Pretty Links vs ThirstyAffiliates

Pretty Links vs ThirstyAffiliates is a harder choice than it looks. Both are affiliate link plugins from the same team, led by MemberPress founder Blair Williams. Their paid plans cost exactly the same: $99.60 in the first year and $249 after that for 1 site.

So the price won’t decide it for you. The differences sit in how each one stores links, what the free version gives you and which features come with the paid plans.

For most sites, I’d pick Pretty Links. It has the stronger free version, it keeps links in its own database tables and its paid plans add split tests and device and time rules. I’d pick ThirstyAffiliates only if you want Amazon importing and a 404 checker on the cheapest plan, or more sites per license.

Quick Comparisons

These are the differences that can change your choice. Prices are list prices, and the first-year price applies only once.

Factor	Pretty Links	ThirstyAffiliates
Active installs	200,000+	30,000+
WordPress.org rating	96/100 from 1,321 ratings	92/100 from 251 ratings
Where links are stored	Its own database tables	WordPress posts
Free click tracking	Referrer, browser, OS and IP, with IP anonymization	Basic click counts
Free CSV import	Yes	No, paid plans only
Cheapest plan	$99.60 first year, then $249, 1 site	$99.60 first year, then $249, 1 site
Middle plan	$374 a year, 2 sites	$374 a year, 5 sites
Top plan	$499 a year, 5 sites	$499 a year, 10 sites
Country redirects	Paid plans, CDN header first	Paid plans, MaxMind database
Device and time redirects	Paid plans	Not listed
Split tests and link rotation	Paid plans	Not listed
Amazon product importing	Not listed	Every paid plan
Broken link checks	Link Health on Pro	404 checker on every paid plan
REST API	Marketer plan and up	Every paid plan

Pricing and Site Limits

Both plugins use the same introductory pricing: a discount in the first year, then full price at every renewal. The plan names differ, and so do the site limits.

• Pretty Links: Beginner renews at $249 for 1 site, Marketer at $374 for 2 sites and Super Affiliate at $499 for 5 sites.
• ThirstyAffiliates: Basic renews at $249 for 1 site, Plus at $374 for 5 sites and Advanced at $499 for 10 sites.

For a single site, the cost is identical. For a small network, ThirstyAffiliates gives you more than twice the sites at each higher tier, which can outweigh everything else in this comparison.

Both refund within 14 days, and neither sells a lifetime plan.

Free Versions

Pretty Links has the better free version by a wide margin. It gives you branded links with 301, 302 and 307 redirects, click reports with referrer, browser and OS details, bot filtering, IP anonymization and CSV import.

ThirstyAffiliates’ free version is narrower. It covers cloaked links under `/recommends/`, hierarchical categories, an editor link picker, images attached to links, smart uncloaking for programs such as Amazon Associates and basic click counts.

If you never plan to pay, Pretty Links is the clear choice.

How They Store Links

This difference stays with your site long after you choose.

• Pretty Links stores links, clicks and link settings in its own tables, such as `prli_links` and `prli_clicks`.
• ThirstyAffiliates saves each link as a post of the `thirstylink` type, with its settings as post meta, and keeps click data in separate tables.

Storing links as posts works, but it adds rows to the busiest tables in WordPress and leaves them behind when the plugin goes. Gatilab ran ThirstyAffiliates in 2022, and its 481 links are still in the database as posts, each with at least 12 meta rows.

Geo Redirects

Both plugins send visitors to different destinations by country on their paid plans. They find the visitor’s country in different ways.

• Pretty Links reads the country header from Cloudflare, Vercel or another CDN first, and falls back to its own lookup service. You don’t need a MaxMind key.
• ThirstyAffiliates uses MaxMind. The plugin can fetch MaxMind’s free country database, or you can upload a paid database or connect MaxMind’s web service.

Pretty Links is simpler to set up behind a CDN. ThirstyAffiliates gives you more control over the data source.

Paid Features

Each plugin’s paid plans lean in a different direction. Pretty Links adds more routing, and ThirstyAffiliates adds more affiliate tooling on its cheapest plan.

Pretty Links’ paid plans add these features:

• country, device and time redirects
• split tests and link rotation
• auto-linked keywords and URL replacements
• expiring links, QR codes and conversion reports
• the REST API from Marketer, and Product Displays, a UTM builder and splash pages on Super Affiliate
• Redirect Turbo Mode, which answers link requests before the rest of WordPress loads

ThirstyAffiliates’ paid plans all include these:

• Amazon product importing
• geolocation redirects and reports
• automatic keyword linking and affiliate disclosures
• high-speed .htaccess redirects that skip PHP
• an automatic 404 checker and link event emails
• CSV import and export, link scheduling and WPML or Polylang support

ThirstyAffiliates packs more into Basic, while Pretty Links saves its biggest extras for the top plan.

Which One to Choose

Choose Pretty Links if any of these fit:

• you’ll stay on the free version
• you want split tests, link rotation or device and time rules
• you’d rather keep links out of the posts table
• you want the plugin with the larger user base and more reviews

Choose ThirstyAffiliates if any of these fit:

• you import Amazon products into your links often
• you want a 404 checker and .htaccess redirects on the $249 plan
• you run 3 to 10 sites and want more sites per license

A Free Third Option

If you’re comparing these two mainly for branded links, country redirects and click reports, there’s a third route. GT Link Manager is a free link manager I built, with no paid tier, and Gatilab runs its 1,366 active affiliate links through it.

Its free plugin covers these jobs:

• per-link country rules from your CDN’s country header
• 301, 302 and 307 redirects and regex rules
• opt-in click reports with the page each click came from
• a Pretty Links CSV preset and links stored in their own indexed tables

It has no split tests, keyword auto-linking, Amazon importing, product boxes or broken link scanning, and it’s newer, with 100+ installs since March 2026. The full list is on the GT Link Manager page, and I compared more options in Pretty Links alternatives, ThirstyAffiliates alternatives and my list of the best affiliate link plugins for WordPress.

FAQs on Pretty Links vs ThirstyAffiliates

Final Remarks

If you’re still unsure, I’d start with the free version of Pretty Links. You lose nothing by starting free, and you’ll know within a few weeks whether you need paid routing at all.

If you already know you need Amazon importing or licenses for several sites, I’d buy ThirstyAffiliates. Otherwise, I’d go with Pretty Links.