the comparison
Linktree and shownote* overlap in one place: both give you a page of links to drop in your bio. But they’re built for different jobs. Linktree is a link-in-bio hub for everything you do, socials, music, merch, a newsletter, all on one page, and it’s the best-known tool for exactly that. shownote* is built to make product links earn: paste a product URL and every click carries your affiliate tag and can open a choice page of every store you sell through. The honest difference: a “shop my favorites” link on Linktree sends fans to whatever raw URL you pasted, with no tag added and no store choice, while a shownote* link (or your shownote* storefront) puts your tag on every click. Keep Linktree as your front door if you love it, and let shownote* power the links that are supposed to earn.
Linktree is the most recognized link-in-bio tool in the world, and for good reason: it’s fast to set up, holds every kind of link you have (socials, music, videos, merch, a newsletter, a tip jar) on one clean page, has a genuinely generous free tier, and is the default fans already recognize in a bio. As a front door to everything you do, it’s excellent.
| shownote* | Linktree | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Creators who earn from links | Anyone who needs a link-in-bio hub |
| Core job | Making product links earn | One page linking to everything (socials, music, merch) |
| Applies your affiliate tag on outbound links | ✓Yes, on every click | No, sends fans to the raw URL you paste |
| Store-choice page | ✓Yes, buyer picks the retailer | No, one destination per link |
| International Amazon routing with your tag | ✓Yes, on Prime Time | No |
| In-app deep linking (opens the Amazon app) | ✓Yes, with your tag, free | No |
| Takes a cut of your earnings | ✓Never a cut of your commission | A % of sales through its own commerce tools (0% only on top tier) |
| Insights that tell you what to fix | ✓Yes, each leak with a one-click fix | Descriptive analytics (clicks, views) |
| Free tier | Free forever, up to 10 links, each earning | Free forever, unlimited links (no affiliate tagging) |
| Kinds of links it holds | Product & affiliate links that earn | Every kind: socials, music, video, merch, newsletter |
| Best-known link-in-bio page | A shoppable storefront where every link carries your tag | Yes, the category’s best-known product |
Pricing and features compared as of June 2026 — we keep this current; verify a competitor’s latest on their own site.
shownote
shownote* exists to make product links earn. Paste a product URL and you get a branded choice page with your affiliate tag on every click, plus a storefront (you.shwn.to) that gathers every product you’ve featured into one searchable, shoppable page. Its whole reason to exist is commission, so everything is pointed at that.
Linktree
Linktree is a link-in-bio hub. It puts every kind of link you have, socials, music, videos, merch, a newsletter, a tip jar, on one clean page you drop in your bio, and it’s the most recognized tool in the world for that. It’s built for presence and discovery, not affiliate monetization.
Bottom line: Most creators want both: a hub for everything, and links that actually earn. Linktree is a great hub; shownote* makes the shopping links earn. They’re complements more than rivals.
shownote
Every shownote* link carries your affiliate tag and can open a choice page of every store you earn from, so wherever a buyer lands, the click is tagged and earning. On a phone it opens the Amazon app with your tag intact, and Prime Time routes overseas buyers to their own regional Amazon.
Linktree
Linktree sends a visitor to whatever destination URL you paste. If your “shop my favorites” button points at a raw Amazon link, that’s exactly where fans go: no affiliate tag added, no store choice, no geo-routing. The tagging is entirely up to you, and any click on an untagged link earns nothing.
Bottom line: Linktree gets fans to your link; it doesn’t make sure the click earns. shownote* does. Swapping the raw retailer links on a Linktree for shownote* links is the whole fix.
shownote
shownote*’s storefront is a link-in-bio page too: a searchable page at your own you.shwn.to subdomain listing everything you’ve featured. The difference is that every link on it carries your affiliate tag and opens a store-choice page, so one bio link lets fans browse and buy your whole shelf, and you earn on each click.
Linktree
A Linktree holds every kind of link and is the best-known bio page there is, which is a real advantage for recognition and breadth. But it’s a list of links, not a shoppable storefront: the shopping links on it are only as good as the raw URLs you pasted into them.
Bottom line: Use Linktree as your front door if you like, and put your shownote* storefront link (or individual shownote* links) on it, so the shopping part of your bio finally earns.
shownote
shownote* never takes a cut of your affiliate commission, on any plan. Your tag, your rate, your money. Its job is to get your tag on every click and tell you where you’re leaking, not to sit between you and your earnings.
Linktree
Linktree takes no cut of your affiliate commissions either. But it does charge a percentage on sales made through its own built-in commerce (the digital products and shop it hosts for you), waived only on its top tier. That fee only applies to what you sell through Linktree, not to outbound affiliate links.
Bottom line: For affiliate links, neither takes your commission. If you also sell your own products through the bio page, Linktree’s commerce fee is worth knowing; shownote* simply isn’t in that business.
shownote
shownote*’s Insights flags clicks slipping to a store or region with no affiliate tag over a rolling 30 days and links each gap to its one-click fix, so you know exactly what to change. It reports real clicks, never a dollar figure it can’t prove.
Linktree
Linktree’s analytics show clicks and views, with device and location breakdowns on paid tiers. They’re useful for seeing what fans tap, but they’re descriptive: they don’t point at an affiliate gap or a fix, because that isn’t what a link-in-bio tool is built to do.
Bottom line: Linktree shows you what fans clicked; shownote* shows you which clicks aren’t earning yet and how to fix them in one tap.
You don’t have to leave Linktree at all. The simplest move is to keep it as your front door and swap each raw retailer link on it for a shownote* link, so every “shop this” click starts carrying your tag and offering a store choice; or drop your shownote* storefront link (you.shwn.to) onto your Linktree as the one shoppable destination. To build the links, paste each product URL and shownote* scrapes it into a choice page in under a minute; on Prime Time, Migration Concierge does your back catalog with you.
Start free, no card. Make a link that works in every store you earn from — and keeps working forever.
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