Linktree vs Storefront for Affiliates: A Fair Comparison

Linktree is the better choice when your bio link has to hold many kinds of things, say a newsletter signup next to a few products. A dedicated affiliate storefront fits better when most of what you share is products, often from several stores, and you want each category and product at its own URL. Both have free plans.

What does Linktree do well for affiliates?

Linktree's main strength is range. One page can hold your latest video next to a product shelf and everything in between. The Free plan includes unlimited links and basic analytics, which is a generous starting point.

It also has a product feature. Linktree's Shop adds a tab next to your links where visitors browse products. You can enter the URL of a product or an affiliate link from any site, fill in the details and group products into collections of up to 30. Adding /shop to your Linktree URL sends people straight to that tab.

US creators get one more option. Linktree Shops lets you earn commissions on partner brands' products from inside Linktree, with rates set by the retailers. It's limited to US-based users.

And people know it. Followers have seen a Linktree page before, so there's no learning curve on their side.

If your bio link is mostly about you and only partly about products, Linktree does the job well.

What does a dedicated storefront do differently?

A storefront starts from the product instead of the link. Zelect is the one we build, so here is what it does, and you can compare against your own setup.

Every category is its own page with its own URL (zelect.io/your-store/skincare). Every product gets a page too (zelect.io/your-store/p/product-name). That means you can link a video description to the exact item you showed, not to your homepage. Visitors can also search the storefront.

A product can carry several labeled links, such as "Amazon" and "Shopee", so the visitor picks the store they trust. When you paste a Mercado Livre or Shopee URL (AliExpress works too), Zelect fills in the product details. Other stores work when their page exposes standard product metadata.

Storefront pages are pre-rendered HTML with a sitemap and product structured data, so search engines can index category and product pages. That's indexability, not a ranking promise. Our guide to affiliate storefront SEO explains the difference.

Zelect takes no commission. You keep your full affiliate commission, as paid by each program.

If the term is new to you, the affiliate storefront guide covers the basics.

How do Linktree and Zelect compare feature by feature?

Linktree details below come from its pricing page and help center, checked October 2026. Where Linktree's pages don't say, the table says so instead of guessing.

Two rows favor Linktree clearly: free analytics and flexibility for non-product links. Two favor Zelect: product pages with their own URLs and imports from Latin American marketplaces.

Which one costs less?

That depends on the plan you'd need, since both have a $0 tier.

Linktree has three paid tiers above Free. Its pricing page says prices vary by region and show in local currency. Check linktr.ee/s/pricing for your country rather than trusting a number from a blog. Linktree's help center says you can hide the Linktree logo on Pro or Premium.

Zelect Pro is $4.90 a month and adds all three themes and more products. Ultra adds click analytics and a custom domain, and removes Zelect branding. The current numbers are on the Zelect pricing page.

Cost isn't only the subscription. Count your time too. If you add 50 products and type every title and price by hand, that adds up. An importer saves most of it, assuming your stores are supported.

For a broader look that includes Beacons and Amazon's own storefront, see our roundup of the best link in bio for affiliate marketing.

When should you stay on Linktree?

Stay if most of your link traffic isn't about products. A musician whose page is tour dates plus three merch links has no reason to move.

Stay if you're in the US and want Linktree Shops' partner commissions without joining each brand's program yourself. That's a real convenience a storefront tool without a partner network can't match.

Stay if your free analytics are the main thing you check. Zelect's click data is on the Ultra plan only.

And stay if you have five products and they rarely change. A short Shop tab is enough.

When does a dedicated storefront make more sense?

Move when products are the main reason people tap your bio, for example when every post gets "link?" comments.

Example (hypothetical): a home office creator recommends 60 items, from desk chairs to cable trays. Each new video features three of them. A storefront lets each video link to the exact product pages, and lets a returning visitor browse "Lighting" without scrolling past chairs. If you're at that stage, here's how to organize affiliate products into categories that make sense.

It also makes sense when your audience buys on Shopee or Mercado Livre and you want those products imported instead of typed.

Can you use both?

Yes, and it's a reasonable middle step.

Option one: keep Linktree in your bio and add your storefront as one prominent button. You keep the familiar page and your non-product links.

Option two: put the storefront in your bio and use its footer for your socials. Keep the Linktree alive for old posts that still point to it.

Either way, measure. Check which page gets the product clicks over a month. Our guide on how to track affiliate link clicks shows a few ways to do it, and these ways to get more bio link clicks apply to both tools.

How do you move from Linktree to a storefront?

1. Export your product links

Copy every affiliate link from your Linktree and Shop into a spreadsheet, with a column for the category it belongs in.

2. Build the storefront

Create your categories first, then add products. This step-by-step storefront setup walks through it in Zelect.

3. Switch the bio link

Change your bio to the storefront URL. Add a button on your Linktree pointing to the storefront for anyone arriving from old posts.

4. Update your top posts

Edit the descriptions of your most-viewed videos to link the exact product pages.

Your next step: count how many of your Linktree buttons are products. If it's more than half, a storefront is worth testing.