Linktree vs Milkshake
A feature-by-feature comparison based on our hands-on evaluation. 17 features differ between these tools.
Data verified
Which is better for creators, Linktree or Milkshake?
Milkshake is widely described as a free-only mobile toy, and that description is several years out of date. It has four tiers, Stripe-backed selling on every one of them including Free, a custom domain on Pro+, Google Analytics on Pro+, a Meta pixel and email capture on Pro, and 25 App Store releases in the past 24 months. It beats Linktree on two specific things: branding removal costs $2.99 a month rather than $15, and it will give you a custom domain, which Linktree does not sell at any price. Linktree wins on desktop editing, the breadth of its link apps and integrations, and selling at volume, where its 0% Premium fee eventually overtakes Milkshake's 7% floor. Below roughly $380 a month in sales, Milkshake is cheaper overall despite charging the higher rate.
Linktree
The original link-in-bio tool, used by 70M+ creators worldwide.
Milkshake
A mobile-first link-in-bio that feels like a mini website.
Scores
Scores are based on our evaluation methodology. Each criterion is scored 0-10 based on hands-on testing.
Core Features
| Feature | Linktree | Milkshake |
|---|---|---|
| Unlimited links | ||
| Custom domain | Pro+ · $10/mo | |
| Remove branding | Pro · $15/mo | Lite · $2.99/mo |
| Link scheduling | Starter · $8/mo | |
| Sensitive content warning | Starter · $8/mo | |
| Password protection | Pro · $15/mo |
Monetization
| Feature | Linktree | Milkshake |
|---|---|---|
| Digital products | ||
| Tip jar / donations | ||
| Paid links | ||
| Affiliate link support | ||
| Shopify integration | ||
| Built-in payments |
Analytics
| Feature | Linktree | Milkshake |
|---|---|---|
| Basic analytics | ||
| Click tracking | Starter · $8/mo | |
| Visitor demographics | Pro · $15/mo | |
| Conversion tracking | Pro · $15/mo | |
| Google Analytics | Pro · $15/mo | Pro+ · $10/mo |
| UTM parameters | Pro · $15/mo | Pro · $6.99/mo |
Customization
| Feature | Linktree | Milkshake |
|---|---|---|
| Custom themes | Pro · $15/mo | |
| Custom CSS | ||
| Custom fonts | Pro · $15/mo | |
| Animated backgrounds | Pro · $15/mo | |
| Button styles | Pro · $15/mo | |
| Thumbnail images |
Integrations
| Feature | Linktree | Milkshake |
|---|---|---|
| Email collection | Pro · $6.99/mo | |
| Built-in email marketing | ||
| Social icons | ||
| Music embeds | ||
| Video embeds | ||
| Zapier integration |
Pricing
Linktree
Milkshake
Both tools are more than their reputations, in opposite ways
Milkshake now runs four tiers. Free includes unlimited links and Cards, professional templates, deep colour and font customization, social icons, a QR code, 30 days of Insights and the ability to sell digital files through Stripe. Lite at $2.99 a month does exactly one thing: it removes Milkshake branding. Pro at $6.99 a month, or $59.99 a year, adds 365 days of Insights with export, a contact form Card, a mailing list syncing to Google Sheets and Mailchimp, a Meta pixel, SEO tools and a marketing campaign builder. Pro+ adds a custom domain, Google Analytics and the lowest selling fee.
The claim that Milkshake has been stagnant does not survive contact with its release history: 25 App Store releases in 24 months, ten of them in the first half of 2026 alone. The one real quiet stretch, from late August 2025 to mid-January 2026, ended with release notes explaining that the time went into a full rebuild of the underlying tech stack. Every advertised integration traces back to a dated release: Mailchimp and the Meta pixel to July 2024, custom domains to March 2025, Google Analytics to April 2025, Stripe selling to July 2026.
Linktree carries the mirror-image reputation problem. It is still called a simple link list, and its free plan alone sells digital products and courses, captures emails and phone numbers, embeds music and video and carries roughly two dozen link apps. Pro at $15 adds a design suite, Google Analytics, the Facebook Conversion API, global UTM parameters, SEO settings and AI-driven analytics; Premium adds dynamic links with smart routing and Instagram DM triggers. Its real limits sit elsewhere: no custom domain on any plan, no custom CSS, no native email sending, and the design suite gated to Pro.
Read the fee table before the price table
Milkshake takes 12% on Free and Lite, 9% on Pro and 7% on Pro+, plus Stripe's processing fee. Linktree takes 12% on Free, 9% on Starter and Pro, and 0% on Premium. Milkshake's selling feature, the Sell Card, is self-described as being in beta.
Inside Milkshake, the three sensible plans for a seller converge at almost exactly the same point. Free at 12%, Pro billed annually at $5.00 a month plus 9%, and Pro+ billed annually at $8.33 a month plus 7% all cost the same at about $167 a month in sales. Below that, stay on Free. Above it, Pro+ annual is the cheapest way to sell on Milkshake, and it comes with the custom domain and Google Analytics anyway.
Across the two tools the decisive line sits higher. Linktree Premium is $35 a month with a 0% fee; Milkshake Pro+ billed annually is $8.33 a month plus 7%. Those are equal at roughly $381 a month in digital product sales. Below that Milkshake costs less in total even though its rate is worse; above it Linktree Premium wins and keeps winning. On Milkshake's quarterly Pro+ billing the crossover falls to about $357 a month.
Linktree's own ladder has crossovers worth knowing too, because most people sit on the wrong rung. Free at 12% is the cheapest option until about $267 a month in sales, at which point Starter at $8 plus 9% takes over. Premium at $35 flat becomes cheapest above about $300 a month. Pro at $15 never wins on cost alone against Starter. You buy it for the analytics and design suite, not the fee.
Where Milkshake beats Linktree outright
Branding removal. Lite is $2.99 a month; Linktree hides its footer only from Pro at $15. That is a $12 monthly gap, or about $144 a year, for the single change most people want first.
A custom domain. Milkshake Pro+ connects one; Linktree offers none on any plan at any price, and says so in its own help centre. Every other Milkshake tier sits on an msha.ke subdomain.
Free-tier design control. Deep colour and font customization is on Milkshake's free plan, along with rich text styling, desktop background customization and image cropping. Linktree's equivalent suite (advanced themes, advanced button and font styles, wallpaper images and video) moved up to Pro during 2026.
And the format itself. Milkshake builds swipeable Cards (Splash, About, Links, Contact, Top Picks and Sell), which produce something closer to a small site than a button stack. It is rated 4.89 from 14,624 App Store ratings with more than a million Android downloads, which is a stronger satisfaction signal than the product's press profile suggests. There is essentially no press profile; all the evidence is first-party plus store metadata.
The catches on Milkshake that a price table will not show you
Subscriptions are priced per website, not per account. Every one of Milkshake's App Store purchases carries "1 Website" in its name. You can run up to five Milkshake sites through account switching, but upgrading five of them means five subscriptions. If you manage multiple brands, this changes the comparison completely.
Pro+ has no monthly billing option. It is $29.99 per quarter or $99.99 a year. The "$10 a month" figure on Milkshake's pricing page is the quarterly price divided by three, not a purchasable plan.
Creation is mobile-only, on iOS 15.1 or later and Android. There is no desktop editor at all. Milkshake also has no tip jar, no affiliate link support, no Zapier, no link scheduling and no password protection, and it locks Google Analytics to its most expensive tier while a Meta pixel arrives one tier lower.
Linktree's catches are different but real. A 12% cut on free-plan sales is the highest in the category, free analytics are capped at a rolling 28-day window, and a current beta shows interstitial ads to visitors on some free pages after they click out. There is still no custom domain, no custom CSS and no way to send email from inside the product.
Who should choose what
Choose Linktree if
- You want to edit from a computer: Milkshake has no desktop editor of any kind
- You sell more than about $380 a month, where Premium's 0% fee beats Milkshake's 7% floor
- You run several pages and do not want to pay a separate subscription for each site
- You need Zapier, link scheduling, password protection, affiliate links or a tip jar, none of which Milkshake has
- You want roughly two dozen link apps and Shopify, Spring and Bonfire store integrations
Choose Milkshake if
- You build and edit everything from your phone, and a mobile-only editor is a feature not a limit
- You want branding gone cheaply: $2.99 a month against Linktree's $15
- You want a custom domain, which Milkshake gives you on Pro+ and Linktree gives you on nothing
- You want a card-based page that reads like a small site rather than a list of buttons
- You sell modestly: under roughly $380 a month, Milkshake costs less in total despite the higher fee
Frequently asked questions
Is Milkshake free?
There is a free plan, but Milkshake is no longer free-only. It runs four tiers: Free, Lite at $2.99 a month, Pro at $6.99 a month or $59.99 a year, and Pro+ at $29.99 per quarter or $99.99 a year. Free sites sit on an msha.ke subdomain with Milkshake branding, get 30 days of Insights analytics, include unlimited links and Cards, and can sell digital files through Stripe at a 12% fee.
Does Milkshake support a custom domain?
Yes, on the Pro+ plan, which costs $29.99 per quarter or $99.99 a year. Every other tier, including Pro, uses an msha.ke subdomain. This is one of the clearest points where Milkshake beats Linktree, which does not offer a custom domain on any plan free or paid and confirms as much in its help centre.
What are Milkshake's selling fees?
Milkshake takes 12% on Free and Lite, 9% on Pro and 7% on Pro+, plus Stripe's standard processing fee, with the rest going straight to the creator's connected Stripe account. Selling works on every tier, including Free. The Sell Card itself launched in July 2026 and is still self-described as being in beta, which is worth weighing before routing real revenue through it.
Is Milkshake still being actively developed?
Yes, and more actively than at any point in its history. The App Store version history shows 25 releases in 24 months, ten of them in the first half of 2026, including Stripe-backed selling in July 2026, rich text styling in March 2026 and Spanish, Portuguese and Indonesian localization in February 2026. The one genuine gap, from late August 2025 to mid-January 2026, was a full rebuild of the platform's underlying technology, stated in the release notes. Claims that Milkshake has been dormant for 18 months are wrong.
Which is cheaper for selling digital products, Linktree or Milkshake?
It depends on volume, and the crossover is higher than people expect. Milkshake Pro+ billed annually costs $8.33 a month plus a 7% fee; Linktree Premium costs $35 a month with no fee at all. Those come out equal at about $381 a month in sales. Below that, Milkshake is cheaper in total despite the worse rate; above it, Linktree Premium wins. On Milkshake's quarterly Pro+ billing the crossover falls to around $357. Note also that Milkshake charges per website, so multiple sites mean multiple subscriptions.
Can you build a Milkshake site on a computer?
No. Milkshake is mobile-only for creation, running on iOS 15.1 or later and on Android, with no desktop editor at all. Linktree offers both a web dashboard and a mobile app. If you expect to manage your page from a laptop, this is the single most consequential difference between the two products, and no amount of feature comparison changes it.
Editorial note: All tools are evaluated using the same methodology. Feature and pricing data was verified against each vendor's own documentation on , and the written analysis above was last reviewed on .