Learn what Shaarli is, how the free open-source, database-free bookmarking tool works, and why self-hosters use it instead of hosted bookmark services.
Shaarli is a free, open-source bookmarking and link-sharing tool that users install on their own web server rather than signing up for a hosted account. It was created by French developer Sebastien Sauvage and first released in 2011 as a minimalist, database-free alternative to hosted bookmarking services.
The actively maintained version today is a community fork hosted on GitHub, which has continued development after the original project slowed down. Because Shaarli stores links in flat files instead of a database, it can run on almost any basic PHP web host, which is part of why it remains popular among self-hosting enthusiasts.
Shaarli offers a bookmarklet for saving links with one click, tagging and full-text search across saved links, RSS and ATOM feed generation, and a plugin system for extending functionality. It supports LDAP login for single-user authentication and a responsive interface that still works with JavaScript disabled.
Because it is self-hosted, users retain full control of their bookmark data rather than depending on a third-party service that could shut down or change its terms. The interface is available in multiple languages, including English, French, German, and Japanese.
Shaarli is completely free and open source, distributed under a free software license with the source code publicly available on GitHub. There are no paid tiers, subscriptions, or premium feature unlocks.
The only ongoing cost is whatever web hosting the user chooses to run Shaarli on, since it must be self-hosted; some third-party hosting providers also offer managed Shaarli hosting for a fee they set independently of the Shaarli project itself.
Shaarli is a free, open-source, self-hosted bookmarking and link-sharing tool written in PHP that stores data in flat files instead of a database.
Yes, Shaarli is free and open-source software with no paid tiers; the only cost is the web hosting you choose to run it on.
No, Shaarli stores bookmarks in flat files and does not require a separate database server.
Shaarli is designed as a single-user tool, though multiple people can view public links; it is not built for multi-user team collaboration.
Shaarli is installed by downloading it from GitHub and deploying it on a PHP-capable web host, following the setup wizard on first run.
Yes, the community fork on GitHub is actively maintained, with the latest release being version 0.16.3 as of 2026.
The original Shaarli was created by developer Sebastien Sauvage in 2011; a community fork on GitHub has since become the actively developed version of the project.
Yes, Shaarli supports tagging bookmarks and full-text search across saved links.