LinkAlert
Privacy-conscious link management and click counting for WordPress, with short URLs, categories, and safe imports.
Solid choice
LinkAlert is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 1 month ago, and scores 66/100 on our health check.
- Actively developed — last update 1 month ago
- Tested with the latest WordPress (7.1)
- Small user base (10+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where LinkAlert stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| affiliate links | >100 |
| click tracking | >100 |
| link management | >100 |
| link monitoring | >100 |
| url shortener | #69 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
About LinkAlert
From the official readme · v1.1.0Description
LinkAlert is a powerful link management and click tracking plugin for WordPress, built for affiliate marketers, traffic teams, agencies and digital businesses that need full control over their links.
Create short links, count clicks and organize links into categories. Telegram and WhatsApp notifications are available separately in the Premium edition.
Core Features
- URL Shortener: Create short and friendly links for any URL
- Privacy-conscious Click Tracking: Count total clicks and pseudonymous unique visitors without storing raw IP addresses
- Essential Analytics: View total and unique click counts for managed links
- Customizable Redirects: Choose between different redirect types (301, 302, 307) and redirect methods (PHP, HTML, JavaScript)
- Category Organization: Group your links by categories for better management
- Link Import: Import existing links from Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates plugins or CSV files
- UTM Parameter Support: Pass through UTM campaign parameters from original URLs to track marketing campaigns
- SEO Friendly: Configure nofollow and sponsored attributes for search engine compliance
Free vs Premium Features
Free Version Includes:
* Unlimited short link creation
* Complete click tracking and analytics
* Category organization system
* Link import from Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates and CSV files
* All redirect options and methods
* UTM parameter pass-through
* SEO link attributes (nofollow/sponsored)
Premium Features (Requires License):
* Real-time notifications via Telegram when links are clicked
* Real-time notifications via WhatsApp using Evolution API
* Advanced notification customization with dynamic variables
* Frequency control to manage notification volume
* Smart Links feature for automatic keyword-to-link conversion
* Advanced reporting and export capabilities
Privacy and Data Collection
This plugin collects the following minimal data for basic analytics:
* Visitor identification (pseudonymous HMAC of a reduced peer IP address for approximate unique visitor counts)
* Click timestamps for tracking when links are accessed
* Link references to associate clicks with specific short links
The free version stores only the essential data needed to provide total click counts and unique visitor counts. The visitor identifier is pseudonymous, not guaranteed anonymous. Browser details, geographic data and tracking parameters are not stored in click records.
Since 1.0.16, new identifiers use a site-specific secret and reduced IPv4 /24 or IPv6 /48 addresses. Forwarded headers are not trusted; configure a trusted proxy to normalize REMOTE_ADDR at the web server. Counts are approximate: visitors sharing a network may be grouped together. Historical records from earlier versions retain their old identifiers until an administrator clears that link’s statistics or otherwise removes those records from the database. Updating preserves existing links and counters; the identifier change may count a returning visitor again. Rotating WordPress authentication salts also changes new identifiers.
Deactivation and deletion preserve links, categories, click records and settings. Reinstalling on the same database restores access to them. Short links stop redirecting while the plugin is absent. There is no option to erase these data when deleting the plugin. Scheduled plugin jobs are removed on uninstall. This applies to each site in multisite, even if an older version had a cleanup preference enabled.
All collected data is stored locally in your WordPress database and is used solely for providing link analytics to website administrators. The free version does not share this data with any external services.
External Services (Premium Only)
Premium features may connect to external services only when explicitly configured:
Telegram API (api.telegram.org)
– Purpose: Send click notifications via Telegram bot
– When: Only when premium license is active and Telegram notifications are configured
– Data sent: Customizable notification messages containing click information
– Privacy Policy: https://telegram.org/privacy
WhatsApp via Evolution API (User-hosted)
– Purpose: Send click notifications via WhatsApp
– When: Only when premium license is active and Evolution API is configured
– Data sent: Notification messages to user’s own Evolution API server
– Note: This connects to your own self-hosted Evolution API instance
Codirun License Server (lka.codirun.com)
– Purpose: Validate premium license keys
– When: During license activation and periodic validation
– Data sent: License key, domain name, and basic WordPress installation info
– Privacy: Only licensing data, no content or analytics
All external connections are optional and only occur with premium features when explicitly configured by the administrator.
Installation
- Upload the
codirun-linkalertfolder to the/wp-content/plugins/directory - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- Navigate to ‘LinkAlert’ in the admin menu to start creating short links
- Configure your first short link by clicking “Add New Link”
- (Optional) Purchase and activate a premium license to unlock notification features
Frequently asked questions
Does the free version have limitations?
The free version includes all core URL shortening and analytics features. Premium features like real-time notifications and Smart Links require a paid license.
What data does the plugin collect?
The free version stores the link ID, click time, and a pseudonymous visitor identifier. The identifier is derived from a reduced IP address using a secret unique to the WordPress installation; the raw IP address is not stored. Browser, device, geographic location, referrer, and tracking parameters are not collected by the free version.
Do short links affect SEO?
Links include the “nofollow” attribute by default to minimize SEO impact. You can customize this setting for each link and add “sponsored” attributes for affiliate compliance.
Can I import links from other plugins?
Yes, the plugin includes an import tool that works with Pretty Links, allowing you to migrate existing short links while preserving their functionality.
Is the plugin GDPR compliant?
The plugin collects analytics data as described in the Privacy section. You should update your privacy policy to inform visitors about this data collection and ensure compliance with applicable data protection regulations.
What are Smart Links?
Smart Links is a premium feature that automatically converts specified keywords in your content into affiliate links. For example, you can set “WordPress” to automatically link to your affiliate URL whenever mentioned in posts.
How do notifications work?
Notifications are a premium feature that sends real-time alerts via Telegram or WhatsApp when someone clicks your links. This requires a premium license and configuration of the respective messaging service.
Changelog
Uninstall always preserves links and statistics. The cleanup option and data settings menu have been removed.
1.1.0
- Always preserve data on uninstall, even with an old cleanup preference enabled. Remove the data settings menu and cleanup option.
1.0.17
- Preserve data on plugin deletion by default; add explicit, disabled-by-default irreversible cleanup preference per site.
1.0.16
- Fixed inactive uninstall and scoped cleanup without flushing unrelated cache
- Protected new visitor identifiers with HMAC and reduced IP addresses; ignored untrusted forwarded headers
- Corrected Free/Premium descriptions and documented legacy analytics behavior
- Fixed redirects below the site path, query fragments and fallback link attributes
1.0.15
- Corrected the plugin summary so the free edition does not claim premium notification features
1.0.14
- Completed Plugin Check annotations for intentional, cache-aware administrative database queries
1.0.13
- Resolved Plugin Check SQL safety warnings by using identifier placeholders and fixed query variants
- Documented template-scope variables so automated checks do not misclassify them as global state
- Corrected the free edition privacy and feature descriptions to match its actual behavior
Screenshots
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Best LinkAlert alternatives
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FAQ
LinkAlert: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 6, 2026
Is LinkAlert free?
Yes. LinkAlert is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is LinkAlert safe to use in 2026?
LinkAlert is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 1 month ago, and scores 66/100 on our health check.
How many websites use LinkAlert?
LinkAlert is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 734 times since it launched in August 2025. It was downloaded 143 times in the last 30 days.
Does LinkAlert work with WordPress 7.1?
Yes. The developer has tested LinkAlert up to WordPress 7.1.3, the latest release. It requires WordPress 6.4 or newer.
What PHP version does LinkAlert need?
LinkAlert requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was LinkAlert last updated?
The latest version, 1.1.0, was released on September 6, 2026 (1 month ago).
Who makes LinkAlert?
LinkAlert is developed and maintained by Codirun.
What are the best alternatives to LinkAlert?
The most popular alternatives to LinkAlert are PrettyLinks (200K+ installs), ThirstyAffiliates (30K+ installs) and BetterLinks (20K+ installs).
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