About this plugin
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
🤖 NEW: Manage Your Links With AI (MCP Connector)
BetterLinks now ships a built-in MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, so AI assistants like Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code can work with your links directly — in plain English.
” or “put every Black Friday link in its own category”, and it does the work inside your own dashboard.
- Runs on your own site — no hosted broker in between; link and analytics data is only shared with the AI assistant you connect, when that assistant uses a tool
- 14 built-in tools — create, update and delete links, manage categories and tags, read click analytics, and read or update settings
- Two ways to connect — a one-time OAuth approval for Claude and ChatGPT, or a copy-paste command for Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code
- Off by default — nothing is exposed to anyone until you switch it on in BetterLinks → MCP
- Scope-aware — apps that ask for read-only access are enforced as read-only and clearly labelled in your dashboard
- Revocable any time — reset the connection token, or revoke a single connected app, with one click
- Permission-aware — every action runs as the user who approved it and respects that account’s permissions; only administrators can connect by default
- Built-in health check — a live “Test connection” round trip tells you exactly which step failed if a client can’t connect
Built on the WordPress Abilities API, bundled with the plugin — there are no companion plugins to install.
🔗 Create Short Links In Seconds
Paste a long URL, pick a slug, hit publish. 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 /Deal and /deal as 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 (PRO) — 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
- Open in App (PRO) — take visitors from in-app browsers straight to the native app, with Amazon, YouTube, TikTok, Spotify, Instagram and more supported
- 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
- MCP server & WordPress Abilities API support — expose your links to AI agents and automations
- 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
- 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.
Get BetterLinks PRO →
💜 More From WPDeveloper
🔝 Essential Addons For Elementor – Elementor extensions library with 2 million+ active installs.
👉 Essential Blocks For Gutenberg – Advanced block library to supercharge the WordPress editor.
🔔 NotificationX – Social proof & FOMO marketing solution that increases conversion rates.
📄 EmbedPress – Embed content from 250+ sources with one click, in Gutenberg and Elementor.
📝 BetterDocs – Documentation & knowledge base solution that reduces your support load.
⏰ SchedulePress – Complete WordPress scheduling with an editorial calendar and social sharing.
☁️ Templately – 5000+ ready templates for Elementor & Gutenberg with cloud collaboration.
🎨 Flexia – Lightweight, customizable, multipurpose WordPress theme.
👨💻 Documentation & Support
- Documentation & tutorials
- YouTube playlist
- Community support forum
- Facebook community
- Loving BetterLinks? Leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review
External services
BetterLinks connects to the services below only in the cases described.
YouTube (youtube-nocookie.com)
The Quick Setup wizard embeds a getting-started video. When an administrator opens BetterLinks → Quick Setup, YouTube receives the viewer’s IP address and browser details. Terms · Privacy
WPDeveloper usage insights (send.wpinsight.com)
Only if an administrator opts in. Sends site details, WordPress and PHP versions, installed plugins and theme, the admin email and BetterLinks usage stats, daily and on deactivation. Turn it off in BetterLinks → Settings → Tracking.
Terms · Privacy
ip-api.com
Only with the usage insights above: the administrator’s IP address is sent once, on opt-in, to look up the site’s country. Legal & privacy
AI assistants you connect over MCP
Off by default. A connected assistant receives only the link, category and analytics data returned by the tools it calls; the assistant provider’s own terms and privacy policy apply.
Source code
The readable source of every compiled file ships with the plugin:
- dev_betterlinks/ holds the JavaScript (React) source of assets/js/, and assets/scss/ the Sass source of assets/css/.
- package.json, webpack.config.js, babel.config.json and gulpfile.js are the build setup. Run npm install --legacy-peer-deps, then npm run build.
- dependencies/ holds the bundled WordPress Abilities API 0.4.0 (GPL-2.0-or-later) and the Jetpack Autoloader 5.0.22, installed with Composer. The source of the Abilities API’s compiled client script is in WordPress/abilities-api on GitHub.