Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates both manage affiliate links in WordPress but emphasise different aspects. Pretty Links is a general-purpose redirect and link management tool that works well for affiliates. ThirstyAffiliates is built specifically for affiliate publishers with features specific to content monetisation at scale.
Link Organisation
Pretty Links organises links with categories and tags – straightforward and flexible.
ThirstyAffiliates adds link categories with a dedicated “Affiliate Links” custom post type, making links browseable in the WordPress admin like posts. It also has a link health checker that verifies your destination URLs are still live – a useful maintenance feature for large affiliate sites where links break when merchants change their programs.
Geolocation Redirects
ThirstyAffiliates Pro has geolocation-based redirects: show visitors the Amazon.com link if they are in the US, Amazon.co.uk if they are in the UK, Amazon.ca if they are in Canada. This is a significant revenue feature for international audiences – without geolocation, a US-based recommendation link earns nothing from UK visitors who click it.
Pretty Links does not have geolocation redirects in any version.
Smart Uncloaking
Some affiliate networks prohibit link cloaking – they require the affiliate URL to be visible in the browser. ThirstyAffiliates has a “smart uncloaking” feature that detects when a user is on a network-required page and shows the real URL instead of the cloaked version. Pretty Links does not have this feature.
| Feature | Pretty Links | ThirstyAffiliates |
|---|---|---|
| Affiliate link management | Yes | Yes (purpose-built) |
| Click tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Auto-linking keywords | Pro | Pro |
| Geolocation redirects | No | Pro |
| Link health checker | No | Yes |
| Non-affiliate use cases | Strong | Limited |
| Free version | Yes | Yes |
| Pro pricing | From $99/year | From $79/year |
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Which to Choose
Use ThirstyAffiliates if: you run a content site with many affiliate links across multiple niches, you have international readers who should see localised affiliate links, or you need link health monitoring on a large link library.
Use Pretty Links if: you use affiliate links alongside other redirect use cases (marketing campaigns, content redirects, vanity URLs), or you prefer a simpler interface without the affiliate-specific organisation overhead.
Link Insertion Workflow
How you actually insert links day-to-day differs between the two. Pretty Links adds a button to the WordPress classic editor toolbar and a Gutenberg block sidebar option. You search for a link from your library and insert it. ThirstyAffiliates has a more polished insertion workflow – a dedicated button in both Classic and Block editor, with a search modal that shows link categories, click counts, and destination preview before you insert. For high-volume content sites where you insert affiliate links dozens of times per week, ThirstyAffiliates’ insertion interface saves meaningful time. For occasional use, both work fine.
Reporting Depth
Pretty Links free shows total clicks per link. Pretty Links Pro adds unique clicks, geographic data, and traffic source breakdown. ThirstyAffiliates shows click data per link with date filtering – Pro adds Google Analytics integration that pushes click events directly into GA4, letting you see affiliate click data alongside your other engagement metrics without cross-referencing two separate reports. If you already use Google Analytics for site measurement, ThirstyAffiliates’ GA integration centralises your click data in one place.