8 Best Affiliate Marketing Software Platforms For Ecommerce & SaaS

Oct 11, 2022 by Simon Hilton

Investing in affiliate marketing software allows you to incentivize bloggers, influencers, and publishers with a cut of your earnings when they drive sales and revenue for your business.

Every year, over $8 billion is driven through affiliate marketing programs as customers are influenced by credible sources that they know and follow or actively seek out.

Affiliate marketing software platforms like Affiliatly, Tapfiliate, and Partnerstack make it easy to track affiliate performance with detailed reporting, manage large numbers of affiliates from one central dashboard, and provide credibility with real-time reporting, and smooth affiliate payments.

The best affiliate marketing software platforms also help to prevent fraud, enable cross-device tracking, and offer world-class customer support.

But it's not easy picking the best affiliate marketing platform for your business. Beyond price, which can scale significantly based on your requirements, you need to pick affiliate software that is flexible enough to support your growing business now and moving forwards.

Best Affiliate Marketing Software Platforms

We've tested all of the best affiliate marketing software platforms so that you can easily find the affiliate marketing program that best suits your needs.

Affiliatly
Tapfiliate
Refersion
Partnerstack
Lead Dyno
Post Affiliate Pro
Tune
Impact

Focused Look At The Best Affiliate Marketing Software Platforms

Affiliatly

Affiliatly is one of the best out-the-box affiliate marketing platforms for ecommerce startups, scaleups, and established brands.

If you are looking for an affordable solution, that is easy to set up then look no further.

Affiliatly integrates with all of the big ecommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce, and allows you to track affiliate sales by SKU, coupon code, and email address.

Once you get set up, it's easy to manage all of your affiliates from a central dashboard, and you can set up tracking links and start to analyze affiliate performance within minutes.

Monthly pricing starts at just $16 per month, allowing you to track up to 50 affiliates across your affiliate marketing program. Once you're ready to scale up, there are 6 further plans that can accommodate your growth and you will never pay more than $129 per month.

Affiliatly even offers a 90-day free trial to help you get your affiliate program off the ground.

Features we like

User-friendly - when it comes to affiliate marketing software, it doesn't get much easier. It's really quick and easy to get set up and to start generating tracking links for partners within minutes
Product level commissions - Affiliatly allows you to change up the commission plan at a product level. This means you can protect your margin if you are earning less on certain product lines
Gift cards - if you wish to pay your affiliates or influencers with gift cards for your own store, Affiliatly has you covered. This is a great way to incentivize and pay affiliates because the commission payouts are invested back into your online store
Integrations - there are plug-and-play integrations with Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Squarespace, and other leading ecommerce platforms for small and large businesses. If you're already running on one of these ecommerce platforms, it's very easy to get up and running
90-day free trial - Affiliatly make it low-risk to test their platform. They offer a free 90-day trial across all of their paid plans

Affiliatly pricing

Affiliatly offers 6 payment plans, which allow you to track between 50 and unlimited numbers of affiliates.

The Starter Plan costs just $16 per month, offering an affordable way to get your affiliate program off the ground. For larger brands, the Pro Plans allow you to track 1,000+ affiliates per month.

Starter - $16 per month, up to 50 affiliates
Advanced - $24 per month, up to 200 affiliates
Professional - $39 per month, up to 500 affiliates
Pro - $59 per month, up to 1,000 affiliates
Pro 2500 - $79 per month, up to 2,500 affiliates
Pro Unlimited - $129 per month, unlimited number of affiliates

Tapfiliate

Next on our list of the best affiliate marketing software platforms is Tapfiliate.

Tapfiliate is an excellent affiliate marketing software platform used by some of the biggest retail and SaaS companies online - including Sendinblue, Degiro, and Kickresume.

Already supporting over 2,000 other clients, Tapfiliate makes it easy for brands to get set up, recruit affiliates, and start promoting their business with a seamless range of tracking solutions that affiliates can use across social media and other marketing platforms.

Like Affiliatly, Tapfiliate has over 37+ copy-and-paste integrations with the likes of Stripe, Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Zapier. This makes it easy to get your affiliate platform off the ground.

There are also over 100,000+ active publishers already promoting brands using Tapfiliate. Once your program is live, you can access Tapfiliate's publisher marketplace to start promoting your brand so that you can recruit new partners.

The Tapfiliate pricing plans start at $59 per month and allow you to track up to 500 affiliates. Once you pass this threshold or start to drive over 100,000 clicks or 35,000 sales, then there are Pro, Enterprise, and Custom Plans to help you scale.

Features we like

Custom commission plans - you have complete control over the way you set up your commission plans for partners with Tapfiliate. It's easy to set up bespoke plans, lifetime commission plans, or even offer custom payments and bonuses for top partners. Like Affiliatly, you can also protect your product margins by setting up product-level commission payment structures
Personalized affiliates links -Tapfiliate allows you to create branded affiliate links that influencers can share across social media. Tapfiliate gives you the power to create shareable social posts directly in the platform and allows you to set up tracked discount coupons to drive up your conversion rates
White label affiliate management - you can set up branded affiliate dashboards, personalized branded email templates, and branded affiliate sign-up forms to promote your affiliate program. This is always important when you're trying to build your brand reputation and establish trust with new affiliate partners
Performance bonuses - if you want to run performance bonuses during key trading windows, then Tapfiliate makes it easy to set up custom incentives for limited periods of time
14-day free trial - there is a 14-day free trial available on all Tapfiliate pricing plans which you can access to get started

Tapfiliate pricing

Tapfiliate offers 4 different pricing plans.

The Starter Plan costs $59 per month and allows you to track up to 500 affiliates, 100,000 clicks, and 35,000 sales per month. Once you cross this threshold there are Essential, Pro, and Enterprise plans that are designed to help you scale up.

Starter - $59 per month, up to 500 affiliates, 100,000 clicks and 35,000 sales
Essential - $89 per month, up to 1,000 affiliates, 200,000 clicks and 75,000 sales
Pro- $149 per month, up to 10,000 affiliates, 500,000 clicks and 250,000 sales
Enterprise - custom

Refersion

Refersion is one of the best affiliate marketing software platforms for ecommerce brands that sell directly on shopping platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce, or for retailers selling on the Amazon Marketplace.

Ecommerce brands like Goorin Bros, Dermolgica, and Wildgrain all use Refersion to build their affiliate networks, manage influencers, and create brand ambassadors that promote their brand and help to sell products.

There are over 60,000 ecommerce businesses already using Refersion and in total Refersion processes over 620k+ orders every day across their publisher network of 6+ million websites and influencers. In total, Refersion's affiliate marketing software has been used to track over $2bn+ revenue to date.

Pricing starts at $99 per month for Shopify sellers and allows you to get your affiliate marketing program off the ground by driving up to 50 orders per month. Once you're ready to scale, or if you want to track Amazon Marketplace sales then there are Enterprise plans available.

Features we like

Amazon Marketplace - if you are operating your ecommerce business on the Amazon Marketplace, Refersion gives you all the tools you'll need to recruit affiliates who can promote your products on Amazon, this is often a gap that other affiliate marketing software platforms don't offer
Affiliate recruitment - over 6+ million affiliates already promote ecommerce businesses who are tracking their affiliate activity using Refersion. Once you are set up you can access Refersion's ecommerce affiliate discovery tools to connect with leading ecommerce publishers who can drive sales and revenue for your business
Advanced commission schedules - you are in complete control when setting up your commission plans. You can pay affiliates on a one-time referral basis, or on lifetime earning schedules. Similarly, if you want to vary commission payments based on SKU level this is possible using Refersion's affiliate software. Like other platforms, you can also set up coupon tracking
Affiliate management tools - Refersion is GDPR and CCPA-compliant and provides you with detailed reporting capability. It's possible to view affiliate performance at an individual level or split by campaign, creative, or product line
No intermediary pages - if it makes sense, Refersion allows your affiliates to direct link straight into your checkout to convert. With Refersion, you have complete control over where you land your affiliate traffic
Integrations - there are 30+ turnkey integrations available with Refersion and a further 2,000+ integrations made possible via Zapier. Direct integrations include Shopify, Amazon Marketplace, and other leading ecommerce platforms

Refersion pricing

Refersion's Professional Plan starts at $99 per month and is suitable for Shopify sellers.

The Professional Plan is limited to 50 orders tracked per month, but you can reach out to the Refersion team to get set up with an Enterprise Plan that allows you to track unlimited orders.

Professional - $99 per month, Shopify integration, up to 50 orders per month
Enterprise - Custom, includes Amazon Marketplace, unlimited order tracking
Enterprise Plus - Custom, includes Amazon Marketplace, unlimited order tracking

Partnerstack

If you are a SaaS company looking for the best affiliate marketing software out there, then check out Partnerstack.

Over 65,000+ enterprise SaaS companies are using Partnerstack to manage their affiliate programs, broaden their reach, and drive revenue from performance marketing channels.

There are also over 800,000+ affiliate publishers already promoting SaaS companies via Partnerstack, meaning there is a big opportunity for you to leverage the Partnerstack affiliate base to get your affiliate program off the ground.

There are no pricing details available on the Parterstack website, but you can click through and request a demo and pricing from a Partnerstack sales rep.

When it comes to enterprise SaaS, there is a lot more complexity when setting up your affiliate program (compared to ecommerce). Partnerstack helps strip this complexity back and provides you with everything you need to manage and pay your affiliates seamlessly.

Features we like

Existing affiliate network - there are over 800,000+ existing affiliates promoting Partnerstack's SaaS partners. Once you become a client you can filter partners by industry and audience type, send out email invites to affiliate partners you're interested in, and get them to start promoting your SaaS brand
Branded application forms - you can create branded sign-up forms and approve/reject new applications with ease. Partnerstack offers white-label solutions which enhance your brand reputation and build trust with new affiliates
Affiliate management - you can track and manage affiliates from one central dashboard, isolate and track top performers, pin important messages to your affiliate dashboards, and set up milestones and training courses for your affiliate onboarding
Affiliate tracking - Partnerstack enables you to create unique referral links, custom tracking links, and to add UTM tracking to all your click tags
Streamlined affiliate payments - there are endless commission structure options available. Partnerstack lets you set up reward structures per affiliate, and enables one-time or lifetime commission plans. It's possible to also set up specific commission plans for sale periods and to encourage different events like sign-ups, trials, and account activations. Once you're ready to pay, you can fund your affiliate program via one monthly invoice, and affiliates can claim their revenue as they see fit
CRM integrations - Partnerstack integrates into major CRM systems like Salesforce, Workato, and Hubspot. This is a great additional feature when it comes to reporting and managing sales cycles within your CRM

Partnerstack pricing

There are no pricing plans available on the Partnerstack website, but you can click through and register for a Partnerstack demo.

Custom pricing - contact support to book a demo

Lead Dyno

Lead Dyno supports both ecommerce and SaaS businesses, and offers a transparent pricing structure for startups, through to enterprises.

Like some of the other top affiliate marketing software platforms we've reviewed, Lead Dyno has some impressive statistics to back up its success.

They have tracked over 217 million sales and referrals since 2014, resulting in over $250m in revenue for their clients. They have received thousands of 5-star reviews across Shopify, BigCommerce, WordPress, and Trustpilot.

Lead Dyno enables real-time tracking and 5-star customer service across all of their payment plans.

Monthly pricing starts at $49 per month and allows you to track an unlimited number of affiliates, and up to 3,000 clicks per month. From there, Lead Dyno's scale-up plans are designed to support ecommerce and SaaS companies of any size.

Features we like

Fast program set up - Lead Dyno enables one-click integrations with all major ecommerce platforms including Shopify, BigCommerce, and Squarespace. On top of this, you can design your affiliate dashboard with your brand's logos, color scheme, and other distinguishing factors, and if you are migrating affiliate platforms, you can import affiliate lists
Affiliate tracking - you can set up tracking links, tracked coupon codes, and website URL tracking for specific affiliates to promote. It's also possible to preload content so that affiliates can also share links your links on social media platforms
Real-time affiliate tracking - Lead Dyno enables real-time affiliate tracking so that you can keep affiliates up to date in real-time - this helps build trust
Pay affiliates with ease - set up fixed or percentages-based payment plans, and incentivize affiliates to promote your program to their own networks - affiliates can also register sub-affiliates under their account and earn a percentage of their sub-affiliate revenue on an ongoing basis
Customer support - Lead Dyno offers 5-star customer support on all payment plans

Lead Dyno pricing

There are 4 pricing plans available at Lead Dyno. The Starter Plan costs $49 per month and allows you to track an unlimited number of affiliate partners, driving a combined 3,000 clicks per month.

If you want to remove Lead Dyno's branding from your affiliate software then you need to upgrade to the Starter plan.

Starter - $49 per month, unlimited affiliates, up to 3,000 unique visits per month
Plus - $129 per month, unlimited affiliates, up to 15,000 unique visits per month
Pro - $349 per month, unlimited affiliates, up to 100,000 unique visits per month
Premium - $749 per month, unlimited affiliates, up to 500,000 unique visits per month

Post Affiliate Pro

Post Affiliate Pro is an all-in-one solution for affiliate tracking, management, automation, and reporting.

They have been around since 2004 and power affiliate programs for big brands like SumUp, Instabank, and Ticketea.

Alongside offering affiliate software, they also offer a white-label affiliate network product - meaning you can run your own affiliate marketing software on the Post Affiliate Pro platform.

Post Affiliate Pro monthly pricing starts at $129 per month and offers you the ability to onboard an unlimited number of affiliate partners and up to 1 million tracking requests per month. There is also an Ultimate Plan which allows you to scale beyond this.

Both Post Affiliate Pro payment plans include 24/7 lifetime support and access to a 14-day free trial.

Features we like

Link customization - affiliates can endlessly customize their affiliate marketing tags. They can redirect, add new styles to links, and opt to use anchor links or mod rewrites
Integrations - Post Affiliate Pro is integrated with Shopify, WordPress, Mailchimp, and other leading marketing and ecommerce tools. They also offer copy-and-paste integrations so that you can get set up fast
Real-time reporting - check real-time performance on your programs split by device, geography, and ad channel
Commission plan flexibility - access the ability to set up customized commission plans across your ecommerce affiliate programs. It's also possible to set up split commission payments for multiple affiliates who contributed to the same conversion event
Fraud prevention - leverage Post Affiliate Pro's fraud detection kit to avoid bad actors from creating sign-up fraud, sales fraud, and click fraud on your affiliate programs
Mobile app - manage your affiliate program on the go, check affiliate performance, and approve and decline new affiliates from promoting your brand

Post Affiliate Pro pricing

Post Affiliate Pro offers a straightforward pricing structure.

The Pro Plan starts at $129 per month and allows you to track up to 1 million tracking requests per month across an unlimited number of affiliates. If you need to upgrade, the Ultimate Plan allows you to add further scale.

Pro Plan - $129 per month, 1 million tracking requests per month
Ultimate Plan - $249 per month, 6 million tracking requests per month

Tune

Tune is another top affiliate marketing software for enterprise SaaS businesses.

Tune enables end-to-end partner program management, affiliate fraud prevention, and payment processing for leading enterprises like Shopify, Groupon, Tapjoy, and Zillow.

They offer a white labeled solution, as well as personalized dashboards, reporting, and advanced automation tools - including real time reporting, and 650 API endpoints.

The Bootstrap plan starts at $599 per month and allows you to track up to 1,000 conversions. Tune's most popular plan is the Scale plan which costs $1,500 per month and includes up to 5,000 conversions on a monthly basis.

If you are looking for an enterprise-grade affiliate program, then it's definitely worth considering Tune - they are one of the best in the business (and their client list proves it).

Features we like

Cross-device tracking -unlike other leading affiliate software platforms, Tune enables cross device tracking. It's easy to see within the Tune dashboard each customer's path to purchase/sign up across their mobile, desktop, and app
API capability - Tune is built with an API foundation which means that you can access up to 650 endpoints. If you are looking to build custom affiliate software for your business, Tune provides all of the building blocks you need
Automated payments and workflows - Tune offers proactive fraud prevention, easy-to-use payment rules to ensure smooth and automated payouts, and allows you to easily schedule different pay periods across partners, timezones, and currencies so that affiliates get paid as they see fit
Customer support - Tune prides itself on the fact it has historically provided 99.9% uptime for its clients. They also offer technical development on hand which you can utilize to build your own white-label affiliate solutions

Tune pricing

There are 3 pricing options available at Tune.

The Bootstrap Plan starts at $599 per month and allows you to track up to 1,000 conversions. If you need to scale beyond this, then there are Scale and Custom plans available.

Bootstrap - $599 per month, up to 1,000 conversions, limited payment, and reporting capability
Scale - $1,500 per month, up to 5,000 conversions, full service payments
Custom - custom pricing, 5,000+ conversions per month

Impact

Impact powers affiliate marketing programs for thousands of the biggest retail and travel brands in the market, including Walmart, Uber, Ticketmaster, and Levis.

They offer solutions for affiliate marketing, and influencer marketing management, and provide new customers access to hundreds of thousands of active affiliates.

Impact is suitable for mid-sized to enterprise-level businesses and offers a Custom plan for enterprise-level SaaS businesses with more complex use cases.

Pricing starts at $500 per month and covers onboarding, migration from another affiliate software, and ongoing customer support. For scale, Pro and Enterprise plans are available.

In order to activate an Impact affiliate account, you will need to set up a demo with the Impact sales team.

Features we like

White-labeled solution - Impact offers branded sign-up links, branded sign-up pages, and a complete white-label solution for your affiliate marketing software
Join thousands of brands - thousands of brands, and subsequently, hundreds of thousands of affiliates are already promoting via the Impact Marketplace. Opting to build your affiliate marketing program on Impact allows you to leverage this network to recruit affiliates faster than you otherwise could
Cookie and non-cookie-based tracking - if cookies are blocked, Impact uses digital fingerprints to tie conversions to the correct partners, this ensures you never miss sales and that they are attributed correctly
Cross-device tracking - identity matching technology shows path to purchase across device. That means you can reward affiliates for their roles in driving conversions, installs, and in-app events
Fraud prevention - Forensiq fraud detection stops bad actors from gaming your affiliate program to earn commissions that are not valid. This stops cookie stuffing, fake app installs, and prevents bad actors injecting fake clicks to earn commissions

Impact pricing

There are 3 pricing plans available at Impact, but you will need to contact their sales team in order to book a demo and discuss the plan that is right for your business.

Starter plan - $500 per month
Pro plan - $2,500 per month
Enterprise plan - $5,000+ per month - ideal for complex SaaS use cases

Why is it important to invest in affiliate marketing software for your business?

If you are on the fence about whether you should invest in affiliate marketing software for your business then it's important to weigh up the pros and cons.

While it's inevitable that you will have to sacrifice some of your bottom line to incentivize affiliate partners, creating affiliate relationships allows you to dramatically increase your brand reach at a cost level you control.

Unlike other digital marketing channels like display advertising, where it's not always easy to measure ROI, affiliate marketing software allows you to track the exact impact that affiliates are making in driving you new customers and revenue.

Here are the top reasons to invest in the best affiliate marketing software platforms.

Easy to measure - affiliate marketing is incredibly easy to measure. By using an affiliate marketing platform you can see which partners are driving you clicks, and after the click has landed what happens next. If you are looking to drive sales or marketing leads, you can tell exactly who your best-performing affiliate partners are, and reward them accordingly. Yes, you will need to sacrifice some bottom line, but you're accessing their marketing channels without having to pay any upfront cost - enhancing your conversion rates at the same time
Extend your reach - affiliate marketing campaigns and partnerships are a great way to increase your reach without spending huge sums of money. If you can create solid affiliate relationships with rewarding payment plans, affiliates will push your brand and message to their audiences. Think about influencers with thousands of followers, if you can get your brand in front of this target audience without having to pay upfront, regardless of the sales output, this is a great way to extend your brand reach
Targeted marketing campaigns - once you're up and running, performance marketing channels can offer you a great way to shift stock or high value ticket items. The best affiliate marketing software makes it easy to set up custom commission plans to incentivize the actions you want customers to take. That means if you want to shift discounted stock or focus your affiliates on promoting high-ticket items, you can offer unique commission plans to encourage this activity
Buyers buy from trusted sources - 93% of buyers say that reviews have an impact on their buying decisions, and only a tiny 2% of internet users don't read reviews before making purchases. Affiliate marketing gives you a way to incentivize your customers and those who believe in your brand with a reward for promoting your business in a positive light. This is even more important for SaaS businesses that often compete in very crowded markets

How to pick the best affiliate marketing program to impact your bottom line

When you are just getting your affiliate marketing program off the ground you have a lot of choices.

There are tons of affiliate software options out there at varying price points, which can make it confusing when deciding which affiliate marketing software to opt for.

It's an important decision to make, because once you are set up and your affiliate marketing platform is thriving, if there is something you don't like, then migrating to another affiliate software can be a headache.

Here's a checklist for you to run through before you pull the trigger and start building on any affiliate marketing software.

Affiliate tracking - pick an affiliate marketing platform that allows you to track the types of affiliate marketing activity you care about. If you are looking to build a network of influencers that primarily promote on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, then pick a solution that gives you the flexibility to create trackable coupons, and out-the-box social media posts with embedded tracking links. Thankfully, most affiliate software services offer this out of the box
Affiliate management - check how many affiliates you can set up on the pricing plan that you are opting for. Some pricing plans limit you to a certain number of affiliates before you need to upgrade. Similarly, check that you can report on affiliate performance at an individual affiliate level so that you can build one-to-one relationships. The best affiliate marketing platforms also make it easy to cut the data by campaign, category, product, or even product SKU so that you can analyze the effectiveness of your program's performance
Real-time reporting - if it's important for you to keep your affiliates updated in real-time, then pick affiliate software that has this capability. Traditionally, affiliate marketing platforms would update stats either daily, or twice daily. These days, stats get updated faster, but it's always worth checking this to ensure it fits your program needs
Paying affiliates - one of the most overlooked areas of any affiliate software is how easy it is to actually pay affiliates. The last thing you want to do is spend hours every month organizing your affiliate payment run, especially if your program is running effectively and you are seeing a lot of sales and revenue pouring through. Pick affiliate software that makes it easy to pay affiliates regularly, this will give you an edge over your competition and will help you create trust with affiliates
Integrations - it's important to pick affiliate marketing software that integrates with your existing tech stack. Most of the best affiliate programs integrate with the likes of Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Squarespace, but if you are running on a custom built site, check how easy it is to actually integrate their products and services
Fraud detection - affiliate marketing can be prone to fraud. Especially if you are incentivizing an action that is essentially free. Affiliate marketing draws in some of the smartest minds in digital marketing, and that means actors looking for an edge. The best affiliate marketing platforms spot fraudulent activity at source, meaning you don't pay commissions if an affiliate is acting inappropriately. It's also easy to kick them off the platform altogether
Price - depending on what type of business you are running, you should weigh up how much money you're willing to invest per month/year on affiliate marketing software. If you are tracking a couple of affiliates and just testing the waters, platforms like Affiliatly have pricing plans that start at $16 per month. If you are a SaaS business with hundreds of partners and a complex set of needs, then take the time to speak with affiliate software companies directly about their pricing plans and what they can offer relative to the features you require
Customer support - the best affiliate marketing programs are supported by excellent customer support. This is vital when you are getting your program off the ground, and when you run into inevitable hurdles. It's always worth sense checking what level of customer service is on offer before you get started