⚡ Quick Answer
The best affiliate program software depends on how you sell. Subscription software on Stripe or Paddle: Rewardful or FirstPromoter, both from $49 a month. A Shopify store: UpPromote, which has a free plan. A mix of ecommerce and software platforms: Tapfiliate, from $89 a month. Courses and coaching sold through your own checkout: ThriveCart. Already running on HighLevel: its built-in Affiliate Manager. A B2B software company with a large partner network: PartnerStack.
Picking the software feels like the natural first step when you decide to start an affiliate program. A dashboard feels like progress.
But a tracking tool can’t recruit partners, set a commission that motivates them, or get them promoting in their first two weeks. The right software makes a good program easy to run. It doesn’t make a program good.
So this comparison does two jobs: it matches each tool to the way your business actually sells, and it shows what needs to be in place before any of them pays for itself. Every price below was checked on the official site in September 2026.
Affiliate Program Software Compared
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rewardful | SaaS and subscriptions on Stripe or Paddle | $49/month | 14 days |
| FirstPromoter | SaaS on Stripe, Paddle, Chargebee, Recurly or Braintree | $49/month | 14 days, no card |
| Tapfiliate | Ecommerce and software across many platforms | $89/month | 7 days |
| UpPromote | Shopify stores | Free plan | 14 days on paid plans |
| ThriveCart | Courses, coaching and digital products | See site | See site |
| HighLevel Affiliate Manager | Businesses already running on HighLevel | HighLevel from $97/month | 14 days |
| PartnerStack | B2B software with a large partner network | Quote after demo | Demo |
1. Rewardful: Best for SaaS on Stripe or Paddle
Rewardful is built for software and subscription businesses, and it connects directly to Stripe and Paddle. That native connection to your billing is the main appeal for subscription businesses.
- Pricing: Starter at $49 a month covers up to $7,500 a month in affiliate-referred revenue. Growth at $99 raises that to $15,000 and adds unlimited campaigns
- Trial: 14 days, with unlimited affiliates and no transaction fee on referred revenue on every plan
- Worth knowing: the branded affiliate portal and custom domain start on Growth, not Starter
2. FirstPromoter: Best for SaaS With More Billing Options
FirstPromoter targets the same buyer as Rewardful but connects to more billing systems: Stripe, Paddle, Chargebee, Recurly and Braintree. If your subscriptions don’t run on Stripe or Paddle, this is the first one to check.
- Pricing: Starter at $49 a month covers up to $5,000 in revenue, 1,000 affiliates and 3 campaigns. Business at $99 goes up to $15,000 with unlimited affiliates and PayPal payouts
- Trial: 14 days, no credit card required
- Worth knowing: accounts move up to the next plan automatically when revenue passes the plan limit, so budget for the tier you expect to reach
3. Tapfiliate: Best for Ecommerce and Mixed Platforms
Tapfiliate covers the widest mix of store platforms on this list. It lists integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, Stripe and WordPress, which makes it a sensible choice if you sell in more than one place.
- Pricing: Launch at $89 a month ($74 billed annually) includes one program, 50 affiliates and 500 conversions a month. Scale at $179 ($149 annually) removes the affiliate limit and adds automated payouts
- Trial: 7 days on Launch, 14 days on Scale
- Worth knowing: the 50-affiliate cap on Launch is fine for a first program but fills up quickly once recruiting works
4. UpPromote: Best for Shopify Stores
UpPromote is a Shopify app, and it is the cheapest way on this list to get started: there is a free plan you can keep using as long as you want, and upgrades are billed through Shopify.
- Pricing: a free plan, then Growth at $29.99 a month plus 2% of referral sales, Professional at $89.99 plus 1.5%, and Enterprise at $199.99 plus 1%
- Trial: 14 days on any paid plan
- Worth knowing: paid plans charge a percentage of referral sales on top of the monthly fee, so run the numbers at the volume you expect
5. ThriveCart: Best for Courses, Coaching and Digital Products
ThriveCart is a checkout platform first, used by what it calls “solopreneurs, coursemakers, and community builders”. Its affiliate tools live inside that checkout, which suits anyone who wants payments and partners in one place instead of connecting two tools.
- What it includes: recruiting and onboarding affiliates, automated revenue splits and payouts, and joint venture contracts
- Worth knowing: the Affiliate Center with automated payouts is listed on the Pro+ plan, and current plan prices were not shown publicly when we checked, so confirm on their site
6. HighLevel Affiliate Manager: Best If You Already Use HighLevel
If your funnels, CRM and payments already run on HighLevel, you may not need a separate tool. Its Affiliate Manager lets you recruit affiliates, issue tracking links and manage commissions inside the same account.
- How payouts work: you approve or deny each commission, then pay automatically through PayPal or manually through Stripe, bank transfer, Wise or check
- Pricing: HighLevel plans start at $97 a month, with a 14-day free trial. Our GoHighLevel pricing breakdown covers every plan and add-on
- Worth knowing: HighLevel’s help documentation doesn’t state which plans include the Affiliate Manager, so confirm it on the plan you choose
7. PartnerStack: Best for B2B Software With a Large Partner Network
PartnerStack describes itself as the affiliate platform built for B2B, and it manages partner programs across multiple partnership types, not only affiliates. It is aimed at software companies building a partner program at scale.
- Pricing: not public. It is based on program size, features and support level, and confirmed during a demo
- Worth knowing: this is the heaviest option here. If you are launching your first program, one of the tools above gets you started faster
How to Choose the Right Affiliate Software
Three questions narrow the list quickly:
- How do you charge? Subscriptions on Stripe or Paddle point to Rewardful or FirstPromoter. One-time sales of courses or programs point to ThriveCart.
- Where do you sell? Shopify points to UpPromote. Several platforms at once point to Tapfiliate. Everything already on HighLevel points to its Affiliate Manager.
- How big is the program? A first program with a few dozen partners fits any entry plan. A large partner network in B2B software is what PartnerStack is built for.
Before you commit, check the same four things in any of them: how long a referral stays credited to a partner, how refunds are handled, how partners get paid, and whether partners get their own dashboard.
What No Software Will Do for You
Every tool above tracks sales and pays commissions. None of them decides what commission is worth a good partner’s effort, who you should recruit, or what a new partner needs in their first two weeks to actually promote you.
Those decisions are what make a program produce revenue, and we walk through them in our guide on how to start an affiliate program for your business.
Still deciding on the rate itself? Our sourced ranges by business type are in how much commission to pay affiliates.
Nicholas Raschella, founder of Partnerology, taught exactly this in a free live masterclass on 24 September 2026. The session was not recorded, but our Affiliate Program Masterclass review covers what it included and what to look for if a future edition is announced.
Commission, terms, recruiting and activation
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best affiliate program software?
It depends on how you sell. Rewardful and FirstPromoter suit subscription software on Stripe or Paddle, UpPromote suits Shopify stores, Tapfiliate suits businesses selling across several platforms, ThriveCart suits courses and coaching, HighLevel’s Affiliate Manager suits businesses already on HighLevel, and PartnerStack suits B2B software with a large partner network.
Is there free affiliate program software?
UpPromote has a free plan for Shopify stores that you can keep using indefinitely. Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tapfiliate don’t list a free plan on their pricing pages, but each offers a free trial of 7 to 14 days.
What is the best affiliate software for Shopify?
UpPromote is built as a Shopify app, with a free plan and paid plans from $29.99 a month plus a percentage of referral sales. Tapfiliate also integrates with Shopify and is worth comparing if you sell on other platforms too.
What is the best affiliate software for SaaS?
Rewardful and FirstPromoter both start at $49 a month and connect directly to subscription billing. Rewardful works with Stripe and Paddle; FirstPromoter adds Chargebee, Recurly and Braintree. For large B2B partner programs, PartnerStack is built for that scale.
Do I need affiliate software to start an affiliate program?
You need some reliable way to give each partner a unique link and record which sales they produce. If the platform you already sell on includes affiliate tools, such as ThriveCart or HighLevel, you may not need a separate product.
Sources & References
- Rewardful pricing, checked 16 September 2026
- FirstPromoter pricing, checked 16 September 2026
- Tapfiliate pricing, checked 16 September 2026
- UpPromote pricing details, checked 16 September 2026
- ThriveCart, features checked 16 September 2026
- HighLevel Support: How does the Affiliate Manager work?
- PartnerStack, positioning and pricing model, checked 16 September 2026
Related reviews
How we checked this: every figure here is read at the primary source and linked, never taken from another article. Where a number is someone’s own claim about their product, we say so in the text. Read our full review methodology and affiliate disclosure.