URL Shortify vs Pretty Links: Which WordPress Plugin Wins?

If you're comparing URL Shortify vs Pretty Links, you've already decided you want a self-hosted link manager in WordPress instead of a SaaS shortener. Good call. The remaining question is which plugin matches your workflow — cloaking and counting clicks, or cloaking and doing real campaign analytics from the same dashboard.

This post compares the two feature by feature, then gives you a clear recommendation and a migration path if you're switching.

The short version

Pretty Links is the familiar, long-running option. It cloaks links well and tracks basic clicks. Great if your needs are simple and you value a well-known name.
URL Shortify is the analytics- and marketing-forward option. Cloaking is equally clean, but it adds owned, sliceable click data, QR codes, A/B testing, UTM presets, and a scheduled broken-link checker — most of which would be separate plugins (or higher Pro tiers) elsewhere.

If "I just want pretty cloaked links" describes you, either works. If "I want to know which links actually convert" describes you, read on.

Feature-by-feature comparison

Link cloaking

Both plugins cloak links with clean branded slugs and let you choose the redirect type. In URL Shortify you create a link at URL Shortify → Links → Add New, set the slug, pick 301/302/HTML, and optionally apply rel="nofollow sponsored" globally. See Link Cloaking.

Verdict: Tie. Both do cloaking properly.

Click tracking and analytics

This is where they diverge. Pretty Links records clicks and shows counts; richer reporting and some breakdowns depend on the Pro tier. URL Shortify tracks clicks, unique clicks, referrer, country, and device per link by default, and lets you slice everything by tag, group, and date range — see Link Tracking. It also has a deliberate approach to clean numbers: Filter Robots and Exclude IPs keep bot and self-traffic out of your stats, explained in Understanding Clicks.

Verdict: URL Shortify, for anyone who treats clicks as data rather than a vanity number.

Auto-linking keywords

Both can turn keyword mentions into links automatically. URL Shortify's Auto Create Links lets you define a rule once ("any mention of Elementor becomes /go/elementor") and apply it across your whole archive.

Verdict: Tie, with URL Shortify's rule model slightly more flexible.

Branded domains

URL Shortify can serve short links from your own domain — see Custom Domains — reinforcing your brand on every click instead of a generic slug on your main domain only.

Verdict: URL Shortify for multi-domain branding.

QR codes, A/B testing, and UTMs

This is the biggest practical gap. URL Shortify ships these in-box:

QR codes generated from any short link, for print and offline campaigns.
A/B testing and weighted link rotations to send one short link to multiple destinations and measure which wins.
UTM presets so campaign tagging is one click instead of hand-typed parameters.

With Pretty Links, several of these are either absent or require add-ons and higher tiers.

Verdict: URL Shortify, clearly.

Maintenance

URL Shortify includes a scheduled Broken Link Checker that crawls your cloaked URLs and emails you when one 404s — important for affiliate sites where a dead link is lost income.

Verdict: URL Shortify.

Which should you choose?

Choose Pretty Links if you want a long-established name, your needs stop at cloaking plus simple click counts, and you're already comfortable in its interface.
Choose URL Shortify if you want owned, sliceable analytics, branded domains, QR codes, A/B testing, and broken-link scanning — all in one dashboard, without stacking add-ons.

For most affiliate marketers, campaign managers, and agencies, URL Shortify is the better long-term home because the analytics and marketing features are the reason you shorten links in the first place.

Migrating from Pretty Links to URL Shortify

You don't need to fuss with CSV exports and column mapping — URL Shortify has a one-click importer that reads Pretty Links' own database table directly and recreates your links:

With Pretty Links still installed and active, go to URL Shortify → Tools (the Import tab).
Find Pretty Links in the detected-plugins list and click Import. URL Shortify creates one short link per record — slug, target URL, redirect type, and nofollow flag all transfer, and Pretty Links categories become Groups automatically.
Spot-check five links in an incognito window — confirm each redirects to the right destination with the right HTTP status.
Run the Broken Link Checker to catch anything that broke in transit.
Deactivate Pretty Links once everything checks out (keep it installed for a week as a rollback path).

The full walkthrough — including what does and doesn't carry across — is in One-Click Import. One thing to know: historical click counts don't transfer, so URL Shortify starts tracking the imported links fresh from migration day.

Conclusion

URL Shortify vs Pretty Links comes down to one question: do you want a cloaker, or a link-marketing platform? Pretty Links is a fine cloaker. URL Shortify is a cloaker plus owned analytics, branded domains, QR codes, A/B testing, and maintenance — in a single WordPress dashboard. If clicks are data to you, URL Shortify wins.

FAQs

Is URL Shortify better than Pretty Links?

For analytics, branded domains, QR codes, and A/B testing, yes — those are built into URL Shortify rather than spread across add-ons or higher tiers. For basic cloaking alone, both are comparable.

Can I switch from Pretty Links to URL Shortify without breaking links?

Yes. URL Shortify's One-Click Import reads Pretty Links directly and recreates every link — slug, target, redirect type, and nofollow flag — in a single click, with no CSV export or column mapping. Your existing slugs are preserved, so inbound links keep working.

Do both plugins keep my data in WordPress?

Yes — both are self-hosted, so your links and click data stay in your own database rather than a third-party SaaS.

Which is better for affiliate marketing?

URL Shortify, because it combines cloaking with per-link analytics, global nofollow/sponsored handling, link rotation, and a broken-link checker that flags dead affiliate destinations.