Migrate from Rewardful to TrackRev: A Step-by-Step Checklist

Rewardful's pricing breaks at the Growth-to-Enterprise jump. The Growth plan is comfortable until your affiliate revenue hits roughly $7,500/mo, at which point the next tier is a 3–4x leap — and the leap is the most common reason Stripe-native SaaS teams start shopping. For programs sitting between $5K and $15K affiliate MRR, the migration window is short and the upside is concrete: a roughly 35–50% reduction in monthly tooling cost, an attribution stack that uses your own Stripe customer IDs end to end, and no per-percentage-of-revenue billing model that punishes you for the program working.

This guide walks through the full migration: what you can preserve from Rewardful as-is, what you can't, the exact export menus, the import shape TrackRev expects, the 14-day parallel verification window, and the affiliate notification email that has done this without churning partners. The whole job takes a long weekend for a sub-100 affiliate program, or 5–7 working days at any size.

Why teams migrate from Rewardful to TrackRev

There are four specific reasons SaaS teams move, and most migrations hit at least three of them simultaneously.

• Pricing breaks at the Growth-to-Enterprise jump. The Growth plan covers programs up to about $7,500 affiliate MRR comfortably. Above that, Enterprise pricing is negotiated and routinely lands 3–4x higher — a hard step where TrackRev's flat pricing keeps scaling linearly.
• Server-side attribution fallback. Rewardful's client-side tracking does most of the job, but Safari ITP and ad-blockers shave 10–15% off click data. TrackRev's server-side fallback recovers that gap. See our overview of server-side vs client-side click tracking for the mechanics.
• Channel attribution beyond affiliates. Rewardful answers "what did affiliates earn?" but is blind to newsletters, YouTube, and paid ads. TrackRev attributes every channel on the same Stripe revenue pipeline.
• Branded short links on your own domain. Rewardful affiliates send traffic through your site directly, but the short links and click-redirect domain live elsewhere. TrackRev runs the redirect on a domain you own, which is what survives iOS link-protection.

What you'll preserve from Rewardful

Most of what matters carries over. The migration is mechanical, not destructive.

• Affiliate accounts — name, email, payout details, commission tier, and the affiliate's chosen tracking link slug.
• Live referral links — you'll re-issue the same slugs on TrackRev so existing creator content keeps working without the affiliate updating anything.
• Conversion history — past conversions and commissions imported as historical records (useful for tax reporting and affiliate-side trust).
• Payout ledger — what was paid, when, and to whom. Imported as a CSV so the new platform's lifetime-earnings totals match what affiliates already saw.
• Commission structure — flat percentages, tiered structures, recurring vs one-time, and lifetime-commission windows all map cleanly to TrackRev's commission engine.

What you can't directly migrate (and what to do about it)

Be honest about the gaps. Three things don't carry over cleanly, and pretending they do is how migrations break trust.

• Raw click logs older than Rewardful's retention. Rewardful retains click-level detail for the program's lifetime on Growth and above, but the export is aggregated. If you need raw clicks for analytics, archive them as CSV before you cancel — they will not be queryable inside TrackRev.
• Rewardful's "Conversion ID" field — their proprietary identifier on each conversion. TrackRev uses Stripe's client_reference_id as the canonical match key. Map old Conversion IDs to the corresponding Stripe customer ID as a one-time column join.
• Custom-domain branded short link history — if Rewardful was hosting your short-link domain, the click telemetry from those redirects stays with them. Cut a clean line at the cutover date: pre-cutover clicks live in the Rewardful archive; post-cutover clicks live in TrackRev.

Pre-migration checklist

Run through this before you change anything. Half of it is bookkeeping; the other half is risk reduction.

• Export the full Rewardful affiliate list (Admin → Affiliates → Export CSV).
• Export the conversion history (Admin → Conversions → Export CSV).
• Screenshot the commission structure page so you have an authoritative reference during setup.
• Confirm which Stripe account ID Rewardful is connected to — you'll point TrackRev at the same account.
• Identify your custom short-link domain (e.g. refer.yourdomain.com) and the current DNS provider.
• Decide your attribution window upfront. Rewardful defaults to 60 days; TrackRev's default is 90. Pick one and document it.
• Pick the cutover date. Right after a payout run is ideal — affiliates are checking dashboards least.
• Draft the affiliate notification email (template below) and have it ready for cutover day.

Step 1: Export your data from Rewardful

Rewardful's exports are CSV-only and live under two menus. Pull both on the same day so the snapshots are consistent.

• Affiliates: Admin → Affiliates → Export CSV. Includes email, payout method, custom slug, commission tier, and signup date.
• Conversions: Admin → Conversions → Export CSV. Date range = program start to today. Includes Stripe customer ID, affiliate slug, commission amount, and conversion status.
• Payouts: Admin → Payouts → Export CSV. Lifetime-paid totals per affiliate, used to verify TrackRev's affiliate-facing totals match.

Step 2: Set up your TrackRev workspace

Two integrations get you to attribution. Both take under 30 minutes.

• Create a TrackRev workspace and connect Stripe with a restricted API key scoped to read charges, customers, and subscriptions. Use the same Stripe account Rewardful is on, not a new one.
• Set your attribution window in workspace settings. Match Rewardful's window for parallel-running, then tune later.
• Add your custom short-link domain. TrackRev gives you the DNS CNAME target; add it as a second record alongside Rewardful's. DNS providers accept multiple CNAMEs at the same name only via redirect aliases — most teams use a staging subdomain (e.g. r2.yourdomain.com) during parallel-running, then swap.

Step 3: Import affiliates and links

TrackRev accepts a CSV import for affiliates with a tightly-scoped column layout. Reshape Rewardful's export to match.

email,first_name,last_name,custom_slug,commission_tier,recurring,payout_method,payout_email
alex@example.com,Alex,Reyes,alex-r,25,true,paypal,alex@example.com
jordan@example.com,Jordan,Lee,jordan,30,true,wise,jordan@example.com

Re-issue each affiliate's existing slug. If a Rewardful affiliate was using refer.yourdomain.com/alex-r, the TrackRev link must be refer.yourdomain.com/alex-r too — anything else breaks live creator content. Custom slugs are unique per workspace; rename any collisions before import.

Step 4: Configure attribution and commissions

Match the commission structure exactly. Affiliates compare numbers between dashboards during parallel-running; mismatches generate support load you don't need.

• Recreate each commission tier (e.g. 20% first-year, 10% lifetime) under Workspace → Commissions. TrackRev supports flat percentage, tiered, and lifetime-recurring identically to Rewardful.
• Set the same minimum payout threshold (Rewardful defaults to $50; mirror it).
• Configure the same cookie window for new clicks.
• Decide on first-touch vs last-touch attribution for affiliates. Rewardful defaults to last-touch; most TrackRev migrations keep that default so affiliate-side reports stay consistent.

Step 5: Switch tracking script and notify affiliates

Replace Rewardful's snippet with TrackRev's. Both can run simultaneously without conflict because their global namespaces don't collide, which is why you can verify cleanly in parallel.

Then send the announcement email below to every active affiliate. Don't bury the dashboard URL — affiliates check it on cutover day to confirm their balance carried over.

1Subject: Heads-up: we're moving to a new affiliate platform2 3Hi {{first_name}},4 5We're upgrading the platform behind our affiliate program. Here's what6that means for you.7 8Your link stays the same: {{old_short_link}}9Your commission rate is unchanged: {{commission_rate}}%10Your lifetime-earned balance carried over: ${{lifetime_balance}}11 12New dashboard login: {{trackrev_login_url}}13We've pre-created your account — use the email on file14({{affiliate_email}}) to set a password.15 16Old dashboard (Rewardful) stays available read-only for 30 days at17{{old_dashboard_url}} if you want to cross-check anything.18 19Why we're switching: better real-time attribution, faster payouts,20and a dashboard that shows you revenue impact, not just clicks.21 22Reply to this email with any questions.23 24Thanks for being part of the program.

Step 6: Run both in parallel for 14 days

This is the most important step. Keep Rewardful's pixel and Stripe webhook live alongside TrackRev's for a full two weeks before flipping the cutover switch. Two weeks because Stripe trials, dunning, and subscription renewals all push some conversions past the 7-day mark.

• Daily: compare TrackRev's conversion count to Rewardful's. A 5–10% delta is normal (TrackRev's server-side fallback picks up ITP-blocked clicks Rewardful misses). A delta above 20% means something is misconfigured.
• Day 7: pull a random 20 conversions and reconcile by hand against Stripe charges. Both platforms should match Stripe; if either drifts, fix before continuing.
• Day 14: review the parallel-run report. If conversion totals are within tolerance and affiliate-side balances match, proceed to decommission.

Step 7: Decommission Rewardful

Before you cancel the Rewardful account, confirm three things. Cancellation is irreversible in the sense that historical raw click data goes with the account.

• Archive the final conversions export, payouts export, and a screenshot of the affiliate list (defence against affiliate disputes for the next 12 months).
• Confirm Rewardful's Stripe webhook is removed from your Stripe dashboard (Developers → Webhooks). Leftover webhooks log errors but otherwise won't break anything.
• Remove Rewardful's JavaScript snippet from the site. Keep TrackRev's live.
• Set the Rewardful account to read-only for 30 days before full cancellation. Affiliates appreciate the buffer.

Rewardful vs TrackRev: feature and pricing comparison

Honest comparison. Rewardful is a mature product with strong feature parity in the SaaS affiliate niche; the migration math is mostly about pricing curve and channel breadth, not feature gaps.

Common gotchas specific to Rewardful migrations

Four issues account for the majority of support load during Rewardful migrations. Plan for them before they happen.

Custom subdomain redirect order

If you used refer.yourdomain.com with Rewardful, the DNS record currently points at Rewardful's redirect host. Flipping it to TrackRev breaks Rewardful's live tracking instantly, defeating parallel-running. Use a staging subdomain (e.g. r2.yourdomain.com) for TrackRev during the 14-day overlap, swap CNAMEs at decommission.

Conversion ID continuity

Affiliates that built their own reporting against Rewardful's conversion_id webhook field need the equivalent TrackRev field. TrackRev's conversion.created webhook exposes the Stripe client_reference_id as the canonical join key — document this so any affiliate integrations re-map cleanly.

Commission ID continuity for accounting

If your accounting team reconciles affiliate payouts against a commission ledger, the commission IDs change at cutover. Keep the Rewardful commission IDs in a static column on the imported payouts export so your books still reconcile against pre-cutover statements.

Affiliates with custom plan-level overrides

A handful of Rewardful programs have negotiated bespoke commission rates per plan for top affiliates. These aren't in the standard export — they live under each affiliate's profile. Pull them manually before cancellation, otherwise high-earner affiliates will revert to the default tier on day one of TrackRev.

Migration timeline

For a sub-100 affiliate program: long weekend (Friday cutover, Monday verification). For 100–1,000 affiliates: 5–7 working days with the bulk in Step 6 parallel-running. Programs above 1,000 active affiliates typically run 14 days end-to-end with a phased CSV import (10% pilot, then full).

Why TrackRev for Stripe-native programs

TrackRev is built around the same pattern Rewardful pioneered — Stripe webhook in, attribution out — but on a flat pricing model that doesn't punish programs that grow. The same pipeline that handles affiliates also attributes every other marketing channel on the same Stripe revenue, which folds two tools into one. The full feature set lives under Stripe affiliate tracking, affiliate payouts, and affiliate analytics. If you want a feature-by-feature head-to-head before committing, see our Rewardful alternative writeup. Free tier is at /pricing; the 10-minute setup walkthrough is on /how-it-works; you can start the workspace at /signup.