Affiliate software is the tool that runs your affiliate program: it creates links for your affiliates, tracks who referred each customer, calculates commissions and helps you pay them. For a SaaS company, picking the right one comes down to four questions: does it connect to your billing, what does it really cost, how does it pay affiliates, and does it help you find them.
Here is how to choose, with the trade-offs between the main tools.
Do you need affiliate software at all?
If you have a handful of partners, you can start with coupon codes and a spreadsheet. As soon as you have more than a few affiliates, or you pay recurring commissions, you need software: tracking every renewal, upgrade, refund and cancellation by hand is where programs break and affiliates lose trust.
1. Start from your billing
Your affiliate tool must read your payments to calculate commissions. If you bill through Stripe, Paddle or Chargebee, pick a tool that integrates natively, so commissions follow upgrades, refunds and cancellations automatically.
- Stripe and Paddle: Rewardful, FirstPromoter, Tolt, Reditus and Partnero all list them.
- Shopify stores: UpPromote, GoAffPro and Refersion are built around store platforms.
2. Count the full cost
Look past the monthly price:
- Fee on sales. Some tools take a percentage of affiliate-driven sales on top of the plan, for example Refersion and UpPromote on paid plans.
- Fee on payouts. Managed payouts often cost a few percent (Rewardful's optional Managed Payouts, Reditus, Partnero, Dub).
- Revenue caps. Several plans are limited by the affiliate revenue they track per month, so the price rises as your program grows.
A $49 plan with no fee can cost less than a cheaper plan that takes 3% of every affiliate sale once your program takes off.
3. Check how affiliates get paid
Affiliates care about getting paid on time and in a way that works in their country. Check which methods the tool supports (PayPal, Wise, bank transfer, crypto) and whether payouts are automated or need you to send them each month. Tolt and Reditus include automated payouts on every plan.
4. Decide how you will find affiliates
Software runs the program; it does not fill it. Some tools include a marketplace where affiliates browse programs (PartnerStack, Reditus, Affonso, Refersion, UpPromote, Impact.com). A marketplace only lists programs that run on that tool, so most companies also recruit directly and list their program on independent directories. See where to list your SaaS affiliate program.
Which affiliate software should you pick?
- Early-stage SaaS on Stripe or Paddle: Rewardful or FirstPromoter, both from $49/month. Compare them in Rewardful vs FirstPromoter.
- You want automated payouts from day one: Tolt or Reditus.
- B2B SaaS with a partner team and budget: PartnerStack.
- Online store: UpPromote or GoAffPro, both with free plans.
- Large brand with many partner types: Impact.com.
Every tool is compared side by side, with prices from the official pages, in our affiliate software comparison.
Mistakes to avoid
- Choosing on price alone, then discovering the tool does not support your billing setup.
- Ignoring fees on sales, which grow with your program.
- No plan for recruiting, which leaves you with a perfect setup and no affiliates.
- Switching tools later without planning. Affiliate links and pending commissions live in the old tool: migrate in one go and keep it until everything is paid.
The short version
Match the tool to your billing, add every fee to the price, check how affiliates are paid, and plan how you will recruit them. Then, once your program is live, list it on AffiDex for free.