Expiration

Expiration lets you automatically retire a pretty link at a specific date or after a click threshold. Once expired, the link stops sending visitors to its target URL — making it suitable for limited-time offers, capped giveaways, and any campaign with a built-in end.

Note: This feature is available with the Beginner, Marketer, and Super Affiliate plans. If you’re using Pretty Links Lite, you can upgrade your Pretty Links plan to use it.

Two Ways to Expire

Expire by Date

Set a specific date (and optionally a time) when the link should stop working.

Use this for:

• Promotional codes — A discount that’s only valid through the end of the month;
• Webinars — A registration link that closes when registration closes;
• Time-limited content — Early-bird pricing, flash sales, holiday offers;
• Anything with a known cutoff — If you know the date in advance, set it once and forget it.

Expire by Unique Visitors

Set a click threshold as a maximum number of unique visitors. Once that many distinct people (counted via the Cookies Explained prli_visitor cookie) have clicked, the link expires.

Use this for:

• Capped giveaways — “First 100 people get the discount”;
• Limited beta access — “First 500 signups get in”;
• Inventory-tied offers — Approximate “while supplies last” behavior;
• Bandwidth-limited downloads — Cap the number of visitors who can grab a hosted file.

What Happens When a Link Expires

Note: When a visitor clicks an expired link, you have two options for what they see.

• Custom URL — Redirect them to a different URL (like your homepage, an “offer ended” page, or a successor offer). Toggle Use a custom URL on and supply the destination. This is usually the friendlier choice;
• No redirect — Leave the custom URL toggle off. Pretty Links aborts the redirect, and the visitor lands on your site’s standard 404 / not-found page. Useful when the offer is well and truly gone.

Configure this on a per-link basis in the link’s Expiration tab.

Expired Links in the List

Expired links show small flag icons in the Pretty Links list — gray when an expiration is pending, red once it’s elapsed — for both date and visitor-count modes. Hover the icon to see the configured threshold.

You can also filter the list to show only date-expired links via the Expired filter segment (visible when at least one link has a past expiration date).

Setting Up Expiration

1. Edit the link you want to expire.
2. Open the Expiration tab.
3. Toggle Enable expiration on.
4. Choose Expire by:
   • Date — Pick a date and time.
   • Unique-visitor count — Enter a number of unique visitors.
5. (Optional) Toggle Use a custom URL on and enter an expired-redirect URL. Leave the toggle off to abort the redirect (visitor sees a 404).
6. Save the link.

Each link supports one mode at a time — date or visitor count, not both. To approximate “whichever comes first,” create two links pointing at the same destination with different modes.

Reviving an Expired Link

You can un-expire a link at any time:

• Edit the link;
• Push the date out, raise the visitor cap, or toggle Enable expiration off entirely;
• Save.

The link starts working again immediately, and any new clicks are recorded as normal. Disabling the toggle preserves the date and visitor-count values, so re-enabling later picks up where you left off.

Things to Know

• Expiration runs at click time. Pretty Links checks the expiration status when a visitor clicks the link. There’s no scheduled job that has to wake up — the moment the date passes or the cap is reached, the next click sees the expired behavior;
• Click tracking still works. Even after a link expires, the redirect to the custom URL (or the 404 response) is recorded as a click in your reports. That way you can see how much traffic an expired campaign is still drawing;
• Expiration runs first. Expiration is evaluated before Targeting and Rotation, so an expired link never picks a fresh variant — all variants stop together;
• Visitor count uses uniques. The “expire by visitor count” threshold is compared against unique visitors, not raw clicks, so bots and refreshes can’t burn through your cap;
• Time zones. Expiration dates evaluate against your server’s clock; the per-link picker uses your browser’s wall-clock time. Double-check that setting if you’re cutting it close.

Combining With Other Features

Expiration works with all other redirect features:

• Cloak Redirect and Pretty Bar — Branded experience right up until the cutoff;
• Targeting and Rotation — Expire complex campaigns cleanly;
• Split Tests — End a test on a fixed schedule for clean data;
• Click Tracking Modes — See exactly how the link performed before and after expiration.