Managing affiliate links can be challenging. After years of experience in affiliate marketing, we’ve discovered that it’s not just about inserting links on your site. You must place them strategically, ensure they are functioning properly, and monitor their performance.
Handling all of this manually can be time-consuming and prone to errors. That’s why many bloggers opt for affiliate link management plugins. These tools assist you in organizing your links, automatically placing them in the right locations, checking for broken links, and much more.
We have tested numerous plugins, and two of the top contenders are Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates. In this guide, we will compare both to help you select the best option for your website.
Pretty Links vs ThirstyAffiliates – A Comprehensive Comparison
A reliable link management plugin is essential for any affiliate marketer. Let’s begin with an overview of these two well-known link management plugins.
ThirstyAffiliates – A Brief Overview
ThirstyAffiliates is an affiliate management plugin that enables you to transform unattractive affiliate URLs into branded links. We have been using ThirstyAffiliates on our own websites, including CanadaCreate, for over five years.
This plugin provides all the essential tools for monetizing your WordPress blog, including link scheduling, integration with Google Analytics, automatic keyword linking, geolocation-targeted links, and a built-in 404 error checker.
You can categorize your links, making it easier to manage multiple affiliate partners efficiently.
For an in-depth look, check out our comprehensive review of the ThirstyAffiliates plugin.
Overview of Pretty Links
Pretty Links is a widely-used affiliate link management plugin for WordPress, trusted by more than 300,000 websites.
With Pretty Links, you can shorten lengthy and complex affiliate URLs into cleaner, more memorable links. You can even create links that use your own domain name, enhancing trust for security-conscious customers.
Beyond link cloaking, Pretty Links serves as a robust affiliate link management tool, featuring advanced capabilities such as automatic link insertion and detailed conversion analytics.
For additional insights, feel free to read our complete review of Pretty Links.
Now, let’s compare two of the leading affiliate plugins to determine which one is best suited for your website. Use the quick links below to navigate directly to the features you wish to compare:
- Managing Affiliate Links
- Checking for Broken Links
- Scheduling Links
- Hiding URLs
- Automatic Linking of Keywords
- Reports on Affiliate Marketing Performance
- Support from Professionals and the Community
- Comparison of Pricing
- Pretty Links vs ThirstyAffiliates – Which Plugin is Best for Your Website?
Why You Can Trust CanadaCreate
To provide an in-depth comparison of Pretty Links and Thirsty Affiliates, we installed and tested both plugins on our demo site to evaluate their performance. We only recommend tools that we have personally used and trust to ensure they deliver value to our readers.
Learn more about this in our CanadaCreate Editorial Process.
Managing Affiliate Links
Ineffective management of your affiliate links may lead to missed opportunities for earning revenue on your WordPress blog.
Here’s how these plugins can assist you in managing your affiliate URLs.
ThirstyAffiliates – Managing Affiliate Links
ThirstyAffiliates enables you to manage all your links from one central location in your WordPress dashboard. In our experience, this functionality has saved us a significant amount of time whenever we need to update those URLs.
For instance, if an affiliate partner updates a link, you can easily modify the URL once in the WordPress dashboard, and ThirstyAffiliates will automatically redirect to the new URL throughout your entire WordPress site.
ThirstyAffiliates also supports categories, functioning similarly to post and page categories in WordPress.
This feature helps you maintain organized links, regardless of the number of affiliate partners you collaborate with.
However, there is no option to add tags to your links. This could be an issue if you partner with many different affiliates or need to categorize your links in various ways. For us, though, it’s not a significant concern. We find that categories are typically sufficient for organizing our affiliate links.
Pretty Links – Comprehensive Affiliate Link Management
Pretty Links also offers a centralized platform for managing all your affiliate links. Our initial impression is that it is just as user-friendly as ThirstyAffiliates.
This means you can update an affiliate link once, and Pretty Links will implement the change across your entire WordPress site.
While Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates manage link organization in a very similar manner, Pretty Links includes additional features. For starters, you can add both categories and tags to your affiliate links.
It includes a dedicated section for managing all your affiliate tags.
This is especially beneficial if you have numerous affiliate partners or a large number of links that need organization.
Pretty Links features a ‘Notes’ section for each link, allowing you to jot down reminders for yourself or notes for others.
This feature can be incredibly useful for communicating with clients, guest bloggers, partners, and anyone else who collaborates on the WordPress dashboard.
Winner – Pretty Links
If you’re seeking a tool for effective link management, both plugins are excellent options.
Both Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates will significantly streamline your link management, regardless of how many URLs you incorporate into your online store, blog, or website.
However, it’s worth noting that Pretty Links offers additional features that enhance link organization, giving it a slight advantage over ThirstyAffiliates in this respect.
BrokenLink Checker
Broken links can harm any website, and 404 errors can lead to lost revenue for affiliate marketers.
When a user clicks on an affiliate link, it usually indicates their interest in purchasing the product. A 404 error means you’ve lost a potential sale.
As an affiliate marketer, it’s essential to have a link management plugin that helps you identify and fix broken links before they lead to lost revenue. Here’s a comparison of what both plugins provide.
ThirstyAffiliates – Link Checker
ThirstyAffiliates features an Automatic 404 Checker that scans your website and reports any issues. It displays details about each link in the ‘404 checker’ section of the WordPress dashboard.
You can manually check for broken links through this tab, but ThirstyAffiliates will also alert your site administrator about any broken URLs it finds.
However, there is no option to send these email notifications to a different email address, which could be an issue if multiple users share the WordPress dashboard.
Additionally, the Automatic 404 Checker is not enabled by default, so you will need to go into the plugin settings to turn it on.
ThirstyAffiliates also lets you check the status of individual links while you’re adding them to your website or online store.
This feature allows you to confirm that a link is functional before you publish it.
Pretty Links – Link Checker
Pretty Links offers a Link Health feature that regularly scans your website and generates weekly reports on any broken links it finds.
However, similar to ThirstyAffiliates, you must enable this feature in the plugin’s settings, as it is not activated by default.
In contrast to ThirstyAffiliates, Pretty Links focuses on the links that yield the highest conversions by prioritizing the analysis of your best-performing links first. This is especially beneficial for larger websites with numerous affiliate URLs.
You can view the Link Health report directly in the WordPress dashboard, and Pretty Links can also send you email notifications about broken links. By default, notifications are sent to the site administrator, but you can customize this to any email address in the plugin’s settings.
Winner – ThirstyAffiliates
Both plugins enable you to detect and resolve broken links without the need to manually monitor 404 errors in WordPress.
However, ThirstyAffiliates allows you to verify that a link is functional before publishing it, simply by clicking a button. This feature has helped us prevent 404 errors from occurring in the first place, giving ThirstyAffiliates a slight edge over Pretty Links.
Link Scheduling
Scheduling allows you to automate workflows for your affiliate website, which is essential for busy owners who lack the time to manually activate and deactivate affiliate URLs.
This feature is particularly beneficial when your affiliate partners offer sales or time-sensitive promotions, enabling you to plan your campaigns ahead of time.
Let’s explore how these plugins stack up in terms of link scheduling.
ThirstyAffiliates – Link Scheduling
With ThirstyAffiliates, you can specify the exact date and time for your affiliate URLs to become active.
You can also set up redirects for visitors who click on your affiliate URLs before they are live or after they have expired.
For instance, you could display a custom landing page that informs users the promotion has ended while recommending alternative affiliate products they might consider.
This approach enhances the user experience and can potentially convert 404 errors into sales.
Pretty Links – Link Scheduling
Similar to ThirstyAffiliates, Pretty Links offers a feature to schedule the activation and deactivation of your links, known as Time Period Redirects, which is ideal for links that should only be available during a specific timeframe, such as seasonal promotions.
You can configure links to automatically expire on a specific date or after reaching a certain number of clicks.
This feature is ideal for leveraging FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) to boost conversion rates.
Like ThirstyAffiliates, Pretty Links allows you to automatically redirect users once a link has expired. For instance, you can create a custom ‘Sorry’ page using a page builder plugin or redirect them to a different affiliate product.
Winner – Pretty Links
Pretty Links takes the lead in this comparison due to its unique feature of link expiration, which ThirstyAffiliates lacks. However, both tools are effective if your primary goal is to manage your affiliate campaigns ahead of time.
URL Cloaking
Link cloaking involves replacing complex affiliate URLs with simple, branded links. This enhances the trustworthiness of the links, encouraging more users to click on them.
Cloaked links are typically shorter, making them easier to share on social media. Additionally, link cloaking conceals your affiliate ID, making it harder for malicious actors to hijack your links and claim your commissions.
Given its significance, let’s examine how ThirstyAffiliates and Pretty Links manage affiliate URL cloaking.
Pretty Links – URL Masking
When you create a link with Pretty Links, you can easily set up URL masking. Just enter the original link and the masked URL you prefer.
You can select from several redirection options, including 301 redirects, 307 redirects, and JavaScript redirection.
You also have the option to designate the links as no-follow or sponsored, giving you full control over your WordPress SEO.
The ‘Sponsored’ tag informs search engines that the URL is a paid advertisement or placement.
While no-follow and sponsored links are similar, the ‘sponsored’ designation helps search engines recognize this as an affiliate link, showcasing Pretty Links’ attention to detail.
At times, you might need to send a parameter to the target URL, such as a coupon code or customer ID. With Pretty Links, this is easily done by checking a box.
ThirstyAffiliates – URL Masking
Like Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates simplifies the process of masking your affiliate URLs. The steps are almost the same: just enter the original link and the URL you wish to use.
You can also easily configure whether the masked link opens in a new tab, mark URLs as nofollow, and pass query strings to the target URL.
ThirstyAffiliates supports only 301, 302, and 307 redirects, offering fewer options than Pretty Links.
To designate affiliate links as sponsored, you must add an extra rel attribute tag in the plugin settings.
This process is more complex than the way Pretty Links manages sponsored links. While some users may find it manageable, others might consider it challenging.
On the positive side, ThirstyAffiliates features a smart uncloaking option that ensures compliance with Amazon’s terms and conditions.
The Amazon Associates Program prohibits any form of redirection, including link cloaking. Violating this rule could result in a ban from their affiliate program.
If you’re setting up an Amazon Affiliate Store on WordPress, unblocking a specific Amazon link is straightforward.
Additionally, by categorizing all your Amazon links together, you can activate automatic uncloaking for that entire category.
Consequently, any Amazon links added to your site will be automatically uncloaked. This feature is not available with Pretty Links and is highly beneficial for Amazon affiliate users.
Winner – ThirstyAffiliates
After testing both Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates, we believe you’ll benefit from advanced link-cloaking features with either option.
For most affiliate marketers, both ThirstyAffiliates and Pretty Links provide all the tools necessary to create shareable, user-friendly, and secure links. However, if you frequently use Amazon links, ThirstyAffiliates’ automatic link uncloaking feature is essential.
Automatic Keyword Linking
It’s easy to miss the chance to include affiliate links in your blog posts, especially if you manage a multi-author WordPress site or have guest contributors.
Both Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates can automatically scan your site for specific keywords and phrases, converting them into affiliate links. Let’s explore how each plugin manages automatic keyword linking.
Pretty Links –Automatic Keyword Linking
When you add a new URL, you can enter an unlimited number of keywords and phrases. Every time these terms appear in your posts and pages, Pretty Links will automatically insert the affiliate link.
Additionally, Pretty Links can automatically scan your existing content for relevant keywords and phrases. If you have previously published articles, you can start generating income from your older content without the need to manually update each post.
Pretty Links features a settings tab that allows you to customize how the auto-linking functionality operates on your website.
You can set a maximum number of affiliate URLs that Pretty Links can insert on a single page, ensuring that the links enhance rather than distract from your content.
Pretty Links can also automatically include an affiliate disclosure on every page where it inserts an affiliate URL.
Failing to disclose affiliate links can lead to legal complications, so Pretty Links helps you generate additional income while protecting you from potential fines and preserving your reputation.
ThirstyAffiliates – Automatic Keyword Linking
ThirstyAffiliates operates similarly, allowing you to add keywords whenever you create a link. It will then automatically insert the link into every page or post that contains that keyword.
Like Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates gives you the option to limit the number of affiliate links added to a single page or post.
However, in contrast to Pretty Links, it provides the ability to set a global limit in the plugin settings as well as a specific limit for individual affiliate links.
In the general settings of the plugin, you can turn off auto-linking for your homepage and archive pages. You also have the option to disable auto-linking for specific pages or posts.
Sales pages and landing pages typically feature a clear call to action. Affiliate URLs can divert attention from that CTA, making it beneficial to disable them throughout your site.
These additional settings provide us with greater control over the implementation of auto-linking in our WordPress projects.
After enabling auto-linking, it may become challenging to monitor all the affiliate URLs on your site. Therefore, consider using the Link Inserted Scanner, which displays every page and post that contains a specific affiliate link.
This is a straightforward yet effective method to monitor your URLs, even when utilizing the auto-linking feature.
Winner – Tie
While ThirstyAffiliates offers some additional settings, both Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates provide all the essential tools to automatically incorporate affiliate URLs into your content while maintaining control over your links.
Affiliate MarketingReportsReports
Monitoring the performance of your links is crucial. This allows you to identify what strategies are effective and which ones need improvement, enabling you to optimize your affiliate marketing efforts for maximum results.
Let’s compare ThirstyAffiliates and Pretty Links to see how they perform in terms of affiliate marketing reporting.
ThirstyAffiliates – Comprehensive Affiliate Marketing Reporting
ThirstyAffiliates features a multi-tab reporting dashboard where you can view the total clicks on your affiliate links and pinpoint your highest-performing URLs.
Some links may receive varying levels of engagement from different geographical areas. To help you identify these patterns, ThirstyAffiliates offers a Geolocation Report that tracks link clicks based on the visitor’s location.
Based on the insights you gather, you might choose to display different content to users depending on their geographical location.
For more in-depth analysis, we suggest integrating ThirstyAffiliates with Google Analytics. Once linked, ThirstyAffiliates will transfer all its data to your Google Analytics account.
You can also cross-reference this data with your Google Analytics information. This provides a detailed understanding of your converting audience, including the devices and operating systems they use, as well as how they found your website.
Discover how we utilize ThirstyAffiliates at CanadaCreate to gain valuable insights.
Google Analytics is an excellent tool, but its setup can be challenging. Therefore, we suggest using MonsterInsights, the top analytics solution for WordPress users, which conveniently displays all your ThirstyAffiliates and Google Analytics data directly within the WordPress dashboard.
Pretty Links – Comprehensive Affiliate Marketing Reports
In contrast to ThirstyAffiliates, Pretty Links does not automatically provide data in a reporting dashboard. Instead, you must create custom reports by selecting the specific links you wish to analyze. You can begin by generating standard reports that display the total number of clicks and unique clicks for each affiliate link.
While this information is valuable, it’s important to note that clicks do not always equate to sales or affiliate revenue. To address this, you can also generate conversion reports that show total conversions and conversion rates for each link.
Unlike ThirstyAffiliates, Pretty Links does not allow you to analyze data based on geographical location by default. However, it does integrate with MonsterInsights and Google Analytics.
This integration enhances the built-in Pretty Links reports, providing access to more detailed information, including visitor locations.
MonsterInsights can provide real-time data to Google Analytics, allowing you to monitor clicks as they occur.
Pretty Links features an automatic click-trimming option that filters out known bots and unidentified browser clients from your click statistics and reports, enhancing the precision and quality of your data.
Winner – Pretty Links
Both plugins offer straightforward access to essential information, enabling data-driven decisions, especially when paired with a tool like MonsterInsights.
While Pretty Links’ auto-trimming feature enhances data accuracy, we appreciate ThirstyAffiliates’ comprehensive reports on user location, devices, and operating systems, which help us better understand our audience.
Professional and Community Support
Both Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates are user-friendly. Nevertheless, even seasoned affiliate marketers occasionally require assistance, so let’s evaluate their support services.
Pretty Links – Professional and Community Support
For those who prefer self-guided learning, Pretty Links offers comprehensive online documentation and a blog filled with step-by-step tutorials. These resources cover everything from utilizing specific features of Pretty Links to general strategies for running a successful affiliate website.
If you require personalized assistance, you can submit a request through their Premium Support Request page.
Pretty Links typically provides responses within 1 to 2 business days.
If you do not have a support license, Pretty Links encourages you to contact them via their contact form or engage in discussions on their support forum available on the official WordPress repository.
The Pretty Links support team is very active in the free forum and responds promptly to user inquiries. If you plan to participate in the conversation, we suggest reading our guide on how to effectively request WordPress support.
ThirstyAffiliates – Community and Professional Support Options
By choosing ThirstyAffiliates, you gain access to an extensive knowledge base that covers both the free and premium versions of the plugin. Additionally, their blog regularly shares affiliate marketing tips and detailed guides on how to effectively use ThirstyAffiliates.
Like Pretty Links, this resource provides comprehensive information and solutions to address your queries and challenges.
For premium users, one-on-one support is available through ticket submission, with responses typically within 24-48 hours. This level of support closely mirrors what is offered by Pretty Links.
If you’re using the free version of the plugin, you can reach out via the ThirstyAffiliates contact form or engage in the support forum. The ThirstyAffiliates team actively monitors this forum and responds promptly, making it an excellent resource for free plugin users.
Winner – Tie
Both plugins provide ample support options. After evaluating the free and premium support available, we are confident that you will receive the assistance you need, regardless of whether you opt for Pretty Links or ThirstyAffiliates.
PricingComparison
To establish a successful affiliate marketing venture, it’s crucial to select a plugin that aligns with your budget. Let’s explore which plugin delivers the best value for your investment.
Pretty Links – Pricing Comparison
Pretty Links offers three pricing tiers designed for beginners, affiliate marketers managing multiple sites, and experienced marketers with up to five websites.
For new marketers operating a single WordPress site, the Beginner plan ($99.60 per year) provides all the essential features to get started. The only distinction between the Beginner plan and the higher-priced options is the number of websites where Pretty Links can be utilized.
If you manage multiple websites, you will need to upgrade to the Marketer plan, which permits the use of Pretty Links on two websites for $149.60 annually.
For those with more than two websites, the Super Affiliate plan is the premium option at $199.60 per year, allowing usage on up to five websites.
ThirstyAffiliates – Pricing Overview
Similar to Pretty Links, the various ThirstyAffiliates plans differ only in the number of sites on which the plugin can be used.
If you are a new affiliate marketer with a single website, the Basic plan offers all the necessary features for $99.60 per year.
For users with multiple websites, the Plus plan allows you to use ThirstyAffiliates on up to five websites for $149.60 per year.
For those managing over 5 websites, the highest tier of ThirstyAffiliates is available for $199.60 annually, allowing usage on up to 10 websites.
In comparison, Pretty Links offers a similar premium plan priced at $199.60 per year, but it is limited to just 5 websites.
Winner – ThirstyAffiliates
If you have only one website, both Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates provide comparable features at a similar price. However, for more than 2 websites, ThirstyAffiliates offers better value.
In fact, if you manage more than 5 websites, using the ThirstyAffiliates plugin is almost essential.
Pretty Links vs ThirstyAffiliates – Which Plugin Is Best for Your Website?
If you’re seeking an affiliate link management plugin with enhanced auto-linking capabilities, both Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates are excellent options. They can help you generate additional revenue while significantly saving you time.
With features that allow for auto-linking keywords and centralized link management, both Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates simplify affiliate marketing for hobby bloggers and seasoned business owners alike.
Choosing the right affiliate marketing plugin depends on your website’s needs, your affiliate partners, and the specific features you require.
It’s important to note that each plugin comes with its own unique advantages and disadvantages.
For those primarily partnering with Amazon, ThirstyAffiliates’ smart link uncloaking feature is essential for adhering to Amazon’s guidelines.
If you’re concerned about bots or malicious entities skewing your data, the auto-trimming feature in Pretty Links is ideal. This feature has proven to enhance the accuracy of affiliate reports significantly, making it essential for obtaining reliable data.
We hope this article has helped you determine whether Pretty Links or ThirstyAffiliates is the best fit for your website. Additionally, check out our expert recommendations for the top affiliate marketing tools and plugins for WordPress, as well as our comprehensive guide on easily creating a coupon site in WordPress.
