What minimum payout should you set for affiliates? Six thresholds, and the arithmetic behind the number

By Jimi Barkway · Published 6 September 2026 · Part of the comparison pages

What is a minimum payout threshold?

In shortA minimum payout threshold is the smallest balance an affiliate can be paid. Below it, their commissions roll into the next payout. It exists because every payment costs something to send, and something to process. Set it too high and your smallest affiliates wait months for their first money.

Every platform on this page has one, and most let you choose it. Refgrow's docs say why it exists in one line: "This helps reduce the administrative costs of processing many small payments." That is true. A tiny commission paid on its own is that commission, plus a fee, plus a line in somebody's bookkeeping.

The catch is on the other side of the payment. To a new affiliate, the threshold is the date they find out whether your program is real. I read the threshold pages of six programs and platforms on 6 September 2026 for this page. I noticed the range is wide. $5 on one. $100 on another. And "you decide" on most.

What do the platforms set?

In shortAmazon rolls anything under $10 into next month, or under $100 if you are paid by cheque. PartnerStack lets a partner withdraw at $5. Reditus, Refgrow and refVenue let each merchant set their own. AffiliateRail's default is 20.00 in your currency, with a per-partner override. A balance below it rolls into the next payout.

Here they are, quoted where the page gives a number.

Two things stand out. First, the platforms built for SaaS mostly hand the decision to you. For instance, three of the six rows above say some version of "the merchant sets it". There is no default on the page to anchor to. Second, the one example a vendor prints is Refgrow's "$50, $100". That is on the high side for a program where a typical affiliate earns $15 a month. So the rest of this page is about how to choose.

What does a small payout actually cost you?

In shortLess than you might think. The fee is either a flat few cents or a small percentage. On PayPal's API a payment costs a flat 0.25 USD in US dollars. On Wise the fee starts at 0.24% of the amount. Neither justifies a $50 minimum on cost grounds.

Let's do the arithmetic on PayPal, whose four numbers are in the PayPal article. Sent through the API, each payment costs a flat 0.25 USD. On a $5 payout that is 5% of the money. On $10 it is 2.5%. On $20 it is 1.25%. On $25 it is 1%. On $50 it is 0.5%. On $100 it is 0.25%. So the flat fee is the reason a minimum exists at all. And it stops mattering at about $25, where it is 1% of the payout, and less above that.

Sent the standard way instead, PayPal charges 2% capped at $1.00 in the US. So the share is 2% on any payout up to $50, and falls after that. Across borders it is 2% capped at $20.00, which is 2% on anything up to $1,000. And on Wise, at a fee from 0.24%, a $5 payout costs about a cent. With those two, a minimum does almost nothing for your fees. It only decides when the affiliate is paid.

So the cost case for a high minimum is thin. On the API it is settled by $25. On every other route the fee is a percentage anyway. A percentage does not care whether you pay $5 twelve times or $60 once.

What does a high minimum cost you?

In shortAffiliates. The first payout is the moment a new partner decides to keep going. A $50 minimum against $15 a month of commission is four months of waiting. Many stop promoting you before that.

Komissio's own guide, written from the affiliate's side, puts it bluntly: "No minimum threshold games where $45 in commissions sits locked up because the minimum payout is $50." That sentence is about how the threshold feels to the person waiting. It feels like the program is keeping their money. It is not. That does not matter, because they will act on the feeling.

Run one affiliate through the thresholds above. Let's say they earn $15 a month. Then they wait four months for a first payout at a $50 minimum. Two months at $20. One month at $10. Amazon's $100 by cheque would be seven months. The manual's payout methods chapter calls the minimum and the hold period trust decisions dressed as settings. It calls a $50 minimum the setting that kills small programs. Nothing I read for this page changed that view.

What number should you set?

In shortLow enough that a typical affiliate gets a first payout within two months. High enough that the per-payment fee stays at or under about 1%. On PayPal's API that is $25 and up. On Wise it is almost anything. Then raise it for the one partner who asks. Not for everyone.

For example, say your median affiliate brings one $100 customer every two months, and you pay 20%. That is $20 of commission every two months. A $20 minimum pays them at the first opportunity. A $50 minimum makes them wait for their third sale, five months in. The fee difference between the two on PayPal's API is a few cents. Over a year, the second affiliate has been paid twice and the first six times. Guess which one is still posting about you.

One more wrinkle, for a program that pays in more than one currency. AffiliateRail's guide nets everything due into one payout per partner, per currency. So a partner earning in both dollars and euros has two balances, and the minimum applies to each one. A minimum set with dollars in mind can leave a small euro balance waiting for months. Set it low enough to work in your smallest currency too.

The per-partner override is the tool that removes the argument. A partner who wants to be paid less often, to save their own bank charges, can have a higher minimum. Everyone else gets the low one. AffiliateRail sets it that way. Its setup guide says the minimum is "20.00 by default, in your currency" and that "partners can be overridden individually". Below it, the balance rolls into the next cycle.

How does it interact with the hold period and the payout date?

In shortThe minimum is one of three dates in a payout. The hold period is the time a commission waits after a sale, so that a refund can claw it back before it is paid. The payout date is when the batch goes out. The minimum decides whether an affiliate's balance is in that batch. Set all three together. Tell affiliates all three. The custody page covers the fourth question, who holds the money in between.

AffiliateRail's guide shows the shape. A commission waits out the holding period, 14 days by default. That is your refund buffer. When a month closes, everything due nets into one payout per partner. The payout goes out on your NET term. NET-15 means commissions earned in a month are paid 15 days after it ends. A balance below the minimum rolls into the next payout. Refunds are handled in the same netting: a clawback nets against the positive commissions first, and a partner whose net is zero or below carries the balance forward. Refgrow runs a similar clock. You set a hold period from 0 to 365 days, and a payout button appears once the hold has passed and the minimum is reached. Reditus triggers payouts on the first of the month. Once a balance passes the threshold it is ready to pay by the end of the next month.

The affiliate's question is one sentence. When do I get paid? The honest answer names all three numbers. A sale on the 3rd clears its hold on the 17th. It joins the month's batch. It is paid on the 15th of the following month, if the balance has reached the minimum. Put that sentence in your program terms and in the portal. Then most payout emails never need sending.

Every threshold on this page was read off the program's or platform's own page on the date beside it in the sources. Vendors change these numbers. Merchants on the platforms that hand the choice over set their own. Check the page. Then check that your own program's terms say what you think they say.

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