Independent research for AI product teams
The best platform is not the one with the longest feature list. It is the least expensive system that matches your billing stack, partner-recruitment problem, payout volume, and ability to run the program every week.
Vendor pricing checked 2026-09-05. Prices are USD and can change.
Affiliate software tracks and pays partners you already have. A network helps new partners discover you. Paying for a marketplace before your offer converts usually buys access, not outcomes.
Pre-revenue / <500 users / <$5k MRR
Prove that five to ten real partners can generate qualified customers.
PromoteKit for Stripe; Affonso for newer billing stacks; Lemon Squeezy Affiliates if it already runs your checkout.
Do not buy a four-figure marketplace while your offer, onboarding, or retention is still unproven.
Early traction / 500–5k users / $5k–$25k MRR
Make attribution, recurring commissions, approvals, and payouts repeatable.
Rewardful, FirstPromoter, Partnero, or Tolt—choose primarily by billing integration and payout workflow.
Do not mistake an affiliate-finder tool for a marketplace with active demand.
Growth / 5k–50k users / $25k–$150k MRR
Reduce finance work, support several campaigns, and recruit beyond the founder's network.
Dub Advanced, Tapfiliate Scale, Trackdesk, or Reditus Scale Up when the economics and niche fit are proven.
Include payout fees, transaction fees, overages, and the operator's time—not just the monthly fee.
Scale / 50k+ users / $150k+ MRR
Run multiple partner motions, geographies, attribution models, and compliance workflows.
PartnerStack for B2B SaaS ecosystems; impact.com for multi-channel attribution; Awin for broad publisher reach.
A large directory is useless without someone owning recruitment, enablement, fraud review, and communication.
These user and MRR ranges are editorial operating heuristics, not vendor eligibility rules. The more useful purchasing numbers are monthly affiliate-attributed revenue, commission payouts, active revenue-producing partners, and hours spent on program operations.
At $10,000 in monthly affiliate-referred sales and a 20% partner commission ($2,000 payout), percentage fees can exceed the software subscription. This simplified example excludes the commission itself and normal payment processing.
| Platform example | Approx. platform cost | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| PromoteKit Pro | $29/mo | Within its $10k affiliate-revenue band; no advertised transaction fee |
| Rewardful | $99/mo | $10k exceeds Starter's $7.5k band and requires Growth |
| Dub Business | $190/mo | $90 subscription + 5% of a $2,000 partner payout |
| Awin Access | $399/mo | $49 subscription + 3.5% of $10,000 transaction value |
| Lemon Squeezy | $500 in affiliate surcharges | 3% of referred orders + 2% of partner payout; base checkout fees are additional |
This is a directional model, not a quote. Caps are defined differently: affiliate revenue, partner payouts, transactions, clicks, or ARR. Normalize every proposal against your own funnel.
| Platform | Starting price | Discovery | Best stage | Billing / integration fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PromoteKit Full review → | $0 until 3 referrals; Pro $29/mo | No built-in marketplace; bring your own partners | Pre-revenue to early traction Roughly <1,000 users or <$15k MRR | Stripe |
| Affonso Full review → | $15/mo billed yearly | Marketplace listing and affiliate discovery tools | Indie launch to growth Roughly <5,000 users or <$50k MRR | Stripe, Paddle Billing, Polar, Creem, Dodo Payments, API |
| Rewardful Full review → | $49/mo | Affiliate Finder searches the web; it is not a marketplace | Early traction Roughly 500–5,000 users or $5k–$50k MRR | Stripe, Paddle |
| FirstPromoter Full review → | $49/mo | No broad built-in marketplace; recruit your own partners | Early traction to growth Roughly 500–10,000 users or $5k–$80k MRR | Stripe, Paddle, Chargebee, Recurly, Braintree, API |
| Partnero Full review → | $59/mo monthly or $49/mo annually | No large public partner marketplace | Early traction to growth Roughly 1,000–10,000 users or $10k–$100k MRR | Stripe, Shopify, API |
| Tolt Full review → | $69/mo | No broad public marketplace | Early traction to growth Roughly 1,000–15,000 users or $10k–$120k MRR | Stripe, Paddle; verify Chargebee support for your workflow |
| Dub Full review → | $90/mo + 5% payout fee | Partner Network and featured marketplace placement are Enterprise features | Growth to scale Roughly 5,000+ users or $25k+ MRR; Enterprise for network discovery | Stripe, Shopify, Segment, Zapier, API, webhooks |
| Tapfiliate Full review → | $89/mo or $74/mo annually | No major open marketplace; primarily program software | Growth Roughly 2,000–30,000 users or $20k–$200k MRR | 30+ integrations including Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Stripe |
| Trackdesk Full review → | $299/mo | Marketplace and affiliate discovery are emphasized on higher tiers | Growth to scale Roughly 10,000+ users or $75k+ MRR | Stripe, Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Zapier, API |
| Reditus Full review → | $149/mo monthly or $99/mo annually | 27,000+ B2B SaaS affiliate network; marketplace listing starts on annual Scale Up | Growth with a validated offer Roughly $5k–$30k MRR for Growth; $30k+ MRR for marketplace-led Scale Up | Stripe, Paddle, Chargebee, API |
| Lemon Squeezy Affiliates Full review → | $0 monthly; usage fees apply | Affiliate Hub lets affiliates browse programs | Launch to early growth on Lemon Squeezy Roughly <2,000 users or <$25k MRR, unless operational simplicity outweighs fees | Native to Lemon Squeezy checkout |
| PartnerStack Full review → | Spark $0/mo + 10% commission-processing fee; full platform from $1,000/mo annually | 117,000+ B2B partner network on paid full-platform plans; not included in Spark | Validated B2B partner channel to scale Spark for experiments; full platform roughly $100k+ MRR or a funded team with a partner owner | Stripe on Spark; CRM, marketing automation, and custom integrations on full plans |
| impact.com Full review → | $30/mo Starter + 2.5% on partner-driven transactions | 90,000-partner marketplace starts on Essentials | Ecommerce launch or multi-channel scale Starter for small ecommerce; Essentials/Pro roughly $100k+ MRR or teams with complex attribution | Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Adobe Commerce, Squarespace, APIs |
| Awin Full review → | $49/mo + 3.5% per transaction | 1M+ publisher directory | Early ecommerce to global scale Roughly $10k+ MRR when publisher reach matters; less SaaS-native than specialist tools | Awin MasterTag, ecommerce platforms, APIs on higher plans |
Best low-cost validation
A Stripe SaaS can start free and move to a $29 plan without paying for a network it cannot yet use.
Best indie billing coverage
Useful with Paddle, Polar, Creem, Dodo Payments, or Stripe when modest marketplace exposure is enough.
Best established self-serve
Both start at $49; Rewardful is simpler for Stripe/Paddle, while FirstPromoter suits broader billing and campaign needs.
Best B2B SaaS recruitment focus
Its focused network becomes meaningful on the annual $399 Scale Up tier, after the offer is validated.
Best B2B partner ecosystem
Full network access and affiliate/referral/reseller operations justify the price only when a team can activate them.
Best broad enterprise attribution
Use when creators, affiliates, mobile, ecommerce, and offline events must share one partnership system.
Best broad publisher network
The $49 entry fee is attractive, but percentage-of-transaction pricing must fit your margin.
Each review covers published pricing, hidden cost drivers, partner discovery, ideal stage, reasons not to choose it, and questions to ask before signing.
The lowest-cost serious option for a Stripe SaaS that already knows its first affiliates.
$0 until 3 referrals; Pro $29/mo
A budget option for indie SaaS using modern billing providers beyond Stripe.
$15/mo billed yearly
A mature self-serve choice for Stripe or Paddle SaaS that will recruit partners itself.
$49/mo
A flexible SaaS-native alternative when commission rules and campaign structure matter.
$49/mo
A multi-program option for teams that want affiliate and customer referral loops together.
$59/mo monthly or $49/mo annually
A SaaS-focused middle ground when payout automation matters more than marketplace reach.
$69/mo
Strong modern infrastructure, but its public Partner Network is an Enterprise feature—not a $90 shortcut to recruitment.
$90/mo + 5% payout fee
A better fit than SaaS-only tools when AI software is sold through ecommerce or multiple storefronts.
$89/mo or $74/mo annually
A mid-market bridge between self-serve tracking tools and four-figure enterprise networks.
$299/mo
A B2B SaaS-specific choice when partner recruitment—not tracking—is the real bottleneck.
$149/mo monthly or $99/mo annually
The simplest operational choice if Lemon Squeezy already handles your checkout—but not the cheapest at scale.
$0 monthly; usage fees apply
The strongest B2B SaaS network option here, but full network access now starts far above self-serve trackers.
Spark $0/mo + 10% commission-processing fee; full platform from $1,000/mo annually
The broadest cross-channel choice when affiliates, creators, mobile, and offline attribution must coexist.
$30/mo Starter + 2.5% on partner-driven transactions
A low-entry-price route into a very large publisher network, with economics driven by transaction fees.
$49/mo + 3.5% per transaction
Submit your product for review once your commission, cookie window, payout rules, and application process are ready.
For a very early Stripe SaaS, start with PromoteKit or another low-cost tracker and recruit partners directly. If Lemon Squeezy already handles checkout, its built-in system may reduce operations. Move to a marketplace only after the offer converts and someone can actively manage partners.
Rewardful is a simple choice for Stripe or Paddle. FirstPromoter supports a broader billing set and more campaign structure. Both start at $49 and neither is a broad affiliate marketplace, so billing and program complexity should decide.
Dub is primarily attribution, link, referral, and payout infrastructure. Its Partner Network and featured marketplace placement are listed for Enterprise, not the $90 Business plan.
When a B2B SaaS has a validated offer, a dedicated partner owner, and affiliate, referral, reseller, or co-sell motions. Spark is cheaper for validation but does not include PartnerStack's network.
MRR is only a proxy. Use affiliate-attributed revenue, payout volume, active productive partners, billing integration, and recruitment needs for the final decision.
AI Affiliate