Best affiliate software for Paddle in 2026, checked against Paddle Billing's own docs
Seven affiliate tools compared on Paddle Billing support, refund handling and price. Rewardful is Classic only; FirstPromoter, Partnero and Tolt read Billing.
Muzahid Maruf, FounderUpdated
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The best affiliate software for Paddle is a tool that reads Paddle Billing's transactions and keeps every partner sale tied to real revenue.
We built TrackRev for exactly this: it connects to Paddle Billing, costs $29 a month with 0% fees and no cap on tracked revenue, and shows partner revenue next to every other channel.
FirstPromoter, Partnero and Tolt also read Billing and document how Paddle refund adjustments reach commissions. Rewardful's own Paddle page says it integrates with Paddle Classic only, and Tapfiliate lists no Paddle connector.
For a program that drives $8,000 a month of affiliate revenue, plans cost $29 to $99 a month in October 2026.
Key takeaways
- Rewardful works with Paddle Classic only, which covers accounts opened before August 8, 2023, so newer sellers on Paddle Billing need another tool.
- Paddle Billing records a refund as 1 adjustment that Paddle usually approves first. FirstPromoter and Tolt list the events they read, and Partnero documents claw-backs.
- Paddle totals include VAT: on a $100 plan at 20% VAT, a 20% commission is $24 on the total and $20 on the net price.
- At $8,000 a month of affiliate revenue, bills run $29 on TrackRev Indie, $39 on Affonso Growth, $59 on Partnero, $69 on Tolt and $99 on FirstPromoter.
- TrackRev reads Billing only and ignores refund adjustments, so match its hold period (0 to 180 days) to your refund window.
Which affiliate software for Paddle compares best side by side?
| Tool | Paddle versions | Refunds read | Entry price | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TrackRev | Billing | None | $29 | Free plan without affiliates |
| FirstPromoter | Billing and Classic | Refunds and chargebacks | $49 | 14 days |
| Partnero | Billing and Classic | Paddle adjustments | $59 ($49 billed yearly) | 30 days |
| Tolt | Billing and Classic | Refunds | $69 | 14 days |
| Affonso | Billing; Classic not listed | Refunds and partial refunds | $15 billed yearly | 14 days |
| Rewardful | Classic only | None on Billing | $49 | 14 days |
| Tapfiliate | No native connector | None | $89 | 7 days |
Prices from each vendor's pricing page, October 2026.
What does Paddle change for affiliate tracking?
Paddle is the seller of record, so the sale, the tax and any refund live in Paddle's records. Paddle Billing runs beside the older Paddle Classic, with a new API and new webhooks. Four details decide which tool works.
First, the Paddle version it connects to. Second, how it hears about refunds. Third, the amount it pays commission on. Finally, how the referral survives renewals. If you also bill through Stripe, affiliate software for Stripe covers that side.
Paddle Billing and Paddle Classic need different integrations. Paddle's migration guide says accounts opened before August 8, 2023 run Paddle Classic, while newer accounts run Paddle Billing, which has its own API, webhooks and JavaScript library.
A tool that says it supports Paddle may mean Paddle Billing or Paddle Classic. Rewardful's Classic guide passes the referral in a passthrough string, while Paddle Billing uses a custom_data object.
The webhook events differ too, so a connector built for one says nothing about the other.
Why do refunds arrive as adjustments that Paddle approves?
A Paddle Billing transaction has no refunded status, so refunds are a separate record.
The transaction's 7 statuses are draft, ready, billed, paid, completed, canceled and past_due, and a refund is a separate adjustment record with 4 statuses of its own: pending_approval, approved, rejected and reversed.
On live accounts most refunds start as pending_approval until Paddle reviews them, and a chargeback creates an adjustment automatically.
FirstPromoter reads refunds from adjustment.updated and chargebacks from adjustment.created, and Tolt subscribes to adjustment.updated. A tool that listens only for transaction.completed pays a commission and never takes it back, and affiliate refund clawbacks covers the reversal rules.
A hold delays when a commission becomes payable, and on Paddle the delay should cover the full refund guarantee. TrackRev cannot see Paddle adjustments, so waiting is the only safeguard against paying out on a refunded sale.
Say payouts close monthly and buyers get 30 days to refund. In our product, a hold runs from 0 to 180 days.
A 30-day hold then releases a March 3 sale on April 30, which is 58 days later, and a March 31 sale on day 30. Scan Paddle's refunds for the period right before releasing money.
FirstPromoter, Partnero and Tolt read adjustments themselves, so waiting matters less there.
Is tax part of the commission base?
The commission base can include tax, because Paddle Billing's transaction totals separate subtotal, discount, tax, total, fee and earnings. The transactions reference defines total as the amount after discount and tax, and earnings as the total minus Paddle's fee.
A price's tax_mode puts tax on top of the price or inside it, and the total includes it either way, so a tool that takes the total pays partners a share of the VAT.
Take a $100 monthly plan priced exclusive of tax, sold to a customer in a country with 20% VAT, with a 20% partner commission. The customer pays $120, as the table shows.
| Commission base | Amount | Commission at 20% | Over 12 renewals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total including tax | $120.00 | $24.00 | $288.00 |
| Total minus tax | $100.00 | $20.00 | $240.00 |
| Difference | $20.00 | $4.00 | $48.00 |
Worked example: $100 plan priced exclusive of tax, 20% VAT, 20% commission.
Which commission base is safest to pay on?
Across 100 referred customers, that $48 a year becomes $4,800 a year paid out on VAT that never reaches your revenue.
Paddle's fee is 5% + 50¢ per checkout transaction, which takes 7.5% of a $20 sale and 5.5% of a $100 one, so some programs pay on net earnings instead.
FirstPromoter has a toggle for this: with "Exclude Paddle's fees" off, commission uses your earnings plus Paddle's fee, and with it on, your earnings after the fee.
Its docs don't say whether tax is in either base, so confirm that on a sandbox sale. The safest default is to pay on the total minus tax and to write that base into the partner terms.
How does custom data carry the referral through renewals?
Custom data is a field on a Paddle Billing transaction that carries your own values. Paddle's custom data guide says data on a transaction is copied to its subscription, and from the subscription to each renewal, upgrade and one-time charge.
Pass the referral ID once at checkout and every later payment carries it. Tolt reads tolt_referral, Affonso affonso_referral and TrackRev vid, each passed in custom data from the checkout call.
The custom_data walkthrough covers what breaks when the field is missing. The code sample below shows the Paddle.js call, which passes TrackRev's visitor ID as vid in 1 field.
Paddle.Checkout.open({
items: [{ priceId: "pri_xxx", quantity: 1 }],
customer: { email: user.email },
customData: { vid: window.trk.vid },
});1. Is TrackRev the right pick for Paddle sales beside other channels?
TrackRev is an affiliate platform for indie hackers and small SaaS teams at $29 a month with 0% fees, with link tracking and revenue attribution built in.
The affiliate program needs a paid plan, while the free plan tracks 50 links and 1,000 events a month without it. On pricing, Indie is $29 a month and Growth is $299 a year. Indie bills $348 over 12 months.
Both unlock the whole product, and neither caps the affiliate revenue or commission tracked.
TrackRev connects to Paddle Billing with a read-only API key, and a key containing _sdbx points it at Paddle's sandbox. You pass window.trk.vid as vid in custom data, and TrackRev matches the buyer's email when it is missing.
Renewals inherit the visitor from the subscription's first transaction, and a Paddle discount code assigned to a partner credits them with no link click.
Sales sync hourly, or within seconds once a Paddle notification destination for transaction.completed is added and its secret saved.
How does TrackRev handle Paddle tax and refunds?
Two settings matter on Paddle.
TrackRev reads each transaction's grand total from the Paddle API, which includes tax, and applies the commission rate to it, so the 20% example above pays $24 instead of $20, and there is no net-of-tax or net-of-fee setting.
It also does not read Paddle adjustments today, so a refund approved in Paddle does not take the commission back out by itself.
In our product, the program's hold period runs from 0 to 180 days and defaults to 0, so set the hold to your refund window, and check Paddle's refund list before each payout batch.
TrackRev connects to Billing only, not Classic.
Choose TrackRev when the same Paddle revenue also needs a split by newsletter or paid-ad channel, at a price that stays flat as the program grows.
Paddle revenue attribution by channel covers that side, and the affiliate program page lists the program features.
2. Which Paddle versions does FirstPromoter cover?
FirstPromoter is an affiliate platform which gives every plan a 14-day trial with no card, and its Paddle documentation covers Paddle Classic on v1 webhooks and Paddle Billing on v2 webhooks.
On Paddle Billing it reads transaction.completed for sales, adjustment.created for chargebacks, adjustment.updated for refunds and subscription.canceled for cancellations, and it ignores zero-amount sales and refunds.
FirstPromoter suits accounts on Paddle Classic or mid-migration, and anyone who wants the fee toggle. Starter allows 1,000 affiliates, Business and Enterprise are unlimited, and a program near $5,000 a month will soon need the $99 Business plan.
Sources: firstpromoter.com/pricing · docs.firstpromoter.com/integrations
3. How does Partnero set up its Paddle webhook?
Partnero is an affiliate platform with 3 Paddle guides listed: Paddle Billing through the Overlay checkout, Paddle Billing through user sign-up, and Paddle Classic through the Overlay checkout.
You paste a Paddle API key into the program's integration settings, and Partnero creates the webhook itself.
It connects to a Paddle sandbox account, imports your existing Paddle discounts as tracking codes, pushes discounts you create in Partnero back to Paddle, and says refunds claw the commission back automatically.
On its pricing page, every plan allows unlimited partners, transactions and revenue, and the trial lasts 30 days. Starter covers 1 program and 1 team member, so a second program means the $159 to $199 plan.
Sources: partnero.com/integrations · partnero.com/pricing
4. What does Tolt's Paddle Billing guide involve?
Tolt is an affiliate platform with a Paddle Billing guide.
The guide, dated March 2026, has you add a 4 KB tracking script, send window.tolt_referral to checkout in customData, create a Paddle notification endpoint for subscription.created, subscription.canceled, transaction.completed and adjustment.updated, then paste in a Paddle API key and the webhook secret.
The key needs read access to Adjustments, Customers, Products, Subscriptions, Transactions and Notifications, plus read and write on Discounts, so create a dedicated key for it.
On its pricing page, every plan has a 14-day trial with no card, Basic allows 2 programs and 3 team members, a refund deducts the commission and a cancellation stops it.
Growth adds automatic payouts at a 2% fee, which is $20 per $1,000 sent.
Sources: help.tolt.com/en · tolt.com/pricing
5. What makes Affonso the lowest-priced option?
Affonso is an affiliate platform with a 14-day trial on every plan and a $15 entry price billed yearly.
Its Paddle Billing guide has you pass window.affonso_referral in customData, and its changelog describes native Paddle support for subscriptions, one-time purchases, refunds and partial refunds.
Two lines in that guide deserve a question to support. Paddle sandbox transactions don't appear in Affonso, so you test with a 100% discount code on a live account.
And its last section tells you to extract the referral from Paddle's webhook payload and report transactions to Affonso, which reads like a custom backend step, so ask whether the native connection covers it.
Sources: affonso.io/pricing · affonso.io/help
6. Who can still use Rewardful with Paddle?
Rewardful is an affiliate tool that works with Paddle Classic only. Rewardful's Paddle page says it integrates with Paddle Classic, not Paddle Billing, and its help center article says the same.
Paddle's guide says only accounts opened before August 8, 2023 have Classic, so a newer seller has nothing for Rewardful to connect to. Its pricing page shows a 14-day trial and a 0% transaction fee on every plan.
Starter allows 1 campaign and 2 team members, and Growth adds a branded portal and unlimited campaigns. A Classic account with a small program can still use it, and 6 Rewardful alternatives cover the sellers who can't.
Sources: rewardful.com/paddle · help.rewardful.com/en · rewardful.com/pricing
7. What does Tapfiliate need for a Paddle build?
Tapfiliate is an affiliate platform with no native Paddle Billing connector. Its old Paddle integration page now redirects to its integrations directory, which lists no Paddle connector.
For platforms without a listed integration, its help center points to the generic JavaScript and REST API guides and says manual integrations fall outside standard support, so budget developer time.
Its pricing page offers a 7-day trial on Launch, and the entry plan costs $89 a month in October 2026.
Sources: tapfiliate.com/integrations · support.tapfiliate.com/en · tapfiliate.com/pricing
What does each plan meter, and what does an $8,000 program cost?
| Tool | The limit counts | First plan | Second plan | Third plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TrackRev | Nothing, no cap on revenue or commission | $29 for 1 workspace | $299 a year for up to 10 workspaces | None |
| FirstPromoter | Affiliate revenue a month | $49 to $5,000 | $99 to $15,000 | $149 above $15,000 |
| Partnero | Programs | $59 for 1 program | $199 for 3 programs | Custom |
| Tolt | Earned from affiliates | $69 to $10,000 | $99 to $20,000 | $199 to $50,000 |
| Affonso | Partner revenue a month | $15 to $1,000, billed yearly | $39 to $10,000 | $99 to $30,000 |
| Rewardful | Affiliate revenue a month | $49 to $7,500 | $99 to $15,000 | $149+ to $30,000 |
| Tapfiliate | Clicks and conversions | $89 for 5,000 clicks | $179 for 100,000 clicks | Custom |
Monthly prices unless a cell says billed yearly.
Take $8,000 a month of affiliate-driven Paddle revenue at a 20% commission, which is $1,600 of commission, billed monthly.
| Tool | What decides the plan | Plan needed | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| TrackRev | No cap on revenue or commission | Indie | $29 |
| Affonso | $8,000 against $1,000 on Launch | Growth | $39 |
| Partnero | No revenue cap, 1 program on Starter | Starter | $59 |
| Tolt | $8,000 against $10,000 on Basic | Basic | $69 |
| FirstPromoter | $8,000 against $5,000 on Starter | Business | $99 |
| Rewardful (Classic only) | $8,000 against $7,500 on Starter | Growth | $99 |
Worked from the plan limits above. Affonso Growth is $29 billed yearly.
The cost gap comes from the ceilings, and TrackRev's number comes from our own pricing page. FirstPromoter and Rewardful step up at $5,000 and $7,500, so a program that grows 10% past either line pays $99.
TrackRev puts no cap on revenue or commission, so Indie stays at $29 however far the program grows, and $348 over 12 months. Against FirstPromoter Business that is $70 a month, or $840 a year.
Tolt labels its tiers "earned from affiliates", so ask whether that counts revenue or commission.
How do you test refunds in Paddle's sandbox before paying for a year?
- Create a Paddle sandbox account, which has separate data and API keys containing
_sdbx, and connect the tool to it. Partnero and TrackRev accept one, while Affonso's guide says sandbox sales don't appear there, so test it with a 100% discount code on a live account. - Open checkout from a partner link and pay with test card 4242 4242 4242 4242, which Paddle lists as a valid card without 3DS.
- Compare the commission with the transaction's tax line. In the $120 example above, a $24 commission means tax is in the base and $20 means it is not.
- Refund the transaction and wait 10 minutes, the interval at which Paddle approves sandbox refunds. The commission should appear and then reverse.
- If an event goes missing, check the endpoint first. Sandbox gives up on a failed webhook after 3 retries in 15 minutes, against 60 retries over 3 days on live accounts.
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Frequently asked questions
- TrackRev costs $29 a month for an $8,000-a-month program, level with Affonso billed yearly, and shows partner revenue beside other channels. FirstPromoter, Partnero and Tolt document Paddle refund handling, which TrackRev does not read today.
- No. Rewardful's Paddle page and help center name Paddle Classic only, so Paddle Billing accounts opened after August 8, 2023 need another tool.
- The tool must read the Paddle Billing adjustment to reverse the commission. A hold period of 30 days on a 30-day refund window delays payment until refunds can arrive.
- Usually not, because Paddle collects the VAT for tax authorities. On a $120 total, 20% pays $24 instead of $20, and a sandbox sale shows which base a tool uses.
- No. The free plan stops at link tracking with 50 links, and partner commissions begin on Indie at $29 a month.
- TrackRev does both from one dataset, starting at $29 a month. Four other tools, FirstPromoter, Partnero, Tolt and Affonso, describe affiliate programs only, so channel comparison would need a second tool.
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
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