Title: PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links Author: Blair Williams Published: March 29, 2009 Last modified: July 9, 2026 --- Search plugins ![](https://ps.w.org/pretty-link/assets/banner-772x250.jpg?rev=3029001) ![](https://ps.w.org/pretty-link/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=2503434) # PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links By [Blair Williams](https://profiles.wordpress.org/supercleanse/) [Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/pretty-link.4.0.3.zip) * [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-link/#description) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-link/#reviews) * [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-link/#installation) * [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-link/#developers) [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pretty-link/) ## Description PrettyLinks takes any long, ugly URL and turns it into a short, branded link on your own domain. So instead of sharing some endless affiliate string, you share ` yoursite.com/recommends/widget` — clean, memorable, and unmistakably yours. No more renting your links from bit.ly, tinyurl.com, or whichever shortener raised its prices this year. Here’s the part people love most: your links and your click data live on your site, not someone else’s. You own the branding. You keep the analytics. And if a destination URL ever changes, you update it once and every link you’ve ever shared just keeps working. ### Why people pick PrettyLinks 🌠 If you share links for a living — affiliate marketers, bloggers, podcasters, social media folks — you want three things: links that look professional, the freedom to change where they point, and a real picture of what’s getting clicked. PrettyLinks does all three. Every click is logged with referrer, browser, OS, and host, so you’re never guessing about what’s working. And version 4.0 is a big one. We rebuilt the whole thing from scratch on a fast, modern React admin, then added smarter bot filtering, built-in privacy controls, and CSV link importing — all of it free. ### PrettyPay™ Links 💵 Want to sell something? PrettyPay™ lets you spin up a one-click Stripe checkout link and share it anywhere — e-books, courses, downloads, subscriptions, you name it. It all runs through your own domain and brand. Share the link, get paid. No store required. ### Lite Features ✔️ **[🔗 Branded Short Links on Your Own Domain](https://prettylinks.com/about?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=features)** Turn any long URL into a clean, branded short link in seconds. **[💰 PrettyPay™ Stripe Checkout Links](https://prettylinks.com/docs/prettypay-links/?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=features)*** Create one-click payment links with Stripe. Share anywhere and start selling instantly. **[🔃 301, 302 and 307 Redirects](https://prettylinks.com/about?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=features)** Choose between Permanent (301) and Temporary (302/307) redirects per link. **[⚙️ Custom or Auto-Generated Slugs](https://prettylinks.com/about?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=features)** Pick your own slug or let PrettyLinks generate one. Reserved Slug Patterns protect critical WordPress paths from accidental collisions. **[🔎 Click & Unique-Click Tracking](https://prettylinks.com/about?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=features)** Every click logged with referrer, IP, browser, OS, and host data. **[🤖 Modern Bot Filtering](https://prettylinks.com/about?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=features)** Keep AI crawlers and bots out of your stats out of the box — with Cloudflare bot- header support and your own custom user-agent rules. **[🔐 Built-In Privacy Controls](https://prettylinks.com/about?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=features)** IP anonymization and a configurable click-retention window help you stay GDPR-friendly. **[📊 Customizable Click Reports](https://prettylinks.com/about?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=features)** Filter charts by date range, link, and unique vs. total clicks. **[⬆️⬇️ CSV Import & Export](https://prettylinks.com/about?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=features)** Bulk-import links from a spreadsheet and export click history to CSV anytime — link importing is now free. **[🖱️ One-Click Sharing & Copy](https://prettylinks.com/about?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=features)** Copy any link to the clipboard from the links list, the editor, or a Gutenberg block. **[💡 Modern Admin Experience](https://prettylinks.com/about?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=features)** A fast, clean React-based admin UI with bulk actions, one-click duplicate, and auto- saving options. … and much more. [Visit our site](https://prettylinks.com?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=home) to see everything PrettyLinks can do. * Pro users pay no added processing fees. Free users have a small 3% per-transaction fee added on PrettyPay™ links. ### PrettyLinks Pro 💪 When you’re ready for more, _PrettyLinks Pro_ adds the automation, advanced redirects, and deeper reporting that power users tend to grow into: * [**Keyword & URL Replacements**](https://prettylinks.com/features?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=pro_features) Map keywords to links and PrettyLinks automatically turns them into your branded links across your site’s content. * [**Advanced Redirect Types**](https://prettylinks.com/features?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=pro_features) Cloaked, JavaScript, Meta-Refresh, Tracking Pixel, and branded Splash Page redirects on top of the standard 301/302/307. * [**Geographic, Device & Time Targeting**](https://prettylinks.com/features?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=pro_features) Send visitors to different destinations based on country, device, browser, OS, day, or hour. * [**Link Rotation & A/B Split Testing**](https://prettylinks.com/features?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=pro_features) Distribute traffic across multiple destinations by weight or round-robin, and split-test which one converts. * [**Expiring Links**](https://prettylinks.com/features?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=pro_features) Set an expiry date or click limit and choose where expired traffic goes. * [**Categories & Tags**](https://prettylinks.com/features?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=pro_features) Organize and filter a large link library with full taxonomy-style grouping. * [**Auto-Create Links for Posts & Pages**](https://prettylinks.com/features?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=pro_features) A pretty link is created automatically every time you publish. * [**Link Health Monitoring**](https://prettylinks.com/blog/repair-broken-links?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=pro_features) Scheduled scans flag broken destinations, with email digests so you can fix them fast. * [**QR Codes**](https://prettylinks.com/features?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=pro_features) Auto-generate a downloadable QR code for every link, with an optional inner logo. * [**Pretty Bar Branding**](https://prettylinks.com/features?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=pro_features) Frame third-party destinations in a branded top, bottom, or floating bar with your CTA. * [**Advanced Reports & Conversions**](https://prettylinks.com/features?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=pro_features) Rich click-history breakdowns, KPI cards, charts, and a conversion-tracking pixel for your thank-you pages. * [**Redirect Turbo Mode**](https://prettylinks.com/features?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=pro_features) Answer link requests before the rest of WordPress loads — built for high-traffic affiliate sites. ### Pro Add-ons 🧩 Pro plans come with a handful of optional add-ons. Install the ones you need, skip the ones you don’t: * **Link in Bio** — Build customizable “link in bio” landing pages for Instagram, TikTok, and other social profiles, hosted on your own domain. * **Product Displays** — Drop styled, responsive product cards into any post or page to showcase affiliate products. * **Splash Pages** — Show a branded interstitial (with optional CTAs) before forwarding visitors, with a per-link conversion funnel report. * **UTMs** — Build and append Google Analytics UTM parameters from a dedicated tab on the link editor. * **User Links** — A front-end dashboard letting logged-in visitors create and manage their own pretty links. * **Developer Tools** — API tokens and webhooks for integrating PrettyLinks with external systems. [See Why Upgrade](https://prettylinks.com/why-upgrade?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=pro) | [Pricing](https://prettylinks.com/pricing/plans?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=pro) ### Integrations ⚡ * [MonsterInsights](https://prettylinks.com/docs/integrating-pretty-links-with-monsterinsights?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=kb)— Surface PrettyLinks click data inside the MonsterInsights dashboard. * [CookieYes](https://prettylinks.com/docs?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=kb)— Automatic cookie consent compliance for click tracking. * [Easy Affiliate](https://easyaffiliate.com/) — Use PrettyLinks as the affiliate link layer in your Easy Affiliate program. * Gutenberg & Classic Editor — Native block + toolbar buttons for inserting links inline. ### What’s Next 🤩 Enjoying PrettyLinks? Check out our other plugins: * [MemberPress](https://memberpress.com/) — Full-featured membership and course platform for WordPress with Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.net support. * [Easy Affiliate](https://easyaffiliate.com/) — Run your own self-hosted affiliate program and grow your traffic with referral marketing. * [Members](https://members-plugin.com/) — Roles and capabilities management plugin for fine-grained access control. ## Screenshots [⌊The PrettyLinks admin dashboard⌉⌊The PrettyLinks admin dashboard⌉[ The PrettyLinks admin dashboard [⌊Adding a Pretty Link⌉⌊Adding a Pretty Link⌉[ Adding a Pretty Link [⌊Click tracking and reports⌉⌊Click tracking and reports⌉[ Click tracking and reports [⌊Settings page⌉⌊Settings page⌉[ Settings page ## Installation 1. Upload `pretty-link.zip` to `/wp-content/plugins/` (or install via Plugins Add New). 2. Activate the plugin through the **Plugins** menu in WordPress. 3. Make sure your permalink settings (Settings Permalinks) are set to anything other than “Plain”. Custom permalinks like `/%year%/%month%/%postname%/` work great. 4. Open **PrettyLinks** in the admin menu and follow the onboarding wizard to create your first link. ## FAQ ### Who will find PrettyLinks useful? Affiliate marketers, bloggers, podcasters, course creators, social media managers, e-commerce merchants, and anyone else who needs to brand, organize, and track outbound links. ### Can I use PrettyLinks with any WordPress theme? Yes. PrettyLinks operates primarily in the WordPress admin and the front-end pieces are theme-agnostic. ### How do I get started? The in-plugin onboarding wizard walks you through the basics. For deeper docs, see our [Getting Started page](https://prettylinks.com/doc-categories/getting-started/). ### Is upgrading from 3.x to 4.0 safe? Yes. 4.0 is a drop-in upgrade — all of your existing links, clicks, and settings keep working with no migration step. As with any major update, back up your site first. ### What add-ons are available for PrettyLinks Pro? Pro includes six add-ons: **Link in Bio**, **Developer Tools**, **Product Displays**,** Splash Pages**, **UTMs**, and **User Links**. Link in Bio and Developer Tools are available on Marketer and above; the rest are on Executive. See the [add-ons page](https://prettylinks.com/add-ons/?utm_source=wordpress.org&utm_medium=lite_plugin_listing&utm_content=faq) for details. ### Is PrettyLinks translatable? Yes. PrettyLinks is fully translation-ready — see our [translation guide](https://prettylinks.com/docs/translating-pretty-link-pro/) for instructions. ### What’s the difference between 301, 302, and 307 redirects? **301 (Permanent)** tells search engines the URL has permanently moved — link equity is passed to the destination. **302** and **307 (Temporary)** signal a temporary redirect, so search engines keep indexing the original URL. Pro adds Cloaked, JavaScript, Meta-Refresh, Tracking Pixel, and Splash Page redirect types on top of these. ### Are there any fees for using PrettyPay™? Stripe’s standard processing fees always apply. PrettyLinks adds no extra fee for Pro users. Free users have a small 3% per-transaction PrettyLinks fee added on top of Stripe’s fees. ## Reviews ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/53d8e55914ece99b158ddfcdc2bbf3bf9cc86363170fb095100d310e936b03ab? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Great plugin and easy to use!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/great-plugin-and-easy-to-use-95/)󠁿 [moncef88](https://profiles.wordpress.org/moncef88/) June 25, 2026 Great plugin and easy to use! ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4c14dcaadc5eaa40d3b30bc9d4889fcd18e8d90c8a17c5cd7698c4681b1a8afa? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Really appreciate the flexibility](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/really-appreciate-the-flexibility/)󠁿 [markabutcher](https://profiles.wordpress.org/markabutcher/) June 10, 2026 We use multiple systems to manage various aspects of what we do, e.g. ticketing, fundraising, etc. To be able to unify them all with familiar looking URLs is really helpful in making a disparate set of tools seem like part of a single entity. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/a6bcbfe04ed53b6d11a7813c18ed401ea58458a0f8e15a19462f17c5076fb728? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Great tool](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/great-tool-2314/)󠁿 [Sarah G](https://profiles.wordpress.org/sarahgalletly/) May 28, 2026 Does exactly what it says it will & is very easy to use. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9cc0fbce98f8a293b63eec71d56a5749a2641d5b9f4ebe5a809e7e26439f1334? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[short links using my own domain](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/short-links-using-my-own-domain/)󠁿 [snc72394](https://profiles.wordpress.org/snc72394/) May 15, 2026 I’m happy that I can create short links using my own domain. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1bbf4f3af385327417b7512d7c694356453b3de4da3bb8762d603cc43332bfed? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Great tool](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/great-tool-2310/)󠁿 [markmelch](https://profiles.wordpress.org/markmelch/) May 6, 2026 Love being able to track clicks ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/6cf18450bf03714e17e512eecd9cbcf8829badaf75ac0ebb3a461cc16b8c21d8? s=60&d=retro&r=g) ### 󠀁[Very Useful](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/very-useful-3727/)󠁿 [gomes77](https://profiles.wordpress.org/gomes77/) April 29, 2026 I love it [ Read all 1,316 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pretty-link/reviews/) ## Contributors & Developers “PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking& Branded Short Links” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. Contributors * [ Blair Williams ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/supercleanse/) * [ cartpauj ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/cartpauj/) “PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking& Branded Short Links” has been translated into 7 locales. Thank you to [the translators](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/pretty-link/contributors) for their contributions. [Translate “PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/pretty-link) ### Interested in development? [Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/pretty-link/), check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/pretty-link/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/pretty-link/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/pretty-link/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss). ## Changelog #### 4.0.3 * Fixed a fatal error on hosts that run OPcache with doc-comments disabled (opcache. save_comments=0), such as Kinsta. #### 4.0.2 * Refreshed the “What’s New in 4.0” page copy. #### 4.0.1 * Maintenance: distribution packaging cleanup; no functional changes. #### 4.0.0 * Complete rewrite — brand-new React-based admin UI, REST-first API, and custom- table data model * PHP 7.4+ required; full PHP 8.x compatibility * Drop-in upgrade — no migration required, all 3.x data continues to work * Performance: faster click tracking, lighter admin pages, and leaner database queries * New: IP-anonymization toggle that truncates IPv4 / IPv6 addresses before they’re stored * New: configurable click-retention window — 30 days up to 2 years (was hardcoded to 90 days, on/off only) * New: automatic safety wipe of click counters when switching between Simple and Normal/Extended tracking modes * New: modern bot detection — catches AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot…), honors Cloudflare Bot Management headers, and adds behavioral signals, plus your own custom user-agent patterns * New: PrettyPay™ master on/off toggle (no longer always-on once Stripe is connected) * New: Reserved Slug Patterns moved from Pro into Lite, with a new admin-bypass toggle and distinct slug prefixes for admin-, user-, and frontend-created links * New: CSV link import is now free (was Pro-only in v3), with a downloadable starter template * New: chunked CSV export that handles large link libraries without timing out * New: click-history CSV export across all links, with date-range and link-ID filters * New: one-click “Duplicate” on any link * New: bulk “turn nofollow on/off” and “turn sponsored on/off” actions across selected links * New: one-click slug regenerate button on the Add/Edit Link form * New: per-user “items per page” picker and column show/hide on the Links list, saved to your account * New: Options page auto-saves — change any field and it saves on its own * New: Connect-Stripe step inside the setup wizard * New: CookieYes integration — auto-tags pretty-link redirects so they’re consent- gated by your cookie banner * PRO: Redirect Turbo Mode — opt-in must-use plugin that answers pretty-link requests before the rest of WordPress loads * PRO: no_enforce_url_scheme option — disable the automatic http:// prepend so you can target custom protocols (app://, tel:, etc.) * PRO: Link Health — choose how often destinations are checked and how often you get the broken-link digest, separately, plus a multi-status filter on the Links list * PRO: Keyword & URL Replacements — case-sensitive matching toggle, a new per-post total-links cap (defaults to unlimited), and distinct nofollow / sponsored / open-in-new-window and custom-CSS settings for URL-replaced anchors * PRO: Rotations — pick Weighted Random or Sequential round-robin (v3 was random- only with weights ignored) * PRO: Smart targeting — new operators: exclude-country, hour-of-day range, day- of-week, plus compound AND-rules * PRO: Pretty Bar — multiple branded templates instead of one global look, plus a Media-library logo picker * PRO: Custom Reports — new [pretty_link_pixel] shortcode and Gutenberg block to drop a tracked-conversion pixel onto any thank-you page * PRO: Link list filter segments — “Expired” and “Split tests” segments, and the search box now matches category and tag names * PRO: Click History extras — KPI cards, an over-time line chart, a top-links list, and breakdown tabs by country / referrer / device / browser, each with a donut chart * PRO: Dashboard extras — KPI tiles become clickable, drilling into Click History pre-filtered to the matching date range and link * PRO: Splash Pages add-on (new) — branded “splash” interstitial redirect type with up to two CTAs and a per-link conversion funnel report * PRO: UTMs add-on (new) — dedicated UTM tab on the link editor for all six Google Analytics UTM parameters, no URL hand-editing * PRO: User Links add-on (new) — front-end self-service dashboard for logged-in visitors to create and manage their own pretty links * PRO: Link in Bio add-on — rebuilt on the v4 foundation with three frontend templates; existing v3 pages migrate automatically * PRO: Product Displays add-on — rebuilt on the v4 foundation with a shortcode and server-rendered Gutenberg block * PRO: Developer Tools add-on — rebuilt on the v4 foundation with API keys, HMAC- signed webhooks, an event registry, and a v3-compatibility REST layer ## Commercial plugin This plugin is free but offers additional paid commercial upgrades or support. [View support](https://prettylinks.com/support/) ## Meta * Version **4.0.3** * Last updated **7 hours ago** * Active installations **200,000+** * WordPress version ** 6.0 or higher ** * Tested up to **7.0** * PHP version ** 7.4 or higher ** * Languages * [Dutch](https://nl.wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-link/), [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-link/), [Japanese](https://ja.wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-link/), [Polish](https://pl.wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-link/), [Russian](https://ru.wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-link/), [Spanish (Spain)](https://es.wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-link/), [Spanish (Venezuela)](https://ve.wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-link/), and [Vietnamese](https://vi.wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-link/). * [Translate into your language](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/pretty-link) * Tags * [affiliate links](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/affiliate-links/)[link cloaking](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/link-cloaking/) [link management](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/link-management/)[link tracking](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/link-tracking/) [url shortener](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/url-shortener/) * [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/pretty-link/advanced/) ## Ratings 4.8 out of 5 stars. * [ 1,239 5-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pretty-link/reviews/?filter=5) * [ 25 4-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pretty-link/reviews/?filter=4) * [ 14 3-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pretty-link/reviews/?filter=3) * [ 5 2-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pretty-link/reviews/?filter=2) * [ 33 1-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pretty-link/reviews/?filter=1) [Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pretty-link/reviews/#new-post) [See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pretty-link/reviews/) ## Contributors * [ Blair Williams ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/supercleanse/) * [ cartpauj ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/cartpauj/) ## Support Issues resolved in last two months: 1 out of 2 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/pretty-link/) ## Donate Would you like to support the advancement of this plugin? [ Donate to this plugin ](https://prettylinks.com)