Affiliate marketing software is usually explained as a choice between networks and platforms. The buyers running affiliate programs describe two other things. The partners they pay have changed: creators paid on commission now sit alongside the publishers and coupon sites the channel was built on, and among the companies we interviewed they appear more often. And the decision that shapes their tool choice is less network-or-platform than where their partners already are and how much of the work they want to do themselves.
What is affiliate marketing software?
Affiliate marketing software runs programs that pay partners a commission on the sales or leads they drive. It recruits and contracts partners, tracks the clicks and orders they send, calculates commissions and pays them.
Networks such as CJ, Rakuten and Awin bring their own base of publishers; partnership platforms such as impact.com and Partnerize provide software to run your own program; creator-commerce tools such as ShopMy, LTK and Superfiliate pay creators on commission. As one brand's chief executive puts it, “The affiliate word is broad reaching.”
What the interviews add is who the partners are now, and how buyers choose:
In these interviews “affiliate” covers two programs: publishers and creators. More than half of the companies that describe their affiliate partners include creators paid on commission, and wanting creators in the program is the most common reason buyers in market are shopping.
Buyers choose software by which partners they need to reach — they often stay where their partners already are — and how much help they need running the program, more than by whether it is a network or a platform.
What is the difference between an affiliate network and an affiliate platform?
Affiliate networks traditionally emphasize access to established publisher relationships and may provide program-management services. Partnership platforms emphasize the software brands use to manage tracking, contracts, commissions and partner relationships. The models increasingly overlap, and the level of service varies by provider and agreement. In practice buyers blur the two — calling a platform a network, or a network an agency — and the difference they act on is how much help comes with the tool.
A multi-billion-dollar specialty retailer moved from a platform to a network for exactly that reason: “So we had to move to CJ because they came with like a support team versus Impact, which was a pure SaaS platform.” Two years on, it values the network signing publisher contracts on its behalf.
The opposite complaint comes from buyers on self-serve tools: “it is truly like you have to do the brunt of the work and it's just purely an interface to manage relationships,” says one small brand's marketing chief. Even networks have tiers: “This is more like a self-service, do-it-yourself, and that's because you don't invest that much.”
Agencies sit across both. A substantial share of the companies in these interviews have an agency run or help run their affiliate program, while others run it in-house on a self-serve platform. The moves between tools show where buyers are heading: more companies describe moving to impact.com than to any other tool, from networks and from other platforms, though at least one went the other way for service.
Affiliate network
Brings an existing base of publishers, often services the program, and is paid through a cut of commissions or fees. CJ, Rakuten and Awin are the networks buyers name.
Partnership platform
Software to run your own partner program: recruiting, contracts, tracking and payments, with the brand doing the work. impact.com is the one buyers name most.
Creator-commerce tool
Commission programs for creators, through storefronts and links — the side of affiliate that has grown into influencer marketing.
Who uses affiliate marketing software?
Companies of every size — but affiliate networks skew smaller than the companies we interview. About one in four impact.com users have more than a billion dollars in revenue, against about two in five of all companies interviewed, and Rakuten and Awin users skew smaller still; CJ is the exception, with close to half of its users above a billion.
The kind of partner tracks size too. Among companies that describe their partners, those running programs built mainly on publishers are typically several times the size of those built mainly on creators. Growth, ecommerce and digital leaders run many of these programs; dedicated affiliate or partnerships titles are rare.
What kinds of partners do affiliate programs pay?
Among interviewed companies that describe their affiliate partners, creators paid on commission appear more frequently than traditional publishers or coupon and cashback partners. Five kinds of partner appear among companies that describe their affiliate programs, in this order; many companies name more than one:
- Creators and influencers paid on commission
- Content and editorial publishers
- Coupon, cashback and card-linked offers
- Business referral and lead-generation partners
- Marketplace and social-commerce affiliate programs
Few companies name both publishers and creators; most run one or the other.
Creators paid on commission
Influencers and creators earning a commission through links, codes and storefronts — and the most common reason buyers in market are shopping, as they look for one tool that covers creators as well as publishers.
A brand running both an affiliate network and a creator tool says influencer and affiliate are “now they're kind of merging a little bit too much.”
Content and editorial publishers
Review sites, listicles and editorial partners, the traditional core of affiliate. A few buyers also see editorial publishers as a potential route to visibility in AI-generated search answers, particularly when those answers cite third-party content.
One retailer puts its reasoning bluntly: “ChatGPT knows not to trust me” — a third-party listicle carries more weight than its own site.
Coupon, cashback and card-linked offers
The partners buyers argue about most. A few say they take credit for sales that would have happened anyway; about as many name them among their top revenue drivers.
A growth director ending a network engagement says “most of the traffic that they provide from publishers is just coupons and cashback codes.”
Business referral and lead-generation partners
Referral and partner programs for business software and services, often on tools built for that model.
Marketplace and social-commerce affiliate programs
Affiliate programs run inside TikTok Shop, Amazon and similar marketplaces, where the platform supplies the creators and the tracking.
The shift toward creators changes the tool question. A program built on publishers needs the network or platform those publishers use; a program built on creators may be better served by a creator-commerce tool, or by a platform that does both. Few companies in these interviews run publishers and creators together, and wanting one tool that covers both is the most common reason buyers in market are shopping.
Which affiliate marketing tools do buyers rate highest?
impact.com is the most-rated affiliate tool in these interviews, at 7.6; Rakuten rates around 7.5 and CJ around 7, on fewer ratings. These are overall product ratings, and buyers' reasons for staying on a tool are often about its partners rather than its features.
| Tool | Rating | What it means here |
|---|---|---|
| impact.com | 7.6 | The tool named most often and the most common destination when companies move. Praised for its interface, reporting and publisher reach; criticized as self-serve, costly and clunky. |
| Rakuten | around 7.5 | Too few buyers for a decimal. A network, used mostly by smaller and mid-sized companies here. |
| CJ Affiliate | around 7 | Too few buyers for a decimal. A network valued for its support team and publisher relationships, and the one most used by larger companies. |
| Awin | around 6.5 | Too few buyers for a decimal. A network with self-serve and managed tiers; many of its newer users arrived when ShareASale was folded into it. |
| ShareASale | around 5 | Too few buyers for a decimal. Being folded into Awin by its owner, so buyers here are mostly describing a migration rather than a choice. |
| Partnerize | not rated | A partnership platform; too few buyers rated it to publish a number. |
Networks and partnership platforms
impact.com · CJ · Rakuten · Awin · Partnerize · Pepperjam
Creator commission tools
ShopMy · LTK · Superfiliate · Refersion · Levanta
Partners often pick the platform. Buyers describe staying on tools they find expensive or awkward because the publishers or creators they need are there — “That said, it is what every major publisher is on,” says a growth leader of impact.com. The head-to-head is on impact.com vs. CJ Affiliate.
What does affiliate marketing cost, and how do buyers measure it?
Affiliate software costs can include platform fees, network fees, managed services and partner commissions. Buyers describe different combinations depending on the provider and agreement, with the cost of managing the program also influencing their choice. No prices are published here.
Buyers' complaints about networks are about the cut of commissions, monthly and onboarding fees, and paid placements that did not pay back; complaints about platforms are about their price for a self-serve tool. One brand dropped a network for tracking software specifically to stop paying the network's share.
Measurement is where buyers say least. Revenue, new customers, average order value and return on ad spend each come up only occasionally, and several rely on the customer-journey views inside their affiliate platform. The sharper question is credit: “particularly in a channel where attributed conversions determine how much somebody or something gets paid,” as one product director puts it, explaining a move to settle affiliate payouts on cleaner attribution. A few buyers have cut coupon and cashback partners or moved to tiered and conditional commissions; that argument is real, but it rests on a small number of companies.
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Start with the partners you want, then decide how much of the work you want to do. If the publishers or creators you need are on a particular network or platform, that largely makes the choice; if you want a team to run the program, a network or an agency matters more than the software.
Three things follow from the interviews; the recommendations are ours, not practices buyers describe. First, decide whether your program is built around publishers, creators or both. Few companies in these interviews describe managing both groups together, and the tools they use often reflect which type of partner matters most. Second, price the service as well as the software: a self-serve platform leaves the work with your team, and buyers who underestimated that moved to a network or an agency. Third, agree how partners will be credited before you sign — commissions are a large part of the cost, and the coupon-credit argument is easier to settle at the start than after.
For the creator side of the same programs, see what is influencer marketing software; for the credit question, what is marketing attribution and what is incrementality testing.
Common questions
What is affiliate marketing software?
Affiliate marketing software runs programs that pay partners a commission on the sales or leads they drive. It recruits and contracts partners, tracks the clicks and orders they send, calculates commissions and pays them. Networks such as CJ, Rakuten and Awin bring their own publishers; partnership platforms such as impact.com and Partnerize provide software to run your own program. In buyer interviews, the partners are increasingly creators as well as traditional publishers.
What is the difference between an affiliate network and an affiliate platform?
A network brings an existing base of publishers and often services the program, and takes a cut of commissions or charges fees for it. A partnership platform is software for running your own partner program, recruiting and managing partners yourself. Buyers in these interviews blur the two, and the difference they act on is service: how much help comes with the tool. One retailer moved from a platform to a network purely to get a support team.
Is influencer marketing the same as affiliate marketing?
They are converging. More than half of the companies in these interviews that describe their affiliate partners include creators paid on commission, and wanting creators in the program is the most common reason buyers in market are shopping. Some run creators and publishers in one program and tool; others keep them separate. One buyer says influencer and affiliate are now merging a little bit too much.
Do coupon and cashback affiliates deserve credit for sales?
Buyers disagree. A few in these interviews say coupon and cashback partners take credit for sales that would have happened anyway, and some have cut them or moved to tiered or conditional commissions; about as many name those partners among their top revenue drivers. The argument is real but rests on a small number of companies.
Who uses affiliate marketing software?
Companies of all sizes, but affiliate-network users skew smaller than the companies interviewed overall: about one in four impact.com users have more than a billion dollars in revenue, against about two in five of all companies interviewed, with CJ the exception. Programs built mainly on publishers tend to belong to larger companies than programs built mainly on creators.
Which affiliate marketing tools do companies use?
impact.com is the tool named most often, and the most common destination when companies move. Rakuten, CJ, Awin and ShareASale are the networks buyers name; ShareASale has been folded into Awin by its owner. Creator-commerce tools such as ShopMy, LTK and Superfiliate also run commission programs. Buyers often stay where their partners are: one says of impact.com that it is what every major publisher is on.
Do you need an agency to run an affiliate program?
Not necessarily, but many use one. Agencies run or help run the affiliate program at a substantial share of the companies in these interviews, while others run it in-house on a self-serve platform. Buyers describe self-serve platforms as leaving them to do the brunt of the work, which is why the choice between a tool and a service matters as much as the choice of tool.
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