Affiliate marketing is an excellent way for merchants and product owners to generate extra sales. By outsourcing their marketing to affiliates, they only pay for results.
Affiliate marketing can also be a good way for affiliates to make money. Anyone proficient in marketing and creating content can earn commissions from marketing other people’s products, which means they don’t have to own or stock any products.
Thankfully, various WordPress affiliate plugins can make life easier if your website is built on WordPress. These plugins fall into two types:
- Plugins for merchants.
- Plugins for affiliate marketers.
3 Best WordPress Affiliate Plugins for Merchants
The plugins in this section enable merchants to set up and manage their affiliate programs on their websites. This means they don’t need to sign up for a third-party affiliate network.
SliceWP
🏆 Best for running your professional affiliate program on your website.
SliceWP enables you to create a professional affiliate program on your website. This saves you from paying to be part of a third-party affiliate network. However, to get all the features available in SliceWP, you do have to pay $169 per year. But for that, you get everything you need to run your affiliate program.
Users praise how easy it is to set up and use and the range of features SliceWP has. But most importantly, they praise the excellent support, so if you have any difficulties getting it set up on your site, you will get the help you need quickly.
Pricing: Free, with the Pro version starting at $169 per year for one website.
Key features:
- Dedicated affiliate area for affiliates to log in to get their links and view their commissions.
- Affiliate coupon tracking.
- Real-time reports.
- 1-click PayPal payouts — pay all your affiliates in one go.
- Integrates with popular eCommerce plugins such as WooCommerce.
- Customizable commission rates.
- View stats on your affiliates’ earnings and manage their accounts.
SliceWP has an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars from 50 reviews on WordPress.org.
Pros:
- Easy to set up and use.
- Great set of features without any unnecessary clutter.
- Excellent support.
Cons:
- The free version doesn’t include all features.
Post Affiliate Pro
🏆 An excellent alternative to SliceWP.
As with SliceWP, Post Affiliate Pro is a great plugin that enables you to set up your own affiliate program on your website. It is a bit cheaper than SliceWP and comes with so many features — more than I can possibly write about here. Unfortunately, Post Affiliate Pro does not have a free version like SliceWP, although it does have a free trial, so you can test it out for a couple of weeks first.
There aren’t many reviews on WordPress.org for this plugin, but most praise it. Users like how easy it is to set up and use, with a nice interface and also excellent support.
Pricing: starting from $129 per month. 14-day free trial available.
Key features:
- A range of promotional materials for your affiliates, such as banner rotator, discount coupons, various banner types, SmartLinks, and site replication.
- Full reporting tools, such as audit logs, affiliate reports, map overlay reports, top affiliates, top URLs, and trends.
- A range of commission types, such as CPA (commission per action), CPC (cost per click), CPS (cost per sale), multi-tier commissions, recurring commissions, split commissions, and performance rewards.
- Customizable user interface with multilingual support, predesigned themes, multiple currencies, and more.
- Range of tracking methods, including coupon tracking, API, cookie tracking, custom tracking codes, pixel tracking, and more.
- Fraud protection and 2-step verification.
Post Affiliate Pro has an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars from 19 reviews on WordPress.org.
Pros:
- Easy to set up and use.
- Lots of features.
- Friendly and intuitive interface.
- Excellent customer support.
Cons:
- No free version.
Affiliates By itthinx
🏆 Best free WordPress affiliates plugin for merchants.
Third on my list of WordPress affiliate plugins for merchants is one that has a fully functional free version. There are Pro and Enterprise versions too, which start from $49, but some users are saying that the free version is enough for them.
Affiliates By itthinx is easy to set up and use and comes with excellent documentation. However, some users have complained that the support could be better.
Pricing:
- Free.
- Pro: $49.00 – $159.00 (depending on the number of sites).
- Enterprise: $99.00 – $279.00 (depending on the number of sites).
Free version features:
- Import affiliates in bulk from a text file.
- Integrates with WooCommerces.
- Events Manager enables you to grant commissions to affiliates, including those from coupons.
- Integrates with Ninja Forms, Formidable Forms, and Contact Form 7 for affiliate sign-ups.
- Integrates with BuddyPress.
- Integrates with reCAPTCHA.
Pro version features:
- More detailed dashboard sections, including referral rates, banner management, and advanced notifications.
- Advanced commission rates.
- Affiliate export.
- Additional dashboard sections and shortcodes.
Enterprise version features:
- Supports multiple tiers.
- Pixel tracking.
- Additional dashboard sections, blocks, and shortcodes.
Affiliates By itthinx has an average rating of 4.5 out of stars from 129 reviews on WordPress.org.
Pros:
- Easy to set up and use.
- The free version has many functions.
- Excellent documentation.
Cons:
- The support system could be improved.
3 Best WordPress Affiliate Plugins for Affiliates
The plugins in this section enable affiliates to manage affiliate links on their websites easily.
Pretty Links
🏆 Best for cloaking affiliate links.
Pretty Links is a simple plugin, but some would say it is essential if you are adding affiliate links to your website. You can turn any long links into much more attractive shorter links and can customize those links to suit you.
The main features of Pretty Links are free, but there is the option to upgrade to the Pro version, starting at $99.50 per year. That gives you some additional features which you may or may not need. For example, there is the ability to have it automatically add affiliate links to specific words or phrases in your content.
Pricing: Free, with the Pro version starting at $99.50 per year for one website.
Free version features:
- Turn long affiliate links into shorter links.
- Redirect users with 301 (permanent, 302 (temporary), and 307 (temporary) redirects.
- Manage all affiliate links in a single central area.
- Customize your URL slugs.
- Track clicks to each link.
- Customizable reports show clicks per day and other data.
Pro version features
- Set it to automatically add your affiliate links to specific words or phrases within your content.
- Advanced redirects, including cloaked redirects, Pretty Bar redirects, JavaScript redirects, Meta-Refresh redirects, Tracking Pixel redirects, and Geographic redirects.
- Automatically create Pretty Links for posts and pages.
- Easier link management thanks to categories and tags.
- Set an expiry date on any of your links.
Pretty Links has an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars from 1,103 reviews on WordPress.org.
Pros:
- Easy to set up and use.
- Great way to make your affiliate links more attractive.
- It can be used to shorten any URL.
- Great for tracking clicks.
Cons:
- The pro version may not be worth the price.
Thirsty Affiliates
🏆 Best for staying organized when managing many affiliate links.
Thirsty Affiliates is another WordPress affiliates plugin that enables affiliate marketers to turn long, ugly affiliate links into much prettier, shorter ones. As with Pretty Links, there is both a free and Pro version, depending on how many features you need.
Thirsty Affiliates is particularly good if you have many affiliate links for different affiliate networks, as it enables you to be more organized. For example, you can sort your affiliate links into categories and add an image to each link to make it easier to find it when you need it. These features are included in the free version.
Pricing: Free, with the Pro version starting at $79.50 per year for one site.
Free version features:
- Quickly and easily add affiliate links to content while writing.
- Create short, attractive links from any longer links.
- Easily manage your affiliate links by category.
- Redirect users with 301 (permanent, 302 (temporary), and 307 (temporary) redirects.
- Add images to your affiliate links to make them easier to find when you need them.
- Click tracking for all shortened links.
Pro version features:
- Set it to automatically add your affiliate links to specific words or phrases within your content.
- Advanced reports, including by category, location, and more.
- Use different affiliate links depending on the user’s location.
- Integrates with Google Analytics.
- Integrates with Amazon.
- Export or import your affiliate links via CSV file.
- Get email notifications for particular events, such as when a link receives many clicks.
- Automatically checks the health of your affiliate links.
Thirsty Affiliates has an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars from 206 reviews on WordPress.org.
Pros:
- Easy to use.
- Great for cloaking ugly long affiliate links.
- Excellent for keeping your links organized.
Cons:
- The pro version doesn’t seem to get updated very often.
MonsterInsights
🏆 Best for tracking everything on your website, including affiliate links.
MonsterInsights is more than just an affiliate plugin. It is for tracking everything on your website, including affiliate links. It does have a free Light version. However, users have reported that it is not particularly useful, and you need the paid version to use the most valuable features, including tracking affiliate links.
It is easy to set up and use, has a clean and uncluttered user interface, and has excellent support.
Pricing:
- Light: Free.
- Plus: $99.50 per year for one site.
- Pro: $199.50 per year for 5 sites.
- Agency: $399.50 per year for 25 sites.
Light version features:
- Easily connect to Google Analytics using a step-by-step wizard.
- Track clicks to all links.
- Use demographic data to understand your audience better.
- Manage user role permissions easily.
- Turn off tracking for logged-in users.
- Enhanced Link Attributions.
- Track any file downloads.
- Built-in headline analyzer.
- Cross-domain tracking.
Plus/Pro/Agency version features:
- View your top landing pages to see which performs best.
- View your top affiliate links.
- eCommerce add-on to automatically track the performance of your online store.
- Track your conversions and view your users’ journeys.
- Track form conversions.
- And many more.
MonsterInsights has an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars from 2,582 reviews on WordPress.org.
Pros:
- Easy to set up and use.
- Clean and uncluttered user interface.
- Excellent support.
Cons:
- The free version is not good for tracking affiliate links.
- It adds a bunch of other plugins.
FAQ
Yes, WordPress is great for affiliate marketing, whether you are a merchant wanting to set up your own affiliate program or an affiliate marketer wanting to manage your affiliate links.
That depends on whether you are a merchant or an affiliate marketer. If you are a merchant, the best plugin is SliceWP. If you are an affiliate marketer, the best plugin is Pretty Links.
Summary
WordPress affiliate plugins make the affiliate marketing process quicker and easier and provide reporting and insights to enable you to make intelligent decisions. Whether you are a merchant wanting to set up your own affiliate program, or an affiliate marketer wanting an easy way to manage your affiliate links, there is a WordPress affiliate plugin for you.
Here is a quick summary of the best WordPress affiliate plugins for merchants:
- SliceWP is easy to set up, has a great set of features, and has excellent support. It is free, with the Pro version starting at $169 per year for one website.
- Post Affiliate Pro is a good alternative to SliceWP, with many useful tracking and reporting features, starting from $129 per month. Unfortunately, however, it doesn’t have a free version.
- Affiliates By itthinx is the best free WordPress affiliates plugin for merchants. It is easy to use and comes with excellent documentation.
Here is a quick summary of the best WordPress affiliate plugins for affiliates:
- Pretty Links is an excellent plugin for link cloaking, turning your ugly, long affiliate links into nice short URLs. A Pro version starts at $99.50 per year, but you might find the free version does everything you need.
- Thirsty Affiliates is another great link-cloaking plugin and is particularly useful for staying organized if you have many affiliate links to manage. It is free, with a Pro version starting at $79.50 per year for one site.
- MonsterInsights is a good plugin for tracking everything on your website, including affiliate links. There is a free version, but that’s not much use. The paid version starts at $99.50 per year for one site.
