Pretty Links Review and verdict 2026

WordPress link shortening and tracking plugin, with cloaking for affiliate use.

Free.

Our take

Understanding Pretty Links.

Pretty Links lets you create shortened, custom links directly from WordPress, with click tracking and cloaking for cleaner affiliate URLs, without relying on an external service.

Practical uses

Cloak and track affiliate links.
Create short, memorable URLs.
Run A/B testing on links.

Pros and cons

What Pretty Links does especially well — and the limits to anticipate.

Pros

Native WordPress integration.
Cloaking and advanced redirects.
Detailed click tracking and reports.
Functional free version.

Cons

Limited to WordPress.
Advanced features behind the paid license.
License capped by number of sites per plan.

Pretty Links: when it makes sense.

Pretty Links makes sense to manage affiliate links at scale on WordPress; outside WordPress or for a few links, a simple shortener is enough.

Keep if

You manage many affiliate links on WordPress.. You want clean, tracked URLs.

Challenge if

Your site isn't on WordPress.. You only have a few links to manage.

Our verdict on Pretty Links.

Why this verdict

Decent

Pretty Links is fairly easy to replace with an alternative, a free tier to test before paying, clearly documented use cases.