaining its own caching and invalidation layer.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

GraphPilot's answer:

The edge runtime is written in Rust and compiled to WebAssembly on Fastly Compute. The platform and API run on TypeScript and PostgreSQL, the Cockpit is built with React, and the CLI (gpilot) is a single Rust binary for macOS, Linux and Windows.

User comments

Share your experience with using YOURLS and GraphPilot. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

YOURLS no reviews yet
GraphPilot no reviews yet

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We have no reviews of GraphPilot yet. Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

YOURLS 21 mentions
GraphPilot 0 mentions
  • Raindrop.io: cross-platform, collaborative bookmark manager
    This is what I use and like: https://yourls.org. - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago
  • Ask HN: Building a url shortner, similar to bitly, can I make it profitable?
    Similar to...? https://yoslash.com/ Personally I just use https://yourls.org/. - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago
  • self-hosted url shorter with device targeting
    YOURLS has a "detect-mobile-device" plugin. Is that what you were looking for? Source: over 3 years ago

View more

Tracking GraphPilot since Nov 2026.

Alternatives to YOURLS and GraphPilot

When comparing YOURLS and GraphPilot, 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.

    Compare Bitly to YOURLS or GraphPilot:

  • Stellate.co

    Everything you need to run your GraphQL API at scale

    Compare Stellate.co to YOURLS or GraphPilot:

  • TinyURL

    The first notable URL shortener, online since 2002. Branded short links on your own domain, with click analytics that count human and bot traffic separately, QR codes, editable destinations, bulk creation and a REST API.

    Compare TinyURL to YOURLS or GraphPilot:

  • Rebrandly

    Rebrandly is the easiest way to create, share and manage branded links.

    Compare Rebrandly to YOURLS or GraphPilot:

  • Polr

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

    Compare Polr to YOURLS or GraphPilot:

  • Cutt.ly

    Free custom URL shortener with analytics, branded short links with advanced link tracking, QR codes, analytics, and an all-in-one Link Management Platform & API. Easily shorten and manage your URLs with Cuttly - Complete URL Shortener Solution.

    Compare Cutt.ly to YOURLS or GraphPilot: