Link Whisper Alternative: A Plugin for Each Reason to Leave, and What Happens to Your Links
The right Link Whisper alternative depends on why you are leaving: Internal Link Juicer for free keyword links, Linkilo to keep approving each link for less on 1 to 10 sites, LinkBoss for free AI credits that place links, Linksy for AI credits at a lower price on one site, and Autolinker for links chosen by meaning, with no rules or review, using your own OpenAI key. Link Whisper's own free version is not one of them: version 0.9.8 suggests links and places none.
Link Whisper was read in its free code and on its pricing page, and each alternative on its maker's pages, on October 21, 2026.
This page is published by the maker of Autolinker, one of the five alternatives. Its row uses the same columns as the others, a section below lists what it does not do, and another says where Link Whisper does better. No link to another plugin on this page is an affiliate link.
What does Link Whisper do, in its free version and in Premium?
Link Whisper Free, version 0.9.8, suggests links and places none: in the editor it shows up to 8 suggested links by default, and you copy each link and paste it into your post yourself. Link Whisper Premium inserts the links you approve and can turn keyword rules into links.
The free version has 30,000 active installs on WordPress.org. Its AI is optional and off by default: without it, suggestions come from matching words between posts, and turning it on means connecting to Link Whisper's AI service with a verified email, which gives 250 free credits. Its report lists the inbound and outbound links of each post, and orphan pages, the posts no other post links to.
Premium inserts the links you approve, one by one or in bulk, and its Auto-Linking turns keyword rules into links, in review mode by default for new installs, per its features page. Premium is a subscription that renews automatically, listed at $97 a year for 1 site, $197 for 3, $297 for 10 and $497 for 50, each with yearly AI credits, from 2,000 to 10,000, per its pricing page on October 21, 2026. Its features page says plans start at $119 a year.
Pasting each suggested link yourself is linking by hand, the gesture explained in how to add internal links in WordPress. Whether Premium is worth its price is left to a separate Link Whisper review.
Which Link Whisper alternative fits your reason for leaving?
Pick the alternative by the reason you are leaving Link Whisper: free keyword links, a lower price, cheaper or free AI credits, or links chosen by meaning with no rules or review.
Link Whisper Premium places a link only once you approve it or write a keyword rule. Moving to a plugin that links on its own means giving up the approval step; the table says what each one puts in its place.
If you are leaving WordPress itself, services that link from outside it exist; some add links with a script in the visitor's browser, and those links stop with the subscription. They are covered under internal linking tools.
| Plugin | Pick it if you want | How links are placed | Where the link lives | AI, and whose servers | Free version / price for 1 site |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Link Whisper Premium | Starting point | After you approve suggestions, one by one or in bulk; keyword Auto-Linking, per its maker | Written into the post; stays if you cancel, per its maker | Its credits, or your own OpenAI key, per its docs | Free version places no links; $97/yr |
| Autolinker (this site's plugin) | Links chosen by meaning, with no rules or review | Automatically on publish or update, by meaning; no review queue | Written into the post; stays if you uninstall | OpenAI only, with your key, billed by OpenAI | Free, no link cap; Pro $29/yr |
| Internal Link Juicer | Free keyword links | Automatically, from keywords you attach to each target | Added when the page is served; gone if you deactivate | None | Free; Pro $69.99/yr |
| LinkBoss | Free AI credits that place links | After you approve a preview table, in bulk; one mode can rephrase a sentence | Written into the post; stays if you remove the plugin | Included in credits, run on its servers, posts synced there | Free: 50 auto-insert credits; from $11/mo, or $87/yr up to 1,000 pages |
| Linkilo | To keep approving each link, for less | After you confirm in a review queue; keyword Auto Links | Written into the post; stays if you cancel, per its maker | Optional: your OpenAI or OpenRouter key | No free version; $59/yr |
| Linksy | AI credits, for less on one site | Suggestions, keyword auto-links or bulk automation | Written into the post; stays if you uninstall, per its maker | 300 GenAI credits a month, run on its servers | No free version; $79/yr |
All six rows are also in our comparison of 16 WordPress internal linking plugins, checked on October 8, 2026, and LinkBoss gets its own LinkBoss review.
Is there a free Link Whisper alternative that places links?
Yes: of the 16 WordPress plugins we compared on October 8, 2026, 7 have a free version that places links with no volume cap, and Link Whisper is not one of them.
Internal Link Juicer's free version links the keywords you attach to each target, with no AI and no usage bill, but it adds the links when the page is served, so they go away if you deactivate it. Autolinker's free version picks the targets and writes each link into the post, with no volume cap, but it needs an OpenAI API key, and OpenAI bills you for what it processes. LinkBoss's free plan is capped by credits: its pricing page says 100 on signup in one place and 50 in another, both for placing links.
What happens to your links when you leave Link Whisper?
The links Link Whisper Premium inserted stay in your posts when you cancel or uninstall, per its maker, because they are written into the post. What stops is new Auto-Linking on future posts and its reports, and AI credits you bought are not refunded.
Leaving Link Whisper Free changes nothing in your posts: version 0.9.8 places no links, and the ones you pasted are ordinary links. Whether the next plugin's links stay depends on where it puts them. Internal Link Juicer adds its links when the page is served, so they go away if you deactivate it; see Internal Link Juicer alternative.
Link Whisper can delete in bulk the links its Auto-Linking created, not those you inserted from suggestions, per its docs. Autolinker has no bulk removal either: it removes its own links one at a time, one click each. A post that Link Whisper already linked to a page can also get a second link to that page from Autolinker, elsewhere in the post, because Autolinker counts only the links it placed. Before you switch, list the links already in your posts, as in an internal link audit.
Uninstalling Link Whisper, or Autolinker's free plugin, keeps its data by default. Link Whisper deletes its data only if you tick Delete all Link Whisper Data first, and even then, in version 0.9.8, nine of the tables it creates stay in your database. From version 0.4.0, tick Delete data on uninstall and Autolinker removes everything it created, except the links already written into your posts and their revisions. On a multisite network, both clean up the main site only.
AI, API keys and credits: where do your posts go?
Each AI option in this table sends some of your post text to a model: with your own OpenAI key the text goes to OpenAI, which bills you, and on LinkBoss's or Linksy's credits it is processed on the maker's servers.
In the free version's code (0.9.8), Link Whisper's AI runs on Link Whisper's credits and sends your post text, with your site address, to api.linkwhisper.com; its docs say AI data goes only between your site and OpenAI. Premium runs AI on its included credits or, per its docs, on your own paid OpenAI key; the free version uses its credits only.
Autolinker needs your own OpenAI API key: the text of the posts it processes goes to OpenAI, which bills you, and none of your posts go to us. Autolinker Pro checks its license with your site's address on our license server.
With your own key, Link Whisper puts the cost at about $0.003 for a 3,000-word post, per its docs. Autolinker's docs give no cost figure, and we measured none.
Link Whisper picks targets by matching words unless you turn on its AI, while Autolinker compares what posts mean, with OpenAI embeddings; see semantic internal linking. A chatbot can suggest links too, and you paste each one yourself; see internal linking with ChatGPT.
When is Link Whisper still the better choice?
Link Whisper is the better choice if you want to approve or edit every link before it goes in, link set keywords to set pages, or work in a page builder Autolinker does not cover, among the 15 its docs list.
Premium shows each suggested link before it is inserted, and you can widen or narrow the preselected anchor, or edit the sentence, per its docs; Autolinker writes links without a review, and you can only remove them. Premium's Auto-Linking maps keywords to pages; Autolinker has no keyword rules.
Link Whisper Free lists orphan pages at no cost, where Autolinker has that report in Pro only; spotting them is covered in find orphan pages in WordPress. On its credits, Link Whisper's AI needs no API key, while Autolinker always needs yours.
Link Whisper also runs on far more sites: its free version had 30,000 active installs on WordPress.org on October 21, 2026, against 30 for Autolinker. An install count says how many sites run a plugin, not how well it works.
How does Autolinker compare as a Link Whisper alternative?
Autolinker places the links itself: when a post is published or updated, Autolinker finds the posts closest in meaning, has a model choose an anchor that is already in your text, and writes the link into the post, where it stays if you remove the plugin.
By default it adds at most 3 links per post, with anchors of 2 to 6 words, the first match only and one link per pair of posts, never inside a heading, an existing link or code. There is no review queue: a link that passes these checks is written after WordPress saves a revision, and you can remove any of its links in one click; the words stay, and that pair is never linked again.
Your text is never rewritten: an anchor that is not already in the post is dropped, as explained in internal link anchor text. One button queues every existing post, to add internal links to old posts without opening each one.
Autolinker Pro, an add-on with an economy mode, scheduled passes and reports, costs $29 a year for 1 site, $59 for 3 and $119 for 10, against $97, $197 and $297 for Link Whisper Premium, which includes AI credits. With Autolinker, OpenAI bills you separately, an amount we have not measured.
What Autolinker does not do: no keyword rules, no anchor editing, only removal, no AI provider other than OpenAI, and no nofollow or new-tab attribute. Elementor text editor widgets and SeedProd text blocks are linked. Setup is in the Autolinker docs.
Questions about switching from Link Whisper
Can I run Link Whisper and another linking plugin at the same time?
Yes, but the same pair of posts can end up linked twice: Autolinker, for one, counts only the links it placed. Turn off Link Whisper's Auto-Linking before the new plugin starts, so that one tool adds links at a time.
What is Link Whisper's refund policy?
Its pricing page offers a 14-day money-back guarantee on the first license purchase only, with renewals and credit purchases excluded. The free plugin's readme says refunds are possible up to 30 days after purchase.
Do Link Whisper's AI credits expire?
Its pricing pages say on-demand credits never expire, and that unused monthly credits are lost at the end of each billing cycle. The credit screen in the free plugin says on-demand credits expire after 30 days.
Does Link Whisper work on Shopify?
Link Whisper also has a separate Shopify app. This page covers the WordPress plugin only.
Is there an open source Link Whisper alternative?
Yes. Plugins in the WordPress.org directory must use a GPL-compatible license, so the free versions of Autolinker, Internal Link Juicer and LinkBoss are open source, like Link Whisper Free, though LinkBoss does its linking work on its own servers. LinkWeaver, on GitHub, suggests links in the block editor that you insert one click at a time, with your own OpenAI key (checked October 8, 2026).
Try Autolinker on your own posts
The free plugin is in the WordPress plugin directory. It needs your own OpenAI key, and it writes each link into the post, where it stays if you uninstall.