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Running a successful affiliate marketing program requires a high-quality tech stack and affiliate website. To help you determine what your affiliate management tool should look like, our team has spent hours researching top affiliate program platforms across the industry — giving you the best possible feedback.
The Top Affiliate Software Pick
Best overall: Impact.com. We chose Impact.com as the best affiliate program providers due to its specialty reporting capabilities, wide range of partnership tools, and customer support to help you better manage your affiliate program experience.
Our Top Picks
Best Affiliate Software
Best for Large-Scale Ecommerce Enterprises
Best Multi-Use Software
Best for Tech or SaaS Businesses
Most Integration-Friendly Tool
Best Tool for Beginners
Best for Multi-Level Affiliate Management
Digital.com dives deep into every topic it covers to offer trusted and reliable recommendations for the best business tools. See how we review affiliate management software.
Tips From an Expert
Choosing the best affiliate software comes down to your skill level and needs.
“One of the most important elements of your affiliate software evaluation process should be user experience. You want something easy to onboard with, prompting organization-wide implementation.”
The Best Affiliate Software of 2023
Best Affiliate Software
Features
- Native recruiting tool
- Optimization features for maximum ROI
- Flexible tracking options
#1 Top Pick for 2023
Impact.com is the best affiliate management tool. It’s easy to use, offers a native, streamlined recruitment process, and engagement tools to more effectively build up and train your affiliate partners.
Price
$30 to $2500 per month
Automation & Collaboration Tools
Yes
Reporting & Integrations
Advanced
Free Trial or Demo
Demo
Read More
Reasons to choose Impact.com
- Fast and knowledgeable customer support
- Sophisticated and extensive reporting
- Native fraud protection
Reasons to avoid
- Lengthy and convoluted sales process
- Lack of transparent, public-facing pricing
Impact.com is the best affiliate management tool. It’s easy to use, offers a native, streamlined recruitment process, and engagement tools to more effectively build up and train your affiliate partners.
Impact.com remains our top choice for affiliate management tools due to its comprehensive nature and extensive depth as a tool suite.
You’ll enjoy a more personalized management experience across your range of partnerships (such as business partners, influencers, and app partners) and process every interaction through a single, centralized hub. The interface is loaded with tools for optimization and strategic management, such as native brand and partnership recruitment tools, in-app brand messaging, and knowledge management support for program managers and affiliates alike.
Impact.com offers chat, email ticket, and phone support 24 hours a day during the workweek. Beyond Impact’s commitment to customer care, its strongest selling points include extensive general partnership support tools, and its sleek dashboard with strategic insights for management-at-a-glance.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing your partnerships, which is why I found Impact.com’s approach so advanced. Rather than be affiliate-specific, it expanded its reach to offer more strategic support for partners of all types — giving you a more personalized experience with its tool suite. This allows you to grow and scale your program, using your resources effectively in a single, centralized framework.
- Who is Impact.com best for?
I found that Impact.com is best for rapidly growing and scaling businesses, specifically those with a range of partnerships. While small businesses would also benefit to some degree, they would not be able to fully benefit from the services Impact offers. The platform is dense and requires a learning curve, which may not be feasible for startups or small businesses that need to onboard quickly with a more agile infrastructure. - Recent updates to Impact.com
Impact.com is always enhancing its platform, summarizing developments in year-end reviews. Recent updates include deferred deep linking for higher conversion rates, the visually-driven Data Lab, and the application programming interface (API) portal launch. - Impact.com pricing
Impact.com was not originally up-front with its prices during my queries. However, after signing up, I was able to confirm general pricing packages. You can start with Impact for as little as $30 a month, with plans up to $2,500 a month. The scalability in pricing makes this an affordable choice for growing midsize businesses looking to optimize their affiliate program without breaking the bank.
Best for Large-Scale Ecommerce Enterprises
Features
- Automated partner discovery
- First-party and multi-domain store-tracking options
- 2,000+ integration options
Price
$99 per month
Automation & Collaboration Tools
Yes (limited collaboration tools)
Reporting & Integrations
Yes (moderate reporting)
Free Trial or Demo
Free trial
Read More
Reasons to choose Refersion
- Extensive affordably priced base plan
- Shopify and Amazon Marketplace-exclusive perks
- Ample extension libraries and available developer API
Reasons to avoid
- Limited customer service support options
- Slightly higher base price for pro-level membership
This affiliate software is specifically designed to support Amazon Marketplace and Shopify-powered channels, helping you to strategically drive your growth across every influencer relationship. Refersion is known for its extensive library of integrations and a full suite of partnership management tools.
Refersion is one of the most extensively integratable platforms for partnership management, making it a favorite among established brands and large-scale enterprises.
The service offers unprecedented simplicity compared with the other platforms on this list, despite its depth of offer and service. You’ll enjoy an easy campaign and management process for seamless onboarding and relationship management, automated payouts (no matter what custom structure you have in place), and a robust API for more streamlined operations.
Beyond the benefits listed above, the platform’s strongest selling points include its specific marketing tools for e-commerce platforms Amazon and Shopify, its extensive capacity for automation and integration, and its marketplace — arguably larger than most other software.
When you think of affiliate program management, you may not consider automation or integration. However, these “silent” benefits offer you an immense amount of time saved on your back-end and manual operations, encouraging team members to spend time on higher-level tasks.
- Who is Refersion best for?
I found that Refersion is best for organizations that are well-established and have successfully launched an affiliate program. Smaller companies may be unable to afford the $99 base price point long term. Larger companies benefit from the Shopify- and Amazon-specific tools Refersion offers, as well as its simplified and strategic approach to dashboard orientation and reporting. - Recent updates to Refersion
Refersion seems to roll out seasonal changes, focusing heavily on user experience and platform quality. Recent changes included faster loading speeds, readability improvements, and column updates. You can view any current and future changes via the site’s published changelog. - Refersion pricing
Refersion’s pricing is slightly on the expensive side, but is still considered to be very affordable for mid-size businesses and established brands. You can begin with a Professional account starting at $99 per month. While the base membership is extensive, you may want to enjoy other account-specific perks: such as the scaling tools, ACH payment types, tax automation, Amazon Marketplace-specific tools, and migration services. These all occur with the Enterprise and Enterprise Plus options, which come at custom quoted prices after you speak with a sales rep.
Best Multi-Use Software
Features
- Lifetime 24/7 support with any plan
- Native fraud protection tools across all use cases
- Convenient mobile app management
Price
$129 to $599 per month
Automation & Collaboration Tools
Yes
Reporting & Integrations
Yes
Free Trial or Demo
Demo
Read More
Reasons to choose Post Affiliate Pro
- Transparent pricing, onboarding, and purchase process
- Native brand asset management and creation
- Inclusive base packages for higher overall value
Reasons to avoid
- Limited integration or transfer assistance
- Limited social media asset templates in banner library
Post Affiliate Pro is one of the few affiliate programs that offers a complimentary 14-day trial, giving you a true try-before-you-buy experience. Signup takes less than two minutes, and there’s little to no learning curve during your onboarding process.
Post Affiliate Pro won the award for best multi-use affiliate marketing tool due to its multifaceted native interface. You’ll be able to manage every element of your affiliate outreach experience.
Affiliate partners and program management can be completely overwhelming. However, the site goes the extra mile for its users — offering 24/7 customer support, onboarding assistance at no additional cost, and an extensive knowledge base to support newcomers and seasoned veterans.
With Post Affiliate Pro, you’ll be able to easily manage flexible and diverse payment models, commission tasks, and campaign creation through a single menu selection process, saving you time spent on your integration and platform learning curve.
This platform stands out from the rest, giving you more tools for the overall purchase value with little to no time spent onboarding. This is rare to see, especially with the complex nature of affiliate tools as a whole. Despite its simple interface, though, you lose no functionality — making this one of the most competitive platforms available.
- Who is Post Affiliate Pro best for?
Due to its simplicity and comprehensive design, I found that Post Affiliate Pro is best suited for small and midsize businesses that have established and profitable affiliate programs. The site offers convenient imports from CSV options, saving you even more time during the transfer process. - Recent updates to Post Affiliate Pro
Post Affiliate Pro continues to optimize and update its platform, rolling out near-monthly updates for its consumer base. You’ll be able to see this conveniently in their blog’s news section, or via the site’s developmental changelog (depending on what update you’re looking for). Notable improvements in the latest edition of the software include automatic affiliate account creation when a purchase is made through the Instamojo platform, bug fixes around banner order reorganization and ordering, and a hypertext processor (PHP) notice patch for the current Post Affiliate Pro API. - Post Affiliate Pro pricing
Post Affiliate Pro is very straightforward with its prices, which is something that I appreciated. Many competing tools opt to hide their pricing behind a survey wall, or simply not list them at all — encouraging me to do a demo call before learning the real cost of the tool. The price transparency here immediately gave me more trust and buy-in with this specific platform for affiliate management.
Best for Tech or SaaS Businesses
Features
- Full suite of automated tools to grow your program
- Easily scalable and targeted toward tech businesses
- Multi-partner automated payment support
Price
Custom packages only
Automation & Collaboration Tools
Yes
Reporting & Integrations
Yes
Free Trial or Demo
Demo
Read More
Reasons to choose PartnerStack
- Industry-specific tool for ecommerce businesses in SaaS and tech
- Holistic approach natively integrated
- Easily works with common business tools
Reasons to avoid
- Customers report faulty fraud detection
- Limited range of payout options
PartnerStack is an affiliate marketing tool tailored to e-commerce tech and SaaS companies. The platform walks you through every step of the process to grow your affiliate network, starting from customer acquisition to scaling steps. It’s an ideal platform to consider if you’re looking to optimize your operations from the top down.
PartnerStack was the only high-quality affiliate option I saw in my research that’s specifically tailored to tech and SaaS e-commerce companies. It warrants mention and is well-equipped with reporting, payment processing, and connection options for brands and leaders in the tech space.
Tech affiliate management is a highly nuanced subdivision of affiliate marketing, requiring a direct ability to network and scale to succeed. PartnerStack offers just that via their PartnerStack marketplace — connecting you to 200+ partnership opportunities at any given time, as well as 65,000+ contacts in your circles.
You’ll also enjoy the sleek, centralized interface, custom link creation tool, and multi-channel management.
The PartnerStack platform is driven by automation and continues to optimize your affiliate management process as you scale your business. It does this by helping you strategically build your systems, expand your currently existing avenues of partnership, and maximize the performance you get from each working relationship. This process is all managed with tailored internal processes housed in the PartnerStack native interface.
- Who is PartnerStack best for?
In my research, I found that PartnerStack is ideal for midsize businesses looking to optimize their affiliate management experience. It’s built specifically for tech and SaaS e-commerce companies, meeting a continuously-rising demand for industry-specific tools. - Recent updates to PartnerStack
Updates on PartnerStack are condensed in convenient blog posts, providing the rationale for changes. Recent updates include a total PartnerStack brand refresh and an updated PartnerStack partner portal — both of which centered around enhancing user experience (UI). I’m pleased to see a platform taking such large strides for UI and adaptability, and I hope to see these types of advances expanded to other types of software and tools. - PartnerStack pricing
Information on PartnerStack pricing was not readily available. However, the site does offer custom packages based on exact business needs, submitted via the site’s demo request form. For the best results and the most accurate quote possible, I recommend providing as much detailed information as you can. This helps your agent give you as accurate and inclusive of a bid as possible.
Most Integration-Friendly Tool
Features
- Category-based commission structure
- Robust automation and integration suite
- Multi-level marketing (MLM) and white-label support (with Essential plan)
Price
$59 to $149 a month
Automation & Collaboration Tools
Yes (collaboration tools with Integrations)
Reporting & Integrations
Yes
Free Trial or Demo
Demo
Read More
Reasons to choose Tapfiliate
- Team member support and per-credential permission management
- White-label support and custom affiliate onboarding processes
- Integration and automation-friendly
Reasons to avoid
- Mixed reviews on quality of customer support
- Limited support for global communication
Tapfiliate was created with user experience in mind, offering a sleek adaptation and setup process, as well as a variety of seamless integration opportunities and scaling support for e-commerce brands in any stage of development.
Tapfiliate is an easy-to-use system that uses automation and integrations to manage your affiliate management program. The entire platform is built around triggers, giving you a relatively self-managed framework for your affiliate management tasks. Businesses at any point in development can get a wide range of benefits from the tool, especially with reporting and affiliate tracking tasks.
There are over 30+ native integration opportunities, linking Tapfiliate to your favorite management tools. You’ll be able to put time back into your day and redirect your team’s attention to higher-level tasks, as the manual work (such as affiliate follow-up, messaging, and reporting) will all be handled automatically.
Other top selling points include at-a-glance balance tracking and payment assistance, custom trigger-based workflow automation tools, and single-record affiliate tracking tools for management at a glance.
- Who is Tapfiliate best for?
I found that Tapfiliate is best for small- and midsize e-commerce brands that have recently launched an affiliate program. Businesses in this category will fully benefit from the easy onboarding process, customer support, and extensive library of connections. Larger brands can benefit equally from comprehensive reporting structures and simplified affiliate tracking tools. However, large e-commerce enterprises may need more features than Tapfiliate currently offers, such as unlimited customized commission structures and management tools, and in-platform direct messaging. - Recent updates to Tapfiliate
Tapfiliate updates are listed in the Tapfiliate Blog, as well as plenty of resources to help you to maximize your program’s impact. Updates are rolled out approximately once per month, most recently including a new starter pricing plan and annual payment options. - Tapfiliate pricing
Tapfiliate pricing is straightforward, giving you a full overview of what to expect with each tier. Price points are considerably lower than competing tools (starting at $59 a month) across all membership tiers, giving smaller e-commerce businesses and businesses on a budget an opportunity to build and launch their affiliate program successfully.
Best Tool for Beginners
Features
- Unlimited commission structure and affiliates on the entry-level plan
- Email and live chat support for beginning affiliate managers
- Easy setup in minutes
Price Range
$49 to $749 a month
Automation & Collaboration Tools
Yes (limited collaboration tools)
Reporting & Integrations
Yes (limited reporting)
Free Trial or Demo
Free trial
Read More
Reasons to choose LeadDyno
- More affordable than most platforms in the space
- Includes affiliate portal creation and support
- One-click integration and automation
Reasons to avoid
- No affiliate marketplace to recruit from
- Less comprehensive reporting
LeadDyno is known for its ease of use and comprehensive nature. Its tools align with the needs of e-commerce business owners and SaaS businesses, giving you everything you need to launch and refine your affiliate program successfully.
LeadDyno immediately stood out to me as a more simplistic approach to affiliate management, with both a price and setup that would resonate with new affiliate management leaders and programs. From login to optimization, you’ll be able to refine your program easily with the platform’s native inclusions, relying heavily on buttons, drop-downs, and a no-learning-curve process.
Despite its simple presentation, you won’t lose functionality or capability. While you can’t directly message affiliates through the platform or enjoy an internal affiliate marketplace for recruitment, you can launch your own web pages and portals for your team (even on the basic plan) and one-click integrations for easy automation and refinement. You’ll also enjoy the light affiliate CRM (customer resource management) support it includes in the native interface.
Simplicity isn’t just a benefit to smaller businesses. The platform is comprehensive enough to aid programs in all stages of development, from small and midsize businesses to enterprises. This is especially true if there are pre-set communication channels in place to coordinate and onboard your affiliate team. The platform’s other strongest selling points include its strategic tracking dashboards, automated marketing campaign support, and varied commission options (which include both crypto payouts and bulk/en masse payment structures).
- Who is LeadDyno best for?
I found that LeadDyno is best for any business looking to simplify and streamline its affiliate process. However, SMBs may get more utility and benefit from the tool due to the easy onboarding process, extensive customer support for setup, and automations/integrations for system refinement. Larger e-commerce businesses will still benefit, but such companies may be looking for additional tools the current version does not include, such as internal communication channels and a native affiliate recruitment marketplace. - Recent updates to LeadDyno
LeadDyno continues to refine and iterate its affiliate management platform, showcasing detailed updates in blog posts approximately once per quarter. I saw user experience changes to the purchase reporting screen and a handy weekly summary email. Changes made to the platform seem to centralize around user experience and additions almost exclusively, which highlights their commitment to customer utility and success. - LeadDyno pricing
I appreciated the price transparency of LeadDyno, as most other affiliate management platforms required me to sit through a sales call (and often still did not provide up-front pricing information). The site is more accessible than other options, offering plans starting from $49 per month. You’ll still get the bulk utility of the tool at this rate, including visitor, lead, and conversion tracking, unlimited commission configurations, and stellar customer service.
Best for Multi-Level Affiliate Management
Features
- User-friendly and streamlined approach
- Live partnership discovery tool for seamless pairing
- Advanced reporting capabilities
Price
From $625 (plus fees)
Automation & Collaboration Tools
Yes (limited collaboration tools)
Reporting & Integrations
Yes (limited reporting)
Free Trial or Demo
Free trial
Read More
Reasons to choose ShareASale
- Extensive reporting options
- Tools such as Pay Per Call for more ways to earn
- Partnership recruitment tool
Reasons to avoid
- High minimum payment threshold for entry
- Customers report varying experiences with withdrawals and money access during disbursement periods
ShareASale offers solutions for all different levels of affiliate program management. From merchants to agencies to affiliates, this one-size-fits-all approach to management is quickly becoming a market leader.
Due to ShareASale’s duality and range of capabilities, you can experience the tool in three main ways: as a merchant, as an agency, or as an affiliate. I chose to sign on as an affiliate to show exactly what your affiliate team members will be experiencing when they log on.
I chose to do this to empower you with the information you need to create a more engaging and enriching experience for your auxiliary affiliate team members. Beyond boosting your working relationship, you have the opportunity to rapidly expand and grow (as well as earn) with a high-quality affiliate experience. Let’s explore what makes ShareASale a great choice for affiliate team member use.
The ShareASale interface is entirely data driven. Affiliates won’t have to wonder where they stand at any point, helping them to be more strategic in their drip schedules and management. The user-friendly platform directs your affiliates to main tabs at the top of the page. These include reporting, merchants (for program management), links (which include asset elements), and tools — offering usage of API reporting and product showcases for specific merchant partner offers.
Beyond the platform’s user-friendliness and comprehensive site structure, affiliate team members will also appreciate other top selling points: the partnership discovery tool, content management tools, and advanced reporting.
- Who is ShareASale best for?
ShareASale is robust enough to support full-scale enterprises and affiliate programs. Smaller brands will also benefit, but they may not receive the same level of benefit that you would expect to see from a larger e-commerce brand using the service. We made this evaluation based on the depth and complexity of the tool, as well as the starting price point, which may be limiting to small or startup brands. - Recent updates to ShareASale
ShareASale has maintained an update cadence of every few months, rolling out the user experience and functionality upgrades in batches. A recent one upgraded the platform to support intelligent tags for better search functionality in the partnership recruitment tool. Over 40,000 partners were updated with these smart tags, which were tied to an artificial intelligence (AI) tool for continuous learning and development. You can catch up on this and the latest updates at the ShareASale blog. - ShareASale pricing
While the ShareASale interface is simpler than other tools in the space (and more comprehensive), I didn’t appreciate how confusing the price structure can be initially. Merchants pay a $625 one-time access fee to sign on to the platform and have to pay an additional $125 minimum deposit for affiliate payouts. Transaction fees occur with every purchase, and equal 20% of the commissions you’re paying out. Affiliates can start for free, however, only paying the 20% commission fee to stay on the platform and viable for new partnerships.
Compare Affiliate Software
Affiliate Software Provider
Best Features
Pricing
Best Affiliate Software
- Native recruiting tool
- Optimization features for maximum return ROI
- Flexible tracking options
$30/per month
Best for Large-Scale Ecommerce Enterprises
- Automated partner discovery
- First-party and multi-domain store-tracking
- 2,000+ integration options
$99/per month
Best Multi-Use Software
- Lifetime 24/7 support with any plan
- Native fraud protection tools
- Convenient mobile app management
$129/per month
Best for Tech or SaaS Businesses
- Full suite of automated tools
- Easily scalable for tech businesses
- Multi-partner automated payment support through a single workflow
Custom Pricing
Best Integration-Friendly Affiliate Tool
- Category-based commission structure
- Robust automation and integration suite
- Multi-level marketing (MLM) and white-label support (with Essential plan)
$59/per month
Best for Beginners
- Unlimited commission structure and affiliates
- Email and live chat support for beginning affiliate managers
- Easy setup in minutes
$49/per month
Best for Multi-Level Affiliate Management
- User-friendly and streamlined approach
- Live partnership discovery tool
- Advanced reporting capabilities
$625
What You Need to Know about Affiliate Software Providers
What is affiliate software?
Affiliate tracking software is used to track the referral, endorsement, or recommendation made by one person or company to buy products or services from another person or company. The software also enables affiliate marketers to create unique affiliate links, track performance in real-time, and pay for successful referrals.
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is an advertising model in which a company compensates third-party publishers to generate traffic or leads to the company’s products and services. The third-party publishers are affiliates, and the commission fee incentivizes them to find ways to promote the company.
Are affiliate programs good for business?
Affiliate marketing has been proven to have a much higher return on investment than most other marketing strategies. One major reason for this is because your target audience will hear of your product or service from affiliates that are naturally positioned within their spheres of influence.
What are the three types of affiliates?
There are three main types of affiliate marketing:
- Unattached affiliate marketing: The affiliate has no connection to the product or service they are promoting.
- Related affiliate marketing: The promotion of products or services by an affiliate with some type of relationship to the offering, usually between the affiliate’s niche and the product or service.
- Involved affiliate marketing: The affiliate has used or currently uses the product and are confident that their positive experiences can be shared by others. Their experiences are the advertisements, and they serve as trusted sources of information.
What are the benefits of using affiliate tracking software?
The benefits of using affiliate tracking software may include:
- Identifies top-performing affiliates
- Streamline lead and analytics tracking
- Can create unique tracking codes
- Easy to install and set up
How I Reviewed the Best Affiliate Software Providers
An affiliate management program is a vital part of your tech stack. I focused on business critical objectives throughout the evaluation process. I read up on recent customer reviews, thoroughly went through the platform or tool’s website, and signed up for my own account to take the tool to its limits. I explored every area of functionality that customers use and gave a detailed summary on its quality and potential for use.
I signed up for a plan with each provider to test:
Learn more about our review methodology.