BetterLinks – Link Shortener, Link Cloaking, Redirects, Affiliate Link Manager & MCP vs Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL)

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 → 💜 More From WPDeveloper 🔝 Essential Addons For Elementor – The most popular Elementor extensions library, with 2 million+ active users. 👉 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

Easily improve site security with WordPress Hardening, Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Login Protection, Vulnerability Detection and SSL certificate. Really simple, Effective and Performant WordPress Security Really Simple Security is the most lightweight and easy-to-use security plugin for WordPress. It secures your WordPress website with SSL certificate generation, including proper 301 https redirection and SSL enforcement, scanning for possible vulnerabilities, Login Protection and implementing essential WordPress hardening features. We believe that security should have the absolute minimum effect on website performance, user experience and maintainability. Therefore, Really Simple Security is: Lightweight: Every security feature is developed with a modular approach and with performance in mind. Disabled features won’t load any redundant code. Easy-to-use: 1-minute configuration with short onboarding setup. Security Features Easy SSL Migration Migrates your website to HTTPS and enforces SSL in just one click. 301 redirect via PHP or .htaccess Secure cookies Let’s Encrypt: Install an SSL Certificate if your hosting provider supports manual installation. Server Health Check: Your server configuration is every bit as important for your website security. WordPress Hardening Tweak your configuration and keep WordPress fortified and safe by tackling potential weaknesses. Prevent code execution in the uploads folder Prevent login feedback and disable user enumeration Disable XML-RPC Disable directory browsing Username restrictions (block ‘admin’ and public names) and much more.. Vulnerability Detection Get notified when plugins, themes or WP core contain vulnerabilities and need appropriate action. Login Protection Allow or enforce Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for specific user roles. Users receive a two-factor code via Email. Improve Security with Really Simple Security Pro Protect your site with all essential security features by upgrading to Really Simple Security Pro. Advanced SSL enforcement Mixed Content Scan & Fixer. Detect files that are requested over HTTP and fix them to HTTPS, both Front- and Back-end. Enable HTTP Strict Transport Security and configure your site for the HSTS Preload list. Firewall Really Simple Security Pro includes a performant and efficient WordPress firewall, to stop bots, crawlers and bad actors with IP and username blocks. 404 blocking – Blocks crawlers as they trigger unusual numbers of 404 errors. Region blocking – Only allow/block access to your site from specific regions. Automated and customisable Firewall rules. IP blocklist and allowlist. Security Headers Security headers protect your site visitors against the risk of clickjacking, cross-site-forgery attacks, stealing login credentials and malware. Independent of your Server Configuration, works on Apache, LiteSpeed, NGINX, etc. Protect your website visitors with X-XSS Protection, X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, a Referrer Policy and CORS headers. Automatically generate your WordPress-tailored Content Security Policy. Vulnerability Measures When a vulnerability is detected in a plugin, theme or WordPress core you will get notified accordingly. With Vulnerability Measures, you can configure simple but effective measures to make sure that a critical vulnerability won’t remain unattended. Force update: An update process will be tried multiple times until it can be assumed development of a theme or plugin is abandoned. You will be notified during these steps. Quarantine: When a plugin or theme can’t be updated to solve a vulnerability, Really Simple Security can quarantine the plugin. Advanced Site Hardening Choose a custom login URL Automated File Permissions check and fixer Rename and randomize your database prefix Change the debug.log file location to a non-public folder Disable application passwords Control admin creation Disable HTTP methods, reducing HTTP requests Login Protection Secure your website’s login process and user accounts with powerful security measures. Two-Step verification (Email login) 2FA (two factor authentication) with TOTP Passwordless login with passkey login Enforce strong passwords and frequent password change Limit Login Attempts With Limit Login Attempts you can configure a threshold to temporarily or permanently block IP addresses or (non-existing) usernames. You can also throw a CAPTCHA after a failed login (hCaptcha or Google reCaptcha) Access Control Restrict access to your site for specific regions. Add specific IP addresses or IP ranges to the Blocklist or Allowlist. Useful Links Documentation Security Definitions Translate Really Simple Security Issues & pull requests Feature requests Love Really Simple Security? If you want to support the continuing development of this plugin, please consider buying Really Simple Security Pro, which includes some excellent security features and premium support. About Really Simple Plugins Our mission is to make complex WordPress requirements really easy. Really Simple Security is developed by Really Simple Plugins. For generating SSL certificates, Really Simple Security uses the le acme2 PHP Let’s Encrypt client library, thanks to ‘fbett’ for providing it. Vulnerability Detection uses WP Vulnerability, an open-source initiative by Javier Casares. Want to join as a collaborator? We’re on GitHub as well!