What is EPC in affiliate marketing? Formula, examples and SaaS math

EPC in affiliate marketing stands for earnings per click, the average commission one click on an affiliate link produces.

The formula is total commission divided by total clicks, so a partner who earns $180 from 600 clicks has an EPC of $0.30. According to the Impact help center, a program's EPC is total action earnings divided by total clicks.

The Awin help center, updated in August 2026, defines EPC as the average revenue generated each time a user clicks a banner. Some networks multiply the result by 100, so a displayed $30 can mean $0.30 per click.

SaaS programs add recurring commission, and the window changes the answer.

For example, a $49 plan billed through Stripe and paying 30% for 12 months gives one newsletter partner a first-month EPC of $0.37, rising to $3.38 over 12 months at 5% monthly churn, while a coupon site moves from $0.03 to $0.27.

Sources: help.impact.com/partner

What is EPC in affiliate marketing?

EPC is a ratio of money to clicks over one period. The numerator is commission in most network reports, and the denominator is the clicks sent through a tracked link.

Impact's Performance by Brand report calls EPC the average earnings per link click for a program. The ClickBank guide, published in December 2020, divides total sales by total clicks instead, so $100 from 100 clicks is $1.

First, note the gap for a SaaS founder. For example, $100 of sales at 30% commission is $30 of commission, so EPC is $0.30 on commission and $1.00 on sales.

At 20% commission, the same 100 clicks give an EPC of $0.20, and a program with a 20% rate looks weaker even when traffic quality matches.

Awin's Creative Performance report lists EPC beside conversion rate, quantity, amount and commission for each banner. Affiliates read EPC to choose programs.

Founders read EPC to rank partners, often with Stripe revenue open beside the click report for the same period.

How do you calculate EPC step by step?

Calculating EPC takes 3 steps. First, pick one window, such as the last 30 days. Second, add up the commission earned in the window and count the clicks in the same window. Finally, divide commission by clicks.

For example, a newsletter partner sent 600 clicks in June 2026 and earned $180, so EPC is $180 / 600 = $0.30. Multiply by 100 for the per-100-click form some networks show, which is $30.00.

In a sheet built using Google Sheets, put clicks in column B and commission in column C, then enter =C2/B2. Keep both windows identical, because pairing 30 days of clicks with 90 days of commission inflates the result threefold.

The Associate Programs guide to EPC shows the same arithmetic: $20 of commission after 100 clicks is an EPC of 20 cents.

In the table, the YouTube channel sends 66% of the 7,600 clicks but earns 25% of the $590 commission.

EPC = commission earned in the window / clicks in the same window
EPC per 100 clicks = EPC x 100

Do networks report EPC per click or per 100 clicks?

Networks differ, so read the column label before comparing two programs. Impact's help center describes EPC as a per-click figure, and its Partner Benchmarking page divides payout by unique clicks.

Affiliate consultant Geno Prussakov wrote in July 2010 that in the vast majority of cases EPC means earnings per 100 clicks. His example program showed a 3-month EPC of $16.56. That is about $0.17 per click.

Windows vary from 7 days to 90, with Post Affiliate Pro's EPC guide listing 7-day, 30-day and all-time views for a single program. Averages hide spread across the partners in one program.

For example, the top 10 affiliates in the Prussakov program ranged from $5.45 to $292.24 per 100 clicks, which is 33% to 1,765% of the $16.56 program average. First, check the label and the window.

I could not verify ShareASale's or CJ's current unit from public documentation, so confirm both inside each dashboard before putting two networks side by side.

Sources: help.impact.com/partner · postaffiliatepro.com/blog

How is EPC different from conversion rate and revenue per click?

EPC is commission per click, conversion rate is customers per click, and revenue per click (RPC) is sales per click. Three inputs connect the metrics: EPC = conversion rate x first payment x commission rate.

For example, Partner A below converts 2.5% of 1,000 clicks into paying customers on a $49 plan at 30% commission, so 0.025 x $49 x 0.30 = $0.3675.

In our data from 4,217 TrackRev workspaces in Q2 2026, the median affiliate or partner channel converts 3.9% of clicks to paid and returns a median RPC of $4.10, as the benchmark page shows.

RPC compares partners inside one program, because every partner shares one commission rate. EPC compares programs, because commission rates differ from one program to the next.

A 20% program pays partners 33% less per click than a 30% program at identical RPC, which is why a founder should quote both numbers when recruiting.

What is first-month EPC for a SaaS recurring commission?

First-month EPC is the commission on each customer's first invoice, multiplied by customers and divided by clicks. On a $49 plan at 30%, each first invoice pays $14.70.

The table applies the formula to three partners, and Partner B collects more dollars than Partner A while earning an EPC at 20% of Partner A's.

Commission becomes earned when a paid invoice arrives through Stripe or Paddle Billing, so unpaid trials never enter the numerator. A short window also misleads SaaS programs.

In our data for Q2 2026, the median buyer pays 6.3 days after the first click and the 90th percentile pays at 48.2 days, so a 7-day EPC misses the slower half of buyers.

First, measure over at least 30 days. Second, wait about 7 weeks before trusting a new link. For example, a link shared on day 1 earns an honest read around day 49.

How does a 12-month EPC change the picture for subscriptions?

A 12-month EPC adds the renewals a click is expected to produce. Customers leave over time, so churn shrinks the multiplier.

At 5% monthly churn, the expected number of paid months in the first year is 9.19, from the series (1 - 0.95^12) / 0.05, and commission per customer is $14.70 x 9.19 = $135.13. Partner A then earns about $3,378 on 1,000 clicks.

We built TrackRev with recurring commissions, so partners earn on every month a customer renews, and with hold periods that wait out your refund window before commission can be paid.

A refunded or disputed charge reverses its commission automatically, and each renewal counts once the invoice is paid.

For example, a cohort that joined 3 months ago has collected about 3 of 12 payments, which is 25% of the full-year commission, so the cohort's EPC keeps rising until the 12th payment lands.

How does the click denominator distort EPC?

The click count is the denominator, so every bot hit and repeat visit lowers EPC. Impact's Performance by Brand report divides by total clicks, while the Sale EPC metric in the same help center divides sale earnings by unique clicks.

According to the Mailchimp help center, anti-spam filters, Apple Mail Privacy Protection and link preview generators often click links before contacts do, and its bot-filtered email click data starts August 10, 2025.

For example, with Partner A's first-month commission at $367.50, three denominators give three answers.

Over 1,000 raw clicks the EPC is $0.37, after removing 120 bot clicks, 12% of the total, the EPC is $0.42, and across 700 unique visitors the EPC is $0.53. The widest gap is 43% from identical earnings.

We built TrackRev to flag bots by user agent, empty user agent or prefetch header, and flagged clicks leave partner counts, as the bot filtering post explains.

First, compare like with like: ask which clicks the denominator holds before ranking two partners.

What is a good EPC for a SaaS affiliate program?

A good EPC is one above your own break-even, because no network publishes a universal figure for SaaS. I found no primary source to cite, so any fixed number on the web is unsourced.

Build the yardstick from your funnel instead. Expected EPC is conversion rate x first payment x commission rate.

For example, our data for Q2 2026 shows a partner-channel median of $4.10 of revenue per click, and the median B2B SaaS commission on our affiliate benchmarks page is 20%, compiled from public reports by Impact, PartnerStack, Awin, Rakuten and CJ.

The sample covers April 1 to June 22, 2026. The product is $0.82 per click, an illustration built from two medians. Revenue also concentrates: the median program routes 71% of affiliate revenue through the top 10% of partners.

First, judge each partner against your own median partner. Second, rerun the yardstick each quarter as prices and commission rates change. The commission benchmarks guide lists rates by industry.

How do you read partner-level EPC to decide who to pay more or cut?

Partner-level EPC ranks traffic quality, and total commission ranks size. Use 4 steps. First, compare partners on 12-month EPC once the cohort is old enough. Second, require enough clicks for the figure to settle. Third, check dollars alongside EPC.

Add the clicks first: 1,000 plus 8,000 plus 2,500 is 11,500. Partner B sends 70% of the traffic and earns 57% of the 12-month commission, while Partner C sends 22% of the traffic and earns 7%.

Finally, act, and repeat the review each quarter of 2026. For example, offer Partner A a higher rate or a bonus, because $3.38 per click on 1,000 clicks shows strong fit.

Keep Partner B and ask for a landing page closer to buyers, since 8,000 clicks leave room to lift conversion. Pause Partner C at $0.27, a 92% gap with Partner A at $3.38 per click, until traffic quality improves.

The affiliate fraud guide covers low EPC on high volume, a pattern that can signal junk clicks.

How many clicks does a partner need before EPC means anything?

A partner needs at least 500 clicks or 10 customers before EPC is worth acting on. Small samples swing wildly because one sale changes the ratio by a large share.

For example, Partner D sends 40 clicks and wins 1 customer, so first-month EPC is $14.70 / 40 = $0.37. Partner A shows the identical figure after 1,000 clicks and 25 customers.

One extra customer doubles the figure to $0.74, a 100% jump. At 2.5% conversion, 40 clicks produce 1 customer on average, so luck decides most of the gap.

On 1,000 clicks, one extra customer moves EPC by $0.015, a 4% change. Applying the 3.9% partner-channel median from our data, 500 clicks should yield about 20 customers, enough for one sale to shift EPC by 5%.

First, wait until 500 clicks have arrived. Second, compare partners on the same window. A new partner with 40 clicks and no customer yet is at a perfectly normal start for a new SaaS link.

Does TrackRev report EPC?

No. TrackRev has no EPC column, so you divide. We built the partner table to show Clicks, Sales, Revenue and Earned for each partner as lifetime totals, and Earned divided by Clicks gives a lifetime EPC.

For example, using Earned and Clicks, a partner with $540 earned and 1,200 clicks has an EPC of $0.45. Clicks in the table exclude bot-flagged hits, so the denominator matches the filtered count.

The Channels page in our dashboard adds a Rev / click column by channel, and the affiliate analytics page ranks top partners by attributed revenue.

TrackRev is SaaS affiliate software for indie hackers and small SaaS teams: run your program with no limit on tracked revenue and 0% taken from it, from $29 a month on Indie or $299 a year on Growth in 2026, 14% below twelve months of Indie at $348 (see pricing).

Finally, revenue figures stay hidden on the Free plan, and the affiliate program stays locked.