Best Affiliate Link Plugins for WordPress

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An affiliate link plugin for WordPress fixes a problem most bloggers only notice once it costs them money. Raw affiliate URLs end up pasted into dozens of posts, and each one carries a long tracking string you can’t read at a glance.

When a program changes its link format or your affiliate ID, every one of those posts needs an edit. Miss a few and those clicks stop earning, often for months, because nothing on the page looks broken.

My advice is to put every affiliate URL behind one branded link, such as `/go/product/`, and change it in one place. I’d start with the free version of Pretty Links, or with GT Link Manager if you want free country routing. I built GT Link Manager, and Gatilab runs its 1,366 active affiliate links through it. I’d pay for a plugin only when you need split tests, keyword auto-linking or Amazon product importing.

I compared 9 affiliate link plugins on their free versions, renewal prices, link storage and country routing. They fall into four groups:

  • Free link managers: Pretty Links and GT Link Manager
  • Freemium with paid routing: BetterLinks, ThirstyAffiliates, LinkCentral, URL Shortify and Easy Affiliate Links
  • Product displays with links: Lasso
  • Keyword auto-linking: Auto Affiliate Links

Quick Comparisons

Find your main need in the second column, then jump to that plugin’s section. Prices are list prices for 1 site, and first-year discounts are marked.

PluginBest forFree versionCheapest paid planCountry redirects
Pretty LinksThe strongest free versionYes$99.60 first year, then $249Paid plans
GT Link ManagerFree country routing and reportsFull pluginNone, all freeFree, from your CDN
BetterLinksPaid features on a lifetime licenseYes$99/yr or $399 lifetimePro
ThirstyAffiliatesAmazon importing and more sitesYes$99.60 first year, then $249Paid plans, MaxMind
LinkCentralA low-cost premium planYes$49.99/yr or $149.99 lifetimePremium
URL ShortifyImporting from many pluginsYes, 7-day stats$99/yr or $299 lifetimePRO
Easy Affiliate LinksThe lowest yearly priceYes$29/yrPremium
LassoProduct boxes next to linksLasso Lite$190/yrPro plan, $289/yr
Auto Affiliate LinksLinking keywords automaticallyYes$97/yrNot listed

An affiliate link plugin turns a long tracking URL into a short link on your own domain. A reader clicks `yoursite.com/go/product/`, and the plugin redirects them to the merchant with your affiliate ID attached.

That one change gives you a few practical benefits:

  • One place to edit. Change the destination once, and every post that uses the link updates.
  • Correct link attributes. Google asks for `rel=”sponsored”` or `nofollow` on paid links, and the plugin can add it to every link.
  • Click counts. You can see which links get clicked and from which pages.
  • Cleaner URLs. A branded link reads better in posts, emails and videos than a tracking string.

Most of these plugins call this “link cloaking,” and in most of them it means a server redirect. BetterLinks also sells a Pro mode that keeps the short URL in the address bar, but a plain redirect is what most affiliate sites need.

How I Compared Them

I checked each plugin’s free version on WordPress.org, its pricing page and its own documentation. Five things decided the ranking:

  • The free version. A good free version lets you start without a license and decide later.
  • The renewal price. Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates show a first-year discount, so I compared the price you pay every year after that.
  • Link storage. Some plugins keep links in their own database tables. Others save each link as a WordPress post, which leaves rows behind after you uninstall. Gatilab still holds 481 ThirstyAffiliates links from 2022 as posts.
  • Country routing. Sending US readers to amazon.com and Indian readers to amazon.in needs a country rule, and plugins detect the country in different ways.
  • The way out. Every plugin should export your links, and the next one should import them.

These are in the order I’d recommend them to a typical affiliate blog. Each section names the job that plugin does best.

Pretty Links is the safest place to start. It has 200,000+ active installs and a 96/100 rating from 1,321 reviews, and its free version covers what a new affiliate site needs.

The free plugin includes these features:

  • Redirects: 301, 302 and 307 links on your own domain, with custom or automatic slugs.
  • Click reports: referrer, browser and OS details, with bot filtering and IP anonymization.
  • Imports: CSV import of links from another plugin.
  • Editor tools: a block for the Block Editor and buttons for the Classic Editor.

Paid plans add country, device and time redirects, split tests, keyword auto-linking, expiring links and QR codes. Country lookups read your CDN’s header first, so you don’t need a MaxMind key.

Pretty Links Beginner costs $99.60 in the first year and $249 a year after that for 1 site. Product displays come only with Super Affiliate, which renews at $499 for 5 sites.

GT Link Manager is the free link manager I built for sites that need country routing without a license. The whole plugin is on WordPress.org, and there is no Pro version to upgrade to.

GT Link Manager Add New Link screen with link mode, slug, redirect type, nofollow and sponsored rel checkboxes, noindex, category and tags fields
Each link sets its own mode, redirect type and rel attributes, with nofollow and sponsored ticked.

It covers these jobs in the free plugin:

  • Branded links: 301, 302 and 307 redirects, a `/go/` prefix or your own, prefix-free links and regex rules.
  • Country rules: each link can send each country to its own store, using the country header from Cloudflare, CloudFront, Vercel or your server.
  • Click reports: opt-in reports on trends, top links, countries, devices and the page each click came from, with no cookies and no stored IP addresses.
  • Moving in: CSV presets for Pretty Links and LinkCentral, plus column mapping for other exports.
  • Automation: a REST API, and AI agents can manage links through Site Agent.

Links live in their own indexed tables and resolve early in the request, before your theme loads. A missing link returns a real 404 page instead of sending the reader to your homepage.

It’s newer, on WordPress.org since March 2026 with 100+ installs. It has no split tests, keyword auto-linking, product boxes or broken link checks, and its advanced reports work on single-site installs only. See the full feature list on the GT Link Manager page.

BetterLinks is the pick if you want most paid features on a license you buy once. It comes from WPDeveloper, the team behind Essential Addons, and has 20,000+ active installs.

Its free version is more generous than most:

  • Redirects: 301, 302 and 307, wildcard redirects and parameter forwarding.
  • Reports: total and unique clicks, top referrers and bot filtering.
  • Migration: one-click imports from Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates and Simple 301 Redirects.
  • Developer tools: a full REST API and a built-in MCP server for AI tools, off by default.

Pro adds country, device and time rules, split tests, keyword auto-linking, a broken link checker and address-bar cloaking. BetterLinks costs $99 a year for 1 site, $249 a year for unlimited sites or $399 once for unlimited sites with lifetime updates.

ThirstyAffiliates

ThirstyAffiliates suits sites that promote Amazon products and run several sites. It’s a sister product of Pretty Links, at the same price, with a different set of paid features.

Every paid plan includes these features:

  • Amazon importing: product details pulled straight into your links.
  • Geolocation redirects: country rules through MaxMind’s free or paid database.
  • Link maintenance: an automatic 404 checker and email alerts for link events.
  • Speed: .htaccess redirects that skip PHP and WordPress.
  • Extras: keyword auto-linking, link scheduling and CSV import and export.

The free version is mostly cloaking under `/recommends/`, categories and basic click counts. Links are stored as WordPress posts.

ThirstyAffiliates Basic costs $99.60 in the first year and $249 after that for 1 site. Plus covers 5 sites for $374, and Advanced covers 10 sites for $499. I compared it head to head in Pretty Links vs ThirstyAffiliates.

LinkCentral

LinkCentral is a young plugin with a generous free tier and a low-cost premium plan with a lifetime option. It launched in September 2024 and has 400+ active installs.

The free version covers these features:

  • Link controls: scheduled, password-protected and expiring links, plus QR codes.
  • Reports: click analytics with email reports and GA4 events.
  • Migration: a built-in importer for Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates, plus CSV and JSON.
  • AI tools: MCP support through the WordPress Abilities API.

Premium adds country and device rules, split tests, conversion tracking with Awin and Impact callbacks, keyword auto-linking and a broken link checker. LinkCentral costs $49.99 a year or $149.99 once for 1 site. Exporting your links is a Premium feature, so check that before you build a large library on the free plan.

URL Shortify

URL Shortify fits a site coming from an older or unusual link plugin. It imports from 8 plugins, including Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates, Redirection and LinkCentral, and has 10,000+ active installs.

The free version gives you unlimited branded links, link groups, parameter forwarding and a REST API. Its click history stops at 7 days, so you’ll need PRO for long-term reports.

PRO adds link cloaking, split tests and weighted rotation, country and device rules, a broken link checker and custom domains. Country rules use outside IP lookup services. URL Shortify costs $99 a year or $299 once for 1 site.

Easy Affiliate Links is the cheapest paid plugin here and a good fit for a small Amazon site. It’s made by Bootstrapped Ventures, the team behind WP Recipe Maker.

The free version handles categories, monthly click counts, `sponsored` attributes, an automatic disclaimer and CSV or XML import. Premium adds these features:

  • Amazon search: find Amazon products through the Creators API and turn them into links.
  • Reports: click charts and full click data export.
  • Link maintenance: a broken link checker with email alerts and temporary replacement links.
  • Targeting: links that change by country or device.

Easy Affiliate Links Premium costs $29 a year for 1 site or $119 a year for 20 sites. It has no split tests, keyword auto-linking or product boxes.

Lasso

Lasso is the option for sites that want product boxes and links managed together. It’s a WordPress plugin backed by Lasso’s own service, and the free Lasso Lite plugin covers single product displays and cloaked links.

Creator costs $190 a year for 1 site and adds tables, grids, Amazon images and prices without your own API key, and broken link alerts. International link localization needs the Pro plan at $289 a year for 3 sites.

The catch is the dependency. According to Lasso, your links keep working after you cancel, but you can no longer edit links or displays. If you’re weighing that, I compared the options in Lasso alternatives.

Auto Affiliate Links does one job: it turns chosen keywords in your posts into affiliate links when the page loads. Your saved content stays unchanged, and you set how many links appear in each article, from 1 to 5.

It has modules for Amazon, ClickBank, eBay, Walmart and other programs, and each one needs an API key from that program. It isn’t a full link manager, so most sites run it next to one of the plugins above.

Auto Affiliate Links PRO costs $97 a year, $19 a month or $197 for 5 years, with a 60-day refund window. It has 2,000+ active installs.

Plugins to Skip

These names still come up in older lists, but I wouldn’t install them for affiliate links today:

  • ClickWhale: WordPress.org closed it in December 2025 for a guideline violation. It still updates from its own site, but you lose WordPress.org updates and reviews.
  • Linker: its last update was in December 2024, and it’s tested only up to WordPress 6.7.
  • Amazon Auto Links: WordPress.org closed it in November 2025 for a security issue.
  • Redirection: it’s an excellent free redirect manager with 2,000,000+ installs, but it has no country rules, cloaking settings or affiliate features. Keep it for SEO redirects and 404 tracking.

If you need Amazon product boxes, bestseller lists and comparison tables, you need a display plugin rather than a link manager. I covered those in best Amazon affiliate plugins for WordPress.

How to Choose

Your situation decides the plugin more than the feature list does. These are the picks I’d make:

  • New affiliate site: Pretty Links free or GT Link Manager. Both cost nothing, and you can move later.
  • Readers from several countries: GT Link Manager for free country rules, or a paid plan of Pretty Links or BetterLinks.
  • Amazon-heavy site: ThirstyAffiliates for importing, or Easy Affiliate Links on a small budget.
  • Several sites: BetterLinks lifetime or ThirstyAffiliates Advanced, depending on which features you need.
  • Split tests and keyword auto-linking: BetterLinks Pro or a paid Pretty Links plan.
  • Product boxes: Lasso, or a display plugin next to your link manager.

Changing plugins is safe as long as your old URLs keep working. The prefix matters most: if old posts use `/go/`, the new plugin should use `/go/` too.

I’d follow these steps:

  1. Export your links. Take a CSV export from the old plugin before you change anything.
  2. Import with the same slugs. Use the new plugin’s importer or CSV mapping and keep each slug as it is.
  3. Test a sample. Open 10 to 20 links and confirm each one reaches the merchant with your affiliate ID.
  4. Deactivate the old plugin last. Keep it installed until the new links pass, then remove it.

I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to migrate Pretty Links to another plugin. If you’re replacing destinations across many posts, see how to change affiliate links in WordPress. For plugin-specific options, I compared Pretty Links alternatives and ThirstyAffiliates alternatives.

What is the best free affiliate link plugin for WordPress?

Pretty Links has the strongest free version among the established plugins, with detailed click reports and free CSV import. GT Link Manager is fully free and adds country rules and opt-in click reports, though it’s newer with a smaller user base.

Do I need a plugin to cloak affiliate links?

You don’t strictly need one, but managing links by hand gets hard after a few dozen. A plugin lets you change a destination once, add the sponsored attribute everywhere and count clicks.

Is link cloaking allowed by Amazon Associates?

Amazon Associates has strict rules on how its links are shown and shortened, which is why ThirstyAffiliates and Easy Affiliate Links can leave Amazon links uncloaked. Read the current Associates Program Policies for your country before you put Amazon links behind a redirect.

Should affiliate links be nofollow or sponsored?

Google asks site owners to mark paid and affiliate links with rel=”sponsored”, and rel=”nofollow” is also accepted. Every plugin in this list can add these attributes to your links.

Do affiliate link plugins slow down WordPress?

A redirect plugin adds very little to page loads, since it only runs when someone clicks a link. Click tracking adds a database write for each click, so keep old click data trimmed if you don’t use it.

Can I move from one affiliate link plugin to another?

Yes. Export your links as a CSV, import them into the new plugin with the same prefix and slugs, and test a sample before you remove the old plugin.

Final Remarks

If you’re still unsure, I’d start free and let your site show you what it needs. Pretty Links free and GT Link Manager both handle branded links well, and either one can export everything if you outgrow it.

I’d pay only when a feature earns its price, such as split tests or Amazon importing. When that day comes, I’d look at BetterLinks first for its lifetime license, and at ThirstyAffiliates if Amazon importing is the reason.

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