Free Affiliate Software for SaaS: Free Plans, Trials and Open Source

Free affiliate software comes in three forms: a permanent free tier, a free trial, and open source code you host yourself.

Our analysis of 11 options in November 2026 found one permanent offer: PromoteKit is the only hosted SaaS tool with a free plan, capped at 3 referrals.

Tolt, Rewardful, FirstPromoter, Tapfiliate, Affonso, Dub and Refgrow run trials of 7 to 14 days. Numok and RefearnApp are open source. The table below lists all 11.

TrackRev's Free plan covers link tracking only, and the affiliate program starts on Indie at $29 monthly.

Each option gets the same four questions: what the free part covers, where the cap sits, what the first paid step costs, and who should pick it.

Caps run from 3 referrals to $20,000 in partner revenue, so a founder with 10 partners can pick a tool in minutes using the numbers below.

What counts as free affiliate software in 2026?

Free affiliate software is any tool that lets you track partners without a charge on day one. The market splits into three kinds. First, a permanent free tier with hard caps, such as PromoteKit's 3 referrals.

Second, a trial: 14 days at Tolt, Rewardful, FirstPromoter, Tapfiliate, Affonso and Dub, and 7 days at Refgrow.

Finally, open source code under an MIT or AGPL license, which costs $0 for the software and moves the bill to your server and your hours. Our analysis finds a permanent free tier at only 1 of the other 10.

Card rules differ. According to the Tolt pricing page, no credit card is needed. Refgrow states a card is required and billing starts after 7 days.

Rewardful and Refgrow both list 0% transaction fees, so the subscription is the whole price. For example, recruiting 5 partners can take longer than 14 days, so a $49 first month may begin before the first referral lands in 2026.

Sources: tolt.com/pricing

What does TrackRev's Free plan include?

TrackRev's Free tier covers link tracking only, and the affiliate program is locked on it. We built TrackRev as SaaS affiliate software, so the partner portal, commissions and revenue figures sit behind a paid plan.

In our product, Free gives 50 links, 1,000 tracked events and 1 workspace each month, according to our pricing page. First, Indie costs $29 monthly for 1 site. Second, Growth is $299 yearly for up to 10 sites.

In our analysis of both paid tiers, no limit on tracked affiliate revenue exists, and TrackRev takes 0% of revenue.

Paid tiers read charges from 6 processors: Stripe, Paddle Billing, Polar, Lemon Squeezy, Creem and Dodo Payments. No trial of a paid tier exists.

For example, a founder can test 50 partner links on Free but cannot recruit affiliates before upgrading to Indie in 2026. PromoteKit is the better pick when a live program at $0 matters today.

What does PromoteKit's free plan cap?

PromoteKit's Free tier is the only permanent offer among hosted tools here, capped at 3 referrals, according to the PromoteKit pricing page.

The plan includes 1 campaign, unlimited affiliates, unlimited team members, an affiliate portal, coupon code tracking and PayPal or Wise payouts, with no transaction fees. We found coupon code tracking on the Free tier but no API access.

Pro costs $29 monthly for unlimited referrals, API access, webhooks and self-referral fraud detection, and covers up to $10,000 of affiliate revenue. One-click payouts add 5% on bank transfers and 8% on cards in 2026.

For example, 3 referrals paying $29 each month total $87 in tracked revenue, so a 20% commission costs about $17. First, the entry tier proves the full loop works with Stripe: link, signup, charge, commission.

Second, the page describes PromoteKit as affiliate software for Stripe, so confirm your processor. Choose PromoteKit when a real test program matters more than volume.

Sources: promotekit.com/pricing

Which affiliate tools offer a free trial instead?

A free trial is a time-limited test of a paid plan, and seven hosted tools offer one instead of a free plan, according to their pricing pages.

Tolt runs 14 days before Growth bills $99 monthly for up to $20,000 of partner revenue. Rewardful and FirstPromoter also run 14 days, then bill $49 for Starter, which covers 1 campaign at Rewardful and 1,000 affiliates at FirstPromoter.

Tapfiliate ends its 14 days in Launch at $89 for 50 affiliates and 5,000 clicks. We found card rules on only 3 of the 7 pages.

Affonso offers 14 days, then Launch at $19 monthly, or $15 on yearly billing. The Dub trial lasts 14 days, followed by Business at $81 with yearly billing, a 10% discount.

The Refgrow trial is 7 days, then Pro at $49. For example, Tapfiliate Launch at $89 monthly totals $1,068 a year in 2026 before click overage fees.

The Tolt vs TrackRev and Rewardful vs TrackRev posts cover two of these trials with Stripe.

Sources: tolt.com/pricing · rewardful.com/pricing · firstpromoter.com/pricing · tapfiliate.com/pricing · affonso.io/pricing · dub.co/pricing

Is open source affiliate software really free?

Open source affiliate software is code with a public license, free to download, so the real cost is hosting and upkeep.

Numok is an MIT-licensed project built on Stripe, with unlimited affiliates on a $0 self-hosted tier, according to the Numok site and its GitHub page.

RefearnApp uses the AGPL-3.0 license and states in its README that all features are free for self-hosted users. Dub's repository is 99% AGPLv3, with an /ee folder under a commercial license, while Dub Partners is sold from $81 monthly.

Upkeep varies across all 3.

We found the last Numok push dated January 2026 and the last RefearnApp push dated October 29, 2026. Self-hosting adds three chores: first updates, second database backups, finally monitoring of the Stripe webhook endpoint.

For example, assume 6 hours of setup at $75 an hour. The $450 total equals 15 months of PromoteKit Pro at $29. The Dub.co vs TrackRev post covers the open core model.

When does free affiliate software stop working?

A revenue cap is the monthly affiliate-attributed revenue a plan covers before the next price tier. Free tools stop working at the first cap, the first missing feature, or the end of the trial.

According to each pricing page, FirstPromoter Starter covers $5,000, Rewardful Starter $7,500, PromoteKit Pro $10,000 and Tolt Growth $20,000. Divide the plan price by the cap to see the fee at full use.

For example, Rewardful Starter at $49 on $7,500 is 0.65%, while PromoteKit Pro at $29 on $10,000 is 0.29%.

Our analysis of 8 plans puts the fee at full use between 0.29% and 1.9%. TrackRev Indie has no cap, so the fee keeps falling as partners grow, to 0.058% at $50,000. Features are the second limit.

The PromoteKit entry tier lacks API access, webhooks and fraud detection, per its comparison table. Finally, payout fees apply: Tolt charges 2% of what the platform pays out, and Refgrow notes payment providers may add processing fees in 2026.

How do you choose between a free plan, a trial and self-hosting?

Choosing a tool means matching expected partner revenue and server tolerance to a plan. First, estimate partner revenue for month 3.

For example, 10 partners who each bring 2 customers at $29 a month produce $580 monthly, which is 58% of the $1,000 cap on Affonso Launch. Our analysis puts $580 below every other cap in the table above.

A 20% commission on that revenue is $116. Second, check the payment processor: PromoteKit and Numok are built around Stripe, while TrackRev reads 6 processors on paid plans.

Third, decide how long testing needs. A 3-referral tier fits a 2-week test, a 14-day trial fits a launch week, and a self-hosted install fits a team with spare hours.

Finally, read the affiliate program guide for commission math and the payout methods guide before the first invoice in 2026. The full field is in the 11-tool management software comparison.