BetterLinks – Link Shortener, Link Cloaking, Redirects, Affiliate Link Manager & MCP vs Frumbik Affiliate Hub – Affiliate Links, Amazon Product Displays, Click Tracking & Geo-Targeting

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 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. 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 (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 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.

Affiliate links are the backbone of your revenue, but managing them shouldn’t be a full-time job. Frumbik Affiliate Hub turns scattered, ugly affiliate URLs into clean branded links — and gives you the analytics, Amazon integration, and automation tools to earn more from every click. Stop paying for features that should be free. Frumbik Affiliate Hub is 100% free, open source, and packed with capabilities that rival — and often exceed — the most popular premium affiliate plugins on the market. Link Management & Cloaking Transform messy URLs like https://partner-site.com/ref?id=12345&campaign=xyz into clean, trustworthy links like yoursite.com/go/best-hosting. Organize everything with categories and tags, and insert links from the Gutenberg or Classic editor in seconds. Your visitors see professional links. You see higher click-through rates. Destination Rules: Geo-Targeting, Expiration & A/B Testing (NEW) Send German visitors to amazon.de and Americans to amazon.com — per link, no code. Schedule links to expire (show a 404, redirect to a fallback URL, or auto-unpublish), and split-test destination URLs with weighted A/B rotation — results appear right in your analytics dashboard, with bot traffic filtered out. Every one of these is a paid add-on in premium competitors; here they are free. Amazon Products Integration (NEW) Display product boxes, comparison tables, and bestseller lists from Amazon — directly in your content. Supports 22 Amazon marketplaces with automatic geo-targeting, so visitors always land on their local store. A built-in TOS Compliance Engine handles price freshness, affiliate disclaimers, and link transparency automatically. No competitor offers this level of compliance out of the box. Price History Charts & Drop Alerts (NEW) Show your readers how an Amazon product’s price moved over the last 90 days with [afh_price_history asin="B0..."] — a clean chart rendered on your own server, no external chart service. Get an e-mail the moment a tracked price drops by more than your chosen percentage, plus an optional weekly summary of clicks, top links and broken links. Analytics & Click Tracking Know exactly which links perform and where your clicks come from. The Enhanced Analytics dashboard shows interactive charts, geographic data on a world map, browser and device breakdowns, and unique visitor tracking. Export everything to CSV for deeper analysis. Google Analytics 4 Integration (NEW) Send affiliate link click events directly to your GA4 property — including link slug, ASIN, marketplace, and page URL. Works with your existing Google Analytics setup. Optionally load gtag.js from the plugin, or use your own. No coding required. Core Link Management 🔗 Link Cloaking — Clean, branded redirect URLs with 301/302/307 support 📁 Categories & Tags — Organize hundreds of links effortlessly ✏️ Editor Integration — Insert links from Gutenberg blocks or TinyMCE toolbar 📋 Shortcodes — Use [frumbik_link id="123"] anywhere in your content 🔄 Import/Export — Bulk import from CSV/JSON, export for backup or migration 🔑 QR Codes — Generate downloadable QR codes for any affiliate link 🌐 Query Forwarding — Pass URL parameters through cloaked links to destination Amazon Products Module (NEW) 🛒 Product Boxes — 4 layouts that showcase Amazon products and drive clicks 📊 Comparison Tables — Drag-and-drop builder for side-by-side product comparisons 🏆 Bestseller Lists — Auto-updating grids from any Amazon category ⚡ Zero-API Mode — Display manually added products, no API credentials needed 🌍 22 Marketplaces — Automatic geo-targeting replaces Geniuslink ($5-48/mo) ✅ TOS Compliance Engine — Automated disclaimers, price checks, and transparency 📦 Bulk ASIN Import — Add up to 200 products at once 🧱 5 Gutenberg Blocks — Product Box, Product Link, Comparison Table, Bestseller List, Product Grid 📈 Price History — Track price trends and time your recommendations 🔮 Creators API Ready — Future-proofed for Amazon’s new API (PA-API 5.0 deprecated April 2026) Analytics & Tracking 📊 Enhanced Analytics — Interactive dashboard with ApexCharts, filtering, and CSV export 🌍 GeoLocation Tracking — World map analytics with MaxMind GeoIP2 + 3 fallback APIs 👤 Unique Visitor Detection — 24-hour fingerprinting with session management 📱 Device Detection — Browser, OS, and device breakdowns for every click 🔍 Keywords Autolinker — Automatically convert keywords in your content to affiliate links 🔗 Link Scanner — Detect broken links with scheduled scans and email alerts Google Analytics 4 (NEW) 📈 GA4 Event Tracking — Send click events with link slug, ASIN, marketplace, and page URL 🏷️ Custom Events — Track affiliate clicks alongside your other GA4 data ⚙️ Flexible Setup — Load gtag.js from the plugin or use your existing tag Advanced Modules ⚡ Performance Monitor — System optimization and caching insights 🏥 Health Monitor — Diagnostic tools and error logging 🧩 Modular Architecture — Enable only what you need; disable the rest 🌐 Multilingual — English, Polish, German, and Spanish out of the box 📱 Mobile Responsive — Admin interface works on any device Why Choose Frumbik Affiliate Hub? It’s free. Not “free with limits” or “free trial” — genuinely free and open source under GPLv2. No upsells, no premium tier, no nag screens. Most affiliate plugins charge annual subscriptions for features like link cloaking, auto-linking, click analytics, Amazon product displays, or geo-targeting — and you often need multiple paid plugins to cover everything. With Frumbik Affiliate Hub, you get all of these capabilities in one plugin, completely free. No annual fees, no feature gates, no “upgrade to unlock” prompts. Just install and use everything from day one — including features you won’t find anywhere else, like the TOS Compliance Engine and built-in GA4 event tracking. Approved and distributed through WordPress.org. Follows WordPress Coding Standards. All SQL queries use prepared statements. All output is escaped. Nonce verification on every form. Perfect For Bloggers who monetize with affiliate links and want clean URLs Amazon affiliates who need product boxes, comparison tables, and geo-targeting Content creators who want to track which links actually earn money Niche site builders running multiple affiliate programs at once Marketing agencies managing affiliate links across client sites The full shortcode reference (all attributes with worked examples) is in the FAQ: “What shortcodes are available?” Privacy & Security GDPR Compliance Data Minimization: Only essential data is collected User Consent: All tracking and geolocation are disabled by default — must be explicitly enabled Data Export: Built-in tools for data export/deletion requests Anonymization: IP address anonymization options Transparency: Clear data usage policies in settings Security Features Nonce Protection: All forms use WordPress nonces Capability Checks: Role-based access control SQL Injection Prevention: Prepared statements only XSS Protection: All output properly sanitized Regular Updates: Active maintenance and security patches External Services This plugin connects to several third-party services to provide enhanced functionality. All external connections are optional and can be disabled. MaxMind GeoLite2 Database Service What it is: MaxMind provides geolocation data through their GeoLite2 database What it’s used for: Converting visitor IP addresses to geographical locations (country, city, coordinates) for analytics What data is sent: Only IP addresses of visitors who click affiliate links. IP data is processed locally using the downloaded database — no visitor data is sent to MaxMind servers in real-time. When it’s sent: Only when the GeoLocation module is enabled and a visitor clicks an affiliate link Database updates: When a license key is configured, the plugin automatically re-downloads the GeoLite2 database weekly via WordPress Cron (no visitor data is sent — only a download request using the administrator’s license key) Service provider: MaxMind, Inc. Terms of service: https://www.maxmind.com/en/terms-of-use Privacy policy: https://www.maxmind.com/en/privacy-policy Database download: https://download.maxmind.com/ (requires free license key) IP Geolocation API Services What they are: Fallback geolocation services, used only when the local MaxMind database is unavailable and GeoLocation tracking is enabled What data is sent: The visitor’s IP address only (anonymized when IP anonymization is on), one request per click. IP-API.com is also used for admin-initiated benchmark tests, which send public test IPs such as 8.8.8.8 — never visitor data. IP-API.com — Terms & privacy: https://ip-api.com/docs/legal (45 requests/minute free tier) IPApi.co — Privacy: https://ipapi.co/privacy/ | Terms: https://ipapi.co/terms/ (15,000 requests/month free tier) IPInfo.io — Privacy: https://ipinfo.io/privacy-policy | Terms: https://ipinfo.io/terms-of-service (50,000 requests/month free tier) GitHub API Service What it is: GitHub’s REST API and archive downloads, used to fetch the open-source MaxMind GeoIP2 PHP libraries What data is sent: No visitor or site data — only standard HTTP headers (server IP, plugin User-Agent “AffiliateHub-WordPress-Plugin”) When it’s used: Only when an administrator manually clicks “Install Native GeoIP2 Library” in the plugin settings — never automatically Domains contacted: https://api.github.com/ (release metadata for maxmind/GeoIP2-php and maxmind/MaxMind-DB-Reader-php), https://github.com/ and https://codeload.github.com/ (ZIP archive downloads) Service provider: GitHub, Inc. (Microsoft) Privacy policy: https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/privacy-policies/github-privacy-statement Terms of service: https://docs.github.com/en/site-policy/github-terms/github-terms-of-service Link Scanner The Link Scanner module checks your affiliate link destination URLs to verify they are still active and responding. It sends HTTP HEAD/GET requests to the destination URLs stored in your affiliate links These are URLs you have entered yourself — no visitor data is sent Requests are only triggered manually by an administrator from the Link Scanner settings page No third-party service is involved — requests go directly to the destination URLs Google Analytics 4 (optional) What it is: Google Analytics 4 tracking via Google Tag Manager What it’s used for: Sending affiliate link click events to GA4 for analytics What data is sent: Click event data (event name, link slug, ASIN, marketplace, page URL) — sent from visitor’s browser to Google When it’s sent: Only when the Google Analytics 4 module is enabled in plugin settings Optional script loading: When “Load gtag.js” is enabled, the plugin loads a JavaScript tracking library from Google’s CDN. This is optional and disabled by default. Server-side events (Measurement Protocol, optional): When the site owner additionally provides a GA4 Measurement Protocol API secret, the plugin sends click events for visitors who enter affiliate redirect links directly (from e-mails, social media, QR codes) from the WordPress server to Google. Data sent: the Google Analytics client/session identifier read from the visitor’s existing GA cookies, the clicked link’s ID/slug/destination/title and the traffic source name. The visitor’s IP address is NOT sent (the request originates from the server). No events are sent for visitors without a Google Analytics cookie. Domains contacted: – https://www.googletagmanager.com/ (gtag.js library download) – https://www.google-analytics.com/ (event data collection; also the Measurement Protocol endpoint when an API secret is configured) Service provider: Google LLC Terms of service: https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/us/ Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy User Control and Privacy All external services are optional and off by default — the plugin works without any external connections, and disabling GeoLocation stops all IP-based tracking and API calls No CDN dependencies — all JavaScript and CSS assets are bundled locally Local processing preferred — the MaxMind database (user-supplied license key) processes IPs locally; APIs are only a fallback Source Code This plugin includes third-party JavaScript libraries in both minified and human-readable form. All plugin-authored JavaScript files (admin.js, analytics-dashboard-production.js, affiliate-hub-block.js, affiliate-hub-qrcode.js, etc.) are unminified. No build tools are required. Full plugin source code is included in the plugin package. All plugin-authored files are unminified and human-readable. assets/js/jsvectormap.min.js Minified distribution of jsVectorMap v1.7.0, an interactive map library. The unminified human-readable source is included in the plugin as assets/js/jsvectormap.js (2301 lines). Upstream source: https://github.com/themustafaomar/jsvectormap/releases/tag/v1.7.0 assets/js/jsvectormap-world.js This file (1661 lines) contains auto-generated SVG path data defining country boundaries for every country in the world. It is distributed as part of the jsVectorMap package. The path strings consist of SVG drawing commands (M=moveto, l=lineto, Z=closepath) followed by x,y geographic coordinates — they are NOT minified or obfuscated JavaScript code. The upstream dist/maps/world.js ships this data fully minified on a single line; this version is reformatted for readability with each country in its own commented block, properties on separate lines, and long multi-territory paths split at sub-path (Z) boundaries. Maximum line length is under 250 characters. Upstream source: https://github.com/themustafaomar/jsvectormap/releases/tag/v1.7.0 assets/js/qrcode-generator.js / qrcode-generator.min.js QR code generation library (qrcodejs v1.0.0). The human-readable source is included as assets/js/qrcode-generator.js (fully formatted with proper indentation). The minified version (qrcode-generator.min.js) is used at runtime. Upstream source: https://github.com/davidshimjs/qrcodejs assets/js/apexcharts.min.js Minified distribution of ApexCharts v5.3.3, a JavaScript charting library. The unminified source (dist/apexcharts.js) is available in the upstream release archive. Upstream source: https://github.com/apexcharts/apexcharts.js/releases/tag/v5.3.3 Third-Party Libraries This plugin bundles the following open-source JavaScript and CSS libraries. All libraries are served locally from the plugin package — no external network requests are made to load them. ApexCharts Library: ApexCharts Version: 5.3.3 Bundled file: assets/js/apexcharts.min.js Purpose: Interactive charts in the Enhanced Analytics and Link Scanner dashboards License: MIT License Source: https://github.com/apexcharts/apexcharts.js/releases/tag/v5.3.3 Copyright: (c) 2018-2025 ApexCharts jsVectorMap Library: jsVectorMap Version: 1.7.0 Bundled files: assets/js/jsvectormap.js (unminified source, 2301 lines), assets/js/jsvectormap.min.js, assets/js/jsvectormap-world.js (1661 lines), assets/css/jsvectormap.min.css Purpose: Interactive world map in the GeoLocation analytics view Note: jsvectormap-world.js contains auto-generated SVG geographic coordinate data (not minified JS). Reformatted from upstream single-line format to one commented block per country with paths split at sub-path boundaries. Max line length under 250 chars. License: MIT License Source: https://github.com/themustafaomar/jsvectormap/releases/tag/v1.7.0 Copyright: (c) Mustafa Omar QRCode (qrcodejs) Library: qrcodejs Version: 1.0.0 Bundled files: assets/js/qrcode-generator.js (human-readable formatted source, 1425 lines), assets/js/qrcode-generator.min.js Purpose: QR code generation for affiliate links License: MIT License Source: https://github.com/davidshimjs/qrcodejs Copyright: (c) 2012 davidshimjs Support & Development Getting Help Documentation: Visit our Knowledge Base Community Forum: WordPress.org support forums Feature Requests: Submit via WordPress.org or GitHub Bug Reports: Please include WordPress/PHP versions and error logs Contributing Translations: Help translate AffiliateHub in your language Code Contributions: Submit pull requests via GitHub Testing: Beta testing program available Feedback: Your suggestions shape our roadmap Roadmap Advanced Targeting: Device, browser, time-based rules A/B Testing: Split testing for affiliate links API Integration: REST API for external tools White Label: Custom branding options Multi-Site Support: Network-wide management License This plugin is licensed under the GPLv2 or later — see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html for the full license text. It is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.