I follow various content creators on social media and visit their platforms frequently. I often notice some will mention affiliate links in their content and how purchasing from those links helps them earn commissions.

Before working in marketing, I wasn't sure what that meant. Now, I know these creators participate in affiliate programs, and if you're a creator or business, you can also benefit from these programs.

Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to monetize your content, especially when you don't sell products or services.

There are many affiliate programs, ranging from online courses to website builders to marketing and business affiliates.

Here, we will explore:

• What is an affiliate program?
• What is an affiliate partner?
• What makes a good affiliate partner?
• How do affiliates make money?
• Types of Affiliate Programs
• Best Affiliate Marketing Networks for Beginners
• Best Affiliate Programs
• Resources for Getting Started with an Affiliate Marketing Program

To further understand affiliate programs, I'll use an example.

Wirecutter.com, a New York Times company, is a website that lists product recommendations for shoppers. Wirecutter largely earns commission based on affiliate relationships with retailers.

The publication’s affiliate monetization model might make you doubt the legitimacy of its recommendations — but, in fact, it's quite the opposite.

Wirecutter only makes a commission when a reader purchases a product from an affiliate retailer and doesn't return the product. Wirecutter, then, has no incentive to promote inferior products.

If they did, they'd make less money and turn away readers — and who wants that?

What is an affiliate partner?

An affiliate partner is the creator, influencer, or business that partners with a company and earns commissions by promoting the company's products or services.

While there are several kinds of affiliate partnerships, you only want to be one kind of affiliate partner — a good one. So, what makes a quality affiliate partner? Don't worry. I reached out to the expert for their input.

What makes a good affiliate partner?

Nancy Harnett, Head of Affiliate Marketing at HubSpot, says an excellent affiliate partner is someone who is committed to mutual growth, has a proven track record of driving high-quality leads or sales, and prioritizes transparent communication.

“At HubSpot, we value someone who aligns closely with our brand values, understands our target audience, and brings valuable expertise and resources to the table,” Harnett says.

She says, “Remember, a great affiliate partner is not just a promoter but a trusted extension of a brand's marketing team.'

The Do‘s and Don’ts of Working with an Affiliate Partner

Harnett says affiliate partnerships are complex. It can often take time to build trust and find that synergy when two entities work together, but transparency can make the process smoother.

“At HubSpot, we like to establish clear expectations and mutually agreed-upon goals from the start, provide affiliate partners with the necessary tools, resources, and support to succeed, and maintain open communication lines,” she says.

She says, “We also share regular updates, insights, metrics, and data. This has been a big win for us and our program.”

Harnett says companies should avoid micromanaging affiliate partners.

“Trust their expertise and give them creative freedom,” she explains. “Don't forget to regularly evaluate performance and make data-driven decisions to optimize the partnership. Lastly, don't ignore feedback or concerns. Address any issues promptly and work collaboratively towards solutions.”

So if you're an affiliate partner and you feel like the brand doesn’t trust your process or is micromanaging your workflow — it could be time to rethink that partnership.

How do affiliates make money?

Many affiliates start their journey by creating a website to have a home base for their marketing efforts. 

The affiliate gets a unique link (an “affiliate link”) from which clicks can be tracked — typically using cookies. The cookie then tracks the user to see if they make a purchase.

If they do it within an allotted time, the affiliate will earn a commission.

Each cookie has a “length” or “cookie life,” which defines how long the cookie will track the user's online activity.

For example, if a cookie has a 30-day life, your referral needs to purchase within 30 days of clicking your affiliate link for you to get paid — otherwise, the lead will no longer be trackable.

If you're interested in starting an affiliate program, there are different types of affiliate programs, and I suggest you pick the one best suited for your business. Let's dive into the types of affiliate programs next.

Types of Affiliate Programs

If you're looking to promote products or services, I’m happy to report that you can consider a few affiliate programs.

When choosing an affiliate program, you'll want to remember the avenues or platforms where your audience spends most of their time.

For instance, does your buyer persona typically read blog posts, scroll Facebook, or use search engines when researching new products?

Alternatively, is your buyer persona always looking for a good deal and would appreciate a link on a coupon site?

Or are they more interested in researching before purchasing, making your promotion efforts more worthwhile on a review site?

While those are questions you‘ll have to consider for yourself, let's take a look at some general types of affiliate programs so you can begin brainstorming potential avenues for your marketing efforts:

Search Affiliates

With this program, marketers pay their own money to promote affiliate offers on search results or other online advertising platforms like Facebook Advertising.

This is an excellent option for marketers with an SEO background who want to A/B test to see which ads result in the most referrals — and ROI.

Influencer Programs

If you’re a blogger or social media influencer engaging with a specific audience, I suggest partnering with a company whose products appeal to them.

For instance, if I'm a food blogger or YouTube influencer who creates recipe content, I would partner with a company that sells kitchen appliances by featuring their product in your content in exchange for a commission for every product sold via your affiliate link.

Ideally, this would result in additional revenue if my audience likes the products you’re promoting.

Review Sites

Blind buying products online can be daunting for consumers, which is why they often turn to review sites during the buyer’s journey so they can conduct research before purchasing.

Review sites partner with individual companies or affiliate networks to review products and services in exchange for an affiliate link.

Coupon Sites

Like review sites, coupon sites partner with companies to offer buyers discounts on products and services in exchange for a kickback.

Email Marketing

This is best in small doses. You don‘t want to send bulk emails to an audience not interested in promoted products or services. However, with proper consideration for who’s receiving the email, this could be an effective method.

For instance, if you work for a marketing agency, you could partner with a company that sells design tools and include an affiliate within emails you send to design clients.

This could help your clients create higher-quality content while providing an added source of revenue.

Either way, marketing analytics software is a must here. It helps track email open and click-through rates and gives you the insights necessary to fine-tune campaigns for maximum efficiency. 

Affiliate Networks

Instead of offering products from only one company, affiliate networks act as a marketplace and provide a larger pool of brands and offers to choose from.

This option may appeal to beginner affiliate marketers because you don’t have to manage as many partnerships simultaneously. Plus, there’s no limit on how many affiliate networks you can join, so endless possibilities exist.

Getting started with affiliate marketing as a beginner can be overwhelming. There are just so many options to choose from! Below, I’ll explore the top affiliate programs you can join as a beginner.

I'll specifically look at the commission (how much you can make per sale), and cookie life (how long the cookie will track user activity) so you can find which affiliate program gives you the best ROI.

1. Amazon Associates

Commission: 1-10% (depending on the product category)

Cookie life: 24 hours

Amazon is one of the most popular online shopping platforms, so if you‘re looking to buy something, chances are you’ll find it on Amazon.

Amazon Associates get commissions between 1% and 10%, depending on the category the product purchased falls under. The most valuable items to promote are clothes and luxury beauty products, which can earn you a 10% cut on the price.

One main advantage of affiliate marketing with Amazon is that people already know the company and love to shop there, so it's not a hard sell. The company has very high conversion rates, especially around the holidays.

And because of the vast product selection, it fits most kinds of businesses.

For instance, you can promote cat treats or dog toys if you write about animals. If your audience is interested in cars, you can recommend jumper cables — you get the idea.

Additionally, if someone ends up on Amazon through your link and buys something other than what your content links to, you still get commission on the user's entire cart.

The only downside is that some categories, such as video games and electronics, have particularly low commissions.

For businesses with large audiences, Amazon recently launched its new Amazon Influencer Program as an extension to the Associates program for social media influencers.

You get similar benefits to the online Associates program and your own page on Amazon with a unique URL to showcase the products you recommend to your followers.

Pro Tip: Currently, you must have a YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook account to qualify.

Amazon looks at your social media accounts‘ number of followers and other engagement metrics to determine whether you’re eligible for the program.

2. eBay Partner Network

Commission: 1-4%, depending on the category

Cookie life: 24 hours

The eBay Partner Network pays a commission of 1% to 4%. Based on the product category, you earn a percentage of eBay's revenue from that purchase.

High-ticket items you can promote fall under Parts & Accessories, or Fashion. You can have a look at the complete rate card here.

The one downside of this program is that it offers a cap for each category — with most falling well under $1,000. Your earning potential is thus limited.

What I Like: With over one billion listings from a wide range of product categories, eBay‘s affiliate program shares many of the same advantages as Amazon’s — a well-known brand, high conversion rates, and a diverse selection of products.

3. Rakuten Advertising

Commission: Depends on the merchant

Cookie life: Depends on the merchant

Formerly known as Linkshare, Rakuten is one of the oldest affiliate networks in the game.

Because Rakuten has been a trusted name in affiliate marketing for so long, it has been able to establish partnerships with some of the biggest brands in the world including Sephora, New Balance, and JetBlue.

Despite Rakuten’s impressive partner roster, it only has partnerships with around 1,000 merchants — far fewer than other competing networks.

Pro Tip: If you’re a small business or new to affiliate marketing, it'll be advantageous to sign up with Rakuten so you can get access to affiliate offers from brands your audience recognizes.

Like many other affiliate networks, commission rates vary based on the product and what merchant it comes from.

4. PartnerStack

Commission: Depends on the merchant (average is 25% recurring)

Cookie life: Depends on the merchant (typically 90 days)

PartnerStack is the go-to affiliate network for B2B technology partnerships.

If you’re new to B2B affiliate marketing, it operates very similarly to B2C affiliate marketing — except the commissions are usually higher and typically paid for longer.

Think recurring revenue of 20-100% of a sale for the lifetime of the customer you helped create.

Through the in-app dashboard, you can easily monitor your performance across all of the programs you are currently part of.

Built-in partner engagement features like challenges, in-app messaging, learning materials, etc… allow for more connectivity and engagement with the partner program managers.

Like with other affiliate networks, you must apply to each partner program separately, but you’ll be paid out once a month via Paypal or Stripe once you hit the network’s $5 payout threshold.

If you want to work with top-tier B2B companies that provide higher commission and conversion rates, the PartnerStack Network should be the first place to start your search for affiliate marketing programs.

What I Like: When you join the network, you’ll gain exclusive access to some of the world’s most reputable and top-paying B2B affiliate marketing programs like Gorgias, Sendoso, and Webflow.

5. CJ Affiliate

Commission: Depends on the merchant

Cookie life: Depends on the merchant

CJ Affiliate (formerly known as Commission Junction) is one of the most popular affiliate networks out there.

What I Like: One of the benefits of using CJ Affiliates is its selection of brand partnerships, which cover many verticals, including retail, travel, finance, and network & home services.

Currently, CJ partners with over 3,800 brands, including household names such as Barnes & Noble, Office Depot, J.Crew, and Blue Apron.

6. ShareASale

Commission: Depends on the merchant

Cookie life: Depends on the merchant

ShareASale partners with thousands of merchants of all types, so finding the right affiliate product is a breeze — no matter your niche. Some of its most well-known brand partners are Etsy, Reebok, and Warby Parker.

After joining the network, you have to apply to the individual merchants you want to use. Once approved, you can generate affiliate links and view sales stats on the ShareASale dashboard.

Because of the wide variety of products and merchants available, commission rates vary.

7. FlexOffers

Commission: Depends on the merchant

Cookie life: Depends on the merchant

FlexOffers has an impressive affiliate database that is comprised of over 10,000 ad partners from over 65 networks. It partners with some of the biggest retailers, including Samsung, Nike, Microsoft, and Macy’s.

FlexOffers’ easy-to-use dashboard includes access to over 650 million products to find the best offer for you.

Once you find the product you’re looking for, you can take advantage of its automated affiliate links so you don’t have to create it manually.

Commission rates vary based on the merchant, and publishers are paid monthly on NET 60 terms, meaning that each month’s commissions are processed 60 days after the last day of the month.

Affiliate Marketing Website Examples

1. Wirecutter

Let's revisit my earlier example, Wirecutter, an affiliate marketing website owned by the New York Times. 

“As a former journalist, I appreciate Wirecutter for reviews and recommendations because there's a bit of a journalistic approach to its content,” says HubSpot staff writer and Wirecutter reader Erica Santiago.

Santiago says the company's affiliation with the New York Times lends it some credibility. 

“I also like the website's variety in content,” she explains. “I usually gravitate toward the Style and Kitchen tabs, but it has so much to offer from Home & Garden to Tech, Shopping, and more.”

Variety and credibility are two things the site gets right. Like Santiago said, the content varies across types of affiliates. Their writers also emphasize their expertise. 

For example, one post showing affiliate links to treadmills is written by Seth Berkman whose byline reads:

“Seth Berkman is a writer covering fitness. He's showered with swim goggles and lugged thousands of pounds of weights on the subway to test durability.”

 

2. This Is Why I’m Broke

Just like its name, This Is Why I'm Broke is not your average affiliate website. The website focuses on sharing fun, novelty, and unique products—even if they don't have a partnership with the product's creator. 

This Is Why I'm Broke's website layout is also unique in that it works as an “infinite scroll.” Users can scroll endlessly through offbeat and one-of-a-kind finds. 

 

3. Dog Food Advisor

Dog Food Advisors provides dog food recommendations based on breed, health conditions, and buyer preferences. Dog Food Advisory stands out by clearly dividing its product reviews into helpful categories: 

• Best Dog Foods
• Best Budget-Friendly
• Best Dry Dog Foods
• Best Wet Dog Foods
• Best Fresh Dog Foods

It also includes food recalls and warnings as well as a pop up offering text alerts about recalls straight to users' phones. Dog Food Advisor excels at providing value to its target audience, dog owners. 

 

4. Headphones Addict 

Headphones Addict states the site's credibility and purpose right away on its landing page: 

“We’ve been testing headphones since 2015. We make in-depth, authentic reviews of headphones carefully tested by audio experts using specialized testing equipment and methodology.”

The About page establishes trust by ensuring readers that its content consists of “free and nonpartisan” opinions on headphones from the perspectives of music lovers, audiophiles, and headphone fans.

Headphones Addicts nails authenticity by sharing this information and being transparent about its reviews. 

 

5. Skyscanner

Skyscanner is an affiliate website serving as a trusted resource for travelers looking to compare hotels, flights, and car rentals.

A key to Skyscanner's success is its metasearch engine, which pulls results from other search engines to compile a comprehensive list of prices.  

This allows users to easily compare their findings and book the accommodations they need. 

 

6. Ruled.me

Ruled.me is an affiliate site for consumers following a ketogenic diet. It provides keto-friendly recipes for consumers who want to switch to the diet but don't want to lose out on fun and delicious meals. 

A highlight of the website is its integrated tool, which allows users to calculate the amount of protein and carbohydrates they need to include in their diet to achieve their weight-loss goals.

This tool makes Ruled.me a valuable resource for keto dieters and establishes the site's authority and trust. 

 

7. Safewise

Safewise features products and reviews surrounding home security, family safety, and senior safety. The site is excellent because it's well organized and easy to navigate. 

8. The Hoops Geek

The Hoops Geek provides reviews on basketball shoes and gear for both coaches and players. What makes The Hoops unique is that it provides tools that enhance its value to consumers. Those tools are:

• Vertical Jump Analyzer
• Dunk Calculator
• Standing Reach Calculator

These tools provide added value by allowing players to track their progress and pinpoint where they need improvement.   

9. GearLab

GearLab provides reviews and features of outdoor gear. Thite site builds trust with visitor by featuring this transparent statement at the top of its website:

“GearLab reviews are ad-free and entirely reader-supported.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission, which helps support our testing.”

10. Modern Castle

Modern Castle's niche is home appliances and furniture. Its standout approach is that it compares products from top companies to help consumers decide which is right for them.  

 

Don’t have time to look through all of the programs? I’ve divided this list into several subsections:

• Best Marketing and Business Affiliate Programs
• Best Online Course Affiliate Programs
• Best Website Builder Affiliate Programs
• Best Web Hosting Affiliate Programs
• Best Retail Affiliate Programs
• Best Beauty and Cosmetic Affiliate Programs
• Best Travel Affiliate Programs
• Best Personal Finance and Investment Affiliate Programs
• Best High-Paying Affiliate Programs

Let's get started.

Best Marketing and Business Affiliate Programs

1. HubSpot

Commission: 30% recurring for 1 year

Cookie life: 180 days

Payout Methods: Direct deposit (EFT) or PayPal

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One sign-up

I might be a little biased, but HubSpot stands by its mission to help millions of organizations grow better.

HubSpot's award-winning CRM platform is comprised of Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, CMS Hub, and Operations Hub, and a powerful free CRM.

Get HubSpot's Free CRM Software

Furthermore, it gives thousands of companies the tools to manage the customer experience — from awareness to advocacy.

As a HubSpot affiliate, you have room to grow and earn more significant payouts. The program has three affiliate tiers that progress in earning potential and rewards:

• HubSpot Affiliate – Receive a 30% recurring commission for up to 1 year for every sale
• Super Affiliate – Receive a 30% recurring commission for up to 1 year for every sale plus additional bonuses
• Elite Affiliate – Receive custom commission

HubSpot’s plans range from $50 to $3,000+ per month and are entirely managed through Impact.

It is not uncommon for customers to purchase more than one product at a time. So, these payouts could quickly add up.

When you join HubSpot's affiliate program, you gain access to an extensive creative inventory with over 400 promotional assets, including a copy bank, demo videos, banners, and more — all designed to help you earn the most commission possible.

 

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Content creators who share content about marketing, sales, service, website, and operations for small businesses, enterprises, and individual professionals.

This may include any subtopics, such as social media marketing or inbound sales tactics.

Some examples include:

• SaaS reviewers who provide informative reviews on various business solutions
• Content creators who share their business expertise through blog articles, YouTube videos, or podcasts. For inspiration, check out this expert review of Hubspot.
• Digital educators who teach others how to grow a successful business through online courses and other educational materials
• Businesses that offer a digital solution that integrates with the HubSpot platform

If you have a large business audience or want to monetize your content, our affiliate program is likely well-suited.

2. Elementor

Commission: 50% per sale

Cookie life: 45 days

Payout Methods: PayPal or your preferred method

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $200

Elementor is a dynamic drag-and-drop website builder used to create more than 7% of all the world's websites.

With hundreds of widgets, integrations, website templates, and design tools, Elementor users can customize and scale their WordPress website-building process without writing a single line of code.

Unique amongst WordPress website builders, Elementor also offers cloud hosting features.

Yet, Elementor is more than simple software — it has 100k members in its online community, where web creators share advice, host meetups, and push each other to professional growth.

Elementor affiliates earn 50% per sale. The software has five pricing packages, ranging from $49 to $999 annually. This broad array of pricing tiers makes it easier for affiliates to market various plans to specific audiences strategically.

With notable affiliates earning north of $10,000 a month, Elementor is an attractive option.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Bloggers, publishers, and content creators who share content about web design, WordPress, and digital creation.

It’s also an excellent fit for agencies, educators, entrepreneurs, and even developers who’d like their clients to purchase a version of Elementor.

3. Moosend

Commission: 30% to 40% Lifetime Recurring

Cookie life: 90 days

Payout Methods: Wire transfer, PayPal or Stripe

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $5

Moosend is an affordable, all-in-one email marketing automation solution that enables marketers to promote their business and increase their customer base with engaging campaigns.

Apart from the user-friendly email editor, you’ll get access to online forms, landing pages, audience management tools, segmentation, and personalization features to turn your subscribers into loyal brand advocates.

Moosend’s affiliate program allows you to earn up to 40% lifetime recurring commission on every plan your contacts buy.

Moreover, the 90-day cookie will give your audience the time they need to purchase, while you can earn extra commissions when your contact upgrades their plan.

Moosend affiliates can benefit from the pre-made materials (banners, templates, etc.) and available resources found in their affiliate dashboard. The affiliate team is also ready to assist and help solve problems that may arise.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Bloggers, publishers, and content creators who share content about email marketing and automation.

Because of Moosend’s budget-friendly prices, we highly recommend it if your audience comprises entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small businesses.

4. AWeber

Commission: Up to 50% lifetime recurring

Cookie life: One year

Payout Methods: PayPal

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $30

AWeber has been the autoresponder of choice for over one million businesses and entrepreneurs since 1998. It's an excellent tool for newsletter and email drip campaigns.

AWeber offers a tiered affiliate program. The more you sell, the more you can earn. If you refer up to 10 accounts in one year, you’ll earn a 30% commission.

If you refer 10 or more customers, you’ll earn 40%. And if you refer 50 or more customers, you’ll get 50%. Pretty sweet, right?

Affiliates of AWeber can earn substantial income through two different channels:

• Their in-house program offers a lifetime 30% commission. Plans typically range from around $20 to $150 monthly so that the payout can increase.
• Alternatively, you can earn up to $300 per account through CJ Affiliate. However, the cookie life with this option is only 45 days rather than one year.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Bloggers, publishers, and content creators who share content about email marketing and automation.

5. Sendinblue

Commission: €5 when a referred user creates a free account + €100 if that user buys a subscription

Cookie life: 90 days

Payout Methods: PayPal or bank transfer

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One sign-up

Sendinblue is an all-in-one digital marketing platform that helps businesses connect with customers via email marketing, SMS, chat, marketing automation, CRM, and more.

This user-friendly tool is rapidly gaining popularity, with over 175,000 users worldwide.

Sendinblue’s partner program has three different streams: one for bloggers, one for agencies, and one for incubators and venture capitalists.

For most, I recommend the blogger option unless you’re an agency that wants to start using Sendinblue with clients.

In the blogger program, you’ll get a flat €5 for each free signup — so even if the customer doesn’t buy a subscription, you’ll still earn! You’ll also be able to track your earnings in real-time and get paid monthly.

Even more, you’ll get €100 every time you refer a paying customer and join a network of top affiliates like WPBeginner, Capterra, CodeinWP, emailvendorselection, emailtooltester, and many more.

Note: Even though the payout is in euros, the program is open to the United States, and your commission will be converted based on currency rates at the time of the payment.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Sendinblue’s free and affordable pricing plans, make it a very attractive revenue opportunity for bloggers and publishers in the email marketing space.

I especially recommend it if you write for freelancers or professionals with side hustles who want to try email marketing without paying for a tool.

6. ConvertKit

Commission: 30% recurring for 24 months

Cookie life: 30 days

Payout Methods: PayPal

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One sign-up

A new up-and-comer in the email marketing field, ConvertKit helps its customers grow their customer base via landing pages, forms, and email drip campaigns. (You can learn more about ConvertKit by reading reviews.)

ConvertKit's affiliate program is primarily addressed to existing ConvertKit users who feel their audience could benefit from email marketing products.

The program offers a lifelong 30% commission for every referred paying customer or webinar subscriber.

With plans ranging anywhere from $29 per month all the way to $2,000+, the income potential is a very attractive offer, and it costs you absolutely nothing to join the program.

The program does not, however, offer any special deals or discounts for any product the affiliate might promote.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Writers, bloggers, and content creators whose audience is interested in starting their own newsletter or side business.

ConvertKit’s free and affordable subscriptions make it a great choice for anyone just starting out with email marketing.

7. GetResponse

Commission: $100 for every sale referred, or 33% of recurring subscriptions

Cookie life: 120 days

Payout Methods: PayPal, USD check, ACH, Eurotransfer, or other payment method

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One sign-up

Along with email marketing, GetResponse offers landing pages, opt-in forms, webinar hosting, a CRM tool, and plenty of other marketing automation tools. (You can learn more about GetResponse by reading reviews.)

The product has two sign-up tiers: For everyone, including individuals, and medium-to-large companies.

Of the two, the “Everyone” tier is easier to market to the public, so when signing up for this program, consider ways to incorporate mentions of GetResponse’s plans for individuals and small businesses.

Like AWeber, GetResponse has two affiliate programs you can choose from (or you can join both!):

• Their self-hosted program offers a 33% recurring commission. The payout can be pretty substantial, with plans ranging from $15 to $1,200/month.
• You can earn $1090 for every sale referred through CJ Affiliate. However, the cookie life is only 30 days, rather than the 120 offered in the in-house program.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Bloggers, content creators, publishers, marketing consultants, and online marketing experts who publish content for small businesses and freelancers.

8. Fiverr

Commission: $15-150 per referral; or $10 + 10% recurring for 12 months; or another commission option depending on the product

Cookie life: 30 days

Payout Methods: Your preferred method

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $100

Fiverr has a few products you might promote on your own website or blog, including:

• Fiverr — the freelance marketplace with digital services for everything from marketing to tech
• Fiverr Pro — access to hand-vetted talent trusted by major brands
• Fiverr Learn — courses for freelancers and businesses looking to expand their skills

If you work with clients who might need to hire a freelancer for marketing, design, or tech skills, or you write a blog for entrepreneurs and want to promote Fiverr Learn, you might want to consider partnering with Fiverr.

The popular site, with over 5.5 million users, offers affiliates a dashboard to manage and monitor campaigns and creative assets to help you promote their services.

Of course, commission varies depending on the service you want to promote. Take a look at their full offerings here.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Content creators whose audience could use Fiverr’s services — for instance, if you create YouTube videos for small businesses that would benefit from hiring freelancers.

I recommend looking at Fiverr’s library of products to find out what would best resonate with your audience.

9. Pabbly

Commission: 30% lifetime recurring

Cookie life: 365 days

Payout Methods: PayPal, Bank Transfer, or Both

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $50

Pabbly is an online platform that offers multiple marketing and business management tools for email marketing, form building, subscription-billing, email verification, workflow automation, and app integration.

The most popular package is Pabbly Plus — a cost-effective bundle of all the Pabbly applications.

Unique features of their affiliate program include:

• You can promote all or any of their products to get a 30% commission within 40 days of the sale.
• They track sales of all their products using a single cookie. So whatever product you promote, it will get you a commission on the sale of all the products purchased through your affiliate link. Also, this will save you from referring each product separately to your audience.
• A single sale of Pabbly products can provide you the minimum commission of $183.

Additionally, they provide a single dashboard for monitoring sales, allowing you to view all your commission-related details — such as sales, referrals, and payouts — in a single place.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Blogger, website owners, or social media experts whose audience would like to try email marketing. Due to its subscription billing tool, Pabbly is especially useful if your audience is interested in starting a subscription service or newsletter.

10. Unbounce

Commission: Up to 35% recurring for 1 year

Cookie life: 90 days

Payout Methods: PayPal, Bank Transfer, or Both

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $50

This popular landing page platform — used by brands such as Campaign Monitor and Zola — helps users design high-converting landing pages for SaaS businesses, ecommerce sites, and agencies.

Unbounce's affiliate program is impressive, giving you the opportunity to earn up to 35% of the recurring revenue for every customer you refer for the first 12 months.

Plus, your site visitors or social media followers get 20% off their first three months using Unbounce, making the exchange valuable for them, as well.

Unbounce provides you with plenty of tools to succeed using their affiliate program, including a Partner coach, custom dashboard to track progress, and training and promotional materials to ensure you're promoting your business as effectively as possible.

If you're a marketer hoping to help clients increase conversions on their landing pages, this partnership could be a win-win for you both.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Marketers, agencies, and bloggers who share content about marketing with a highly interested and qualified audience.

If you’re an agency, you can refer them to Unbounce, and if you’re a blogger or content creator, you can share contextual information with your readers and viewers.

11. Constant Contact

Commission: $5 for each referral that signs up for a free trial, and $105 when your referrals pay for a new account

Cookie life: 120 days

Payout Methods: PayPal, electronic fund transfer, check, or direct deposit

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One sign-up

Constant Contact offers powerful email marketing tools for small businesses, bloggers, and entrepreneurs.

Among other things, users of Constant Contact can create Instagram and Facebook Ads, automate their email marketing campaigns, target new ecommerce customers, and send follow-up emails to increase revenue to their online stores.

The company's affiliate program enables you to earn $5 for all qualified leads, and $105 when the referral becomes a customer of Constant Contact.

Additionally, you'll receive promotional materials, a tracking dashboard, and personalized support to help you succeed with the affiliate program. Constant Contact is used by major brands, including Facebook, WordPress, and Shopify.

If you believe your clients or prospects could benefit from email marketing tools, this is a good partnership to consider.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Bloggers and content creators whose audience is made up of small-to-medium businesses. Since Constant Contact doesn’t offer any free plans, it’s ideal for you if your audience is ready to commit to a paid purchase.

12. Systeme.io

Commission: 50% lifetime recurring

Cookie life: 180 Days

Payout Methods: PayPal or wire transfer

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $30

Systeme.io is a fast and simple marketing tool that has everything you need to launch, grow, and scale your online business.

There are over 200,000 customers that use Systeme.io to build sales funnels, send unlimited emails, create and manage online courses and blogs, run affiliate programs, build websites, and automate almost every aspect of their marketing.

Systeme.io offers 6 different pricing packages, ranging from $27 per month to $828 per year.

Along with their extensive pricing tiers, they have multiple lead magnets and online courses that can help affiliates pull in the maximum number of leads to their funnels.

Affiliates can leverage all 6 pricing plans and onboarding materials to convert new users.

Systeme.io affiliates earn 50% lifetime commissions on all subscriptions and course sales. Plus, they earn 5% second-tier commissions if their referrals successfully promote the platform themselves​.

This affiliate program offers attractive income potential — with a monthly payout of over $100,000 to their affiliates, and over $2,000,000 in total affiliate commissions earned so far.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Bloggers, video marketers, and content creators whose audience is made up of freelancers and entrepreneurs. Because of Systeme.io’s course creation tool, it’s a great fit if your audience is interested in starting their own online course.

13. Typeform

Commission: $20 per referral

Cookie life: Unknown

Payout Methods: PayPal or Stripe

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One sign-up

Typeform, which offers conversational forms and surveys including Contact Forms, Employee Satisfaction Surveys, and Event Lead Capture Forms, offers a $20 commission on referrals.

That means you’ll earn $20 if a referred customer subscribes to Typeform, regardless of whether they stay subscribed.

This adds up quickly, and the service is relatively cheap, making it easy for your referrals to make a purchase. If you refer 100 customers who sign up for a monthly basic plan, that’s already $2,000.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Bloggers and content creators whose audience could use a form tool — for instance, if your audience is made up of small business owners or customer service professionals.

But Typeform is such a versatile tool that it could even be used for non-professional purposes, so you can even refer family and friends.

14. Outgrow Affiliate Program

Commission: 20% upfront and 20% recurring

Cookie life: 30 days

Payout Methods: Unknown

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: Unknown

Outgrow is an interactive content builder that helps marketers to create personalized content including calculators, viral quizzes, eCommerce recommendations, forms, surveys, chatbots, polls, and assessments.

Personalized solutions like interactive content add real value to the customer and increase user engagement, improve conversions, and generate leads that marketers can then use for segmentation and retargeting.

Along with 20% commission upfront and 20% on recurring payments, Outgrow affiliates receive 24/7 chat support and opportunities to get featured on Outgrow's webinars and podcasts.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Marketers, content creators, and bloggers whose audience could use interactive content tools.

Whether you’re writing for a business blog or creating independent content on LinkedIn, you can market Outgrow as a unique solution to engage followers.

You can also create interactive content using Outgrow and encourage others to begin using it.

15. Castos

Commission: 25% recurring for the life of the referral’s account

Cookie life: 60 days

Payout Methods: PayPal

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One signup

Castos is an all-in-one podcasting platform for new and veteran podcasters. With more than 65,000 podcasts, it’s a powerful platform for podcasts at any stage of their journey. 

With Castos, users can create as many podcasts as they want (either public or private), and publish as many episodes as you’d like, all with unlimited downloads.

They also get automatic distribution to the major listing apps, automatic republishing to YouTube, free episode transcriptions, in-depth analytics, and more. 

Furthermore, Castos offers an industry leading WordPress plugin called Seriously Simple Podcasting that lets you manage your shows from your WordPress dashboard.

Users love Castos because it helps them generate revenue. With Castos Commerce, listeners can send donations to the podcaster. With Castos Ads, users can choose to have ads dynamically inserted into their show.

That’s easy money without any work. 

Castos has three pricing tiers, from $19/month to $99/month. There’s also an enterprise tier for large organizations or high-volume publishers. These affordable prices make it easier for affiliates to promote the platform. All plans come with a free 14-day trial. 

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Anyone with an audience of content creators who might be interested in podcasting. It’s also great for podcast production companies, marketing agencies, or studios that help their clients start or manage podcasts. 

Castos affiliates earn 25% commissions for as long as your referral stays active. This means if the referral uses Castos for three years, you’ll receive 25% of their spend for all 36 months.

16. Instapage

Commission: 30% to 40% recurring for the first year, then 15% lifetime recurring

Cookie life: 90 days

Payout Methods: PayPal or Stripe

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One signup

Instapage is the most powerful landing page platform on the market — empowering companies like Verizon, HelloFresh, and Lattice to launch high-performing digital campaigns.

Partners are integral to Instapage’s continued innovation and evolution. The Affiliate Program offers a generous commission structure—with a 30-40% recurring commission for every paying customer.

Instapage provides all the tools partners need to succeed, including a dedicated point of contact, promotional materials that are regularly updated, and opportunities to earn more via special contests and limited-time offers.

The program rewards Affiliates with profit-sharing opportunities and supports their efforts with social media assets and messaging. Instapage affiliates can earn:

• 40% on the first year of a customer's annual subscription
• 15% of a customer's annual subscription after the first year
• 30% on monthly subscription

Sign up for the Instapage Affiliate program here.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Content creators and bloggers whose audience is made up of medium-sized to enterprise businesses.

Since Instapage’s pricing starts at $199/month, it’s less accessible to freelancers or hobbyists, but it’s well-positioned for audiences with larger budgets.

Best Online Course Affiliate Programs

17. Thinkific

Commission: 30% lifetime recurring

Cookie life: 90 days

Payout Methods: PayPal or Stripe

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $25

Thinkific’s powerful all-in-one platform makes it easy to share your knowledge, grow your audience, and scale the business you already love.

The platform enables users to create, market, and sell online courses and membership sites under their own brand.

You‘re an ideal candidate for Thinkific’s affiliate program if your audience is made up of any of the following:

• Content creators with skills and knowledge to share;
• Business leaders who want to create courses for customers or
• Entrepreneurs who want to add new revenue streams

As an affiliate partner, your perks include a 30% lifetime recurring commission, a competitive 90-day cookie window, and access to ready-to-post creative and promotional content.

Thinkific affiliate partners earn up to $1,700 per referral every year.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

As mentioned, Thinkific’s affiliate program is an excellent fit if you create content for other content creators and entrepreneurs.

Thinkific’s subscriptions start at $0/month, making it a great fit for your audience if they’re interested in experimenting with course creation. Remember that they’ll need to upgrade, of course, before you start earning.

18. Kajabi

Commission: 30% lifetime recurring

Cookie life: 30 days

Payout Methods: PayPal

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: Unknown

Kajabi is an all-in-one platform that lets users create online courses, launch marketing campaigns, build landing pages, and design the perfect website.

The Kajabi Partner Program is currently only open to Kajabi users. As an affiliate, you'll receive a 30% lifetime commission for any new member you bring to Kajabi that stays active past their trial period.

What's more, you will be treated to special rewards as you progress.

Each level unlocks exciting bonuses only available to Kajabi Partners.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Current Kajabi users who are a fan of the product and want to share it with fellow content creators.

19. Teachable

Commission: Up to 30% lifetime recurring

Cookie life: 90 days

Payout Methods: PayPal

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: Unknown

Teachable helps you create and sell beautiful online courses. With over 18 million students and 186 thousand active courses, Teachable is one of the most reputable e-learning platforms.

Plus, it's heavily endorsed by Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income.

Ranging from Facebook ads to cake decorating tips, Teachable is suited for a variety of niche subjects. Teachable‘s affiliate program pays a recurring 30% commission on the referral’s monthly subscription fee.

Plans can go anywhere from $29 to $499 per month, meaning you'll be able to earn up to $150 a month per sale.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Bloggers and content creators who target other freelancers and content creators on a budget. Teachable subscriptions start at free.

20. iSpring

Commission: 10% per sale

Cookie life: 90 days

Payout Methods: PayPal

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: Unknown

iSpring is an international software development company that produces tools for eLearning content authoring and online training.

Its flagship product is iSpring Suite, an award-winning authoring tool that allows the creation of interactive online courses, quizzes, video tutorials, role-plays, and ebooks.

iSpring Suite has an intuitive interface that is familiar to everyone (the tool works as a PowerPoint add-in) and offers solutions for any learning need.

And that’s why it has become popular among people from different fields: from university professors to corporate instructional designers.

The affiliate program includes iSpring Suite and iSpring Suite Max, which cost $770 and $970, respectively. Thus, you can earn from $77 to $97 from a single purchase and around $1000/month if you provide 10+ customers monthly.

You will receive verified commissions quarterly.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Bloggers and content creators who target online instructors who are ready to commit to a paid plan. Since iSpring’s pricing starts at the higher end, you’ll want to think about pricing when sharing it with your audience.

Best Website Builder Affiliate Programs

21. Shopify

Commission: $150 USD for all full-priced plan referrals

Cookie life: 30 days

Payout Methods: PayPal or direct deposit

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $10

Shopify is a complete commerce platform that allows you to start, grow, and manage a business.

With nearly 20 million merchants on Shopify, merchants can build and customize an online store as well as sell in multiple places, including web, mobile, in person, brick-and-mortar locations, pop-up shops, and across multiple channels from social media to online marketplaces.

Millions of entrepreneurs have chosen Shopify to build their business from Hello World to IPO.

The Shopify Affiliate program is made up of thousands of global content creators, course educators, influencers, and review sites who help their audiences launch successful businesses on Shopify, while earning competitive referral commissions, and elevating themselves as leaders in the industry.

The program is free to join and provides an opportunity for experts to monetize their audience and earn a commission.

Shopify affiliates gain access to a global creative library, lead magnets, a monthly newsletter, and curated email programming that are all designed to support content creation and conversion rate.

Through measured performance and referral quality, eligible partners have the opportunity to join Shopify’s invite-only Commerce Coach program that offers higher commission rates and a wide variety of other exclusive benefits.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Bloggers, course instructors, video marketers, and influencers whose audience is interested in launching an ecommerce brand.

22. Leadpages

Commission: Up to 50% lifetime recurring

Cookie life: 90 days

Payout Methods: PayPal or Stripe

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $50

Leadpages is an online tool that lets you create easy-to-customize websites and landing pages to collect contact information and boost your conversion rates. (You can learn more about Leadpages by reading reviews.)

Their affiliate program is open to anyone to apply. Each paying customer referred brings in a lifetime commission of up to 50%. Membership prices range from $49 to $399 per month.

Leadpages will sometimes run special offers, such as a $5,000 bonus for affiliates who drive 10+ sales by a given date. All affiliates get access to banners, sidebar images, and social media-friendly links.

You also have the option to share a unique link to a free content page (like a blog post or video) rather than a product page.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Current Leadpages customers whose audience would benefit from a dedicated landing page tool — such as experienced freelancers and startup owners.

23. Wix

Commission: $100 per Premium sale

Cookie life: 30 days

Payout Methods: Wire transfer

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $300

If you're interested in unlimited payouts with minimal effort, Wix could be for you.

The web development company is one of the most popular web hosting platforms, and offers $100 per Premium referral with no limit on the amount of people you can refer (which means, if you refer 10 people, you've already made $1,000).

Additionally, Wix provides links and creatives, including banners and landing pages in all languages, to make it easy for you to include their link on your site.

However, it's important to note that there is a minimum sales target you need to reach to get paid — $300 per month (if you make less than that, your earnings will stay in your account until you reach that benchmark).

If you feel your website, blog, or social channel is visited on a regular basis by prospects who might be interested in creating their own website on a hosting platform, this could be a good program for you.

Still, if you're unsure if you can meet the minimum sales target for a while, you might want to reconsider.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Bloggers, content creators, and review website owners whose audience would be interested in starting their own website. It’s especially a great fit if your audience identifies as beginners.

Due to its code-free builder, Wix is a great starting point for new website owners.

Best Web Hosting Affiliate Programs

24. Kinsta

Commission: Up to $500 per referral + 10% monthly recurring for WordPress hosting referrals, 5% monthly recurring for Application Hosting and Database Hosting referrals

Cookie life: 60 days

Payout Methods: PayPal

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $50

Kinsta was founded in 2013 by veteran WordPress developers “aiming to create the best WordPress hosting platform in the world.”

Since then, Kinsta has not only become one of the best-managed WordPress Hosting platforms but has also extended its services to host applications, databases, and static sites to support users’ full development stack.

Backed up by Google Cloud Platform’s fastest machines, Cloudflare’s Premium firewalls, DDoS protection and mitigation, and CDN spreading edge cached websites across the globe, Kinsta strives to offer hosting that is fast, secure, reliable, and scalable. 

With the Affiliate Program, Kinsta offers lifetime recurring commissions for all of its paid hosting services.

For WordPress Hosting referrals, Kinsta offers an initial signup commission and a 10% lifetime recurring monthly commission. Affiliates can earn up to $500 initially, depending on the type of plan the referral has purchased:

• Starter: $30 (50$ signup commission)
• Pro: $70 ($100 signup commission)
• Business: from $115 ($150 signup commission)
• Enterprise: from $675 ($500 signup commission)

For Application Hosting and Database Hosting referrals, Kinsta offers a 5% recurring commission.

While 5% and 10% may not seem like much, your referrals Will likely have a high lifetime value, thanks to Kinsta's high customer retention rate of 95%.

Plus, if a referred customer signs up for multiple services at Kinsta, the recurring commissions add up, which can lead to up to 20% in lifetime recurring commissions.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Web agencies, developers, content creators, and bloggers whose audience is interested in launching and managing their own WordPress website or web application on one platform.

25. DreamHost

Commission: Up to $200 per referral

Cookie life: 30 days

Payout Methods: Direct bank transfer

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: None

DreamHost’s affiliate program offers a chance to earn up to $200 per referral, appealing to those keen on recommending DreamHost’s hosting services, including:

• Shared Hosting
• VPS Hosting
• Dedicated Hosting
• Managed WordPress Hosting

The program is structured to ensure ease of promotion with advanced tracking URLs, no cap on earnings, quick and secure payments, and a variety of creative resources like banners. Affiliates can track their progress through a user-friendly dashboard, making the program accessible to both beginners and experienced marketers.

26. WP Engine

Commission: $200 per sale or 100% of first month’s subscription

Cookie life: 180 days

Payout Methods: Unknown

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One sign-up

There are millions of websites on the internet, and more than 40% are built on WordPress. WP Engine provides super-fast web hosting for thousands of WordPress websites around the world.

WP Engine‘s affiliate program runs on the ShareASale network. By promoting WP Engine plans, you can earn $200 per signup or 100% of the customer’s first monthly payment — whichever one is higher.

You gain access to exclusive affiliate discounts you can offer to your audience.

You can also promote StudioPress themes and earn 35% of the sales generated. These purchases get 60 days of cookie tracking.

It‘s important to note — WP Engine’s affiliate program is two-tiered, which means that you'll get paid not only for referring customers, but also for referring affiliates. You get $50 for each of their referrals.

While it may not be easy to find an audience looking to build a new WordPress website, when you do find those users, the profits can be huge.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Content creators and bloggers whose audience is interested in launching their own WordPress website.

27. Bluehost

Commission: $65 per sale

Cookie life: 90 days

Payout Methods: PayPal or electronic bank transfer

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: Unknown

Bluehost, a web hosting platform that supports more than 2 million websites, offers a phenomenal affiliate program for any business or entrepreneur looking to monetize their blog or website.

If you promote Bluehost's products or services on your own blog or website (either through custom banners or links), you can earn anywhere from $65 to $130 per sale generated from your website — an incredibly high fee.

Best of all, it's free to join their affiliate program, and Bluehost offers reliable tracking to ensure you get credit for each lead you provide them. Plus, Bluehost offers affiliate managers who can offer support or personalized advice.

With such an accessible program, there are a ton of Bluehost reviews with the pros and cons.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Content creators and bloggers whose audience would be interested in purchasing hosting or a domain name.

28. Hostgator

Commission: $65 to $125 per signup

Cookie life: 60 days

Payout Methods: PayPal, wire, or ACH transfer

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One sign-up

Hostgator offers both web hosting and building tools, and is incredibly low-cost for startups or e-commerce businesses with limited budgets — for instance, a starter plan costs only $3.84/month.

It's free to become a Hostgator affiliate, and the tiered payouts are substantial—you can make $65 per signup if you provide Hostgator with 1-5 signups per month and up to $125 per signup if you provide Hostgator with over 21 signups.

You can either embed tracking links on your site or create a custom coupon code. Since Hostgator provides a 45-day money-back guarantee, it's low-risk for your website visitors to try it out.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Content creators and bloggers whose audience would be interested in purchasing hosting or a domain name.

29. GreenGeeks

Commission: Up to $100 for up to 10 sales; custom commission for 10+ sales

Cookie life: 30 days

Payout Methods: PayPal

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One sale

GreenGeeks, an eco-friendly, secure web hosting platform, allows you to earn up to $100 per sale. They have a tiered program that pays generously — including $50 for just one sale, and $100 for six or more.

Additionally, the company provides a selection of creative assets, content, and banners to ensure you're proud of the link or banner you include on your website or blog.

If you believe your blog readers or website visitors are interested in exploring web hosting platforms (for instance, if you write content for freelancers), this could be a good option to explore.

Best of all, the company promotes eco-friendly alternatives, so you can feel good knowing you're spreading a positive, “green message” to your site visitors.

This Affiliate Program is Best For

Content creators and bloggers whose audience would be interested in purchasing hosting with an eco-friendly aspect.

Best Retail Affiliate Programs

Disclaimer: Commissions for retail stores are much smaller because the purchase price is much smaller.

But this also means that it's easier to get your audience to buy those items (low price = low commitment), which could translate into high conversion rates and higher returns.

30. Target

Commission: 1-8% (depending on the product category and sales volume)

Cookie life: 7 days

Payout Methods: Unknown

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One sale

While it doesn't offer as wide a selection as Amazon or eBay, Target remains a highly recognizable brand with a variety of different products.

Target's affiliate program operates on a volume-based commission structure, meaning that your commission increases as the number of items purchased increases.

Sadly, a product category that does not benefit from this model is the Health and Beauty products — the commission on this category caps at 1%, regardless of volume.

It's also critical to note — most people tend to prefer buying Target products in-person, rather than online, so this could have an impact on your returns.

31. Hammacher Schlemmer

Commission: 8% on any sale

Cookie life: 30 days

Payout Methods: Direct deposit, check, or Payoneer

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $50

Hammacher Schlemmer is America's longest-running catalog with a lifetime of over 150 years, and continues to successfully sell items ranging from electronics to outdoor living gear.

Additionally, the company offers an impressive affiliate program with the potential to earn incredibly high commissions.

They offer 8% commission on any product you're able to sell through your own website or blog.

While 8% might not sound like a lot, consider some of the higher-priced items they sell, including a Muhammad Ali Autographed Photo Collage for $5,000, or the Full Immersion Professional Racer's Simulator for $65,000.

Ultimately, if you‘re able to find products or services on Hammacher Schlemmer’s website that align well with your own core offerings or might interest your buyer persona, you might consider partnering with the brand.

Additionally, this affiliate program could be a good idea for an ecommerce business interested in expanding their offerings.

Hammacher Schlemmer provides tools (including password-protected online reports) and content to help your online store succeed.

32. Spocket

Commission: 20% per Bronze subscriber; 25% per Silver subscriber; 30% per Gold subscriber (up to 445.50 per subscriber)

Cookie life: 90 days

Payout Methods: PayPal or Stripe

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $25

Spocket, a dropshipping supplier, wholesaler, and distributor of high-quality American and European products, enables entrepreneurs to sell products from thousands of dropshipping suppliers around the world.

They also offer an incredibly impressive affiliate program — you can make up to $450 for each customer you refer to Spocket, and you‘ll continue to collect commission off your referral’s Spocket account as long as they remain a customer.

Their program will also provide you with the tools and resources you need to successfully promote their business. If your website visitors are entrepreneurs or e-commerce businesses, this is a good affiliate program to explore.

Best Beauty and Cosmetic Affiliate Programs

33. Ulta

Commission: 1-5%

Cookie life: 30 days

Payout Methods: PayPal, Check, Wire Transfer, Direct Deposit, or ACH Transfer

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $10

Ulta is a go-to brand for beauty enthusiasts who want both affordable and prestigious skincare, makeup, and personal care products. Ulta is popular for its diverse offerings, which can cater to the tastes of a large readership.

Ulta’s affiliate program pays 1-5% in commissions. While this number may seem low, the company is ranked #2 in the beauty and cosmetics online space, meaning that your readers have likely heard of it and could even be current customers.

You are provided with dynamic banners and text links to promote Ulta’s products. The company has ongoing promotions, including free shipping and free products, to help you drive more sales.

34. Sephora

Commission: 5%

Cookie life: 24 hours

Payout Methods: PayPal, Check, or Direct Deposit

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $50

If you serve a more affluent readership, Sephora is the affiliate program for you. The retailer offers a wide selection of prestige beauty products, including skincare, body care, makeup, and fragrances.

Additionally, they offer a superior customer experience — for instance, they offer a free gift with any purchase and have a strong rewards program.

Sephora’s affiliate program offers a 5% commission rate on all sales, which is higher than Ulta’s and most online retailers’ commission rates.

Like most programs, Sephora gives affiliates access to promotional banners and other creative assets, which you can use on your site and social media accounts.

The only downside to this program is that the cookie length is uncommonly short: The cookie will expire just 24 hours after the user clicks on the affiliate link.

35. FragranceNet.com

Commission: 1-5%

Cookie life: Unknown

Payout Methods: PayPal, Check, or Direct Deposit

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $50

A leader in the online perfume space, FragranceNet.com gives you access to hundreds and thousands of top designer fragrances and aromatherapy products. It sells other products, too, such as skincare and makeup.

However, due to its specialization in fragrances, I think it's best for bloggers who primarily write about fragrances.

Affiliates earn 1-5% for every purchase generated through their link. The brand gives you access to links and banners, fresh blog content, seasonal ads, and coupon codes to drive your referral to a conversion.

The program is run through the Rakuten platform.

36. BH Cosmetics

Commission: 8%

Cookie life: 60 days

Payout Methods: PayPal, Check, or Direct Deposit

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $50

Born and raised in LA, BH Cosmetics is one of the leading companies in the beauty industry.

They are passionate about creating new and innovative beauty trends and are dedicated to bringing customers the best in cruelty-free cosmetics. They also run promotions and sales regularly to help convert those leads.

BH Cosmetics affiliates receive an 8% commission on purchases made within 60 days of the user's visit. The site has an average order value of $38 and an on-site conversion rate of 6.46%.

As an affiliate, you'll get exclusive access to coupons and banners you can use on your website, blog, or emails.

You’ll also receive monthly affiliate newsletters. Plus, their dedicated in-house affiliate team runs monthly incentives and affiliate contests to encourage you to promote your affiliate link.

Best Travel Affiliate Programs

37. Boatbookings

Commission: 20% + 10% for returning customers

Cookie life: 30 days

Payout Methods: Bank transfer

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: One sale

If you think your website visitors might be interested in chartering yachts, you might want to join Boatbookings' affiliate program. Boatbookings specializes in luxury yacht chartering, boat rentals, and sailing and motor yacht vacations.

On the charter value of a boat, Boatbookings receives a commission on the net charter value (not including APA or any additional items ordered).

On this commission, affiliates will earn 20% as a base rate, with a possibility for escalating rates if referring multiple clients.

When customers return to Boatbookings, affiliates receive an additional 10% commission on that second purchase.

38. Cheapflights

Commission: Up to 50% per click-out

Cookie life: Session

Payout Methods: Bank transfer

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $500

Cheapflights is a travel comparison site that helps users find the cheapest plane tickets.

Cheapflights is another company that rewards its affiliates not for bringing paying customers, but for sending traffic to their partners.

Affiliates are paid a flat fee when a user clicks through — $0.45 per click-out for desktop and tablet, and $0.25 for mobile.

As an affiliate, you get access to various creative assets, ranging from banners to search boxes and travel widgets, that allow your visitors to conduct a search on your site and display flight results on Cheapflights' page.

This is their most popular travel affiliate tool and generates the highest revenue per visit.

39. Momondo

Commission: Flat rate — up to $0.65 per click-out

Cookie life: Session

Payout Methods: Bank transfer

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $500

Momondo is a global travel search site that compares cheap flights, hotels, and car rental deals.

Each time someone clicks on a flight on Momondo‘s website from your site’s link, you will earn $0.65 for desktop and tablet users and $0.45 for mobile users.

40. Sandals Resorts

Commission: 4%

Cookie life: 60 days

Payout Methods: Direct deposit, check, or Payoneer

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $50

Sandals is one of the most well-recognized names in Caribbean resort travel. All Sandals Resorts offer luxurious vacations for couples and families traveling to Jamaica, The Bahamas, Barbados, and more.

The Sandals affiliate program pays you a commission for referring users to book either a stay in one of the Sandals Resorts or booking an activity.

While 4% might seem like a small percentage, these luxury resorts have daily rates that range from $150 to over $2,000 per person.

Thus, if a couple were to book a romantic week in a Sandals Resort at $500 per person per night, they would earn a commission of $280!

This program is only worthwhile, however, if your site and audience have a true interest in luxury travel to the Caribbean.

Best Personal Finance and Investment Affiliate Programs

41. Acorns

Commission: $10 per qualified lead

Cookie life: 30 days

Payout Methods: PayPal, Check, Wire Transfer, Direct Deposit, or ACH Transfer

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: $10

Acorn is a “micro-investing” mobile app that helps people between the ages of 25 and 35 invest their money wisely.

If you own a financial advice blog that serves this demographic — especially if they haven’t yet accrued capital or assets — this is the affiliate program for you.

Affiliates receive $10 for every referred customer. You’ll receive a wide variety of creative assets to help you promote the app and a dedicated account manager to help you boost your marketing efforts.

42. Sage Financials

Commission: 7% per sale and $5 per free trial

Cookie life: 30 days

Payout Methods: Direct deposit

Minimum Sales Threshold Before Payout: Unknown

Sage Financials is a cloud accounting solution built on Salesforce that provides accounting, analytics, and reporting tools for small and mid-sized businesses.

It has an impressive affiliate program that includes a dedicated support team, commission paid directly into your bank account (and currency of choice), and detailed reporting on your performance and earnings.

Best of all, you're able to receive a commission even from free sign-ups Sage receives from your website or blog.

If you feel your website visitors or blog readers are interested in accounting tools, this could be a good partnership to explore.

Now that we’ve gone over some of the best affiliate programs overall let’s go over the programs that pay the highest commission.

1. Semrush: $200 per Subscription

Commission: $200 per subscription and $10 per free trial

Cookie life: 120 days

Semrush is the software that enables marketing professionals to build, manage, and measure campaigns across all channels to improve their online visibility.

The Semrush affiliate program offers $200 for each sale and $10 for a free trial activation. Plus, they offer a very generous 120-day cookie lifetime.

As a partner, you'll gain access to comprehensive training materials, including webinars, tutorials, and educational resources.

You'll also have access to a dedicated support and partner managers team ready to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have.

The Semrush Affiliate Program is open to bloggers, social media influencers, YouTube creators, course creators, and all-in-one marketers. You can monetize your traffic and boost your earnings regardless of your niche.

2. Liquid Web: $150% Per Sale

Commission: $150 per sale or 150% of managed hosting cost

Cookie life: 90 days

Liquid Web is a web hosting and cloud management service provider. They offer a range of dedicated servers, WordPress server plans, and virtual private servers (VPS) for 45,000 customers across 150 countries.

Liquid Web affiliates earn 150% of the monthly hosting cost with a $150 minimum. Depending on the plan selected, affiliates can earn several hundred dollars per sale.

For example, if you get a $400 per month Dedicated plan customer, you would earn a $600 commission, vs $150 if you referred a $29 managed WordPress site plan. There’s also a 50% bonus for prepaid plans.

Affiliates also have access to a dedicated support team, and custom landing pages and get advanced exclusive promotions.

3. Coursera: Up to 45% Per Sale

Commission: 10-45%

Cookie life: 30 days

Coursera offers over 1,000 courses and specializations ranging anywhere from Digital Marketing to Applied Data Science and Personal Development. Each course consists of pre-recorded videos, puzzles, and assignments.

Coursera's affiliate program runs on the Linkshare network and offers a commission ranging from 10% to 45% with bonuses for strong performance. Courses and Specializations are generally priced between $29 and $99.

As a Coursera affiliate, you get access to professionally designed banners and a monthly affiliate newsletter with curated content recommendations.

4. BigCommerce: 200% per Sale

Commission: 200% or $1,500 per enterprise customer

Cookie life: 90 days

Founded in 2009, BigCommerce is an online store builder that powers thousands of e-commerce stores in over 150 countries. It serves a wide variety of industries, including

fashion, automotive, manufacturing, food, and health.

When you refer visitors to BigCommerce, you earn 200% of the customer‘s first monthly payment (that’s up to $500 per referral!), or $1,500 per enterprise customer.

5. Shift4Shop: $5 – $25 per Signup

Commission: $5 – $25 per Signup

Cookie life: 120 days

Shift4Shop is an e-commerce platform with a high focus on SEO. It provides you with all the tools you need to build, promote, and grow your online store.

Users can use Shift4Shop to start an online business, add a shopping cart to an existing site, or replace their current shopping cart platform.

Affiliates earn a commission from $5 to $25 on each referred customer and have access to a wide range of marketing tools and content, including banner images, affiliate marketing-specific newsletters, and more.

Affiliates are also put in touch with a dedicated affiliate manager for guidance. Shift4Shop’s affiliate program runs on the ShareASale network.

6. Flywheel: 300% per Signup

Commission: 300%, up to $500 per referral

Cookie life: 90 days

As another dedicated WordPress hosting solution, Flywheel aims to take away all the hassle that comes with web hosting so users can focus on doing what they do best — creating and designing websites.

Flywheel affiliates can earn up to $500 per referral. You get access to tons of creative assets, from banners to co-branded landing pages to stylish social images.

The Flywheel team will even work with you to create custom images that can take your commissions to the next level.

It's worth noting that there is no minimum threshold limit to receive a payment.

7. TripAdvisor: Minimum 50% per Booking

Commission: Minimum 50% per booking

Cookie life: 14 days

Crowned the “world's largest travel site”, TripAdvisor provides travelers with the wisdom of the crowds to help them decide where to stay, how to fly, what to do, and where to eat.

The site helps you compare prices from 200+ hotel booking sites so you can find the lowest price on the hotel that's right for you.

Powered by Commission Junction, TripAdvisor's affiliate program pays a 50% commission off the revenue generated from a user clicking on links and/or ads that send them to a TripAdvisor partner site.

This means, unlike most other affiliate programs in this list, you don't have to wait for your referral to make a purchase to earn your commission.

As soon as someone comes from your website and clicks on one of the ads or links on the TripAdvisor website, you get paid.

On average, affiliates will earn between $0.15-$0.75 per click-out. While it may not seem like a lot, since your revenue is only dependent on clicks (and not purchases), this can add up quite nicely.

8. Volusion: 200% per Signup

Commission: 200% per Signup

Cookie life: 45 days

Volusion is an e-commerce solution that enables small businesses to create, manage, and expand their online stores.

They provide customers with exports to help them every step of the way, including help with domain purchase, web design, cart integration, SEO, and security.

Affiliates get paid a 200% commission on the referred customer's first monthly payment, which can range anywhere from $29 to $299 (or even higher with their Prime custom tier).

As an affiliate, you get access to marketing material to assist in your promotional efforts.

9. Invoice Ninja: 50% per Signup

Commission: 50% on all referrals for four years

Cookie life: N/A; instead of cookie, Invoice Ninja tracks by account creation from referral URL (for four years)

Invoice Ninja, a free open-source invoicing app for freelancers and businesses, offers a Ninja Pro Plan for just $10 a month — and, as an affiliate partner, you can make 50% on all referrals for four years. That means if you refer 100 Pro users, you'll receive $5,000 every year for the next four years.

Additionally, any user can start free and upgrade when they decide it‘s worthwhile, so it’s easy for your site visitors to give the tool a try.

You can provide their affiliate link in your email signature, on a blog post, or in an email newsletter, and Invoice Ninja provides both logos and ads to make it easy to promote their tool.

If your social media followers or website visitors are typically online entrepreneurs or freelancers, this could be a good partnership to consider.

10. Capitalist Exploits: 50% per Sale

Commission: 50%

Cookie life: 365 days

Capitalist Exploits provides trade recommendations for investors and anyone looking to outperform the market by sharing only the best low-risk/high-reward opportunities with subscribers.

If your target audience consists of investors, high net-worth individuals, people interested in investment, financial advisors, or wealth managers, then this program might be for you.

Capitalist Exploits pays a 50% commission on any referred sale with absolutely no limits. Their products range from $1,575 to $3,499. This means each referral brings you a minimum of $787.50.

Affiliates also receive exclusive access to paid membership trials for their audience.

Resources for Getting Started with an Affiliate Marketing Program

Here are some helpful resources and tools to help you get started with affiliate marketing and monetize your blog. Additionally, I’ve included some guides that can help you create engaging web content and marketing campaigns.

• Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: What You Need to Know: An in-depth guide that covers exactly how affiliate marketing works and how to get started.
• How To Do Affiliate Marketing on Instagram: This post specifically covers how you can make money from affiliate marketing on Instagram, as well as some real-life examples.
• Amazon Affiliate Program: How to Become an Amazon Associate to Boost Income: All the details you need to know about joining the Amazon Affiliate program.
• How to Use ShareASale and Generate Money with Your WordPress Site: Everything you need to know about the ShareASale affiliate program, how it works, and how to get started.
• 9 Best Affiliate Marketing WordPress Plugins to Increase Revenue: This post reviews different affiliate plug-ins you can use on WordPress. It includes details about pricing and what each plug-in is best used for.
• The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing: An in-depth look at content marketing, what it is, different types, examples, and how to get a strategy started.
• The Ultimate Guide to Content Creation: A deep dive into content creation ideas, content planning and strategy, the content creation process, content analysis, and content creation tools.
• The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Campaigns: Details on what a marketing campaign is, types of marketing campaigns, marketing campaign components, how to create a marketing campaign, and expert examples
• HubSpot CMS: A set of free tools that help you build, host, manage, and monitor your blog or review site. You can set up a site and upload content through a drag-and-drop builder with customizable themes, as well as track page views, click-throughs, and more.
• HubSpot Marketing Analytics: Provides additional free analytics tools to identify top-performing content, monitor how visitors interact with your website, and track conversions. You can generate and share marketing reports with your partners for better transparency.

Choose the Right Affiliate Marketing Program for You

Ultimately when deciding which program to choose, there are many key elements to keep in mind, including how established your online following is, and how much you want to earn.

And, most importantly — who is your audience, and what are they interested in?

Think about what your website visitors or your social media followers need and could benefit from, and choose an affiliate marketing program that will let you promote products in support of that.

Once you do that, you’ll be well on your way to exponentially multiplying your affiliate income.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in April 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.