Are you searching for the best affiliate marketing tools and plugins for WordPress? With hundreds of options available, it can be challenging to choose the right one. The best choice depends on your website, marketing strategy, monetization goals, and what exactly you need the tool to accotarmplish.
To empower you in decision-making, I’ve personally tested some of the most user-friendly and popular affiliate marketing plugins on real websites. I considered various factors such as ease of use, features, customization options, and pricing.
In this article, I’ll share my curated list of the top WordPress affiliate marketing tools and plugins, each of which has the potential to boost your website’s revenue significantly.
Table of Contents
What is an affiliate marketing plugin?
Let’s start from the beginning and clarify what an affiliate plugin is, as there is no clear definition. I would describe the ideal range of functions as follows:
An affiliate plugin is a tool that allows publishers to easily integrate and manage affiliate marketing offers within their WordPress websites. It simplifies adding affiliate links, tracking conversions, and generating reports, making website monetization easier for affiliate marketers who earn a commission for each successful referral.
As you can see, the requirements for such tools can vary widely, leading to diverse solutions. Whether you need an all-in-one solution or dedicated plugins for specific functions depends on your needs and monetization strategy.
The main tasks an affiliate marketing plugin can help you with
- Link Management: A centralized dashboard to manage all affiliate links, including easy addition, editing, and organization.
- Link Tracking: The ability to track clicks, impressions, and click-through rates, ideally also conversions and earnings.
- Link Cloaking: A function to make affiliate links appear more user-friendly and trustworthy, boosting click-through rates and conversions. For example, instead of a long link to WP Rocket, you can use a link like https://wpadvancedads.com/recommends/wp-rocket.
- Auto-Injection: Customize the appearance and placement of affiliate links to match your website’s design and content or automatically link specific keywords.
In addition to standard plugins that offer various features, there are also specialized affiliate plugins, for example, for integrating Amazon products comfortably into your site. These plugins ensure visitors can easily browse and purchase items directly from your pages, maximizing your affiliate revenue potential.
If you’re looking to monetize your website through advertising, there are plugins specifically designed to help you present your ads prominently. These tools optimize ad placement, ensuring your advertisements capture the audience’s attention without compromising the user experience.
For those focused on building and engaging with their audience, powerful tools are available for running and growing newsletter campaigns. These plugins streamline collecting email addresses, designing newsletters, and managing subscriber lists. With advanced features like automated workflows and personalized content delivery, you can nurture relationships with subscribers and drive conversions effectively.
In summary, whether you aim to boost affiliate revenue, maximize ad earnings, or cultivate a loyal subscriber base, a diverse range of plugin groups are available to meet your specific needs and goals.
Selection of the best affiliate marketing plugins and tools to increase your earnings
I have organized my selection into five distinct categories of plugins:
- for automatically inserting and targeting affiliate links
- for link management
- for integrating Amazon products
- for prominently displaying affiliate marketing ads
- for building an audience and running successful newsletter campaigns
Let’s get started!
Advanced Ads
Advanced Ads is a game-changer for websites. The plugin offers smooth ad management with features like Tracking, Click Fraud Protection, and Lazy Loading. It automatically embeds affiliate ads into your website’s content, allowing for endless optimization and ad targeting options based on categories, keywords, or geolocation— all without the need to manually edit content.
This highly-rated plugin provides comprehensive ad statistics, precise affiliate link management, link cloaking, and robust ad blocker features. By connecting it with Google Analytics, you can obtain detailed reports on the performance of your affiliate ads.
What you can do with Advanced Ads to level up your niche site
Advanced Ads combines the functionality of multiple plugins into one powerful tool. While other plugins handle specific tasks, none offer the comprehensive coverage that Advanced Ads does. Its unique ability to cover all aspects of ad management makes it an invaluable tool for your site. Additionally, it integrates smoothly with other affiliate marketing plugins like AAWP.
- Auto-injection of affiliate ads into your website
- Split-test multiple ad units to identify top performers
- Link management, including link cloaking
- Ad performance reports
- Advanced user and content targeting
- Formats like Parallax, Sticky, and Popup ads to boost click rates
- Affiliate disclosures for compliance
- Integration with affiliate marketing plugins like AAWP, Pretty Links, Thirsty Affiliates, Lasso, and many more
Pricing
While Advanced Ads offers a free version, many advanced features are part of Advanced Ads Pro or other paid Add-Ons. Here’s the pricing breakdown for Advanced Ads single licenses:
- Free plugin
- Advanced Ads Pro: €59/year
- Advanced Ads All Access: €89/year
- Advanced Ads All-Access Longterm: €169/4 years
Pretty Links
Pretty Links is a popular URL shortening and link management plugin often used in affiliate marketing. It offers link cloaking and tracking features, making it a free alternative to the Advanced Ads Tracking add-on.
While Pretty Links is an excellent choice for beginners, it does have certain limitations. However, you can automatically insert your affiliate links from Pretty Links into your content using the free Advanced Ads plugin, allowing both plugins to run in parallel. If you have a little budget to spare, also get the Advanced Ads Tracking add-on for sophisticated tracking, detailed analytics, and enhanced optimization capabilities of affiliate links.
How Pretty Links can elevate your niche site
The main focus of Pretty Links is on efficient link management:
- Link redirects and link cloaking
- Basic click statistics
- Auto-link keywords
- Link health
Pricing
Pretty Links is a freemium plugin, with the pro version offering significantly more features than the basic free version.
- Free plugin
- Pretty Links Beginner (1 site): $249/year
- Pretty Links Marketer (2 sites): $374/year
- Pretty Links Super Affiliate (5 sites): $499/year
ThirstyAffiliates
ThirstyAffiliates is a well-known link management plugin similar to Pretty Links. It offers a solid solution for cloaking and redirecting links in affiliate marketing.
One standout feature of ThirstyAffiliates is its ability to associate images with your affiliate links, a feature not found in Pretty Links. Additionally, the plugin can leverage the Amazon API to automatically import affiliate links from Amazon and incorporate your tracking ID.
How can ThirstyAffiliates maximize your niche site’s potential?
In addition to its link management capabilities, ThirstyAffiliates offers two noteworthy features:
- Automatical keyword linking
- Trigger notifications, for instance, after a certain number of clicks on a particular link
Pricing
While the core ThirstyAffiliates plugin is free, many features mentioned here are part of the paid version. Here’s the pricing breakdown for ThirstyAffiliates Pro:
- Free plugin
- Basic (for 1 site): $249/year
- Plus (for 5 sites): $374/year
- Advanced (for 10 sites): $499/year
AAWP
AAWP (Amazon Affiliate WordPress Plugin) is the go-to choice for Amazon affiliates looking to elevate their websites. It empowers you to create visually appealing and highly converting ad formats, including Amazon product boxes, comparison tables, and widgets. The plugin also offers advanced features such as Geo Targeting, automatic product updates, and link localization.
When used alongside the Advanced Ads plugin, you unlock even more functionality. By activating both plugins, you can seamlessly integrate dedicated AAWP ad types into your site via Advanced Ads, enabling you to create dynamic product tables and more.
How AAWP can make your life as an Amazon affiliate easier
AAWP focuses on enhancing your Amazon affiliate experience with features such as:
- Appealing formats like product boxes, comparison tables, bestseller lists
- Support of all international Amazon partner networks
- Geo-Targeting
- Click tracking
Pricing
AAWP is a premium plugin that is offered at a reasonable price compared to alternative solutions. If you have an All Access license for Advanced Ads, you can enjoy additional savings with a discount code provided in your account backend.
- Personal (1 site): $49/year
- Plus (3 sites): $129/year
- Pro (10 sites): $249/year
- Ultimate: $399/year
Auto Amazon Links
Amazon Auto Links is a reliable, free Amazon affiliate solution tailored for website owners on a budget. This plugin automatically integrates Amazon feeds and affiliate links into your site, ensuring product listings remain updated with changing details and prices.
It also offers advanced filtering options to exclude unwanted items based on descriptions, titles, and ID numbers. Moreover, the plugin dynamically removes out-of-stock products and adjusts tables accordingly. With customizable settings for image sizes, description lengths, product titles, and buttons, it’s an ideal choice for users seeking a cost-effective and user-friendly solution.
How Auto Amazon Links can improve your niche site
Utilize the following features to enhance your niche site:
- Product boxes
- Category and bestseller lists
- Geotargeting Amazon affiliate links based on visitors’ IP addresses
- Automatically convert existing links to Amazon products in your content into affiliate links.
Pricing
While the majority of features are available in the free version, the pro version offers additional valuable features:
- Free plugin
- Amazon Auto Links Pro (1 site): $47.98
- Amazon Auto Links Extended (5 sites): $77.98
- Amazon Auto Links Unlimited (unlimited sites): $237.98
AzonPress
AzonPress is a premium Amazon Associates plugin similar to the AAWP plugin mentioned earlier. However, it is slightly more affordable, making it a favorable choice for those on a tight budget.
Firstly, AzonPress grants real-time API connectivity, allowing you to insert accurate and up-to-date product details into your content without effort. You can then showcase your Amazon products in various formats, including product feature boxes and comparison tables—essential features for many Amazon affiliate sites. Like AAWP, AzonPress boasts visually appealing frontend product displays and comparison boxes straight out of the box.
What you can do with AzonPress to enhance your Amazon niche site
In addition to displaying Amazon products in various formats, AzonPress offers simple customization options to enhance the appearance of frontend display boxes. Other notable features include:
- Geo-Targeting for Amazon affiliate links
- Automatic link tracking
- Link styling options
Pricing
Choose from the following pricing plans for AzonPress to suit your needs:
- AzonPress Single Site: $3.25/month
- AzonPress Agency (20 sites): $6.58/month
- AzonPress Unlimited: $13.25/month
Lasso
Lasso offers comprehensive features designed to streamline affiliate marketing efforts and enhance website conversions. It provides solutions for managing affiliate links and presenting products within website content in an engaging way.
How Lasso can level up your affiliate business
Shortcode insertion makes adding product boxes to your content a breeze. In combination with an ad management plugin like Advanced Ads, you can place Lasso ads comfortably in strategic spots on your website.
- High-converting product boxes, grids, buttons, and tables
- Auto-Amazon monetization
- Link cloaking, tracking, and link management
- Product data for major brands
- Broken link alerts
- Out-of-stock link alerts
Pricing
Lasso isn’t offered as a free version. The paid plugin has a number of differently priced plans.
- Essential (1 site): $24/month
- Advanced (3 sites): $63/month
- Enterprise (unlimited sites): custom
TablePress
TablePress is a WordPress plugin that makes creating and managing tables on your website easy. These tables serve various purposes, including product comparisons, informational boxes, and pricing tables. They are highly effective for showcasing affiliate links within your content.
Thanks to TablePress’s shortcode execution feature, adding affiliate marketing links into tables is simple. This functionality allows you to create visually appealing promotional materials in just a few steps.
How you can make use of TablePress on your affiliate website
While TablePress is not a typical affiliate marketing plugin, it offers diverse capabilities that can significantly benefit your affiliate website:
- Comparison tables
- Showcasing features of single affiliate products
- Summarize key points in product reviews
- Present data-driven content in an easy-to-understand format
Pricing
TablePress follows a freemium pricing model with a robust free version.
- Free plugin
- Pro (1 site): €79/year
- Max (1 site): €189/year
WPFront Notification Bar
This free plugin excels at crafting simple alerts on your site’s header bar, offering basic customization options such as font size, color themes, text adjustments, and the ability to include links.
While WPFront Notification Bar exclusively focuses on creating floating bars and lacks support for popup notifications, analytics, and optimization features like click tracking and A/B testing, it remains an excellent choice for small websites that are just starting their journey. A very useful feature is the ability to exclude the notification bar from specific pages.
Additionally, the plugin can execute shortcodes, allowing you to embed ads, e.g., from Advanced Ads, within your notifications. This enables you to implement ad rotations and precisely target ads based on user traits and content.
How to use WPfront Notification Bar to increase affiliate sales
- Grab visitors’ attention with eye-catching notification bars positioned at the top of your website
- Use these bars to promote special affiliate offers effectively, calls to action, or important announcements.
Pricing
The free plugin is very robust and covers most of the necessary functions. Notification Bar Pro extends the feature set slightly.
- Free plugin
- Pro (1 site): $49
- Pro (5 sites): $69
- Pro (50 sites): $99
ConvertKit
ConvertKit is a WordPress plugin whose main task is to integrate with the ConvertKit email marketing platform, enhancing your WordPress website’s email marketing capabilities. With the ConvertKit plugin, you can make full use of ConvertKit’s service features to grow your email list and manage subscriber interactions directly from your WordPress dashboard.
ConvertKit goes beyond traditional email marketing by offering advanced segmentation and automation tools. These features empower you to create highly targeted email campaigns that nurture leads, strategically promote relevant affiliate products, and establish authority in your niche.
As a result, you’ll experience higher click-through rates on your affiliate links and cultivate a loyal subscriber base. This dedicated community is more inclined to revisit your website, engage with your content, and drive affiliate revenue and sales from premium offerings or courses.
What you can do with ConvertKit to level up your niche site
ConvertKit empowers you to bridge the gap between email marketing and affiliate marketing, maximizing your overall earning potential.
- Segment subscribers for targeted email campaigns.
- Create email sequences and automation to streamline your marketing efforts.
- Track key metrics such as opens, clicks, and conversions to refine your email strategy and optimize performance.
Pricing
ConvertKit offers a freemium model, with costs scaling based on your subscriber audience:
- Free plugin
- Creator: $15/month
- Creator Pro: $29/month
MailOptin
MailOptin is a widely embraced plugin tailored for lead generation, email automation, and newsletter distribution. You can manage all these features within your WordPress dashboard. With MailOptin, you can monitor the performance of your opt-in forms and campaigns through detailed analytics, empowering you to make informed decisions. MailOptin also integrates with various third-party tools, including email marketing providers, CRMs, and analytics platforms.
By integrating Advanced Ads, you can easily embed advertisements from the backend of your WordPress page directly into your newsletters.
How MailOptin can improve your niche site
- Build a targeted audience for your affiliate promotions.
- Segments and personalized emails
- Automated email sequences
- Performance tracking (open and click-through rates)
Pricing
MailOptin offers a freemium model with different plans tailored to your needs:
- Free plugin
- Standard (1 site): $99/year
- Pro (3 sites): $289/year
- Agency (unlimited sites): $499/year
Which is the best affiliate marketing plugin for WordPress?
Which affiliate marketing plugin reigns supreme for your WordPress website? The answer lies in your specific objectives. Advanced Ads stands tall for a comprehensive solution, offering a suite of features like automatic ad insertion, precise targeting, and thorough performance analysis of affiliate ads. The smooth integration with other plugins expands its functionality further.
If you mainly monetize your website with the Amazon referral program, AAWP emerges as a top contender. From captivating product listings to Geo Targeting and Amazon affiliate links, AAWP’s arsenal equips you for success. AzonPress also shines brightly, offering similar functionalities at a slightly lower cost, making it a compelling choice for budget-conscious Amazon affiliates.
Are you seeking a free, no-frills plugin for basic affiliate link insertion? Auto Amazon Links fits the bill perfectly, ensuring hassle-free link integration and accurate API-driven product details.
For those steering their monetization strategy towards newsletter marketing, powerhouses like MailOptin and ConvertKit take center stage. These robust tools excel in community growth and high-converting automation explicitly tailored for the nuances of newsletter-based affiliate marketing. MailOptin stands out from competitors thanks to its integration with Advanced Ads, allowing you to embed ads into your newsletters directly from the WordPress backend.
To elevate the visibility of your affiliate links, specialized plugins like TablePress or WPFront Notification Bar complement link and ad management plugins seamlessly, amplifying your ad optimization endeavors.
Take the time to explore these plugins and see which ones can best help you boost your affiliate revenues.
Frequently asked questions about affiliate marketing plugins
If you’re working within a budget and need to generate affiliate links, I recommend exploring the free versions of ThirstyAffiliates or Pretty Links. They offer essential features for creating and managing straightforward affiliate URLs. However, Advanced Ads is a top contender if you seek robust affiliate management capabilities. Its comprehensive features, whether used independently or in combination, streamline automatic insertion throughout your website, optimizing targeting to maximize revenue.
Most affiliate marketing tools mentioned are designed for beginners and require minimal technical expertise to navigate. However, some plugins may require technical knowledge to integrate with other tools.
Affiliate WordPress plugins, such as Advanced Ads, empower publishers to incorporate and manage affiliate offers within their content, facilitating the earning of commissions from referral sales.
Affiliate plugins streamline the process of inserting and managing affiliate links within your content, enhancing your ability to monetize your website efficiently and with expedience.
Absolutely. Adhering to SEO best practices when incorporating affiliate links is crucial. Affiliate marketing includes implementing nofollow attributes and ensuring that your content offers substantial value to readers beyond affiliate promotions.
Many affiliate plugins, such as Advanced Ads, offer link cloaking and URL-shortening functionalities. These features enhance the shareability and visual appeal of your affiliate links.
Undoubtedly, WordPress reigns supreme as the ideal platform for building an affiliate site or niche blog. With 43% of all websites utilizing this popular CMS, there is a wealth of resources available to assist you in creating and optimizing your website for affiliate marketing endeavors.
Joachim started marketing his first local news website in 2009. Shortly after, he successfully monetized his travel blogs about Morocco. He is an expert in affiliate marketing in the tourism and travel industry. When he's not writing tutorials for Advanced Ads or supporting other users, he prefers staying in Marrakech or at the Baltic Sea.
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