Best WordPress Affiliate Link Cloaker Plugins: 6 Compared

The best WordPress affiliate link cloaker for most sites is ThirstyAffiliates, and the free version is enough: it turns each affiliate URL into a link on your own domain, redirects with a 301, 302 or 307, adds nofollow globally and lets you uncloak individual links for programmes such as Amazon that restrict redirects, with 30,000+ active installs and a 4.6 rating from 251 reviews. WPNeon runs it — every /goto/ link on this site is a ThirstyAffiliates cloak. Pick BetterLinks if you want the sponsored attribute as a tick box on every link in a free plugin, and Auto Affiliate Links if you want keywords turned into links without paying.

Jump to: the comparison · which one fits you · status codes and rel attributes · Amazon’s rules · the six plugins · the verdict · questions

Which WordPress link cloaking plugin should you install?

A link cloaker does three jobs: it gives each affiliate URL a short address on your domain, it redirects the click to the merchant, and it counts the click. Every plugin below does those three for free. They differ on what they write into the anchor tag, which HTTP status they send, what they charge for auto-linking and geo-redirects, and how they treat Amazon.

Install counts and ratings read from each plugin’s WordPress.org page, prices from each vendor’s pricing page, on 9 September 2026. ThirstyAffiliates and Pretty Links show introductory first-year prices; the regular price applies on renewal.

Which one fits your site?

Five questions decide this. Amazon links change the answer because Amazon’s agreement restricts redirected links. Free auto-linking exists but only in one plugin. Geo-redirects are paid everywhere. Tick what applies.

Install counts and ratings read from each plugin’s WordPress.org page and prices from each vendor’s pricing page on 9 September 2026; uncloaking, import and rel behaviour read from each plugin’s documentation as listed further down.

What does each plugin actually put on the link?

Cloaking hides the affiliate URL from readers. It does not hide the commercial relationship from Google, and Google's guidance is specific: mark advertisements and paid placements with rel="sponsored"; nofollow was the earlier recommendation and is still accepted, but sponsored is preferred, and the two can be combined. A cloaked link points at your own domain, so nothing in your markup flags it as paid unless the plugin writes the attribute. That makes the rel behaviour the most important difference between these plugins, and the one no listing page states plainly.

Read from each plugin's WordPress.org listing and public documentation on 9 September 2026.

Two things follow from that table. Only BetterLinks, Pretty Links, Lasso and Easy Affiliate Links expose sponsored as a switch; ThirstyAffiliates gets there through a free-text rel field, and Redirection never gets there at all, because a redirect plugin only handles the request after the click and leaves your anchor tags exactly as you typed them. Second, the status code is a choice you should make deliberately. A 301 tells browsers and crawlers the move is permanent and gets cached; a 302 or 307 says it is temporary, which is true of an affiliate destination that you will change when a programme changes. Pretty Links and Lasso both default to 302 for that reason; ThirstyAffiliates defaults to 301 and lets you change it globally.

On WPNeon the setup is ThirstyAffiliates with the link prefix changed from the shipped /recommends/ to /goto/ and links grouped into categories by product type, and every affiliate link on the site carries rel="nofollow sponsored noopener".

Can you cloak Amazon affiliate links?

Amazon does not say "no cloaking". It says something narrower and easier to break by accident. The Associates Program Participation Requirements, section 6(v), read: "You will not cloak, hide, spoof, or otherwise obscure the URL of your Site containing Special Links (including by use of Redirecting Links) or the user agent of the application in which Program Content is displayed or used such that we cannot reasonably determine the site or application from which a customer clicks through such Special Link to an Amazon Site." Section 6(w) adds: "You will not use a link shortening service, button, hyperlink or other ad placement in a manner that makes it unclear that you are linking to an Amazon Site."

The Commission Income Statement then removes the money. Section 2(e) excludes from Qualifying Purchases "any Product purchased by a customer who is referred to an Amazon Site by a link that sends users indirectly to an Amazon Site via an intermediate site, without requiring the customer to click on a link or take some other affirmative action on that intermediate site (a 'Redirecting Link')."

Read those three together and the risk is concrete. A masked redirect that keeps your short URL in the address bar, a JavaScript redirect that strips the referrer, or an intermediate page that bounces the visitor on automatically all fit the wording. A plain server-side redirect from your own domain, where the referrer is your page and the link text says Amazon, is what Lasso and Geniuslink both argue is acceptable, and it is why Lasso puts cloaked Amazon links under an /amazon/ path. Amazon publishes no list of approved plugins, and an account review is Amazon's call, not the plugin vendor's.

The safest reading is the one three of these plugins are built for: leave Amazon links uncloaked and cloak everything else. ThirstyAffiliates uncloaks per link or per category, a feature its changelog added in version 3.0.0 citing Amazon's terms. Easy Affiliate Links has a per-link uncloak that its documentation ties to Amazon. Lasso makes cloaking a per-link toggle and recommends it for non-Amazon links only. Pretty Links, BetterLinks and Auto Affiliate Links do not document an uncloak switch, so with those you keep Amazon links out of the plugin altogether.

The six plugins, verified

ThirstyAffiliates

For any affiliate site that wants cloaking, categories and click counts without paying, and a per-link way to stay inside Amazon's rules. Version 3.12.0, updated in August 2026, 30,000+ active installs, 4.6 out of 5 from 251 reviews, tested up to WordPress 7.1, requires PHP 7.4.

The deciding capability is that the free plugin does the complete job. Each link is its own record with a category, a note and an image; redirects are 301 by default with 302 and 307 available; nofollow is a global switch; there is a click report; and any link or category can be uncloaked. WPNeon runs it with the prefix set to /goto/, and the operator-side experience is a link library you edit once when a programme changes, rather than every post that mentions the product.

The honest limitation is the Pro add-on's autolinker. WPNeon runs ThirstyAffiliates Pro too, and the autolinker has had to be switched off on individual posts because it inserted links where the keyword was a mention, not a recommendation. Budget for that per-post switch. Pro starts at $99.60 for the first year on one site, $249 a year on renewal; keyword linking, geographic redirects and Amazon API import are all in that Basic plan.

ThirstyAffiliates · ThirstyAffiliates on WordPress.org

Pretty Links

For sites that want the largest user base and the deepest click logs in a free cloaker. Version 4.0.15, updated in August 2026, 200,000+ active installs, 4.8 out of 5 from 1,318 reviews, tested up to WordPress 7.1, requires PHP 7.4.

What decides it is the free reporting: every click is logged with referrer, IP, browser, operating system and host, with bot filtering and CSV export, and nofollow and sponsored are per-link toggles with a global default. Its documentation is also the clearest here on redirect types, recommending 302 for affiliate links because the destination will change.

The limitation is where the paid line sits. Masked cloaking, JavaScript and meta-refresh redirects are Pro, and keyword replacement is not in the $99.60 Beginner plan at all; it starts at Marketer, $149.60 for the first year and $374 on renewal, for two sites. There is no uncloak switch documented for Amazon, and no import from other cloakers beyond CSV.

Pretty Links on WordPress.org

BetterLinks

For anyone who wants sponsored as a tick box on every link for free, or the cheapest paid route to auto-linking and geo-redirects. Version 3.1.2, updated in August 2026, 20,000+ active installs, 4.8 out of 5 from 85 reviews, tested up to WordPress 7.1, requires PHP 7.4.

The deciding capability is its free version's completeness: 301, 302 and 307 per link, nofollow and sponsored tick boxes, categories and tags, an analytics dashboard with unique clicks and countries, a UTM builder and one-click migration from Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates and Simple 301 Redirects. Pro is $79 a year for one site (regular price $99), $187 a year for unlimited sites or $279 once for an agency licence, and adds keyword auto-linking, geo and device redirects, split testing and a broken link checker. Version 3.1.0 also added an MCP server so an AI assistant can manage links.

The limitation is maturity: 85 reviews against 1,318 for Pretty Links, and no documented uncloak switch for Amazon links.

BetterLinks on WordPress.org

Lasso Lite (formerly Simple URLs)

For Amazon-heavy sites that want product boxes as well as cloaked links, and for anyone leaving an Amazon-specific plugin. Version 157, updated in August 2026, 4,000+ active installs, 3.0 out of 5 from 46 reviews, tested up to WordPress 7.1, requires PHP 7.2.

The deciding capability is the import list, the widest here: Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates, Easy Affiliate Links, AAWP, EasyAzon, AmaLinks Pro, Earnist and Affiliate URLs. Cloaking is a per-link toggle, Amazon links get an /amazon/ path when cloaked, redirects are 302 only by design, and the link editor has nofollow and sponsored toggles. The dashboard, cloaking, groups, product displays and basic click counts are free; the paid Lasso plugin is a separate product at $19 a month or $190 a year for one site, $29 a month for three.

The limitation is the rating. Eighteen of its 46 reviews are one star, and Simple URLs users were moved onto a Lasso-branded plugin. Install it on a staging copy before trusting it with a live link library.

Lasso Lite on WordPress.org

Easy Affiliate Links

For a tidy link library with the cheapest paid statistics in the category. Version 3.9.1, updated in August 2026, 7,000+ active installs, 4.2 out of 5 from 34 reviews, tested up to WordPress 7.1.

What decides it is attribute control in the free version: nofollow, sponsored and ugc are each a toggle, noopener and noreferrer are a setting, links carry monthly and lifetime click counts, and any link can be left uncloaked, which the documentation ties to Amazon. Links import from CSV and XML and sit in categories. Premium is $29 a year for one site or $119 for twenty, and adds click charts by category, device and referrer, conditional links, replacement links and a broken link checker.

The limitation is that it does not auto-link keywords in any version, the default redirect type is not documented, and 34 reviews is a small base.

Easy Affiliate Links on WordPress.org

Auto Affiliate Links

For a large archive you will not edit by hand, where free auto-linking is the whole point. Version 6.9.8.5, updated in September 2026, 2,000+ active installs, 4.1 out of 5 from 39 reviews, tested up to WordPress 7.1.

The deciding capability is that it is the only free plugin here that turns keywords into links. You map a keyword to a destination, set nofollow or sponsored, optionally cloak the link, cap the number of links per article and count clicks. The design decision that makes it safe to try is that the links are added when the page is displayed and your post content is never modified, so deactivating it removes every inserted link.

The limitation is the same decision seen from the other side: everything a keyword touches becomes a paid link, including sentences that criticise the product. It also does not document its redirect status or an uncloak option, so keep Amazon keywords out of it.

Auto Affiliate Links on WordPress.org

Not cloakers, or not yet

Redirection (2 million+ installs, 4.4 from 703 reviews, version 5.10.0) will happily map /go/product to a merchant URL with a 301 and count the hits, and it is free with no paid tier. What it cannot do is write nofollow or sponsored on the anchor, group links, or report per link beyond a hit count, so every rel attribute is your job. Use it if you already run it for site redirects and have a dozen affiliate links; for anything more, use a cloaker. AffiliateWP is not a cloaker at all: it runs your own affiliate programme, paying other people to send you traffic, which is the job covered by our guide to WordPress affiliate plugins. Affiliate Links by wecantrack (3,000+ installs, 5.0 from 10 reviews, updated in July 2026, tested to WordPress 7.0.4) does 301/302/307 per link with nofollow and server-side click tracking, but it does not document a sponsored option and its conversion tracking needs a wecantrack account. Royal Links lists every feature for free but had 10+ installs and no reviews when checked, which is too little history to rely on. WordPress core has no cloaking or redirect feature of its own; a plugin is the only route.

Should you let a plugin insert links automatically?

Auto-linking is what people pay for, and it is what quietly does the most damage. WPNeon's experience with the ThirstyAffiliates autolinker is the useful data point: it works exactly as described, and it has been disabled on individual posts because a product name in a comparison or a critical sentence became a paid link that changed what the sentence meant. None of that shows in the editor, because the substitution happens when the page renders.

If you use it, map product names rather than company names, cap links at one or two per post, exclude review and comparison categories, and read a sample of older posts on the front end afterwards. Keep Amazon keywords out of any autolinker, because an automatic Amazon link will not be uncloaked unless the plugin lets you set that per keyword.

Which affiliate link cloaker should you choose?

For most people, ThirstyAffiliates free. It cloaks, categorises, counts and uncloaks per link, it is maintained, and it costs nothing. Add sponsored to the global rel field on the day you install it.

If you need sponsored as a tick box, or paid auto-linking and geo-redirects for the least money, BetterLinks. Its free core has the attribute switches and the one-click import; Pro at $79 a year undercuts ThirstyAffiliates Basic and the Pretty Links Marketer plan for the same two capabilities. If you want free auto-linking, Auto Affiliate Links, used narrowly.

Skip Pretty Links Pro unless you want its reporting depth; the free Lite version is excellent, but keyword replacement costs $149.60 there against $79 at BetterLinks. Skip Redirection as a cloaker once you have more than a handful of links, and treat Lasso Lite as a staging-site trial until its rating recovers.

Once you have chosen

• Add nofollow links in Gutenberg — for the affiliate links you place by hand outside the cloaker, this is how to set nofollow and sponsored in the block editor.
• WordPress 301 redirect plugins — if you also need to redirect old URLs, changed slugs or a moved domain, that is a redirect manager's job, not a cloaker's.
• Best Google AdSense WordPress plugins — when affiliate links are one income stream and display ads are the other, these are the plugins that place the ads without breaking policy.
• WordPress affiliate plugins to run your own programme — if you sell something and want other sites to send you buyers, that is a different class of plugin altogether.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free affiliate link cloaker for WordPress?

ThirstyAffiliates. Its free version cloaks links on your own domain with a 301, 302 or 307 redirect, applies nofollow globally, groups links into categories, counts clicks and lets you uncloak individual links for programmes that restrict redirects. It has 30,000+ active installs and a 4.6 rating from 251 reviews. BetterLinks free is the alternative if you want sponsored as a tick box on each link.

Do cloaked affiliate links need rel sponsored or nofollow?

Yes. Google asks publishers to mark paid placements with rel sponsored, and still accepts nofollow as the older way of flagging them. A cloaked link points at your own domain, so nothing in the markup shows it is paid unless the plugin writes the attribute. Pretty Links, BetterLinks, Lasso and Easy Affiliate Links have a sponsored switch; ThirstyAffiliates takes it through a global rel field.

Can I cloak Amazon affiliate links?

Amazon's Participation Requirements forbid obscuring the site a click comes from, including by Redirecting Links, and forbid links that make it unclear you are linking to Amazon. Its Commission Income Statement excludes purchases made through a Redirecting Link. The safe approach is to leave Amazon links uncloaked, which ThirstyAffiliates, Easy Affiliate Links and Lasso each allow per link.

Should affiliate links use a 301 or a 302 redirect?

A 302 or 307 is the safer choice for affiliate links, because the destination genuinely changes when a programme or network changes, and a 301 tells browsers and crawlers the move is permanent and gets cached. Pretty Links and Lasso default to 302 for that reason. ThirstyAffiliates defaults to 301, and the redirect type can be changed globally in its settings.

Does WordPress have a built-in link cloaker?

No. WordPress core has no feature for redirecting a short URL to another address, and no way to add nofollow or sponsored to links automatically. You need a plugin for either job. A cloaker such as ThirstyAffiliates or Pretty Links does both; a redirect manager such as Redirection handles the redirect only and leaves the link attributes to you.

Can I use the Redirection plugin to cloak affiliate links?

You can map a short path on your domain to a merchant URL with Redirection and it will send a 301 and count the hits, for free. It will not add nofollow or sponsored to the anchor, group links, or report clicks per link beyond a hit count. That is workable for a handful of links you tag by hand; for a real affiliate library, use a dedicated cloaker.