Best Affiliate Marketing Software: 16 Top Picks

To create your own affiliate program, you need an affiliate marketing software tool to generate custom links, track commissions, and pay affiliates. 

In a 2025 Shopify survey, 37% of store owners cited marketing and 36% cited finding customers as a top Year 1 challenge.* Affiliates can help with both, so it makes sense Impact’s report found 74% of brands have shifted more budgets to affiliates in 2026.

But managing an affiliate program manually can be difficult. Tracking links, calculating commissions, and paying affiliates on time takes serious effort unless you have the right affiliate marketing software. 

This guide shares how to choose the best affiliate marketing tools for your business, with a shortlist of features to look for. 

What is affiliate marketing software?

Affiliate marketing software is a tool brands use to market to, recruit, and manage affiliates. Depending on the software, it can track sale referral strategy methods (such as coupon codes or affiliate links), earnings by affiliate marketer, commission rates, and payments. 

There are three elements of affiliate marketing to define here:

• Affiliate marketing program. The tactic a business uses to partner with affiliates as part of a marketing plan and overall strategy. 
• Affiliate marketing software. The tools a business uses to run their program.
• Affiliate network. A third-party marketplace that combines affiliate programs from multiple brands.

Affiliate marketing software costs vary, but typically range from $50 to $500 per month. Shopify store owners, however, can install Shopify Collabs for free. 

Benefits of affiliate marketing software

Whether you’re running a small business or a fast-growing ecommerce brand, the right software can simplify tracking sales, managing partnerships, and paying commissions. Here’s how:

Track affiliate performance

Affiliate software automatically logs clicks, conversions, and commissions in real time, giving you a clear picture of what’s working—and what’s not. 

Affiliate tracking tools show:

• Which affiliates drive the most traffic
• Which products convert best
• The most successful affiliate promotions (e.g. affiliate-specific landing pages or discount codes)

Some tools even offer advanced affiliate analytics, helping you measure return on investment (ROI) and spot emerging trends.

Automate commissions and payouts

Affiliate software can issue payouts automatically, making sure accurate affiliate commissions are sent on time. Tools like Refersion and Trackdesk integrate with PayPal, Stripe, or direct bank transfers, while Shopify Collabs issues payouts using the Shopify Billing system you already use. 

Affiliate tracking tools can also support commission management and payouts based on performance data. This helps if you offer some affiliates a higher commission than others—something Lizzy Masotta, senior product lead at Shopify, advises.

“If you’re new to working with them, you can always start them at your lowest level and then promote them through the levels as you build more trust and see more continued performance from them,” Lizzy says.

Manage affiliate partners

Affiliate software makes it easy to manage affiliates. Shopify Collabs, for example, lets you:

• Research, find, and recruit affiliate creators
• Approve them in your program
• Onboard affiliates directly
• Share branded materials
• Set commission rates
• Motivate affiliates to sell more

Hillary Markenson, president of Reverie, says the latter is a key part of any affiliate program: “[The most surprising part] I would say [is] communication with your affiliates and really helping them understand if they are trying to use it as a sales channel—as a lot of our hairdressers are,” Hillary says in a Shopify Masters interview. 

“They’re artists. They don’t come with a sales background or they’re not necessarily interested in that aspect of the business, so you really have to teach them how to use the channel to their advantage.”

Reduce affiliate fraud risk

Affiliate software can help protect your business from fraud by preventing affiliate abuse. It can detect the following signs of suspicious activity automatically, block fraudulent transactions, and ensure you pay only for genuine sales:

• Fake clicks
• Self-referrals 
• Coupon misuse
• Suspicious conversion patterns
• Refunded orders 

Share links and marketing assets

Great affiliate software lets you create branded affiliate links, banners, and pre-approved content affiliates can share easily. While simplifying the process, you’re also protecting your branding. While you want authenticity from your creator partners, it’s important the brand you’ve built stays true.

Shopify, for example, has a library of branded content for creators in the Shopify Affiliate Program. This includes text links, creative banners, and ready-to-use content in multiple languages.

Grow without manual tracking

Manually managing an affiliate program might work when you have 5 or 10 partners. But what happens when you have 100? Or 1,000? Affiliate marketing software grows with you, handling increased traffic, commissions, and payouts without increasing stress. 

16 affiliate marketing software tools to compare

1. Shopify Collabs
2. Affiliatly
3. Everflow
4. Refersion
5. Tapfiliate
6. Post Affiliate Pro
7. LeadDyno
8. UpPromote
9. Rewardful
10. Referral Rock
11. Trackdesk
12. Referral Factory
13. AffiliateWP
14. PartnerStack
15. Affise
16. Awin

Here’s a list of well-reviewed ecommerce affiliate marketing tools, compared by their core features and pricing, to help you choose the right one for your online store:

1. Shopify Collabs

Shopify Collabs is a marketplace-style app for Shopify store owners. It allows businesses to connect with creators, offer commission, track sales, and issue payouts within the Shopify admin interface.

Some of Shopify Collabs’ features include:

• Creator recruitment. Create custom application pages, search millions of creator profiles, and invite existing partners to join your program.
• Gift and sample management. Simplify sending products to creators.
• Affiliate link and code generation. Create unique affiliate links and discount codes for creators to share with their followers.
• Automated payments. Streamline commission payments through the Shopify Billing system, saving time on manual calculations and payouts.
• Shopify Flow integration. Automate repetitive tasks and workflows related to your affiliate program, like tagging affiliate orders or the creator who referred them. 
• Works with Sidekick. Have the AI assistant create affiliate reports, identify high-performing creators, and create vanity codes for each creator.

Immi opted for Shopify Collabs to manage their affiliate program, which includes 432 ambassadors who’ve generated more than $200,000 in affiliate sales.

“We love using Shopify Collabs because it’s simple and easy to use,” says Simal Adenwala, senior partnerships manager. “The Collabs team is easy to work with, always open to feedback, and the platform saves us so much time with really easy-to-use features for affiliate tracking, gifting and commission tracking.”

Pricing: Free to install for Shopify merchants on Shopify, Advanced, or Shopify Plus plans. A 2.9% commission processing fee applies to automatic payments.

G2 rating: No Collabs-specific rating, but Shopify has 4.4 out of 5 stars from more than 6,500 reviews.

2. Affiliatly

Affiliatly is an affiliate marketing tool that helps you manage partners from one user-friendly dashboard. It integrates with your Shopify store, tracking sales on your website and connecting them to the affiliate responsible. 

Affiliatly’s features include:

• Affiliate portal. Partners can log into their own dashboard to create custom affiliate links, view previous sales, and track commission payouts. 
• Custom commission rules. Reward your top affiliates with generous commissions or offer different payouts for different products. You can even offer store credit to incentivize affiliates to purchase their own products using their payout.
• Checkout affiliate pop-up. Use Affiliatly to add a pop-up box to your Shopify checkout page that invites new customers to join the referral program.

Pricing: Starts at $16 per month, including a 14-day free trial. 

G2 rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars. 

3. Everflow

Everflow is a partner marketing program that tracks sales data from various sources, including referrals and affiliates. It also has an AI agent and MCP to pull data from Everflow into your own AI tools. 

Designed for established or scaling online stores, Everflow’s features include: 

• Coupon code tracking. Instead of having affiliate partners divert traffic through custom links, create coupon codes for their audience. Everflow tracks coupon code usage and attributes sales to the affiliate marketer who shared it. 
• Click-to-conversion reporting. Track affiliate fraud and link misuse with this feature. You’ll get an alert when engagements look suspicious. 
• QR codes. Help affiliates make sales in-person with trackable QR codes. Each affiliate can print their own referral code and get credit when people purchase through it.

Pricing: Request a quote.

G2 rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars. 

4. Refersion

Refersion provides real-time insight into your affiliates’ performance and revenue generation, alongside a built-in post-purchase marketing channel that invites customers to become affiliates. It’s reportedly tracked more than $366 million in affiliate commissions to date.

Refersion’s affiliate marketing software offers:

• Access to the affiliate marketplace. Find influencers, content creators, and bloggers through the Refersion marketplace. Create a free listing and invite them to join your own program.
• Email marketing. Stay in touch with your affiliates through automatic emails for application approvals and sales notifications. It also integrates with email marketing tools like Klaviyo and Mailchimp.
• Pay affiliates. Send bulk payments to affiliates at month’s end with Refersion’s PayPal integration. Or, if you prefer to offer gift cards as an incentive for customer referrals, send unique codes via email to qualifying affiliates. 

Pricing: It’s free to publish a listing in the Refersion Marketplace. Professional plans start at $39 per month plus 3% of affiliate-driven sales. 

G2 rating: 3.6 out of 5 stars. 

5. Tapfiliate

Tapfiliate is an affiliate tracking software that integrates with Shopify. Ecommerce brands use this tool to track commissions earned by referring customers, affiliates, or influencer partners. 

Tapfiliate’s features include: 

• Affiliate management. Approve or reject creator applications to your program. You can also add affiliates to groups.
• Top affiliate bonuses. Reward top affiliates with bonuses at referred customers quantity milestones. 
• Branded affiliate portal. Remove Tapfiliate’s branding and customize the portal affiliates use to sign into their account, create affiliate links, and track commission.

Pricing: From $74 per month. Free 7-day trial available.

G2 rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars. 

6. Post Affiliate Pro

Post Affiliate Pro is an affiliate marketing platform that handles every aspect of your program—from inviting influencers to join to monitoring results and sending commission payouts.

Ecommerce brands use Post Affiliate Pro for:

• Site replication. Create custom ecommerce landing pages for each affiliate’s audience.
• Top URL reporting. Exclude all non-affiliate sales to find your top-performing products. Share this information with your affiliates.
• Advanced payment integrations. Post Affiliate Pro integrates with tools like ReCharge, WorldPay, and Stripe to pay affiliates through their preferred method.

Pricing: Starter plans begin at $60 per month. Free 30-day trial available. 

G2 rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars. 

7. LeadDyno

LeadDyno is a Shopify app that lets you recruit, track, and pay affiliates through your Shopify admin. It offers a custom affiliate portal and commission tiers to adjust the software to your affiliate program’s setup.

As part of the software, LeadDyno users get:

• Branded dashboard. Add your brand name, logo, domain, and colors to the affiliate dashboard and attach it to your ecommerce website. 
• Automated affiliate tracking. LeadDyno pulls data from your Shopify store to track affiliate sales and calculate commission. 
• Customizable affiliate program settings. Adjust the commission tiers, create coupon codes, and issue rewards using the LeadDyno app.

Pricing: From $49 per month. Free 30-day trial available. 

G2 rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars. 

8. UpPromote

UpPromote is designed for small business founders with limited technical knowledge. The app is built for Shopify stores and lets you run multiple affiliate programs, with fraud detection and block lists to protect your store.

UpPromote’s affiliate software features:

• Real-time tracking. With real-time analytics and ROI reports, you can instantly see which affiliates are driving sales. 
• Affiliate marketplace. Search for influencers in your industry through the UpPromote marketplace. 
• Profit protection. Use anti-leak discount links, affiliate block lists, and fraud detection tools to protect your business from affiliate fraud.

Pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $29.99 per month with a free 14-day trial available.

G2 rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars. 

9. Rewardful

Rewardful is an all-in-one affiliate management software designed specifically for software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies. It integrates with Stripe and Paddle to track referrals, discounts, and commissions. 

Rewardful’s features include:

• Comprehensive tracking. Monitor upgrades, downgrades, cancellations, and recurring revenue to ensure accurate payout calculations.
• Two-way Stripe sync. View and manage affiliate data directly from your Stripe dashboard.
• Fraud detection. Automatically identify and deactivate suspected self-referrals to maintain program integrity.

Pricing: Starts at $49 per month for the Starter plan, with a Growth plan at $99 per month and custom Enterprise plans starting at $149 per month. All plans come with a 14-day free trial.

G2 rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars. 

10. Referral Rock

Referral Rock is a referral program software designed for service-based, ecommerce, B2B, and tech businesses of all sizes. It offers end-to-end referral programs with customizable rewards to help businesses automate customer acquisition through word-of-mouth marketing.

ReferralRock features include:

• Advanced reward management. Offers flexible reward structures including two-sided rewards, milestone/tiered rewards, and various payout options like coupons, cash, and gift cards.
• Multiple program types. Supports customer referral programs, affiliate and partner marketing programs, and brand ambassador programs to suit different business needs.
• Extensive integrations. Connects with over 50 platforms like Shopify, HubSpot, Klaviyo, and Stripe for referral tracking and automation.

Pricing: From $175 a month. Custom Enterprise plans are also available.

G2 rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars. 

11. Trackdesk

Trackdesk is a comprehensive affiliate tracking software designed for businesses of all sizes, from startups to established companies. 

Trackdesk’s features include:

• Real-time affiliate reporting. Get instant insights into sales, clicks, payouts, and revenue, allowing for immediate affiliate marketing campaign adjustments.
• Integration capabilities. Connects with platforms like Shopify and Zapier, as well as payment processors like Stripe and PayPal.
• Customization options. Offers flexible commission structures, branded affiliate pages, and personalized reports. It also accommodates multiple languages and currencies.

Pricing: Business plans start at $329 per month. There’s a 14-day free trial available.

G2 rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars. 

12. Referral Factory

Referral Factory is a referral program software that helps businesses of all sizes launch and manage customer referral programs without needing developers or experience. 

Referral Factory program features include:

• Customizable referral links. Build links and unique coupon codes that affiliates can use to promote your business.
• Tracking and analytics. Built-in referral tracking system with detailed analytics (including live view) so you can easily monitor program performance and ROI.
• Multiple reward options.: Ability to offer various rewards, including cash, gift cards, and custom coupons, with support for rewards in more than 200 countries.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $200 per month. All plans come with a 15-day free trial.

G2 rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars. 

13. AffiliateWP

AffiliateWP is a WordPress plug-in that helps businesses create and manage affiliate programs within their websites. It’s tailored specifically for WordPress and WooCommerce users.

Affiliate WP features include:

• Customizable affiliate management. Build personalized affiliate landing pages and vanity codes for each creator to access through their portal.
• Detailed reporting. Offers detailed affiliate reports to help you analyze program performance and optimize for better results.
• Smart commission rules. Supports various commission types, including one-time, recurring, tiered, lifetime, and personalized commissions.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $149.50 per year, with a 14-day money-back guarantee. 

G2 rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars. 

14. PartnerStack

PartnerStack is a robust partner ecosystem platform designed to help B2B SaaS companies build, manage, and scale high-ticket affiliate programs. 

PartnerStack’s key features include:

• Recruiting affiliates. Reach more than 144,000 active partners through the Partnerstack Marketplace with a no-code landing page that invites creators to apply.
• PartnerStack AI. Have AI shortlist and filter potential partners, then write partner descriptions you can use to judge whether they’re a good fit for your B2B affiliate program.
• Advanced tracking and attribution. Offers in-depth insights into partner performance, including lead and deal tracking, with CRM integration.

Pricing: Plans start at $1,000 per month. 

G2 rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars. 

15. Affise

Affise allows mobile marketers to measure and analyze app performance. It also provides a marketplace to connect with publishers and influencers, along with tools for campaign management and optimization.

Affise’s features include:

• Multisolution platform: Offers specialized solutions including Affise Performance for affiliate networks, Affise Reach for brand affiliate programs, and Affise Mobile Attribution for app marketers.
• Customizable reports: Filter results by publishers, creatives, campaigns, and countries to see what’s working.
• Affiliate communication software: Chat, onboard, and train new partners within Affise’s software.

Pricing: Plans start at $499 per month. There’s a free 14-day trial available on all plans.

G2 rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars. 

16. Awin

Awin is a global affiliate marketing platform that connects advertisers with more than one million publishers. The Awin platform has three different plans—Access, Accelerate, and Advanced—to provide solutions for businesses of all sizes, from small ecommerce stores to large enterprises.

Awin’s features include:

• Extensive partner network. Access to more than one million vetted affiliate partners across various industries, including content creators, influencers, and technology publishers.
• Flexible commission structures. Customize how you reward partners based on desired outcomes, with options for product-specific, category-based, and multitiered commission rules.
• Automation capabilities. Streamline affiliate program management with features like automated welcome emails, transaction approvals, and API integrations.

Pricing: Awin Access is $49 monthly (first month is free), plus a 3.5% tracking fee and a minimum three-month term. Awin Accelerate costs $99 per month plus a 2.5% transaction fee, while Awin Advanced offers custom pricing upon request.

G2 rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars. 

8 factors for choosing the best affiliate marketing software

Compare store compatibility, attribution capabilities, commission flexibility, automation, and fraud tools when evaluating affiliate marketing software:

Store compatibility

Ensure the affiliate marketing software integrates seamlessly with your ecommerce platform. This allows affiliates to create affiliate links that point their audience to product pages, and track sales your affiliates make. 

Shopify Collabs, for example, natively integrates with Shopify. Other options available in the Shopify App Store include Refersion and UpPromote.

Tracking and attribution depth

Opt for a management tool that offers comprehensive affiliate marketing metrics for each partner, such as:

• Attributed sales and revenue 
• Click-through rates
• Traffic conversion rates
• Affiliate payout reporting 
• Promo code tracking 

“In terms of the different platforms: Typically, for under $150,000 in affiliate revenue per month, we recommend ShareASale [now Awin],” Lauren Kleinman, founder of Dreamday, says in a Shopify Masters interview. 

“It’s pretty straightforward and very user-friendly. But when you start getting more revenue coming through the affiliate program, we recommend something more like Impact, which has much better tracking and attribution.” 

Read: Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Step-by-Step Guide

Commission flexibility

Choose software that accommodates various reward systems, such as coupon codes, cash bonuses, and percentage commissions. This might include different models like pay per sale, pay per action, pay per click, and pay per lead.

Cookie windows and attribution rules

Affiliate attribution rules determine when creators get credit for influencing sales. Check that the platform lets you set cookie windows that align with your average sales cycle. 

Consider creating custom discount codes for each affiliate to bypass attribution issues stemming from third-party cookies. Solgaard does this with Shopify Collabs. It played a role in their ability to grow creator-generated revenue 287% month over month.

Shopify Collabs also lets you adjust the holding period—the time between commission is earned and paid out. Align this with your returns policy to prevent paying out commission for orders returned later. 

Payout automation

Prioritize software that integrates with your business bank account or PayPal for efficient affiliate payments, and your accounting software for payment reconciliation. The goal is to process payments with minimal manual intervention.

Check that you can set approval rules in your affiliate marketing tool. This can stop you from accepting every affiliate—including those with the potential to damage your brand.

Moonboon, for example, uses Shopify Collabs to build a registration page for affiliates interested in joining their program. Every applicant is screened based on their online content and social media engagement. Approximately 10% of the brand’s revenue comes from approved ambassadors.

Fraud and compliance controls

The FTC requires affiliates to disclose posts from brands they’re affiliated with. Retailers can be held liable if their creators don’t follow the guidelines, so make sure your affiliate software can track whether affiliate posts have the correct disclaimers. Confirm your obligations with a legal professional. 

Protect your program from potential scams by ensuring your chosen software includes strong fraud detection capabilities and reliable customer support. Strong partner vetting tools can also help you onboard the right creators into your program.

Affiliate communication and CRM tools

Look for tools with built-in customer relationship management (CRM) features that seamlessly integrate email marketing and direct messaging. You can use this to send seasonal promotions, marketing messaging, and new product launch information to help affiliates create their own campaigns. 

Automated workflows

Choose a platform that automates key processes like affiliate invitations, onboarding, and commission payouts. 

Ecommerce brands using Shopify Collabs, for example, can configure the following Shopify Flow automations to manage affiliate programs at scale:

• Notify your team on Slack when a new affiliate registration requires approval
• Send a congratulatory email when a new affiliate makes their first sale 
• Send a follow-up email to an affiliate after delivery of a free gift

Types of affiliates to recruit

Understanding the different types of affiliates can help you choose the most effective approach for your audience and goals. Here are four common types and the affiliate management features you might need to manage them:

Content creators

Creators share informative content (blogs, guides, videos, or educational content) that incorporate your affiliate links and promotions. They’re suited to products that require detailed explanations or with longer buying processes.

If you’re working with this type of content creator, consider offering free products that let them interact with your products before publishing a write-up. Shopify Collabs lets you issue these free gifts and track fulfillment from your Shopify admin.

Influencer affiliates

Influencers use their personal brands and Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok following to promote products and services through reviews, demos, and recommendations. Brands are expected to spend $13 billion on this type of marketing by 2027.

Lalo, for example, uses Shopify Collabs to partner with social media influencers. “Gifting, measurement, tracking, and of course, rewarding influencers and creators for their promotion has all gotten easier,” says co-founder, president, and CMO Michael Wieder. “As a result, we’ve seen attributable sales from influencers skyrocket.”

Newsletter affiliates

Newsletter affiliates use email marketing to promote products to their subscribers. They incorporate affiliate links and recommendations into their newsletters.

If you’re working with this type of affiliate, think about vanity coupon codes for their audience to use. This is a large reason why online shoppers opt into email marketing: Attentive’s 2026 study found 71% of people subscribe to marketing messages for sales or promotion notifications.

Comparison and review sites

Comparison and review sites offer detailed side-by-side evaluations of products or services within specific niches. They’re particularly effective for higher-priced items if consumers conduct extensive research before purchasing.

Check whether your affiliate marketing software lets publishers build deep links to product pages, not just the homepage, so writers can link directly to the product or variant they’re discussing. For some target markets, affiliate marketing niches can be highly effective.

Publishers may also need approved claims, disclosure reminders, and link monitoring tools. Choose an affiliate management tool that lets you proactively share these best practices.

*Based on a 2025 survey of 500 Shopify merchants conducted in English across Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States. Respondents were established merchants with two or more years on the platform. Results reflect the experiences of this specific sample and may not be representative of all merchants.