Best Affiliate Software

Whichever tool tracks your payment processor at a tier you will not immediately outgrow. If you bill only through Stripe, Rewardful and FirstPromoter start at $49. If you sell through a store, or a store and a subscription, that narrows fast: Rewardful supports Stripe or Paddle only, and Referly at $75 is the option here that reads Shopify orders and Stripe subscriptions in one program.

Yes. UpPromote, BixGrow and Endorsely all have free tiers with real limits, and for a first program on Shopify that is a reasonable place to start. Referly runs a 14-day trial rather than a free plan, and takes a 0% transaction fee on every paid plan, so the subscription is the whole cost rather than a percentage of what your affiliates earn.

The entry band is $49 to $89 a month, and what separates the prices is the cap rather than the feature list: $5,000 of monthly affiliate revenue at $49, $10,000 at $69 to $75, unlimited at Partnero's $59. The number that matters is your bill at three times your current affiliate revenue, because that is where a successful program lands within a year.

It depends on the vendor, and it is worth asking before you sign. Most tools in this band ask you to upgrade to the next tier, typically $99. Tapfiliate instead meters clicks and conversions and publishes overage rates of $1.50 per 1,000 clicks and $15 per 1,000 conversions. Partnero does not meter revenue at all.

Very few in this price band. Rewardful supports Stripe or Paddle only, FirstPromoter covers Stripe, Chargebee and Paddle, and Tolt covers Stripe, Paddle and Chargebee. None of them read a Shopify order. Refersion and UpPromote are ecommerce-first and do not track subscriptions. Referly reads both: Shopify orders and coupon codes alongside Stripe subscriptions, renewals and refunds.

Tax is the biggest gap in this category. Rewardful and FirstPromoter do not collect the forms at any price, and Tolt gates W-9 and W-8 collection and 1099 filing to its $99 tier. Referly collects W-9, W-8BEN and W-8BEN-E inside the affiliate portal from the $149 tier, encrypts the tax ID at rest and tracks W-8 expiry, alongside EU self-billing invoices with VAT validation.

Yes, and it is less painful than it sounds. Affiliates, referrals and reward history export as CSV from every tool here. Referly imports by CSV or directly from Rewardful, FirstPromoter, Tolt, Tapfiliate, PartnerStack, Trackdesk, Partnero and Dub, free on every plan, so partners keep their links rather than signing up again.

No, and confusing the two is expensive. Affiliate software means you own the program: you recruit the partners, set the rates and pay them. A network like Impact or CJ brings you publishers and takes a cut of the volume. Software is cheaper and gives you the relationship. A network gives you reach you have not earned yet.