BetterLinks – Link Shortener, Link Cloaking, Redirects & Affiliate Link Manager
Link shortening & custom links — turn any long URL into a short, branded link
BetterLinks is the complete link management plugin for WordPress. Turn long, ugly URLs into short, branded, memorable links — then cloak them, redirect them, organize them and track every single click, all from one dashboard inside WordPress.
No third-party URL shortener. No monthly subscription for basic link tracking. Your links live on your own domain, and your click data stays in your own database.
👉 See All Features | Documentation | Live Demo | Upgrade to PRO
🔗 Create Short Links In Seconds
Paste a long URL, pick a slug, hit publish. BetterLinks generates clean short links like yoursite.com/go/deal that are easy to share, easy to remember and impossible to mistype.
- Instant URL shortener — shorten any internal or external URL in a couple of clicks
- Custom slugs — write your own, or auto-generate from the title, target URL, or a random string
- One-click copy & share — grab any short link straight from the dashboard
- Duplicate & bulk actions — clone links, bulk delete with undo, drag-and-drop to reorder
- Quick Link Creation — create short links from outside the WordPress admin using an API key
- Custom fields — attach your own metadata to any link
↪️ Powerful Redirects & Link Cloaking
Send visitors exactly where you want, with the redirect type that fits the job.
- 301, 302 & 307 redirects — permanent, temporary and method-preserving
- Link cloaking (PRO) — keep your branded short URL in the address bar the whole visit
- Wildcard redirects — match a whole path pattern with
/folder/* - Parameter forwarding — pass query strings straight through to the destination
- Case-sensitive slugs — treat
/Dealand/dealas separate links when you need to - Nofollow & sponsored tags — mark affiliate links correctly for search engines
- Force HTTPS (PRO) — every redirect goes out secure, whatever is stored on the link
📊 Real-Time Click Tracking & Link Analytics
Know which links actually work. BetterLinks records every click and turns it into reports you can act on — no external analytics account required.
- Total & unique clicks for every link
- Real-time analytics dashboard with an interactive date-range calendar
- Traffic sources — top referrers, social clicks, campaign performance
- Geographic reports — see which countries your clicks come from
- Browser, OS & device breakdown (PRO)
- Per-link analytics (PRO) — a full report for any single link
- Top & worst performers (PRO) — find your winners and your dead weight
- Bot filtering — automated traffic is detected and kept out of your numbers
- Exclude your own IP (PRO) — stop your team’s clicks from skewing the data
- Google Analytics 4 & Facebook Pixel (PRO) — push click events server-side
💰 Built For Affiliate Marketers
BetterLinks is a full affiliate link manager, not just a shortener.
- Cloak affiliate links (PRO) so long tracking URLs never appear in your content
- Auto-Link Keywords (PRO) — turn chosen keywords into affiliate links across your whole site automatically
- Affiliate link disclosure (PRO) — FTC-friendly notices via block, shortcode, or site-wide rule
- Uncloak per link or category (PRO) — stay compliant with Amazon Associates and similar programs
- Sponsored & nofollow attributes built into every link
- Broken link scanner (PRO) — catch dead affiliate links before they cost you commission
🗂️ Organize Hundreds Of Links Without The Mess
- Categories & tags with bulk assignment and per-term click stats
- List view & board view — pick the layout that suits how you work
- Compact mode — a dense, single-line list when you want to scan everything at a glance
- Search, filter & sort by category, tag, date, clicks or favorites
- Favorites — pin the links you touch every day
- Role-based permissions (PRO) — decide exactly who can create, edit, or view links and analytics
🚀 Marketing & Campaign Tools
- UTM Builder — attach campaign parameters to any link
- Global UTM templates (PRO) — save presets and apply them in bulk
- Dynamic redirects (PRO) — A/B split testing, geo-targeting, device targeting and time-based rules on a single short URL
- Link scheduling & expiration (PRO) — publish later, expire by date or click count, with a fallback URL
- Password-protected links (PRO) — gate a short link behind a password
- Custom link previews (PRO) — control the title, description and image when your link is shared on social
- Custom domain (PRO) — serve short links from your own branded domain
- AI Bulk Link Generator (PRO) — generate short links across many posts at once
⚡ Fast, Lightweight & Developer-Friendly
BetterLinks is engineered for speed. Redirects resolve from an optimized cache instead of hammering your database, so short links stay fast even with tens of thousands of them.
- Optimized queries and a JSON-backed redirect cache
- Works with any theme
- Gutenberg block and Elementor integration for inserting links while you write
- Fluent Boards integration — manage short links directly from your project tasks
- Full REST API for developers
- Translation-ready and WPML-compatible
🔄 Switching From Another Plugin?
Move your existing links across in one click — no CSV wrangling, no lost redirects.
- Pretty Links BetterLinks
- ThirstyAffiliates BetterLinks
- Simple 301 Redirects BetterLinks
- Plus CSV import/export for links and click history
🏆 Why Choose BetterLinks
- Your data stays yours — links and analytics live in your own WordPress database
- No per-click pricing — unlike hosted URL shorteners
- Built for scale — thousands of links without slowing your site down
- Actively maintained by WPDeveloper, trusted by millions of WordPress users
- Free forever core — shortening, redirects, categories, analytics and migration are all in the free plugin
🔥 Upgrade To BetterLinks PRO
Unlock the full toolkit: link cloaking, dynamic redirects with A/B split testing, geo & device targeting, individual link analytics, Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel integration, auto-link keywords, affiliate disclosures, password protection, link scheduling & expiry, the broken link and full-site scanners, custom domains, role management, email reporting and the AI Bulk Link Generator.
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