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Direct answers to the questions founders ask about affiliate programs
One page per question. The answer in the first hundred words. Every figure linked to the document it came from, and dated. Written for the founder running their first program on Stripe or Paddle.
The answers
Which question do you have?
- White label · on the comparison pagesWhite label affiliate software: twenty platforms on five questions, with the plan that answers eachFive white-label questions put to twenty affiliate platforms' own pages on 7 September 2026: your brand on the portal, your own domain, the powered-by link on the entry plan, an embedded dashboard, and full white label, with the plan that delivers each.
- What programs payWhat SaaS affiliate programs pay: the rewards on 358 public program pages, countedThe commission rate, duration and holding period printed on all 358 public program pages in Dub's partner marketplace, pulled and counted on 7 September 2026, with the dataset and the script to re-run it.
- Tolt vs Rewardful · on the comparison pagesTolt vs Rewardful: who is cheaper in each band, and two managed payout routes at two pricesTwo affiliate tools compared from their own pages. One starts at $49 and wins under $7,500 a month; the other starts at $69 and wins from $7,500 to $10,000 and from $15,000 to $20,000. One pays affiliates for a flat 3% by request; the other for 2% plus an invoice fee from its $99 plan, with tax forms bundled.
- Tolt vs FirstPromoter · on the comparison pagesTolt vs FirstPromoter: FirstPromoter under $5,000, Tolt from $5,000 to $10,000 and $15,000 to $20,000, and two managed payout routesTolt and FirstPromoter compared from their own pages. FirstPromoter is $49 and cheaper under $5,000 a month; Tolt is $69 and cheaper from $5,000 to $10,000 and from $15,000 to $20,000. Tolt's auto payouts start at $99 for 2% plus an invoice fee with tax forms bundled; FirstPromoter's managed route carries no merchant fee and needs Enterprise 2.
- Tolt, reviewed from its own pages · on the comparison pagesTolt review: what its own pages say about price, auto payouts, the per-plan counts and the branded portalTolt's plans, its auto payouts at 2% plus an invoice fee, its per-plan counts and its branded portal, read off its own pages. $69 to $199 a month, banded by affiliate revenue.
- Tolt pricing · on the comparison pagesTolt pricing in 2026: the bands, the auto payout fee, and the bill at four sizesTolt's four plans, the $10,000, $20,000 and $50,000 band edges, the per-plan counts, the 2% plus $8 or 4% auto payout fee, and the monthly bill at four program sizes from the calculator on 7 September 2026.
- Tapfiliate review · on the comparison pagesTapfiliate review: what its own pages say about the meter, the plans, payouts and StripeTapfiliate's three plans priced on clicks and conversions, the charge per thousand clicks and conversions above the plan, the Launch limits, the Trolley payout route from Scale, the three tracking methods and the Stripe integration that needs a developer, read off Tapfiliate's own pages on 6 and 7 September 2026.
- Rewardful vs Tapfiliate · on the comparison pagesRewardful vs Tapfiliate: one banded by revenue, one metered by clicks, and who holds the payout on eachTwo affiliate tools compared from their own pages. One is SaaS-only on Stripe and Paddle Classic, from $49, banded by affiliate revenue, with managed payouts at 3%. The other covers shops and six partner types, from $89, metered by clicks and conversions, with payouts through your own Trolley account and no cut.
- Rewardful vs FirstPromoter · on the comparison pagesRewardful vs FirstPromoter: same prices at every step but one, so the billing system and the payout route decideTwo affiliate tools compared from their own pages: both $49 then $99 then Enterprise from $149, both on a 60-day cookie. One reads three more billing systems and puts tax forms on its plan table. The other has an affiliate search engine and a managed payout route for 3% that names no plan gate.
- Rewardful, reviewed from its own pages · on the comparison pagesRewardful review: what its own pages say about price, payouts, tracking and the affiliate searchRewardful's plans, its 3% Managed Payouts, its 60-day cookie and its affiliate search, read off its own pages. $49 to $149 a month, banded by affiliate revenue.
- Rewardful pricing · on the comparison pagesRewardful pricing in 2026: the bands, the 3%, and the bill at four sizesRewardful's three plans, the $7,500 and $15,000 band edges, two months free on annual billing, the 3% Managed Payouts fee, and the monthly bill at four program sizes from the calculator on 7 September 2026.
- Referral or affiliateReferral program vs affiliate program: who refers, what they get, and whether one tool runs bothA referral program rewards your customers with product for sending a friend. An affiliate program pays outsiders cash for the sales they bring. What each costs, what seven platforms print about running both, and what 358 public programs show.
- Payouts by Stripe ConnectPaying affiliates through Stripe Connect: what it costs, what the affiliate must do, and whose account the money leavesStripe Connect as an affiliate payout route: Stripe's own two pricing models, the per-account and per-payout fees, what the affiliate has to do, and what Stripe means on the five platforms that name it, beside PayPal and Wise.
- PartnerStack review · on the comparison pagesPartnerStack review: what its own pages say about Spark, the network, payouts and pricePartnerStack's four plans, the one printed price, the partner network Spark does not include, how partners are paid and by whom, the 90-day cookie and the redirect links, read off PartnerStack's own pages on 6 September 2026.
- PartnerStack pricing · on the comparison pagesPartnerStack pricing in 2026: Spark at $0 plus 10%, the demo-priced plans, and the bill at four sizesPartnerStack's Spark plan at $0 a month plus a 10% processing fee on every commission, the three demo-priced plans and what each prints, who holds the money, and Spark's bill at four program sizes from the calculator on 7 September 2026.
- Partner software, against affiliate software · on the comparison pagesPartner program software for SaaS: what the three partner platforms add, and what the extra costsPartner program software runs relationships that go past a link: resellers, agencies, deal registration, a network. Three platforms are built for it. What each adds over affiliate software, in the vendors' own words, and what the monthly price and the payout cut come to.
- The guideHow to run an affiliate program for your SaaS: every decision, in orderThe eight decisions behind a SaaS affiliate program, in the order they have to be made: whether to run one, what to pay, which software, how the sale is tracked, what the rules say, where partners come from, how they are paid, and what to read each month. Each step links the page that answers it.
- What a program costsHow much does an affiliate program cost? The four lines, pricedThe four lines a SaaS affiliate program costs, priced from the calculator, 358 public program pages, PayPal's and Wise's fee pages and the largest dataset of when partners first refer: software from $0 to $500, commission at about 25% for a year, payout fees from 0% to 10% on most platforms, and the hours.
- FirstPromoter vs Tapfiliate · on the comparison pagesFirstPromoter vs Tapfiliate: five billing systems against thirty-plus integrations, and two payout gatesTwo affiliate tools compared from their own pages. One is SaaS-first, from $49, banded by affiliate revenue, reading five billing systems, with a managed payout route at no merchant fee right now, gated to Enterprise 2. The other covers shops and six partner types, from $89, metered by clicks and conversions, with payouts through your own Trolley account on its $179 plan.
- FirstPromoter, reviewed from its own pages · on the comparison pagesFirstPromoter review: what its own pages say about price, five billing systems, three ways to pay and the plan tableFirstPromoter's plans, its three payout routes, its five billing systems and its 60-day cookie, read off its own pages. $49 to $149 a month, banded by affiliate revenue.
- FirstPromoter pricing · on the comparison pagesFirstPromoter pricing in 2026: the $5,000 band, the payout routes, and the bill at four sizesFirstPromoter's three plans, the $5,000 and $15,000 band edges, the counts printed in words, the three payout routes and the managed one on Enterprise 2, and the monthly bill at four program sizes from the calculator on 7 September 2026.
- Dub Partners review · on the comparison pagesDub Partners review: what its own pages say about the payout band, the fees, tax forms and trackingDub's three plans banded on partner payouts, the 5% ACH and 8% card fees, W-9, W-8 and 1099-NEC handling, the holding period and minimum payout options, the via parameter and 90-day cookie, and the Stripe and Shopify integrations, read off Dub's own pages on 5, 6 and 8 September 2026.
- PaybackDoes an affiliate program pay for itself? The payback maths, with every assumption labelledA year-one payback table for a $50-a-month plan at 25% commission with 100 approved partners at the median rate of partners who ever refer, every input from a dataset on this site and every assumption labelled, plus the low case, the empty case and the day-49 decision point.
- Cheapest affiliate software · on the comparison pagesThe cheapest affiliate software for SaaS: twenty platforms ranked by the monthly billTwenty affiliate platforms ranked by sticker price and by the whole bill with automated payouts, at $2,000 and $10,000 of monthly affiliate revenue, from the calculator on 7 September 2026.
- Recurring commissions · on the comparison pagesAffiliate software with recurring commissions: twenty platforms on the plan, the duration, and the refundFive recurring-commission questions put to twenty affiliate platforms' own pages on 7 September 2026: which plan pays on every renewal, the duration options, what happens on a refund or cancellation in the vendor's words, the Stripe events each reads, and whether one-time and recurring can share a program.
- Pricing models compared · on the comparison pagesAffiliate software pricing comparison: five models, twenty platforms, where every price jumpsTwenty affiliate platforms sorted into five pricing models, with each vendor's band edges, overage and published cut of payouts, read off their own pages via the calculator on 7 September 2026.
- Affiliate software for startups · on the comparison pagesAffiliate software for startups: what is free to try, what the first month costs, and what comes off each payoutTwenty affiliate tools read for the three things a startup cares about: whether you can try it free and without a card, what the first paid month costs, and the payout fee. A payout fee is a cut the tool takes from the money on its way to the affiliate. Fifteen have a trial, four a free tier, ten publish no cut, and eight pass all three tests.
- Affiliate software for SaaS · on the comparison pagesAffiliate software for SaaS: twenty tools on one table, and the five checks that decide itTwenty affiliate tools for SaaS from each vendor's own pricing page and docs: the entry price, how the price moves, the payout fee, the billing systems it reads and the trial. Then the five checks, in the order they remove tools from the list.
- What the software does · on the comparison pagesAffiliate program software: the eight steps from click to payout, and where the tools differ on eachWhat affiliate program software does, in the order the money moves: click, referral, lead, customer, sale, commission, balance, payout. What each step needs from the tool, the defaults that matter, and where twenty tools differ.
- The program pageWhat to put on an affiliate program landing page: 358 public program pages, countedWhat 358 public affiliate program landing pages in Dub's marketplace carry, counted on 7 September 2026: the FAQ questions partners are answered most, the blocks, the earnings calculator, the titles, and the five-block page the data points to.
- The agreementAffiliate program agreement template: twelve plain-English clauses to paste, with the source of eachA twelve-clause affiliate program agreement in plain English, to paste and edit: the reward, the hold, payment, four traffic rules from the manual, attribution, tax forms, disclosure, acceptance by version, and ending it. Defaults from 358 public programs. Not legal advice.
- Payouts by PayoneerAffiliate payouts via Payoneer: what it costs the sender and the partner, beside PayPal and WiseWhat Payoneer charges to send a payout, what the partner pays to receive and withdraw it, the same thirty-payout batch priced on Payoneer, PayPal and Wise from each provider's own page, and which affiliate platforms print Payoneer as a method.
- OnboardingAffiliate onboarding: the first 49 days, timed to the activation data, with the five messages to sendActivation is the share of approved partners who ever refer anyone. A five-message affiliate onboarding sequence timed to that data: a quarter of the partners who ever refer do so within eight hours, half within seven days, three quarters by day 49. What each message says, and when to stop.
- Automation · on the comparison pagesAffiliate marketing automation software: what twenty platforms automate, and the click that remainsSix automation questions put to twenty affiliate platforms' own pages on 7 September 2026: partner approval, commissions from billing events, refund correction, payouts, tax forms and partner emails, with the plan and the click or invoice that remains on each.
- Cookie durationAffiliate cookie duration: twenty platforms' defaults, the settings, and what Safari does to themThe default cookie window on twenty affiliate platforms from their own pages on 7 September 2026 (30, 45, 60 or 90 days), whether you can change it and per what, where the cookie is set, first or last click, and what Safari's tracking prevention does to every one of them.
- Who holds the moneyIs your affiliate tool a payment company? What three regulators say about holding the moneyThe FCA, the EU's payment services directive and FinCEN each contain a test for who is moving money: whose agent the software is, and whether it ever holds client funds. What that means for the two ways affiliate tools pay, and what it changes about the price.
- Stripe integrations, tool by tool · on the comparison pagesStripe affiliate program integration: how thirteen tools connect, what carries the click, and what each can writeThirteen affiliate tools' Stripe guides read on one day. Nine connect by authorisation and one takes a key. The click travels as client_reference_id on hosted checkout or as one metadata field from your server. Only two give a full account of what they write back to your Stripe.
- VAT on affiliate commissionSelf-billing and the reverse charge: paying affiliates from the UK or EU without a VAT messSelf-billing is writing your affiliate's invoice for them. Why a UK or EU founder accounts for VAT on commission, what HMRC's rules require, the VAT-registration condition that gets dropped in summaries, and what the invoice must say for an EU affiliate.
- Affiliate software for Polar · on the comparison pagesPolar affiliate program: there is none built in, and here are the two tools that connectPolar has no built-in affiliate program. Its own docs carry one integration guide, for one affiliate tool, and one more tool documents a Polar webhook. A webhook is a message Polar sends to another service when an order happens. How the click reaches Polar as checkout metadata, the ten-scope token, and Polar's September 2026 signing change.
- Paying across currenciesPaying affiliates in another currency: where the 4% goes, and how to pay euros from eurosA converted payout costs a 4.00% spread on PayPal and from 0.24% at the mid-market rate on Wise. The three currencies PayPal will not convert, and how to hold a balance per currency so most payouts never convert.
- Minimum payouts · on the comparison pagesWhat minimum payout should you set for affiliates? Six thresholds, and the arithmetic behind the numberSix programs' minimum payout rules read off their own pages, the per-payment fee arithmetic on PayPal and Wise, and how the minimum sits beside the refund hold and the payout date.
- A merchant of record's built-in program · on the comparison pagesThe built-in affiliate program on a merchant of record: what the 3% buys, the fixed calendar, and when a tool beats itA merchant of record is a company that sells in its own name and handles the tax. One of them switches an affiliate program on for every store, at 3% of each referred order on top of its platform fee, paid on a fixed calendar with a 30-day hold. Its own $20 example line by line, and the three outside tools that connect.
- When a payout does not arriveFailed and unclaimed affiliate payouts: the three causes, the 30-day rule and what to tell the affiliateWhy affiliate payouts fail, what PayPal does with an unclaimed payment after 30 days, four habits that stop it, what the software should do, and the message to send the affiliate.
- Affiliate software for Chargebee · on the comparison pagesChargebee affiliate software: the two tools with a guide, the two without, and the one that does not connectTwo affiliate tools publish a Chargebee guide, one lists it, one takes forwarded payments through its API, and AffiliateRail does not connect to Chargebee today. How the click id travels through a custom field or metadata, and what the webhook setup asks for.
- Affiliate tracking in Next.jsAffiliate tracking for a Next.js SaaS: one script tag, one cookie read, one metadata fieldHow affiliate tracking fits a Next.js App Router app: the script in the root layout, the awaited cookies() call in a server action, and the metadata field on the Stripe customer. From the Next.js docs and AffiliateRail's guides.
- Affiliate software with an API · on the comparison pagesAffiliate software with an API: eleven references side by side, on sign-in, limits, writes and retriesEleven affiliate tools publish an API. Read on one day and set in one table: how each signs you in, the published rate limit as a per-minute figure, what you can write, which promise a safe retry, and which publish OpenAPI, an llms.txt index or an MCP server.
- Tax forms, vendor by vendor · on the comparison pagesAffiliate software that handles tax forms: what "handles" means on eleven platformsThe payer of record is whoever's name is on the payment, and it decides who files. Eleven platforms' published positions on W-9, W-8BEN and 1099 forms, sorted by who the payer is, plus the 1099-K against 1099-NEC trap.
- Affiliate software for Paddle · on the comparison pagesAffiliate software for Paddle: which tools connect, and how the click id rides every renewalFive affiliate tools document a Paddle Billing setup, two more list Paddle, one connects to Paddle Classic only, and two run on Stripe alone. How the click id travels through custom data, what the connection takes, and whether commission is paid on the gross or the net.
- Automatic payouts, vendor by vendor · on the comparison pagesAffiliate software with automatic payouts: what "automatic" means on each platformTwenty platforms say automatic payouts. Behind the phrase sit three designs: the tool invoices you and pays from its own account, hands you a file, or pays from your own PayPal, Wise or Stripe. Which is which, and what each costs, from every vendor's own page.
- Paying affiliates through WiseAffiliate payouts via Wise: the fee, the rate, the 1,000-transfer batch and who approves itWhat Wise Business charges to pay an affiliate, how a batch of up to 1,000 transfers works, which businesses must approve each transfer, and when PayPal is the better payout method.
- Paying affiliates through PayPalAffiliate payouts via PayPal: the four numbers, the 30-day rule and when Wise is the better choiceWhat PayPal Payouts charges to pay an affiliate, the $20,000 per-payment cap, the 30-day unclaimed rule, and when Wise is the better payout method. Every figure from PayPal's own pages, dated.
- When affiliates get paid · on the comparison pagesWhen should affiliates get paid? Hold periods, payout cycles and NET terms on eight platformsA hold period is the wait after each sale for refunds. The hold, the cycle and the payout date on eight platforms, read off their own pages, plus the arithmetic from a sale on the 3rd to the money arriving.
- From the other side of itWhere SaaS affiliates actually come from, by someone who was oneSeven places to find affiliates for a SaaS, ranked by what each produces, plus the half nobody covers: why an affiliate picks your program, and the one thing that keeps them selling.
- Three shapes of free · on the comparison pagesFree affiliate software for SaaS: what free covers, and where it stopsTwo platforms have a real free plan, both capped near $1,000 of affiliate revenue. Two charge a percentage of everything instead. One method costs nothing.
- When the invoice moves · on the comparison pagesAffiliate software for AI SaaS: what changes when you bill on usageA percentage commission is taken from the whole invoice, and on a usage-based product that includes your inference bill. What to do about it, and what no tool documents.
- Tax forms for affiliatesW-9, W-8BEN and the $2,000 rule: the tax forms a SaaS needs from its affiliates in 2026Which tax form to collect from each affiliate before the first payout, the 2026 threshold of $2,000 for Form 1099-NEC, backup withholding, and what a UK or EU founder does about VAT.
- Stripe, field by fieldStripe has no affiliate feature. Here is what tracks the sale insteadStripe has no affiliate object. It has four parts: a reference field, metadata, promotion codes and three events. What each one does, and what is hard.
- One job a dayHow to start a SaaS affiliate program in one weekSeven days, one job a day, with the output that proves each is done. The four numbers, the six clauses, the test sale, and what to expect in month one.
- Moving platformsHow to migrate an affiliate program without losing a single linkThe referral parameter is the whole problem. What moves and in what order, how long to run both platforms, what never carries, and the email to send.
- Flat fee against a percentage · on the comparison pagesFlat-fee affiliate software for SaaS: who takes a cut of payoutsThirteen platforms. Every price and payout fee read off the vendor's own pages on 4 September 2026, plus the bill at three volumes of affiliate revenue.
- Credit without a clickCoupon-code affiliate tracking: crediting a sale that never clicked a linkA code rides on the payment. Nothing has to survive in the browser. How the match works, why a click still beats it, and what a leak costs you.
- Tracking without cookiesCookieless affiliate tracking for SaaS: why the billing reference beats the cookieSafari caps a script-set cookie at 7 days. Blockers drop tracker hosts. Banners hold the referral. The billing reference carries the sale through all three.
The byline
Who writes this
Who writes this
Jimi Barkway, the founder of AffiliateRail
Years as an affiliate and an email marketer before building affiliate software. So every page keeps coming back to what the person holding the link actually sees. Where a page touches tax or law it says so. It tells you when an accountant is the right next call. Corrections go to support@affiliaterail.com.
Questions
How does the blog work?
What is this blog?
One page per question SaaS founders actually type into a search box or an AI assistant. Each page gives the answer in its first hundred words, then the detail. Every figure is linked to the document it came from.
Who writes it?
Jimi Barkway, the founder of AffiliateRail. He spent years as an affiliate and an email marketer before building affiliate software. Every page carries his byline and the date it was last checked.
Why do some pages sit under the comparison pages?
A page that names other affiliate platforms lives with the comparison pages. That is where the reader searched for a comparison. The rest of the blog names no vendor.
How do I report a figure that has moved?
Email support@affiliaterail.com with the page and the document. The figure is corrected and the date beside it moves.
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Published 4 September 2026