Polr is a GPL-2.0 PHP shortener whose last release, 2.3.0b, shipped in January 2021. Elido is a hosted shortener with its primary data in the EU, not open source and not self-hostable. So Elido vs Polr isn't a choice between two products you'd start with today. It's a question for anyone with Polr still serving links. Replace it with another self-hosted tool? Or stop hosting a shortener?
My short answer: don't start a new Polr install. Have one? Move this quarter. I'm on the Elido team, so weigh my view of the hosted option accordingly; every Polr fact below comes from the Polr repository and its documentation, accessed 2026-11-11.
Where Polr Stands in 2026
Polr was a good shortener, and in places it still is. The repo dates from 2013, the 2.x line runs on the Lumen 5.1 micro-framework, and it has 5,088 GitHub stars. But activity stopped some time ago.
The numbers, from the GitHub API on 2026-11-11:
- Last tagged release: 2.3.0b, 28 January 2021. The one before was 2.2.0 in May 2017.
- Last commit on the default branch: 17 September 2023, a docs config change.
- 216 open issues and pull requests, including a report of an error on PHP 8.0.3 open since March 2021 and an "is the project abandoned?" question open since August 2022.
The installation guide still asks for PHP 5.5.9 or newer with MariaDB or MySQL 5.5 (SQLite as an alternative). The framework dates from 2015. That gap is the real risk, not any single bug. Every OS or PHP upgrade on that server is now an experiment, run in production, on whether a framework nobody has touched in years will still boot when the package manager finishes and the web server comes back up.
What Polr Does Well
It's worth saying what you'd lose, because some of it is good.
Polr has a clean admin panel with user management, and per-user API keys with a per-minute quota you set from the admin tab. Links can be made secret, so the short URL carries an extra key and can't be found by walking short codes, and custom endings are supported. With advanced analytics switched on, it records the country and referrer of each click. The API is small (shorten and lookup) and easy to script. And the whole thing runs on a small PHP server.
An internal, low-traffic install where only staff create links might run quietly for a while yet. I wouldn't bet printed material on it.
Polr, Elido and the Maintained Options Compared
If you're replacing Polr, the realistic shortlist is three maintained open-source projects plus the option of not self-hosting. The table compares Polr with the one hosted option we can speak for, Elido, and states where each project lives.
| Question | Elido | Polr |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Proprietary, hosted only | GPL-2.0 or later |
| Latest release | Continuous (hosted service) | 2.3.0b, January 2021 |
| Runtime you maintain | None | PHP plus Lumen 5.1 and MySQL or MariaDB |
| Click data | Countries, devices, browsers, referrers | Country and referrer, if advanced analytics is on |
| API | REST API on every plan; Go SDK published, others coming soon | v2 API: shorten and lookup |
| Team model | Workspaces, seats, roles; SSO on Business | Users plus an admin panel |
| Target scanning | Yes, on every plan | Not documented |
| Custom domains and HTTPS | Certificate issued after the DNS check | Your web server's job |
| Cost | Free plan; paid plans in EUR | Free software; you pay for hosting and time |
On licence and cost Polr still wins, as any free software does. On everything that depends on someone shipping updates, it doesn't.
Self-Hosted Replacements for Polr
Must the shortener stay on your servers? Then none of these is Elido.
Shlink
Shlink is MIT-licensed PHP, released as recently as 21 October 2026 (v5.1.8). It's API-first, with a separate web client, and has rule-based redirects and a command-line importer that accepts CSV. Of the PHP options, it's the one I'd pick for an engineering team. Our Elido vs Shlink comparison covers it in detail.
YOURLS
YOURLS is the closest in spirit to Polr: a classic PHP admin, MIT-licensed, with a large plugin ecosystem. Release 1.10.6 landed on 30 August 2026. It needs PHP 8.1+. If your team liked Polr's simplicity, start here. See Elido vs YOURLS.
Kutt
Kutt is MIT-licensed Node.js, defaulting to SQLite, with a web dashboard, OIDC login and themes. Pick it if your team runs Node services and not PHP. The Elido vs Kutt post has the trade-offs.
Leaving YOURLS rather than Polr? The YOURLS alternatives guide covers the same options from that side. The wider field, including Dub, is in our self-hosted URL shorteners comparison.
When a Hosted Shortener Makes More Sense
Polr's story is a common one: someone set it up years ago, the person moved on, and the shortener kept running until it didn't. Sound familiar? Then swapping in another self-hosted tool just restarts the clock.
A hosted service takes the upkeep instead. With Elido there's no PHP to patch and no certificates to renew; the domain check and certificate happen when you add your short domain. Link targets are scanned against threat lists and rescanned, which matters if anyone outside your team can create links. Below is a link's detail page in our demo workspace.
What it costs, from Elido's billing catalogue on 2026-11-11: Free is 50 links and 500 clicks a month with no branded domain. Pro starts at 3.50 EUR a month with one branded domain. Moving a Polr domain needs Pro at least, because bulk import, custom slugs and branded domains aren't on Free. If you'd rather put the hours elsewhere, look at the plans. The trade is real, though: your data sits with us in the EU instead of on your own server, and the EU data residency guide lists what that does and doesn't cover.
Moving Your Links Off Polr
The order of steps is the same whichever tool you pick. Get it wrong and links break.
- Back up the whole database, including the clicks table. Click history won't import anywhere, so this dump is your archive.
- Export the links. Polr has no export screen; query the
linkstable forshort_urlandlong_urlwhereis_disabledis 0, and save it as CSV. - Import into the new tool with the same slugs. Shlink's CLI takes CSV. On Elido, the dashboard's CSV import takes destination, slug and title per row (Pro or Business).
- Spot-check twenty slugs on the new service before touching DNS.
- Point the short domain at the new service. Keep the Polr server read-only for a few weeks.
Custom endings are the rows most likely to fail an import, so include several of them in the step 4 sample. The guide on preventing link rot has more on keeping old URLs alive through a move.
Verdict: Retire Polr, Then Choose
Keep Polr only as long as it takes to migrate. For the replacement: Shlink or YOURLS if the code must stay on your servers and you run PHP, Kutt if you run Node, and Elido if what you really want is to stop running a shortener. The cornerstone on URL shorteners for marketers maps the hosted options beyond ours.
Related on the Blog
Frequently asked questions
Is Polr still maintained?
Not actively. Its last tagged release is 2.3.0b from 28 January 2021, the last commit on its default branch is from September 2023, and an issue asking whether the project is abandoned has been open since August 2022 (GitHub, accessed 2026-11-11). The code still works for many installs, but nobody is shipping fixes.
Does Polr run on PHP 8?
Officially it targets much older PHP: the installation guide asks for PHP 5.5.9 or newer and the app is built on the Lumen 5.1 framework. An issue reporting an error on PHP 8.0.3 has been open since March 2021. Test on a copy before upgrading PHP under a live Polr install.
What is the best Polr alternative?
If you must self-host, Shlink for an API-first PHP service or YOURLS for the closest classic PHP admin, both MIT-licensed and actively released in 2026. Kutt fits teams on Node.js. If you would rather stop running a server, a hosted shortener such as Elido, which keeps its primary data in the EU, removes the upkeep.
How do I export links from Polr?
Polr has no export screen, so read the database. Its links table holds short_url, long_url, clicks, is_disabled and timestamps; a query for active rows gives you a list you can save as CSV and import elsewhere. Keep a full database dump too, because per-click rows sit in a separate clicks table.
Is Elido open source like Polr?
No. Polr is GPL-2.0 software you run yourself. Elido is a hosted service with no public licence and no self-hosted edition, so it only fits if you are ready to stop self-hosting. If code on your own servers is a requirement, pick Shlink, YOURLS or Kutt instead.
Will my old Polr short links keep working after I switch?
Yes, if the short domain is yours and you recreate the same slugs on the new tool before you change DNS. Import the links, check a sample of slugs, then point the domain at the new service. Links on a domain you do not control cannot be moved.
Try Elido
Paste a URL, get a working short link
No signup. Link lives for 30 days. Sign up to keep it forever.
No signup needed. Sign up free for 50 links a month.