What is the best affiliate software in 2026?
Start with how you bill (Stripe subscriptions or a Shopify store), then look hard at what the tool takes once your program starts working.
Affiliate software gives every partner, creator or customer a unique link, tracks the sales that come from it, works out commissions and helps you pay them. It does not hand you an audience: that is what networks like Awin or CJ sell. Here you run your own program, with partners you recruit.
The short answer: Rewardful if you bill through Stripe and want to be live this week for $49 a month; FirstPromoter if you need several campaigns, multi-tier commissions or payouts to European partners; Tolt if your program is already growing and you want zero payout fees; ReferralCandy or UpPromote on Shopify; GrowSurf for referral programs with thousands of users; impact.com when you are heading toward an enterprise partner program; Tapfiliate if you sell across several platforms.
What most "best of" lists skip: many tools take a percentage of your sales on top of the subscription. At $10,000 of referred sales a month, two Shopify apps can be more than $800 apart. We run the numbers below.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored placement is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
The best affiliate software for each case
Unlimited affiliates and 0% fees from $49
Multi-campaign and multi-tierThree campaigns on the $49 Starter plan
No payout feesGrowth at $99 up to $20,000 partner revenue
Customer referrals on ShopifyFees only on a referral's first 3 orders
Small Shopify storeFree up to $3,000 in referred sales
Enterprise partner programStarter at $30 plus 2.5% for online stores
Eight affiliate tools and what they take
The price column shows the entry subscription and, where there is one, the revenue share. The second number matters more than the first once affiliates start selling.
| Best for | Where it wins | Free plan | Team size | Visit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rewardful | Best for a first program on Stripe | Unlimited affiliates on the entry plan | 4.2/5 | Starter $49/mo, 0% revenue share | — | SaaS up to $7,500 affiliate revenue on Starter | Visit → |
| 2 | FirstPromoter | Best for multi-campaign programs | Multi-tier, EU VAT invoices | 4.3/5 | Starter $49/mo, 0% revenue share | — | SaaS from first affiliates to $15,000+ | Visit → |
| 3 | Tolt | Best for zero payout fees | Widest revenue cap at $99 | 4.0/5 | Growth $99/mo, 0% revenue share | — | SaaS with $5,000 to $50,000 partner revenue | Visit → |
| 4 | ReferralCandy | Best for Shopify customer referrals | Turnkey referrals with Klaviyo | 3.8/5 | Basic $39/mo + 10.5%; Grow $79 + 3.5% | — | Shopify store with repeat buyers | Visit → |
| 5 | UpPromote | Best for small Shopify stores | Free plan to start | 3.8/5 | Free up to $3,000 in sales; Growth $29.99 + 2% | ✓ | Shopify store, $0 to $20,000 affiliate sales | Visit → |
| 6 | GrowSurf | Best for high-volume referrals | Pay-on-success affiliate plan | 3.7/5 | Affiliates: $0 + 3%; referrals from $449 | — | Consumer apps and SaaS with thousands of users | Visit → |
| 7 | impact.com | Best for enterprise partnerships | Starter plan for online stores | 3.8/5 | Starter $30/mo + 2.5%; Essentials $500 | — | Online stores, then enterprise programs | Visit → |
| 8 | Tapfiliate | Best for multi-platform sellers | 30+ integrations | 3.7/5 | Launch $89/mo ($74 yearly) | — | Brands selling across several platforms | Visit → |
Monthly prices before tax as published by each vendor in 2026. Affiliate commissions and PayPal or Wise fees come on top for every tool.
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
How we compared these tools
Most pages ranking for "best affiliate software" are written by the vendors themselves. Each puts its own product first, quotes a starting price, and moves on. None of them adds the revenue share to the subscription, and few separate affiliate programs from customer referral programs.
We read every vendor's official pricing page (tiers, revenue caps, percentages, contracts, trial terms) and then went through user reviews looking for complaints first: surprise charges, painful cancellations, manual payouts. We have no full review of these tools in our Labs yet, so each score is built from the five weighted criteria below and stays the same on every page we publish. FirstPromoter scores a notch higher, but Rewardful ranks first: for most readers billing through Stripe, it is the faster and cheaper first step.
Three tools sit in honorable mentions. PartnerStack runs B2B partner programs with a partner marketplace, on quote only. Post Affiliate Pro starts at $89 a month with 10,000 tracking requests. Affilae is the pick for a French brand that wants euro pricing and hands-on onboarding, from €99 a month plus 2.5% of validated sales.
- Features and depthRecurring and multi-tier commissions, referrals, fraud checks, branded portal.30%
- Value for moneyTotal cost at $5,000 and $15,000 of affiliate revenue, revenue share included.25%
- Available integrationsStripe, Paddle, Chargebee, Shopify, PayPal and Wise payouts.20%
- Ease of useSetup without a developer, a clear dashboard for affiliates.15%
- Customer support and assistanceResponse time, cancellation, refunds after a trial.10%
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored placement is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Rewardful
Rewardful shows up on nearly every shortlist for SaaS affiliate tools, and the reason is simple: it connects to Stripe without code work, and a non-technical founder can run it. Affiliates are unlimited from the $49 Starter plan, and Rewardful takes no transaction fee.
Starter is also the most generous entry plan here: up to $7,500 of affiliate revenue per month, versus $5,000 on FirstPromoter at the same price. The trade-off is one campaign and two team members. A branded portal and custom domain come with Growth at $99.
The long-running complaint from users was manual payouts: export a file, pay through PayPal or Wise yourself. Rewardful now offers Managed Payouts at 3% of the amount paid out. Handy, but on $2,000 of monthly commissions that is $60 more. Other reviewers call it pricey at low volume and find reporting thin.
Tip: yearly billing gives you 12 months for the price of 10. Wait until you have a month or two of real affiliate traffic before you commit.
- Connects to Stripe without code
- Unlimited affiliates from $49
- $7,500 affiliate revenue on Starter
- ✓0% transaction fees
- ✓Fastest setup in this list
- ✓Bulk PayPal and Wise payouts
- ✗One campaign on Starter
- ✗Managed Payouts cost 3%
- ✗Reporting called basic by some users
The quickest way to launch a SaaS affiliate program. Move to FirstPromoter if you need several campaigns on day one.
FirstPromoter
FirstPromoter does more out of the box than any other SaaS tool here. It reads Stripe, Paddle, Chargebee, Recurly and Braintree, pays recurring commissions, and supports up to three tiers, so an affiliate earns on sales from the affiliates they recruited. Three campaigns on the $49 Starter plan let you run an affiliate program and a customer referral program with different rewards.
If you pay partners in Europe, the $99 Business plan generates reverse-charge VAT invoices and pays out through PayPal in one click. Campaigns can also be shown in French, German, Spanish and Portuguese. Team seats are unlimited on every plan.
Watch the caps: Starter stops at $5,000 of monthly affiliate revenue and 1,000 affiliates, and FirstPromoter moves you up to the next tier automatically when you go over.
What users say: support is the first thing people praise. The usual criticism is a learning curve in setup, and there is no marketplace to find new affiliates.
- Recurring and 3-tier commissions
- Three campaigns from $49
- Reverse-charge VAT invoices on Business
- ✓Unlimited team seats
- ✓No cut of your revenue
- ✓Trial without a credit card
- ✗Automatic upgrade past the cap
- ✗1,000 affiliates max on Starter
- ✗No affiliate marketplace
The most complete SaaS tool for the price. Pick it over Rewardful the moment you need more than one campaign.
Tolt
Tolt competes on headroom. Its Growth plan at $99 a month covers up to $20,000 of partner revenue, while Rewardful and FirstPromoter top out at $15,000 for the same price. It works with Stripe, Paddle and Chargebee.
Two practical wins: Tolt charges nothing on affiliate payouts, and your portal can run on your own domain from Growth. Add a 14-day trial with no card and a 30-day refund window, and it is the lowest-risk tool here to try.
The catch is that there is no entry plan. Under $5,000 of affiliate revenue you pay $99 where Rewardful asks $49. Fraud screening (Radar) and removing the "Powered by Tolt" badge both need Pro at $199. If self-referrals or fake signups worry you, budget for Pro.
- $20,000 cap on Growth
- No payout fees
- Portal on your domain
- ✓Most headroom at $99
- ✓30-day refund window
- ✓Stripe, Paddle and Chargebee
- ✗No plan under $99
- ✗Fraud tools only on Pro
- ✗Tolt badge on the Growth portal
Best value per dollar once your program is moving. Too much for a first experiment.
ReferralCandy
ReferralCandy sticks to one job: customer referrals for online stores. After checkout, the buyer gets a link; when a friend orders through it, both get a reward. Merchants rate the app highly and single out the support team and the Klaviyo integration.
Pricing has two parts, a subscription and a success fee. The good part: the fee only applies to a new referred customer's first three orders, calculated on subtotal before tax and shipping. The bad part: on Basic it is 10.5%. At $10,000 of referred sales, Basic costs $1,089 a month and Grow $429. Grow becomes cheaper than Basic at roughly $600 of referred sales a month, so most active stores should skip Basic.
Negative reviews cluster around billing that started after install before the program went live, cancellations that took effort, and discount codes failing on Shopify's newer checkout. The 7-day trial starts on activation, not install: activate it the day you launch.
- Fees capped at first 3 orders
- Klaviyo integration
- No contract
- ✓Fee excludes tax and shipping
- ✓Support praised by merchants
- ✓Rewards both referrer and friend
- ✗10.5% on Basic
- ✗Surprise charges reported
- ✗Check codes on the new checkout
The most polished customer referral app for Shopify. Go straight to Grow once orders come in.
UpPromote
UpPromote has close to 4,000 merchant reviews on Shopify and is the only tool in this ranking with a free plan. Free runs one program up to $3,000 of referred sales: enough to see whether your creators actually sell.
After that, Growth is $29.99 a month plus 2% of referred sales. At $10,000 that is about $230 a month, roughly half of ReferralCandy Grow. The percentage drops on higher plans: 1.5% on Professional, 1% on Enterprise. Professional pays for itself above $12,000 of referred sales a month.
Reviews are overwhelmingly positive. Recent complaints mention $89 charges without use (later refunded), billing after uninstall, poorly filtered marketplace affiliates, and no per-product commission rates. If your margins differ a lot between products, check that last point first.
- Free up to $3,000
- Built-in affiliate marketplace
- Lower % on higher plans
- ✓Cheapest for a small store
- ✓Set up from Shopify
- ✓14-day trial on paid plans
- ✗Shopify only
- ✗Marketplace affiliates need vetting
- ✗Billing after uninstall reported
The best starting point on Shopify. Check your Shopify bill the month you uninstall.
GrowSurf
GrowSurf sells two products. Its referral software is priced by participants (anyone holding a referral link): Business starts at $449 a month for 10,000 participants and reaches $879 for 50,000. Expensive for a small user base, fair for an app trying to make referrals a growth channel.
Its affiliate product has no subscription: $0 a month plus 3% of referred revenue collected, refunds excluded, no contract or setup fee. That is $150 a month at $5,000 of affiliate revenue and $450 at $15,000. Zero fixed cost protects a launch, but the model becomes the priciest in this list once it works.
Commissions and PayPal or Wise fees are on top, as everywhere else.
- No-subscription affiliate plan
- Referrals up to 50,000 participants
- Refunds excluded from the 3%
- ✓Zero fixed cost to test
- ✓No contract
- ✓Built for consumer referral loops
- ✗3% gets pricey past $3,000
- ✗Referral plan costly under 10,000 users
- ✗Payout fees on top
A no-risk way to launch affiliates. Switch to a flat-fee tool once you pass $3,000 a month.
impact.com
impact.com is the heavyweight here, built for brands that manage hundreds of partners. With its Starter plan at $30 a month plus 2.5% of revenue for Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce stores, with a 30-day trial, smaller stores can get in too.
The jump after Starter is steep. Essentials is $500 a month, Pro $2,500, and every plan above Starter needs a 12-month contract and setup billed at $250 an hour. At $5,000 of revenue, Starter costs about $155 a month ($30 plus $125 of revenue share), three times Rewardful's Starter. At $15,000 the share alone reaches $375, so the bill climbs to about $405 while flat-fee tools stay at $99.
Pick it if you know you will grow into a large partner program and want to avoid a migration later. For a SaaS on Stripe, the three tools at the top of this page do the job for less.
- Starter for WooCommerce and BigCommerce
- Built for large partner programs
- 30-day Starter trial
- ✓Low-cost entry for online stores
- ✓Room to grow without migrating
- ✓Deep partner management
- ✗12-month contract above Starter
- ✗$250/hour setup on paid tiers
- ✗2.5% share on Starter
Right for brands planning a serious partner channel. Overkill for a first SaaS program.
Tapfiliate
Tapfiliate is the generalist: over 30 integrations, Shopify and Stripe included, with tracking accuracy and fast human support that long-time customers keep mentioning.
The weak spot is the entry plan. Launch at $89 a month caps you at one program, 50 affiliates, 5,000 clicks and 500 conversions a month, and one seat. Overages cost $1.50 per 1,000 clicks and $15 per 1,000 conversions. Scale at $179 unlocks unlimited affiliates and programs, 100,000 clicks, 10,000 conversions, multi-level commissions and automated payouts.
The most common complaint: the paid plan starts automatically when the 14-day trial ends, with no reminder, and some users were refused a refund. Set a calendar reminder the day you sign up.
- 30+ integrations
- Multi-level on Scale
- Accurate tracking per reviewers
- ✓One program across all stores
- ✓Fast human support
- ✓Automated payouts on Scale
- ✗Only 50 affiliates on Launch
- ✗Overage fees on clicks and conversions
- ✗Auto-billing after the trial
Worth it if you sell on several platforms. On Stripe alone, Rewardful does the same for less.
What you actually pay once affiliates start selling
The sticker price is half the bill. The rest depends on your affiliate revenue: tiers that move up on their own, revenue share, payout fees. Here are the numbers, using only vendor-published prices.
A SaaS at $5,000 and $15,000 of affiliate revenue
Per month, before commissions. At $5,000: Rewardful Starter $49, FirstPromoter Starter $49, Tolt Growth $99, GrowSurf affiliate $150, impact.com Starter about $155. At $15,000: Rewardful Growth $99, FirstPromoter Business $99, Tolt Growth $99, GrowSurf $450. Against revenue share, flat-fee tools cost up to three times less at $5,000 and four and a half times less at $15,000.
A Shopify store at $10,000 of referred sales
ReferralCandy Basic: $39 plus $1,050, so $1,089. ReferralCandy Grow: $79 plus $350, so $429. UpPromote Growth: $29.99 plus $200, about $230. ReferralCandy only charges on each new customer's first three orders, so your real bill drops if referred customers reorder often.
Tiers that upgrade themselves
Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tolt price by monthly affiliate revenue. Cross the cap and you move to the next tier: from $49 to $99 at FirstPromoter past $5,000, at Rewardful past $7,500. Not a trap (your program earns more), but plan for it.
Affiliate network or affiliate software?
A network such as Awin or CJ gives you access to thousands of publishers who already joined, in exchange for fees and a cut of each sale. Software like the tools above brings you no affiliates: it tracks and pays the ones you recruit. With no partners yet, start by signing ten motivated creators or customers on software; a network makes sense when you want volume without recruiting it yourself.
- Match the tool to your billing: Stripe, Paddle or Chargebee for SaaS, Shopify for a store.
- Price it at the affiliate revenue you expect in six months, not today.
- Add any revenue share to the subscription.
- Check who pays payout fees: you or the tool.
- Write down the trial end date and any contract length when you sign up.
- Ask how the tool handles invoices and tax forms for affiliates abroad.
Six steps to a program without billing surprises
Each step targets a problem users of these tools report again and again: charges after trials, manual payouts, fake affiliates.
Pick affiliates, referrals or both
PlanningAffiliate programs pay outside partners (creators, bloggers, consultants), usually in cash and often every month the customer stays. Referral programs reward your customers, usually with a discount or credit. Many SaaS companies want both; FirstPromoter runs them as separate campaigns from $49.
- Affiliates
- Partners, cash commission
- Referrals
- Customers, discount or credit
Set a commission you can sustain
PlanningFor subscriptions, a recurring commission motivates more than a one-off bounty, but put a time limit on it (12 months, for example) to protect your margin. Multi-tier commissions belong only in programs where affiliates actually recruit other affiliates.
- Recurring
- FirstPromoter, Rewardful, Tolt
- Multi-tier
- FirstPromoter, Tapfiliate Scale
Guard the end of your trial
Sign-upThree tools here have user reports of unexpected charges. Tapfiliate starts billing on its own after 14 days. ReferralCandy and UpPromote bill through Shopify, which sometimes keeps charging after an uninstall. Set a reminder two days before the trial ends.
On Shopify, cancel inside the app, then confirm in your store's billing settings that the charge is gone.
- No card needed
- FirstPromoter, Tolt
- Shortest trial
- ReferralCandy, 7 days
Sort out payouts from day one
SetupPay commissions monthly, after your refund window closes. Tolt takes nothing on payouts; Rewardful's managed service costs 3%; the others rely on bulk PayPal or Wise payouts, whose fees you cover. Set a minimum payout ($50, for example) so you are not sending dozens of tiny transfers.
- No tool fee
- Tolt
- Managed payouts
- Rewardful, 3%
Handle invoices for partners abroad
SetupBusiness affiliates invoice you for their commission. Partners in the EU need reverse-charge VAT invoices; FirstPromoter Business generates them for you. Elsewhere, collect invoices before you pay and file them with the month's records.
- Automatic EU invoices
- FirstPromoter Business, $99
Screen out fake affiliates
RunningThe classic case: someone signs up as an affiliate to earn commission on their own purchase, or marketplace affiliates show up as duplicates. Approve sign-ups by hand at first, ban self-referrals in your terms, and pay only after the refund window. Tolt keeps its fraud tools for Pro at $199.
- Built-in fraud tools
- Tolt Pro
- Payout delay
- Your refund window
More pages for your setup
An affiliate program works better with the right tools around it.
Track partners and trials in one place.
You want to activate affiliates by emailEmail marketing for SaaSTools to keep partners and trial users engaged.
You run an online storeEcommerce email marketingFollow up with referred customers after their first order.
Your store runs on ShopifyEmail marketing for ShopifyThe email tools that plug into Shopify best.
Affiliate software · FAQ
What is the difference between affiliate and referral software?
Affiliate software pays outside partners for sales they bring in; referral software rewards your own customers when a friend buys. Partners usually get cash, customers a discount or credit. Tracking works the same way (a link or code per person), which is why tools like FirstPromoter can run both as separate campaigns.How much does affiliate software cost?
Between $0 and $250 a month for most small businesses, plus any revenue share. UpPromote is free up to $3,000 of referred sales, Rewardful and FirstPromoter start at $49, Tolt at $99, ReferralCandy at $39 plus 10.5%. impact.com has a Starter plan at $30 a month plus 2.5% of revenue for stores, then Essentials and Pro at $500 to $2,500 a month on a 12-month contract. PartnerStack quotes on request.What is the best affiliate software for Stripe?
Rewardful for the simplest start, FirstPromoter if you need several campaigns or multi-tier commissions, Tolt if you want the highest revenue cap at $99 and no payout fees. All three read Stripe subscriptions directly and pay recurring commissions automatically.What is the best affiliate app for Shopify?
UpPromote for a small store, thanks to its free plan up to $3,000 of referred sales. ReferralCandy if you mainly want customers to refer friends, ideally on the Grow plan. impact.com Starter if you expect to scale into a large partner program.How do I pay affiliates in other countries?
Through bulk PayPal or Wise payouts, from the tool or by export. You usually cover those fees. For business partners in the EU, ask for a reverse-charge VAT invoice; FirstPromoter Business generates it for you.Do I need an affiliate network like Awin or CJ?
Only if you want affiliates without recruiting them yourself. A network connects you to thousands of publishers for fees and a share of sales. Software is cheaper but brings nobody. Many brands start with software, their customers and a few creators, then add a network later.What if I get charged after a free trial?
Contact support right away with your sign-up date and ask for a refund. On Shopify, cancel inside the app and check your store's billing page, where the charge can stay active. Prefer trials that need no card (FirstPromoter, Tolt) and note the end date when you sign up.Is there free affiliate software?
UpPromote has a free plan for one Shopify program up to $3,000 of referred sales. GrowSurf's affiliate product has no subscription but takes 3% of referred revenue. impact.com Starter is paid after a 30-day trial, and everything else in this list after a 7 or 14 day trial.