Affiliate software pricing comparison: five models, twenty platforms, where every price jumps

By Jimi Barkway · Published 7 September 2026 · Part of the comparison pages

How is affiliate software priced?

In shortFive ways. Banded by your affiliate revenue, banded by your payouts, a flat monthly fee, metered on clicks and conversions, or free with a cut of every payout. Twenty platforms, and each uses one of the five. The model decides your bill more than the headline price does. This page sorts every platform by model and shows where each price jumps.

The research method was simple. I read all twenty platforms off the calculator on this site on 7 September 2026. It carries each vendor's plans, ceilings and payout fees from their own pricing page and help centre, with the date each was checked. I found that seven of the twenty publish a percentage cut of payouts, thirteen publish none, and the twenty split into five pricing models. Each model has a different question you need to ask.

Four words first. A revenue band is the range of monthly affiliate revenue a plan covers before the next plan applies. An overage is what a platform charges when you pass your band without moving up. A payout fee is a slice the platform takes from the money you send affiliates, on top of the plan. And a flat fee is one plan price that never moves with revenue. Those four sort the twenty.

What does banded by revenue mean?

In shortThe plan you need depends on how much your affiliates bring in each month. Cross the band and you move up a plan. Seven platforms price this way: AffiliateRail, Rewardful, FirstPromoter, Tolt, Affonso, PromoteKit and Endorsely. The question to ask is where the first jump is. On most of the seven the price roughly doubles there.

Let's say your affiliates bring in $6,000 a month. On Rewardful you are on Starter at $49. On FirstPromoter you have passed $5,000 and are on Business at $99. On Tolt you are on Basic at $69. On AffiliateRail you are on Launch at $29 founding. Now let's say it grows to $12,000. Rewardful and FirstPromoter are both $99. Tolt is $99 too, on Growth. AffiliateRail is $59 on Grow. At $18,000, Rewardful and FirstPromoter are from $149 on Enterprise. Tolt and AffiliateRail hold at $99 and $59.

The band edges are the whole story on these seven. Of the four that start between $49 and $69, FirstPromoter's first band ends soonest, at $5,000. Rewardful's ends at $7,500. Tolt's and AffiliateRail's end at $10,000. Affonso's Launch plan ends at $1,000, and it is the one platform here that prints an overage: $19 per $1,000 over your cap, so you can stay on a plan and pay for the excess. Every other banded platform expects you to move up.

What does banded by payouts mean?

In shortThe plan depends on how much you pay affiliates, or on the revenue the program earns over a year, rather than monthly affiliate revenue. Dub bands on partner payouts: $90 to $2,500 a month of payouts, $300 to $15,000. Reditus bands on the program's annual revenue: $149 to about $5,000 a month, $399 to about $30,000. Both also take a cut.

The difference matters because the two numbers move differently. Let's say you pay 25% commission. At $10,000 of affiliate revenue you pay out $2,500. On Dub that is exactly the top of its $90 Business band, and the 5% cut is $125 on top, so $215 in all. At $20,000 of revenue you pay out $5,000, so you are on Advanced at $300, and the cut is $250. That is $550 a month. Reditus at $10,000 of revenue is $399 on Scale Up plus $50 by invoice, so $449.

So on Dub, raising your commission rate moves you up a band. Reditus bands on the program's revenue, so a higher rate does not move its plan, only its 2% or 5% cut. On the revenue-banded seven, the plan does not move either. Worth knowing. Set a generous rate and Dub's plan moves; Tolt's plan does not, though its 2% cut grows with the payout.

What does a flat fee mean, and what is the catch?

In shortOne price, whatever your affiliates bring in. Eight platforms price this way: Partnero, Partli, Ambassly, Komissio, LeadDyno, Refgrow, Trackdesk and Impact.com. The catch is that six of the eight cap something other than revenue. Ambassly, Komissio and LeadDyno cap active affiliates at 50 on the entry plan. Refgrow caps programs. Partli caps workspaces and seats. Partnero caps programs and seats.

A flat plan is the easiest bill to predict. One number. Partnero is $59 with no ceiling on revenue, partners or transactions, for one program and one seat. Trackdesk is $399 with no ceiling on affiliates, clicks or conversions. Impact.com is $500 with $2,500 of payouts included and 20% past that. Trackdesk's plan is the only one of the eight that no count and no payout moves.

The other six move with a count instead of a number. Let's say you have 60 active affiliates. On Ambassly, Komissio or LeadDyno you have passed the entry plan's 50 and are on the next one, whatever they bring in. Ambassly's next plan is $79 for 500. Komissio's is $99 for unlimited. LeadDyno's is $129 for 150. Refgrow moves with programs: $29 for one, $49 for three. Partli moves with workspaces and seats: $29 for one workspace and three seats. Partnero moves with seats: $29 a month for each extra one. So "flat" means flat on revenue. Read what the plan does cap.

What about metered, and free plus a cut?

In shortTapfiliate is the one metered platform: from $89, then $1 to $1.50 per 1,000 clicks and $10 to $15 per 1,000 conversions. PartnerStack is the one free-plus-a-cut platform: Spark at $0, then 10% of every payout. Both make the bill depend on activity rather than revenue.

Metered pricing charges for activity. A quiet program pays little. A busy one pays more, sale or no sale. A single affiliate with a large audience can send 20,000 clicks a month that convert at a fraction of a percent. On Tapfiliate that is the click meter running, whatever the sales. The calculator prints "from $89" for Tapfiliate at every size, because it cannot know your click count.

Free plus a cut is the mirror image. Nothing until you pay someone, then 10% of everything you pay. On $500 of monthly payouts that is $50. On $2,500 it is $250. On $12,500 it is $1,250. Below $250 of monthly payouts it is the cheapest platform on this page. At $250 it matches refVenue's $25. At $500 it is $50, and eight platforms cost less.

Which model should you pick?

In shortPick banded by revenue if your commission rate is generous and your affiliate count will grow, because neither moves the plan. Pick flat if you want a bill you can predict, and check what the plan caps instead. Banded by payouts costs more when you raise your rate, because Dub's plan moves with what you pay out. Free plus a cut costs more than a $25 plan once you pay out more than $250 a month.

For example, imagine a program paying 30% to a hundred small affiliates. Banded by revenue suits it: the count does not matter and the rate does not matter. Now imagine three big partners on 10%, with a fixed budget. A flat plan suits it, and the affiliate cap will never bite. Now imagine a program that pays out almost nothing yet. PartnerStack's Spark at $0 or Endorsely's free tier to $1,000 costs nothing until it works.

Two pages go further. The cheapest affiliate software page ranks all twenty by the monthly bill at two sizes. The flat-fee page lists every published cut of payouts. And the calculator runs your own revenue, rate and affiliate count through every platform at once.

A word on this site's own product, with its trade-offs. AffiliateRail is banded by affiliate revenue: $29 a month founding to $10,000, $59 to $20,000, $99 to $50,000, Enterprise above, with no overage. It takes 0% of every payout, on every route, and pays on a schedule from the $59 plan through your own PayPal or Wise. It is not the lowest flat price: refVenue is $25, and Partli and Refgrow are $29, with no revenue band at all. It has no free tier. It reads Stripe and Paddle Billing only. Founding prices are held while the subscription stays active, and there are ten founding places.

Every price on this page was read off the calculator on 7 September 2026, and the calculator reads each vendor's own pages on the date it prints. Prices change. Read the pricing page before you choose.

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