PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links

88 Quality Score

Active Installs

24/30

With 200,000 active installs it is by far the most deployed option in this category, outweighing every listed alternative combined.

Update Freshness

25/25

Updated within days of this review and tagged for the latest WordPress release, so the maintenance signal is as strong as it gets.

User Rating

14/15

A 96 out of 100 across 1,317 reviews is unusually consistent and reflects broad user satisfaction rather than a small fan base inflating the average.

Support Health

10/15

Only 2 of 5 recent threads are resolved, which is a real weak spot and suggests response times or staffing may be inconsistent.

WP Compatibility

15/15

It supports PHP 7.4 and WordPress 6.0+, runs cleanly on 7.0.1, and integrates with the block editor, Classic Editor, and major SEO plugins.

Scores higher than 98% of indexed plugins

About

🌠 Shorten, brand, and track any URL on your own domain. Keep your links — and your data — where they belong. 🔗

Active Installs 200k+

Rating ★★★★½ 4.8/5

Last Updated 2026-08-25 5:15am GMT

Requires WordPress 6.0+

Tested Up To 7.1

Requires PHP 7.4+

Security History

9 known vulnerabilities, all patched

3 High 6 Medium

Most recent: August 4, 2026

View details ▸

PrettyLinks <= 3.6.20 - Authenticated (Administrator+) SQL Injection via 's' Parameter Medium

August 4, 2026 Patched in ["3.6.21"] CVE-2026-5062

Shortlinks by Pretty Links <= 3.6.15 - Missing Authorization Medium

May 19, 2025 Patched in ["3.6.16"] CVE-2025-48247

Shortlinks by Pretty Links <= 3.6.2 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via post_status Medium

March 25, 2024 Patched in ["3.6.3"] CVE-2024-29770

Pretty Links – Affiliate Links, Link Branding, Link Tracking & Marketing Plugin <= 3.6.3 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Plugin Settings Update Medium

March 22, 2024 Patched in ["3.6.4"] CVE-2024-2326

Shortlinks by Pretty Links <= 3.4.0 - Cross-Site Request Forgery via route Medium

April 13, 2023 Patched in ["3.4.1"] CVE-2022-47149

Pretty Links <= 2.1.9 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via track_link High

June 19, 2019 Patched in ["2.1.10"] CVE-2019-25147

Pretty Links – Link Management, Branding, Tracking & Sharing Plugin <= 1.6.7 - SQL Injection High

July 8, 2015 Patched in ["1.6.8"] CVE-2015-9457

Pretty Links Lite < 1.6.3 - Stored Cross-Site Scripting High

August 1, 2014 Patched in ["1.6.3"] CVE-2013-1636

Pretty Links – Link Management, Branding, Tracking & Sharing Plugin < 1.5.6 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting Medium

December 4, 2011 Patched in ["1.5.6"] CVE-2011-4595

What It Does

PrettyLinks turns long, ugly affiliate or tracking URLs into short branded links on your own domain, then records each click for reporting. It also lets you auto-replace keywords in posts with those short links, group links by category, and redirect broken URLs via 301, 302, or 307 rules.

Who It's For

Affiliate marketers, bloggers, and small business owners who share a high volume of outbound links across social, email, and content and need first-party click data without paying for a SaaS link manager. It is a strong fit for sites where link branding and on-domain control matter more than deep funnel analytics.

Who Should Skip It

Site owners who only need to shorten a handful of links, or marketers who already rely on a hosted platform like Bitly or Short.io, will not get enough value to justify learning the interface. Anyone wanting heatmaps, A/B testing, or revenue attribution should look at a paid analytics tool instead.

The Bottom Line

PrettyLinks earns its 85.64 score honestly: it is the most popular, best-maintained, and best-rated option in the category, and the free tier is genuinely useful for solo creators. The unresolved support threads are a fair warning if you run a business-critical link setup, so weigh that against the maturity and install base. For most affiliate publishers it remains the safest default choice on WordPress.

Pick this if you want a more polished affiliate-first workflow with keyword auto-linking, geolocation redirects, and Amazon-friendly import tools.

BetterLinks – URL Shortener, Link Tracking, Analytics & Affiliate Link Manager 81/100

Pick this if you prefer a Gutenberg-native UI and want split testing, scheduled links, and a built-in campaigns view out of the box.

URL Shortify – Simple and Easy URL Shortener 80/100

Pick this for a lighter, faster shortener aimed at membership sites and link directories rather than full affiliate management.

AffiliateX – Amazon Affiliate Plugin, Product Boxes, Comparison Tables & Affiliate Link Tracking 79/100

Pick this if Amazon Associates is your main revenue source and you want product boxes, comparison tables, and No-API cloaking baked in.

Simple Link Directory – AI Powered 77/100

Pick this if your primary goal is publishing a public directory page of curated links rather than cloaking or tracking individual URLs.