There are a lot of affiliate plugins for WordPress to track affiliate sales but not all of them fulfill your needs. Check our review of 5 best free affiliate tracking WordPress plugins
First of all choose what you want to track exactly:
1. Affiliate product seller – you own a blog where you “warm leads” and redirect users to affiliate products that are outside your webpage? In this case you can usually track only conversions between your page and landing page where sales takes place – just affiliate links tracking.
However there is a WordPress solution to track the whole conversion path of a user from the moment he clicks a link and enters your blog up to the sale of an affiliate product. This is called Cost2Profit which is a free solution dedicated to professionals who want to discover source of converting traffic and maximize affiliate profits effectively.
In our ranking you will discover the best affiliate tracking plugins for WordPress.
2. Own affiliate program – dedicated for WordPress online shops. If you own an online shop and want to track affiliate sales of your partners by making your own affiliate scheme choose from Best Affiliate platforms for WordPress.
Best free affiliate tracking plugins for WordPress
We tested and rated affiliate tracking plugins for WordPress based on 5 criteria:
- Scope of tracking
- Tracking accuracy
- Users scoring
- Lightweight & Fast
- Simplicity
- Integration with Cost2Profit
- Updates & Support
Prettylinks
Most popular free affiliate links plugin with over 300000+ installations among WP users. User Rating 4.8 out 5.
TOTAL SCORE: 85%
4/10
Scope of tracking
10/10
User scoring
10/10
Tracking accuracy
7/10
Lightweight & Fast
10/10
Simplicity
10/10
Updates & Support
About PrettyLinks
Prettylinks is valued by its link cloaking capability – it just shortens links to look pretty and it’s fully customizable.
Scope of tracking is limited just to the number of clicks into an affiliate link. However PrettyLinks is integrated with Cost2Profit platform so you can start tracking users from the moment they enter your website and find out where they come from to your website! You can discover source of converting traffic and live track sales with Cost2Profit integrated with PrettyLinks.
Key Features:
- supports 301, 302, and 307 redirects
- track clicks of affiliate links
- customizable click reports & CSV export
Cons
- PrettyLinks WP Plugin consumes much server resources as it records every click which generates horrifying number of requests to your database. For better website performance we recommend keeping clicks recording turned off. The whole plugin weighs 2,5MB, where 1,5MB are icons and pictures.
- Some users note that a paid version of Pretty links does not bring enough added value. In terms of scope of tracking there is absolutely no upgrade.
- On Plugins’ official pages there is no information on integration with Cost2Profit. Our message has been left unanswered.
- no option “noindex” for affiliate links
Screenshots
Affiliate Links Lite
Most popular free affiliate links plugin with over 5000+ installations among WP users. User Rating 5 out 5.
TOTAL SCORE: 80%
4/10
Scope of tracking
10/10
User scoring
10/10
Tracking accuracy
9/10
Lightweight & Fast
10/10
Simplicity
5/10
Updates & Support
About Affiliate Links Lite
Affiliate Links Lite is a super simple free WordPress plugin for masking & grouping affiliate links. It is valued by its noindex feature.
Scope of tracking is limited just to the number of clicks of an affiliate link. However Affiliate Links Lite & Pro is integrated with Cost2Profit platform so you can start tracking converting users from the moment they enter your website – discover source of converting traffic and live track affiliate sales.
Key Features:
- supports 301/302/307 HTTP redirects
- track clicks of affiliate links
- optional category slug in the link URL
- link categories setup
- HTML and shortcode generator for link embedding
- noindex for redirects
- hit count stats
Pros
- The plugin has a category grouping feature which is a pro one in PrettyLinks.
- option “noindex” for affiliate links
Cons
- The click report is available only in Pro version for 25 USD (one-off). Click counter is quite resource intensive as every click is registered in the database.
- Click reports available only in a Pro version
- Rare updates & decent support. We did not get replied to our email.
Screenshots
ThirstyAffiliates
2nd most popular free affiliate links plugin with over 30000+ installations among WP users. User Rating 4.5 out 5.
TOTAL SCORE: 80%
4/10
Scope of tracking
9/10
User scoring
10/10
Tracking accuracy
9/10
Lightweight & Fast
10/10
Simplicity
6/10
Updates & Support
About ThirstyAffiliates
ThirstyAffiliates is a WordPress plugin that allows users to manage and cloak affiliate links. Free version does not offer CSV exports, automatic keyword linking or a link health check however it has global nofollow settings.
Scope of tracking is limited just to the number of clicks of an affiliate link. ThirstyAffiliates is not integrated with Cost2Profit platform so you cannot track converting users from the moment they enter your website up to sales.
Key Features:
- supports 301/302/307 HTTP redirects
- track clicks of affiliate links
- link categories setup
- global automatic “nofollow”
- Google Analytics Integration
- hit count stats and simple chart report
Pros
- Simple & “no bloat” plugin for link cloaking for WordPress websites
- Global setting for “nofollow” attribute
- Supports 301/302/307 HTTP redirects
- Often updates
Cons
- No integration with Cost2Profit so the tracking scope is very limited just to link clicks
- Advanced reports, keyword linking, affiliate link health check, high-speed HTAccess redirect or CSV exports are available only in Pro version which starts from 49 USD yearly
- no “noindex” attribute in settings
- Decent support. We did not get replied to our email.
Screenshots
Easy Affiliate Links
Free popular alternative affiliate links plugin with over 10000+ installations among WP users. User Rating 4 out 5.
TOTAL SCORE: 77%
4/10
Scope of tracking
8/10
User scoring
9/10
Tracking accuracy
9/10
Lightweight & Fast
10/10
Simplicity
6/10
Updates & Support
About Easy Affiliate Links
Easy Affiliate Links is an affiliate link cloaker with some distinctive features. Free version offers i.a. great filters (by ID, category, name, clicks, target page, nofollow attribute and many more) and CSV import/export. Bad opinions about the plugin showed up in 2021 but since than the plugin has been successfully developed.
Scope of tracking is limited just to the number of clicks of an affiliate link. Easy Affiliate Links is not integrated with Cost2Profit platform so you cannot track converting users from the moment they enter your website up to sales.
Key Features:
- supports 301/302/307 HTTP redirects
- track clicks of affiliate links
- link categories setup
- global & per link “nofollow” attribute
- ugc and sponsored attributes
- easy migration from PrettyLinks
- automatic text disclaimer your affiliate links
- compatible with Gutenberg, Elementor and classic editor
Pros
- Custom settings – global and link specific
- CSV import/export
- Great link filtering and bulk edit in the dashboard
- Supports 301/302/307 HTTP redirects
- Often updates
Cons
- No integration with Cost2Profit so the tracking scope is very limited just to link clicks
- Click statistics and charts available only in Pro version (29$ yearly)
- no “noindex” attribute in settings
- Automatic broken links checker with email notifications in Pro version (29$ yearly)
- Decent support. We did not get replied to our email.
Screenshots
URL Shortify
Dynamically developed plugin with almost 10000 installations among WP users. User Rating 4.5 out 5.
TOTAL SCORE: 77%
4/10
Scope of tracking
9/10
User scoring
10/10
Tracking accuracy
7/10
Lightweight & Fast
10/10
Simplicity
6/10
Updates & Support
About URL Shortify
URL Shortify shorten any links using your own domain name. It has all basic functions known from other affiliate links plugins. Visual design of the plugin is probably considered the most beautiful among affiliate plugins.
Scope of tracking is limited just to the number of clicks of an affiliate link. URL Shortify is not integrated with Cost2Profit platform so you cannot track converting users from the moment they enter your website up to sales.
Key Features:
- supports 301/302/307 HTTP redirects
- track clicks of affiliate links
- link categories setup
- global & per link “nofollow” attribute
- ugc and sponsored attributes
- easy migration from PrettyLinks, ThirstyAffiliates and others
Pros
- Slug character count (Pro), QR code creation (Pro) and parameter forwarding are outstanding features
- Global setting for “nofollow” attribute
- Supports 301/302/307 HTTP redirects
Cons
- No integration with Cost2Profit so the tracking scope is very limited just to link clicks
- Advanced features like reports, UTM Builder, custom slug character count, QR code creation are available only in Pro version which starts from 69 USD yearly
- Quite heavy plugin 2,1MB in size compared to less than 1 MB of competitive plugins
Screenshots
Feel free to recommend updates or addition of new WordPress affiliate plugins that help track sales for affiliate marketers.