Affiliate commission rates in 2026: what programs pay by industry
Affiliate commission rates run from 1% on retail to 30% on software and courses. 2026 rates by industry, recurring terms, cookie windows and network fees.
Muzahid Maruf, FounderUpdated
On this page
- 01What are typical affiliate commission rates by industry?
- 02What does Amazon Associates pay on retail sales?
- 03What do software affiliate programs pay?
- 04How do payout minimums and schedules work?
- 05What affiliate fees come on top of the commission?
- 06What are CJ Affiliate commission rates and cookie duration?
- 07How long are affiliate cookie windows across programs?
- 08How do you set your own commission rate?
- 09How do you set these commission terms in TrackRev?
Explore with AI
Opens this article inside the chosen assistant with a ready-made prompt.
An affiliate commission rate is the share of a sale paid to the partner who referred the customer.
Rates run from 1% on groceries sold through Amazon Associates to 60% lifetime recurring at systeme.io, and the middle of the market follows product margin.
In our benchmark dataset the median is 8% for e-commerce, 15% for consumer software, 20% for business software and 30% for information products.
Physical retail pays little because the seller keeps little per sale, while software and courses add little cost for each extra customer. The payment term and the click window also set what a customer costs.
Three numbers therefore describe any offer: the percentage, the term and the window.
Key takeaways
- Rates follow product margin. TrackRev's benchmark dataset shows medians of 8% for e-commerce, 15% for consumer software, 20% for business software and 30% for information products.
- Amazon Associates pays a fixed 0% to 10% depending on category, with 4% on anything unlisted, so $400 spent on luxury beauty pays five times what $400 spent on a television does.
- Software programs publish a term as well as a percentage: Kit pays 50% through the first year, Rewardful 25% through the first year, Thinkific 30% for life and systeme.io 60% for life.
- On a $39 plan kept for a year, 30% of the first payment costs $11.70 and 50% across all 12 months costs $234, so the payment term moves your cost more than the percentage does.
- Fees stack on the commission. Awin's Access plan takes $49 monthly plus 3.5% of each transaction, which turns a 6% commission into a 9.5% cost before card processing.
- CJ Affiliate sets no network-wide rate or cookie length. Each advertiser picks its own, so read the terms of the program before you join.
What are typical affiliate commission rates by industry?
These medians come from TrackRev's affiliate program benchmark dataset, which takes the cross-source median of public reports from Impact, PartnerStack and Awin. It summarizes other organizations' research and does not measure TrackRev customers.
Programs that pay a flat dollar amount are left out of the rate medians.
| Industry segment | Median commission | Most common payout structure | Programs sampled |
|---|---|---|---|
| Information products and coaching | 30% | Lifetime recurring | 412 |
| Courses and education | 25% | One-time at sale | 287 |
| B2B SaaS | 20% | Recurring for 12 months | 564 |
| B2C SaaS | 15% | Recurring for 6 months | 318 |
| Marketplaces and fintech | 10% | Tiered by volume | 129 |
| E-commerce and physical goods | 8% | One-time at sale | 130 |
Source: TrackRev affiliate program benchmark dataset, Q2 2026, a synthesis of public research from Impact, PartnerStack and Awin.
A 15% offer is average for consumer software and well below market for information products, where the median is 30% and lifetime recurring is the most common structure. Marketplaces and fintech sit at 10%, most often tiered by volume.
Among the best-performing software vendors the range is tighter.
PartnerStack's analysis of its 25 highest-performing vendors in 2023 found that the offers paying out the most total commission were 20%, 25% and 30%, in that order, with an average of 23.53%. ERP software paid 30% to 35% on average.
Sources: partnerstack.com/resources
What does Amazon Associates pay on retail sales?
Amazon Associates is a retail program with a fixed rate card, and the card shows how widely retail rates vary by category. Its Standard Commission Income Statement assigns one rate to each product category.
| Rate | Categories |
|---|---|
| 10% | Luxury Beauty, Luxury Stores Beauty, Amazon Explore |
| 5% | Digital Music, Physical Music, Handmade, Digital Videos |
| 4.5% | Physical Books, Kitchen, Automotive |
| 4% | Apparel, Watches, Jewelry, Luggage, Shoes, Echo and Kindle devices, and every category not listed |
| 3% | Toys, Furniture, Home, Home Improvement, Lawn and Garden, Pets, Headphones, Beauty, Musical Instruments, Outdoors, Tools, Sports, Baby |
| 2.5% | PC, PC Components, DVD and Blu-Ray |
| 2% | Televisions, Digital Video Games |
| 1% | Amazon Fresh, Grocery, Health and Personal Care, Physical Video Games and Consoles |
| 0% | Gift Cards, Wireless Service Plans, Alcoholic Beverages, Vehicles, Pet Prescription Medications, restaurant food, Amazon Appstore |
Source: Amazon Associates, October 2026. Category names are shortened.
The card runs from 0% on gift cards and vehicles to 10% on luxury beauty, with 4% on every category not listed. A $400 television at 2% pays $8.
The same $400 order in luxury beauty at 10% pays $40, which is five times as much. Grocery pays 1%, so a $400 order there pays $4.
Amazon also pays flat bounties for some actions, including $3.00 for a Prime free trial and $20.00 for an Audible Standard free trial. For example, a publisher recommending headphones at 3% earns $12 on a $400 sale.
The category, not the price, sets the payout.
What do software affiliate programs pay?
A software affiliate program is a partner scheme that publishes a percentage and a payment term, and many add a click-credit window. Six programs state most of those terms on their own pages. Kit pays 50% for 12 months.
Thinkific pays 30% of recurring revenue for the customer's lifetime. systeme.io pays 60% for life, and Rewardful pays 25% for the first 12 months.
Kinsta adds a $50 to $500 bonus to 10% monthly, while Shopify pays up to $150 per qualified referral, once.
| Program | Commission | How long it pays | Window and minimum payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kit | 50% of what the customer pays, plus 10%, 15% or 20% at Bronze, Silver or Gold status | 12 months at 50%, then the status share for as long as the customer stays | No window given |
| Thinkific | 30% of recurring revenue, or $150 monthly on Plus plans | Lifetime of the customer | 90 days, $25 minimum |
| systeme.io | 60% of each subscription payment | Lifetime of the customer | Lifetime attribution, $30 minimum |
| Rewardful (its own affiliate program) | 25% | First 12 months | 60 days, $50 minimum |
| Kinsta | $50 to $500 one-time bonus plus 10% | Lifetime monthly | 60 days, last-touch |
| Shopify | Up to $150 per qualified referral, varying by referral location | One payment when the referral starts a full-price plan | 30 days, or up to 400 for free-trial signups; $10 minimum |
Terms from each program's own page (Kit, Thinkific, systeme.io, Rewardful, Kinsta, Shopify), October 2026. systeme.io dates its own terms April 2026.
Rewardful pays 25% for a year, while systeme.io pays 60% for as long as the customer stays. A percentage cannot rank the two offers, since the term decides how many payments the percentage applies to.
On the $17-a-month Startup plan, 60% comes to $10.20 every month the customer remains.
What one customer costs under each structure
Take a $39-a-month plan and a customer who stays 12 months, which is $468 of revenue. Each structure below applies to that same customer.
| Structure | Paid to the affiliate in year one | Share of the $468 |
|---|---|---|
| 30% of the first payment only | $11.70 | 2.5% |
| Flat $50 bounty | $50.00 | 10.7% |
| 10% recurring for life | $46.80 | 10% |
| 20% recurring for 12 months | $93.60 | 20% |
| 25% for 12 months (Rewardful's own terms) | $117.00 | 25% |
| 50% for 12 months (Kit's first-year rate) | $234.00 | 50% |
Hypothetical $39 plan, customer retained for all 12 months, no refunds.
A lifetime rate looks cheap in year one and costs more as customers stay.
If the same customer lasts 36 months, which is $1,404 of revenue, a 10% lifetime share pays $140.40 while a 20% share limited to 12 months still pays $93.60.
Recurring terms also depend on tracking each renewal back to the first click, which is covered in affiliate tracking for recurring subscriptions.
Kit shows one way to pay for proven results without raising the base rate. A customer paying $1,200 in the first year earns the affiliate $600.
Partners who refer 10, 50 or 100 paying customers a year then collect 10%, 15% or 20% on that customer's later payments, which adds $120 to $240 a year on the $1,200 plan.
How do payout minimums and schedules work?
A minimum payout is the balance a partner must reach before the program sends money, and the rate decides how long the wait takes. Shopify sets $10, Thinkific $25, systeme.io $30 and Rewardful $50. Schedules differ too.
Shopify credits on the 22nd, Thinkific pays on the 13th, systeme.io processes on the 10th and Rewardful usually pays on the 1st.
| Program | Minimum payout | Schedule |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify | $10 | Credited each month on the 22nd, covering the prior month's referrals |
| Thinkific | $25 | Verified at month end, then paid out on the 13th |
| systeme.io | $30 | Processed each month on the 10th |
| Rewardful | $50 | Usually paid out on the 1st |
From each program's affiliate page, October 2026.
Rewardful's affiliate page prices a referral on its $99 Growth plan at $24.75 per month. After 2 months the balance is $49.50, just under the $50 minimum, so the first payout needs a third month of commission.
On systeme.io's $17 Startup plan a referral earns $10.20 per month and clears the $30 minimum in the third month. A $10 minimum, as at Shopify, is cleared far sooner than a $50 one.
What affiliate fees come on top of the commission?
Affiliate fees are the platform charges stacked on the partner commission. Networks and software add their own.
Awin's US pricing page lists an Access plan at $49 monthly plus a 3.5% tracking fee on each transaction, and an Accelerate plan from $99 monthly plus 2.5%. Access includes a three-month minimum term.
The advertiser still sets the partner commission, which makes the tracking fee a second charge on every sale.
| Option | Monthly price | Cut of each sale | Plan limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Awin Access | $49 | 3.5% of each transaction | None listed |
| Awin Accelerate | From $99 | 2.5% of each transaction | None listed |
| Rewardful Starter | $49 | 0% transaction fee | $7,500 of affiliate-attributed revenue each month |
| FirstPromoter Starter | $49 | None listed | $5,000 of affiliate revenue each month |
| PartnerStack | Not published | Not published | Plan and price confirmed in a demo |
Prices from each vendor's pricing page, October 2026 (Rewardful, FirstPromoter, PartnerStack).
Worked example: what a $100 sale costs
Awin's own example is a $100 sale at a 6% commission: the partner gets $6 and Awin gets $3.50 on the Access plan. Stripe's standard rate for domestic cards, 2.9% plus 30 cents, takes another $3.20. That is $12.70 out of $100, leaving $87.30 before the cost of the product.
Flat subscriptions scale differently. At $7,500 of monthly affiliate sales, Rewardful Starter's $49 is 0.65% of revenue. Awin Access costs $49 plus 3.5% of $7,500, which is $262.50, so $311.50 or 4.15%.
Awin's plans also include its directory of 1M+ partners, so its fee covers access to recruits as well as tracking.
What are CJ Affiliate commission rates and cookie duration?
CJ Affiliate is a performance marketing network, and CJ publishes no network-wide commission rate and no default cookie length.
CJ's own overview of the network says advertisers and publishers determine the offer details, so rate, payment event and click-credit window are set advertiser by advertiser. Any single figure quoted for CJ rates has to be an average across advertisers.
Awin works the same way, since its pricing page tells each advertiser to set its own partner commission.
Before joining a CJ advertiser, read 3 terms, because two advertisers in one category can differ on each. First, the rate. Second, the click-credit window. Third, whether returns reverse the commission.
Awin, by comparison, charges the advertiser $49 monthly plus 3.5% on its Access plan, so CJ and Awin programs also differ in cost to the advertiser.
How long are affiliate cookie windows across programs?
A cookie window is the number of days after a click in which a sale credits the partner. The dataset's median window is 60 days.
Of the programs measured, 41% use 60 days, 28% use 30 or fewer, 24% use 90 and 7% use 180 or more. Rewardful and Kinsta use 60 days, Thinkific uses 90 and systeme.io tags a referral to the affiliate permanently.
Shopify tracks referrals for 30 days from the click, then follows a referral that starts a free trial for up to 400 days while it waits for the store to move to a paid plan.
Click-to-paid timing for SaaS buyers is analyzed in SaaS affiliate benchmarks for 2026.
A configured window can be shorter than it looks. WebKit's tracking prevention page says Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention deletes cookies created in JavaScript after 7 days without the visitor interacting with the site.
A 60-day window written by a browser script can therefore end after a week for Safari visitors who do not return. The mechanics are in the Safari ITP breakdown.
How do you set your own commission rate?
Start from gross profit per month, then decide how much of it the term hands over. Suppose serving one customer on a $39 plan costs you $7.80 per month, which leaves $31.20.
- A 20% commission for 12 months pays out $93.60 of the $374.40 gross profit that customer produces over the year, so you keep $280.80.
- A 40% commission for 12 months pays $187.20 and leaves the same $187.20 with you.
- Any rate above your gross margin, 80% in this example, loses money on every payment.
Pick the term from your own churn. In our channel dataset, affiliate-referred customers reach a median first churn at 9.6 months, with 12-month lifetime value at 1.4 times the workspace average.
A 12-month term will therefore not pay in full on every referral, while a product with low churn makes lifetime recurring expensive.
Hold commission until your refund window closes and reverse it when a charge is refunded, as described in affiliate refund clawbacks. Payout methods, minimums and tax forms are in how to pay affiliates.
How do you set these commission terms in TrackRev?
TrackRev is SaaS affiliate software for indie hackers and small SaaS teams.
In the program settings we built, each program sets its commission as a percentage or a flat amount, pays it once, for a set number of months or for the customer's lifetime, and has its own cookie window (60 days by default), payout threshold and hold period (0 to 180 days, default 0).
The credit rule, last click, first click or shared, applies across the workspace. A refunded or disputed charge takes its commission back out automatically.
In our pricing, programs run on paid plans from Indie at $29 monthly, and no plan caps the partner commission tracked. Details are on the affiliate program page and in pricing.
TrackRev has no partner marketplace, so partners come from your invites, application form or outreach. If you want a ready pool of partners to recruit from, Awin's directory and the PartnerStack marketplace are built for that.
Found this useful? Share it.
Frequently asked questions
- There is no useful single average, because the rates sit in different ranges by category. A subscription product is competitive at 20% to 30% for a year, a course at 25% or more, and a physical product at anything above 10%. Check the term before the percentage: 20% on the first payment only is a small offer next to 20% for a year.
- CJ sets neither for the network as a whole. Terms belong to each advertiser, so open the program terms of every advertiser you are weighing and compare them side by side instead of hunting for a default.
- Recurring suits a subscription, because the affiliate earns while you do. One-time suits annual-only or single-payment products and caps what each referral can cost. Fixed-term recurring, such as 12 months, sits between the two and is the structure most programs in the dataset use for B2B software.
- Ask each vendor for two numbers, the platform price and any cut of each sale, then add card processing and payout costs to see what a sale really costs you. Quote-only vendors such as PartnerStack give neither until a demo.
- Match it to how long buyers take to pay. A self-serve product with a short trial can work at 30 to 60 days, while a longer trial or a purchasing approval justifies 90. Test tracking in Safari, since script-written cookies can expire after 7 days there.
- Yes. A flat bounty is easier to budget and suits a product with a single price. It pays the same on a small plan as on a large one, so affiliates tend to prefer a percentage once plan prices vary.
- Hold it at least until your refund window closes, so a refunded sale never has to be clawed back from money already sent. TrackRev lets each program set the hold anywhere from 0 to 180 days. A longer hold protects you, and a shorter one gets partners paid sooner.
- No. Free is link tracking only, with 50 links and 1,000 tracked events a month. Running a program and seeing revenue figures requires a paid plan, from Indie at $29 a month.
Written by
Founder, TrackRev.io & Contant.io
Muzahid Maruf founded TrackRev.io, SaaS affiliate software with no limit on tracked revenue, and Contant.io. He writes about affiliate programs.
Writes about Marketing attribution · Link tracking · Revenue analytics · SaaS growth
Run your affiliate program without a revenue cap.
Affiliate software for indie hackers and small SaaS teams: $29 a month flat, 0% fees, link tracking and revenue attribution built in. Free to start, no card.