BetterLinks – Link Shortener, Link Cloaking, Redirects, Affiliate Link Manager & MCP

Description

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.

Ask your assistant to “create a short link for this affiliate offer”, “which links got the most clicks last month?” 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 and no third-party service; your links and click data never leave your server
• 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
• Admin-scoped — every action runs as the administrator who approved it and respects that account’s permissions
• 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. BetterLinks generates clean short links like yoursite.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 — 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
• 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, trusted by millions of WordPress users
• 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 →

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👨‍💻 Documentation & Support

• Documentation & tutorials
• YouTube playlist
• Community support forum
• Facebook community
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