7 Best Affiliate Marketing Plugins for WordPress
Are you looking for the best affiliate marketing plugins for WordPress?
Affiliate marketing is a powerful way to promote your products and reach new customers. By partnering with affiliates who share your target audience, you can leverage their established reach and influence to drive sales and grow your online business.
All you need to get started is the right WordPress affiliate marketing plugin.
🔎 In this article, I’ll cover:
Why Use Affiliate Marketing Plugins?
Affiliate marketing has emerged as a powerful strategy for online businesses and website owners.
Affiliate programs can help:
- Increase reach & brand awareness
- Improve traffic & sales
- Reduce marketing costs
- Boost brand trust & credibility
Affiliate marketing tools serve as the linchpin of successful affiliate programs. They help you create and manage an affiliate program. You can use them to optimize affiliate campaigns and handle nearly every aspect of affiliate management directly from your WordPress dashboard.
The best affiliate marketing plugins also facilitate seamless link management, offer insightful analytics, and simplify and streamline affiliate commissions and the overall user experience.
What to Look for in Affiliate Marketing Plugins
There are a handful of reliable, high-quality affiliate marketing tools out there.
The best plugins to use depend on several factors, such as your specific needs and budget, as well as which eCommerce solution you’re using to power your online store (WooCommerce vs. Easy Digital Downloads).
Below are some key factors, features, and functionalities to consider when researching and comparing the top affiliate marketing plugins for WordPress.
- Link Management: Look for features like link shortening, keyword targeting, and automatic redirection.
- Tracking & Reporting: Choose a plugin that provides detailed tracking and reporting on your affiliate program, such as data on clicks, conversions, earnings, and top-performing affiliates.
- Ease of Use: Whether you’re comfortable with technical settings or prefer a more basic interface, the plugin should be user-friendly and easy to navigate, even for beginners. Similarly, it helps if the tool has clear documentation and tutorials.
- Payments & Commissions: Ensure the plugin supports your desired payment methods and allows you to set flexible affiliate commission structures.
- Affiliate Portal: A dedicated portal for your affiliate partners to access crucial information, track their performance, and receive payouts can be a valuable feature.
- Integrations: Check if the plugin integrates with other plugins and services you use, such as your analytics platform, landing page builders, or email marketing providers.
- Pricing: Decide whether you need a free plugin with basic features or are willing to invest in a premium plugin with advanced features and support.
By carefully considering these factors, you can choose the WordPress affiliate marketing plugin that best meets your needs and helps you achieve your marketing goals.
Best Affiliate Marketing Plugins for WordPress
With the above factors in mind, I’ve compiled a list of some of the best affiliate marketing plugins and tools for WordPress websites.
| Affiliate Plugin | Free | Pricing | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| AffiliateWP | ✖️ | $149.60/yr | Complete affiliate program management for WordPress users |
| ThirstyAffiliates | ✅ | $99.60/yr | Tracking links & shortening/cloaking referral links |
| MonsterInsights | ✅ | $99.50/yr | Google Analytics integration; tracking affiliate links & other key WordPress website analytics |
| Easy Affiliate | ✖️ | $99.60/yr | Getting started with affiliate marketing; AffiliateWP alternative |
| Pretty Links | ✅ | $99.60/yr | Affiliate URL shortening & redirect management |
| YITH WooCommerce Affiliates | ✅ | $179.99/yr | Creating & managing affiliate programs for WooCommerce sites |
| AdSanity | ✖️ | $59/yr | Placing & managing affiliate links & ads |
1. AffiliateWP
AffiliateWP is a robust WordPress affiliate marketing plugin that simplifies the process of creating and managing your own affiliate program.
Its user-friendly interface and extensive feature set make it an optimal choice for businesses seeking to establish affiliate marketing initiatives.
In addition to a quick and easy setup, AffiliateWP integrates seamlessly with popular eCommerce and membership plugins, including Easy Digital Downloads, WooCommerce, and MemberPress.
Easy Digital Downloads even offers a dedicated AffiliateWP extension to make integrating it with your online store effortless:
It also comes with a plethora of advanced and useful features. This includes a referral link generator, custom affiliate coupon creation and tracking, and more.
🔑 Key Features
- Unlimited affiliates
- Built-in intuitive affiliate dashboard
- Setup wizard for new affiliate onboarding
- Manual or automatic affiliate registration
- Unlimited creation of banner images & other creatives
- Real-time reporting to monitor & track referrals, clicks, & earnings
- Seamless integration with popular eCommerce platforms
- Fraud detection
- Simple & flexible commission settings (flat rate or percentage, varying commission rates, etc.)
- Add-ons for additional functionalities & enhanced customization (like tabs & shortcodes)
- Automatic and one-click payouts (Stripe, PayPal)
🏷 Pricing: AffiliateWP plans start at $149.60 per year for a single site license. Higher plans are available for more advanced features and multiple sites.
2. ThirstyAffiliates
If you’re an affiliate marketer promoting another site as an affiliate, ThirstyAffiliates is an excellent WordPress affiliate marketing plugin.
ThirstyAffiliates specializes in efficient link management. More specifically, it can cloak referral links to make them more aesthetically pleasing. By making the otherwise bulky links ‘prettier’, ThirstyAffiliates can make your promotions for affiliate products appear more legitimate and less sketchy.
This tool is also incredibly easy to use. After you create the affiliate link, you can insert it into WordPress posts and pages via auto-link keyword. You can also change the link prefixes and redirection types.
🔑 Key Features
- Simple & user-friendly affiliate link management
- Link cloaking to create clean, branded affiliate links
- Link automation, categorization & optimization
- Automatic keyword linking
- Banners & link images
- Amazon API importing
- Detailed reports & statistics for tracking link performance (clicks, conversions, redirects, etc.)
🏷 Pricing: There is a limited, free version of the ThirstyAffiliates plugin available. Pricing for Pro plans starts at $99.60 per year for a single site.
3. MonsterInsights
While not exclusively an affiliate plugin, MonsterInsights is the #1 Google Analytics plugin for WordPress sites.
This powerful analytics tool can help affiliate marketers track and analyze affiliate link performance. Used by over 3 million WordPress websites, MonsterInsights provides brands and marketers comprehensive insights into Search Engine Optimization (SEO), referral program effectiveness, and so much more.
It includes a link-tracking feature to easily and automatically track and monitor affiliate URL clicks, outbound links, banner ads, etc.
🔑 Key Features
- Google Analytics integration for monitoring key metrics in WordPress
- Affiliate link tracking & enhanced eCommerce tracking
- Customizable, in-depth reports for affiliate links, most profitable pages, affiliates, & traffic sources, etc.
- Support & integration with tons of affiliate plugins & WordPress tools (EDD, WooCommerce, AffiliateWP, WPForms & more)
🏷 Pricing: There is a basic, free MonsterInsights plugin. Premium plans start at $99.50 per year.
4. Easy Affiliate
Easy Affiliate is a popular and powerful affiliate marketing software that can help you optimize and manage your affiliate program.
True to its name, it comes with a wide range of automation tools and features that make affiliate marketing easier. Use it to streamline affiliate sign-up, registration, and onboarding, manage and issue payouts, and monitor affiliate campaign performance.
Of the other affiliate marketing plugins and tools included on this list, Easy Affiliate is most similar to AffiliateWP. While it doesn’t have as many advanced features as AffiliateWP (affiliate coupon code generation/tracking, etc.), it’s a solid alternative.
🔑 Key Features
- Intuitive affiliate dashboard
- Real-time tracking & performance insights with customizable charts
- Easy integration with popular payment & eCommerce platforms
- Fast & beginner-friendly setup wizard
- CSV imports
- Setting options for commission rates & type
- Unlimited affiliates
- Fraud detection
🏷 Pricing: Starts at $99.60/year for a single site license.
5. Pretty Links
If you’re looking for a ThirstyAffiliates alternative, Pretty Links offers a straightforward solution to managing, optimizing, and simplifying lengthy affiliate URLs.
This feature-rich affiliate link management tool performs most functions as ThirstyAffiliates. However, it offers a few more options in terms of configuring link prefixes and redirects.
Pretty Links lets you auto-insert save affiliate links and set attributes (no-followed, sponsored, open in new tab) in real-time. As a URL shortener, this tool lets you create concise, easy-to-remember affiliate URLs that are ideal for sharing in blog posts, social media, emails, etc.
🔑 Key Features
- URL shortening & link cloaking
- Detailed link reports in the WordPress dashboard
- Pretty Bar tool for branding & advertising links
- Configurable slugs
- Keyword & URL replacement
- Redirect management (301, 302, 307)
- Customizable link parameters
- Expiring links
- Weekly link health scans
🏷 Pricing: There’s a lite Pretty Links plugin. Pro plans start at $99.60 per year for a single website.
6. YITH WooCommerce Affiliates
Most of the best WordPress affiliate plugins we’ve discussed can be used with just about any WordPress site.
However, similar to how AffiliateWP is ideal for Easy Digital Downloads users, YITH WooCommerce Affiliates is a plugin specifically designed for WooCommerce store owners to create and manage a fully-fledged affiliate program.
This plugin helps you recruit affiliates, track their performance, pay them commissions, and analyze your affiliate program’s effectiveness.
YITH WooCommerce Affiliates automatically tracks conversions and provides detailed reports to both you and your affiliates.
🔑 Key Features
- Affiliate program management for WooCommerce
- Easy set up
- Affiliate dashboard
- Tracking & reporting for clicks, conversions, & commissions
- Flexible commission rates (based on products, categories, or individual affiliates)
- Automatic payout scheduling via PayPal or Stripe & refund calculations
- Coupon & discount creation
- Affiliate referral IDs
🏷 Pricing: YITH WooCommerce Affiliates offers a free version with basic features. There’s also a premium plan for $179.99 per year for one site.
7. AdSanity
Rounding out our list of the best affiliate marketing plugins and tools for WordPress is AdSanity.
AdSanity is a comprehensive affiliate ads management plugin for WordPress. It lets you manage links as well as various ad formats, including banners, displays, etc. across your site without having to directly edit your WordPress theme files.
AdSanity provides a user-friendly interface for creating affiliate ad campaigns, defining targeting rules, and tracking ad performance. It integrates with popular networks like Google Analytics and AdSense.
🔑 Key Features
- Affiliate campaign & ad management
- Targeted campaign creation
- Option to insert ads into sidebars, widgets, or posts via shortcodes, template tags, etc.
- Performance tracking
- A/B testing, retargeting, ad scheduling, & other advanced features
- Easy setup & use
- Automatic ad block detection
- Start/end date publishing options
🏷 Pricing: AdSanity pricing starts at $59 per year for a single site.
FAQs About Affiliate Marketing Tools
Let’s wrap up with some frequently asked questions.
Can I use multiple affiliate marketing plugins?
While technically possible, it’s usually best to choose one main plugin to avoid conflicts and ensure optimal performance. For a complete WordPress affiliate program solution, I recommend AffiliateWP.
How do I find affiliates to promote my products?
There are many ways to find affiliates. One of the most popular methods is to use large or niche affiliate networks that specialize in connecting merchants and affiliates, such as ClickBank and ShareASale.
Reach out to bloggers and reviewers in your niche. Offer them early access to your products or exclusive discounts in exchange for reviews and promotions.
Use a plugin like RafflePress to run contests and giveaways. Encourage existing customers to become affiliates by rewarding them for referrals.
Finally, use your website and social media to promote your affiliate program. Make it easy for potential affiliates to find and apply to your program.
Is there a WordPress plugin for Amazon affiliates?
EasyAzon is a specific affiliate plugin that is ideal for WordPress users who promote/sell Amazon products and are part of the Amazon Associates program. This tool lets you insert your Amazon affiliate links across your blog posts and other content without having to go to the third-party platform.
Integrate Your Affiliate Marketing Plugin
With the right affiliate WordPress tool, you can implement an effective affiliate marketing program to significantly increase your reach, drive sales, and boost your online business.
If you’re looking for the best WordPress affiliate marketing plugin to use with your Easy Digital Downloads store, you can’t go wrong with AffiliateWP.
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