FirstPromoter vs Tapfiliate: five billing systems against thirty-plus integrations, and two payout gates

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

FirstPromoter or Tapfiliate: what is the short answer?

In shortFirstPromoter is built for SaaS. It starts at $49, priced by how much your affiliates bring in. Tapfiliate is built for ecommerce and SaaS alike. It starts at $89, priced by clicks and conversions. FirstPromoter reads five billing systems. Tapfiliate reads Stripe and lists thirty-plus integrations, including Shopify and WooCommerce. Neither takes a cut of payouts on its own pages. FirstPromoter's managed route carries no merchant fee right now, and is gated to Enterprise 2. Tapfiliate's automated route is your own Trolley account, on its $179 plan.

The research method was simple. I read both pricing pages, both feature pages and both help centres on 6 and 7 September 2026. I put the same questions to each. Price and what moves it. Who pays the affiliates and what it costs. Which billing systems it reads. How tracking works. Tax forms. The API. The links are in the sources. AffiliateRail appears once, at the end, as a third option with its own trade-offs.

Four words first. A revenue band is the range of monthly affiliate revenue a plan covers before the next plan applies. A metered plan charges by usage, such as clicks and conversions. An overage is the extra charge for usage above a plan's cap. A payout fee is a cut the tool takes from the money on its way to the affiliate. And a webhook is a message your billing system sends to the tool when something happens, such as a paid invoice.

What does each one cost as you grow?

In shortThey grow on different meters. FirstPromoter moves you up a plan when your affiliates bring in more revenue. $49 to $5,000 a month. $99 to $15,000. Enterprise from $149. Tapfiliate charges $89 or $179 a month. It adds overage above each plan's clicks and conversions.

Let's say your program does 20,000 clicks and 800 conversions a month. On Tapfiliate's Launch that is 15,000 clicks over, $22.50. And 300 conversions over, $4.50. So $27 on top of $89, or $116. On FirstPromoter the same program is $49 or $99. That depends only on the revenue. Now imagine 200 clicks a month bringing in $20,000. Tapfiliate's Launch covers it at $89. FirstPromoter is Enterprise from $149.

The affiliate caps differ too. FirstPromoter's Starter allows 1,000 affiliates and 3 campaigns. Business is unlimited. Tapfiliate's Launch allows 50 affiliates and 1 program. Scale is unlimited. So a program with sixty affiliates is on Tapfiliate's Scale at $179. On FirstPromoter it is on Starter at $49, if the revenue is under $5,000.

Tapfiliate gives two months free on annual billing. FirstPromoter has a yearly toggle, with no discount printed in the text read. FirstPromoter's trial is 14 days with "No credit card required". Tapfiliate's is 7 days on Launch, 14 on Scale, and 30 on Enterprise by request.

Who pays the affiliates, and what does it cost?

In shortNeither takes a cut on the pages read. FirstPromoter gives you three ways to pay. One-click through PayPal or Stripe Payouts. A CSV in bulk. Or one by one. Its managed route pays for you from one invoice, with no merchant fee right now, on Enterprise 2 and above, after a review. Tapfiliate hands settled balances to your own Trolley account on Scale. Trolley charges its own fees.

FirstPromoter's help centre: "There are 3 ways to process payouts." "One-click (automated)", where "payouts are sent automatically through the API integration with the payout provider. Supported for PayPal and Stripe Payouts." For one-click PayPal you need "a Business plan or higher, a PayPal Business account, and PayPal's Payouts API enabled". The default term is NET-30. "Payout for the current month will be paid next month on 30th." You can set NET-15, NET-45, NET-60 or custom.

FirstPromoter's managed auto payouts: "This feature is activated after we review your account." The conditions start with "Your account plan is Enterprise 2 or higher" and "You are a SaaS company". You pay one invoice by bank and FirstPromoter pays through Dots.dev. "There is no additional fees for you right now"; affiliates pay withdrawal fees, "ex. fixed $0.75 bank withdrawal for US".

Tapfiliate's page says "Flat Pricing. Zero Cuts". Its help centre lists the default payout methods you can offer, from ACH and IBAN to Bitcoin and cheque. You can define custom ones. The Trolley route is "available for Tapfiliate customers starting Scale plan after the 1st subscription payment". Settled balances go to your Trolley account. There you link a bank or PayPal account. A "Hands-Free Payout Service" is on its table, marked "Coming soon".

Which billing systems does each read?

In shortFirstPromoter reads Stripe, both Paddle versions, Chargebee, Braintree and Recurly. Tapfiliate reads Stripe and lists thirty-plus integrations, including Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Magento. If you bill subscriptions through Chargebee, Braintree or Recurly, FirstPromoter connects. If you sell through Shopify or WooCommerce as well, Tapfiliate does.

FirstPromoter's integrations page lists Braintree, Chargebee, Paddle and Recurly among its billing providers, beside Stripe. Its Paddle docs support "both Paddle Classic (v1 webhooks) and Paddle Billing (v2 webhooks)". Its Stripe page lists seven events it reads and says "Developer Required: No". Its features page adds: "Every conversion attributed back to a billing event". Not to an account created.

Tapfiliate's pricing page lists "30+ pre-built integrations (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, Stripe etc.)". It adds a JS pixel, a REST API and a postback route. Its Stripe article needs "A Stripe account with API key access". It needs JavaScript calls carrying the Stripe customer id and charge id. It says "You will require a developer to correctly pull the Stripe customer id".

How does tracking work on each?

In shortBoth use a script and a cookie. FirstPromoter's two are first-party, _fprom_tid and _fprom_ref, for 60 days by default. Tapfiliate offers three link methods. A query string by default. A hash. A custom method for your own tracking. Both track coupon codes. FirstPromoter's pages describe fraud checks; Tapfiliate's pages read here do not.

FirstPromoter's docs: "When a lead visits with a referral link, two cookies, _fprom_tid and _fprom_ref are set in their browser. These cookies have a default lifespan of 60 days (adjustable in the Admin panel)". Its table lists self-referral detection, ad-traffic detection and reCAPTCHA. It lists automatic tracking of chargebacks and refunds, and manual approval above an amount. Its features page: "Self-referrals and suspicious conversions flagged automatically before a commission is recorded."

Tapfiliate's help centre: "Query String (Default)... https://your-site.com/?ref=nlmjdis29"; "Hash... https://your-site.com/#a=123-abc&tap_s=345-def"; and "Custom... if you are handling tracking on your own end, often in combination with our API". Its plan table lists a customisable cookie time, coupons and deeplinks. It lists multi-level marketing on Scale. That is the model where affiliates recruit sub-affiliates and earn on them, in this page's words rather than Tapfiliate's.

The tables diverge on reporting and reach. FirstPromoter lists "18 Data Points" of reports and "190 currencies supported, conversions in 170". Tapfiliate lists affiliate management "in multiple languages", an in-platform messenger and affiliate recruitment. It lists an MCP integration for asking your data questions in plain language. FirstPromoter's table also lists multi-tiered commissions. So both have a form of tiers.

Which one should you pick?

In shortFirstPromoter if you are a SaaS on Stripe, Paddle, Chargebee, Braintree or Recurly and want to be priced by revenue. FirstPromoter if you want tax forms, email automation and 18 report types on the plan table. Tapfiliate if you sell through a shop as well, or run influencers, resellers or ambassadors. Tapfiliate if you want multi-level commissions, or the affiliate portal in several languages.

Price the meter before the plan. A high-traffic, low-revenue program pays overage on Tapfiliate. It sits on FirstPromoter's Starter. A program with more than fifty affiliates is on Tapfiliate's Scale at $179, whatever its revenue. A small program bringing in large customers stays on Tapfiliate's Launch. It climbs FirstPromoter's bands. Your last three months of clicks, conversions and revenue decide it.

A third option, with its own trade-offs. AffiliateRail is $29 a month founding to $10,000 a month from affiliates, then $59 to $20,000. It is banded by revenue with no overage, and has unlimited affiliates on every plan. It pays affiliates from your own PayPal or Wise on a schedule, at 0% of the payout, from the $59 plan. It reads Stripe and Paddle Billing only. So a Chargebee or Recurly merchant should stop at FirstPromoter. A shop or a multi-level program should stop at Tapfiliate. Its script reads the fpr and tap_s parameters. So links published on either tool keep converting after a move. The AffiliateRail vs FirstPromoter and AffiliateRail vs Tapfiliate pages set it beside each. The switch from FirstPromoter and switch from Tapfiliate guides cover the export.

Every fact on this page was read off FirstPromoter's or Tapfiliate's own pages on the date beside it in the sources. Plans and fees change. Read both pricing pages before you choose.

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