The 50 Best Affiliate Programs and How to Get Started

Because 81% of businesses use affiliate marketing, there are thousands of different affiliate programs out there.

Before choosing which affiliate offers to promote, you need to consider what kind of affiliate marketing you’re interested in.

There are 3 main types of affiliate marketing:

Commission Junction (CJ) is an affiliate network that supports the growth of more than 3,800 different brands across the globe.

The CJ affiliate network hosts many offers across many different niches including travel, beauty, technology, and more.

To become a CJ affiliate, you need to sign up as an advertiser on the CJ affiliate site and confirm your account.

Then, find an offer that suits you, read the terms and conditions associated with the affiliate network and the offer, and select “Agree”.

Finally, copy your unique link, and publish it as you choose.

Signing up and getting started on this platform is pretty easy, and their approval process isn’t too strict either.

This makes it ideal for newbies, as you won’t have to conform to very strict promotion policies for each offer.

Because Commission Junction is an affiliate network rather than an in-house program, your payouts will depend on which offers you choose to promote.

Arguably the largest affiliate network, ClickBank has over 6 million clients and is also a global ecommerce hub.

Becoming a ClickBank affiliate is fairly simple and pretty similar to CJ’s process.

Once you get your affiliate hoplink for the offer you choose, publish that link in your content.

Your commission is dependent on your chosen offer, but you’ll probably earn between $15 and $50 on each sale.

That could make you up to $500 a day as a ClickBank affiliate.

This is a great way to get your feet wet and make a decent return on your investment as a new affiliate marketer.

This is another affiliate network that rewards marketers based on their performance.

This network boasts a combination of over 65 other affiliate networks to provide a more comprehensive offering than their competitors.

Signing up as an affiliate with FlexOffers is a more extensive process than on other platforms:

Promising varied partnership models on top of the usual affiliate offering, Impact is another popular affiliate network.

On their platform, they offer these kinds of partnerships:

Fiverr is a marketplace for freelancers of all kinds, and they have an easy-to-join affiliate program as well.

The Fiverr affiliate program gives you access to different marketing tools, materials, and commission plans.

This platform has dedicated support systems in place and an affiliate dashboard where you can monitor your metrics.

Becoming a Fiverr affiliate is almost immediate:

One of the best affiliate programs in the SaaS space is the one we offer right here at systeme.io.

You can earn 60% lifetime commissions when you help sell the subscriptions and online courses on our platform.

Becoming a systeme.io affiliate takes just 2 steps:

Tribe is a SaaS company that offers cloud-based platforms, allowing brands to have the ability to influence a new generation of online communities.

Base earnings start at 15% and increase to 25% of the sale and are based on how many successful referrals you send their way.

The cookie lifespan is 60 days, so you’ll need to push your referrals to convert within that time.

This affiliate program targets experienced marketers and social media experts, so only sign up if you’re sure.

Instapage is a service that lets you build landing pages for your online marketing and promotion campaigns with ease.

Here you can earn a 50% revenue share on the first payment but just 30% lifetime revenue on self-serve plans.

These cookies last 120 days, and the platform provides you with various images and other promotional materials.

If you need more support than that, we suggest you keep looking.

HubSpot is another popular SaaS platform with an affiliate program — it’s a fully customizable customer relationship management (CRM) service.

With HubSpot, you can choose between two commission payout plans — 15% recurring over one year or 100% flat rate the first month.

The approval process to become a HubSpot affiliate takes around 3 days but can take longer.

These affiliate cookies last just 90 days, so if you’re planning to play the long game, you might be limited by this popular affiliate program.

Leadpages is a system to help you build landing pages and sales pages.

Using their drag-and-drop editor, you’re able to customize colors, fonts, and images to create pages that represent your brand.

There’s a base commission of 10% for referrals (past and present), with the opportunity to earn up to 50% commission for sales referred within each month.

The Leadpages program offers a 30-day cookie period, which is short and can limit what kind of strategy you’ll be able to use.

Amazon is one of the largest ecommerce platforms with its own network.

Amazon Associates is one of the oldest affiliate programs to date.

Commissions depend on the type of products that you choose to promote and can earn you 1% - 20%.

There are also several complicated special commission rates for specific programs which can be tricky to track and understand.

Amazon Associates receive some tools to direct their audience to the offers you’re promoting, but affiliate cookies last just 24 hours — a difficult obstacle to overcome.

Another massive ecommerce platform with an affiliate network is eBay.

The eBay Partner Network provides more than just a marketplace full of listed offers — they include a dedicated affiliate manager and dashboard for you to monitor your performance.

eBay calls their affiliate offers “commissionable deals” and divides them based on the country you’re in, especially their special commissions.

This might exclude you if you don’t operate from one of the countries they outline, so eBay Partners might not be for you.

Also, eBay’s affiliate cookies only last 24 hours, just like Amazon’s, which seems to be standard amongst the larger ecommerce platforms.

Focused on handmade, vintage, or crafted items, Etsy is another popular ecommerce network with its own affiliate program.

The commissions sit at around 4%, which may seem small but can add up over time.

Also, Etsy’s affiliate cookies last for 30 days, far more than those from the Amazon Associates program or eBay Partner network.

A big bonus of becoming an Etsy affiliate is that you can join from anywhere in the world, and your payouts will be paid to you, even if the purchases weren’t made in your country.

Shopify is a complete ecommerce solution to creating your store online.

The most attractive part of this affiliate program is the 200% - 300% commission offered by Shopify — but don’t get too excited!

That’s just the first few months of fees for anyone who signs up to the platform using one of your links.

There’s also a $2,000 bonus for every “Plus” referral made through your link, and their affiliate cookie lasts 30 days.

An online retailer based in Nevada, USA, with a focus on footwear, Zappos has Amazon as its parent company.

They’ve since expanded to include other accessories, garments, and homeware, bringing their product offering over the 1,500 mark.

Joining this platform as an Associate is 100% free, commissions are around 4%, and the affiliate cookie lifespan is 30 days — much longer than its parent company.

Unfortunately, a big downside of this affiliate program is that you may not do business overseas, so it’s only available to American affiliate marketers.

One of the best affiliate marketing programs in the Crypto space is through Binance.

The platform itself is the largest cryptocurrency exchange network in terms of daily exchanges, where you can trade several different types of coins.

For every qualifying trade made via your affiliate link, you earn up to 50% in commission — you can also earn a further 30% in futures trading and the Binance pool as well.

Even better, commissions are recurring, so affiliate cookies last forever.

The cryptocurrency niche is tough to promote if you don’t already understand it yourself, so do some research before you sign up.

Coinbase is a secure cryptocurrency trading platform offering trading and brokerage to individuals and businesses alike.

Coinbase includes dedicated affiliate management tools so that you can test and track your marketing efforts.

When you successfully refer new customers to the platform, you’ll earn 50% of their first 3 months’ fees as your commission.

It’s unclear how long your affiliate cookies last with this platform, but they promise industry-leading security and convenient payouts in your local currency.

Acting as a kind of digital wallet, Trezor lets you manage your crypto funds and set up transfers.

There are some physical products sold by Trezor that you can promote to earn an affiliate income.

Successful affiliate marketers on this platform can earn between 12% - 15% commission for each sale, excluding VAT and shipping.

Payouts happen monthly in Bitcoin or additional altcoins, but your cookie duration is unknown.

Affiliate programs like these that are low on detail need extensive research before you commit.

Another one of the better affiliate programs in cryptocurrency is Crypto Hopper.

With this powerful and secure cloud-based software, you can automate your crypto trading.

The in-house affiliate program boasts commissions of 10% - 15% per sale, plus up to 50% of what any affiliate you refer earns.

While the lifespan of your affiliate cookie is also a mystery here, your affiliate link remains on someone’s browser for 30 days before it expires.

This online dating network is home to 32 different niche collections of dating sites that span countries and cultures alike.

Cupid Media’s affiliate revenue is the highest and comes to around 75% commission on each successful referral you send their way.

The cookie duration for Cupid Media affiliates is 30 days, and the platform caters to loads of people, so you’ll have a wider audience to promote to.

eHarmony is an online dating platform that’s relatively popular in the USA.

Like many other affiliate programs in the dating niche, you become an eHarmony affiliate through the CJ affiliate network (or one of the many others around).

The advantage of this is that you’ll get access to CJ’s dashboard, tracking, and dedicated account manager.

Typically, eHarmony’s affiliate cookies last 45 days, and your referral commission on each sale is 20%.

As one of the biggest and oldest dating platforms, Match.com presents a serious force in online romance globally.

There’s no in-house affiliate program here; it’s been outsourced to CJ affiliates and FlexOffers as well.

Commissions are a whopping 50% per sale, and the cookie duration is 120 days.

This means that Match.com has the best affiliate program in this niche, so joining is a no-brainer.

Tripadvisor is a one-stop travel solution for anyone looking to enjoy a local or international getaway.

They include user-generated content, reviews, lodging, transportation, experience, and restaurant bookings.

Partnering with the world’s largest travel website will get you at least 50% in commission.

The only drawback is that their affiliate cookie gives you just a 14-day referral window to get people to purchase from Tripadvisor’s partners.

This global affiliate network focuses on just the travel niche with more than 90 different affiliate programs hosted on its site.

The support from Travelpayouts’ dedicated affiliate team is second to none and will be most appreciated by affiliate marketing beginners.

Your commissions and affiliate cookie lifespan will depend on which affiliate program offers you choose to promote.

The multinational company, Marriott Bonvoy, boasts hotel, residential, and time-share properties in its franchises.

As a Marriott affiliate, you can earn commissions on hotel stays and vacation packages.

These referrals have a very short, 7-day window before the affiliate cookie expires, and commissions are just 10%.

This may seem too low to bother with, but remember how pricey hotel stays can be and that you’ll be earning a percentage of that price.

This online travel shop targets individuals and small businesses, hoping to satisfy their travel needs.

Expedia includes a range of sites that calculate flights and hotel fares (and extras) for potential travelers.

They help their affiliates optimize their content so you’ll see an increase in sales too.

Commissions are between 5% - 10% on these affiliate programs, with some having a flat rate of just $6 or 1% for flights.

Depending on which products you promote and which site you’re partnered with, your affiliate cookie lasts upwards of 24 hours.

Someone looking to learn a new language is almost guaranteed to cross paths with Rosetta Stone, the leading service for online language skills.

Rosetta Stone’s different partnership programs cater to retailers, journalists, B2B marketing specialists, and affiliate marketers.

Their affiliate program is outsourced to CJ Affiliates and does require a high affiliate rank, but it’s worth the effort.

You can earn anywhere between 2% - 30% commission, as this is one of the recurring affiliate programs.

Affiliate cookies usually last around 30 days, depending on the network.

This language teaching service stands out in its niche by giving you access to the vocabulary that you need first — travel, business, pleasure, etc.

Babbel advertise themselves as one of the quickest and best ways to learn a new language, so it’s an easy app to sell.

The affiliate commission here is set at $32 per sale, and affiliate cookies last 45 days, giving you more time to convert leads.

Again, this affiliate program is outsourced to affiliate networks, so you’ll need to find the best deal and platform by comparing them.

Udacity’s claims to fame are their online nano degrees — short courses that certify students in specialized skills.

Unlike others in this niche, Udacity has an in-house affiliate program.

It may take several days to be approved as an affiliate, but you get a tracking dashboard, loads of promotional assets, and assistance from their account team.

Your commission is $25 per enrollment, and payouts occur on the 3rd of every month after sales go through.

The referral window here is 30 days, so it’s on par with most other educational programs.

Online stores and websites like this one have great affiliate programs, even though they come from brick-and-mortar businesses.

The Hooked on Phonics affiliate program is outsourced to other networks, focuses on teaching children to read, and has reached more than 5 million kids.

This program is a great one to join because your commission is a relatively high 20% per sale, and affiliate cookies last longer than average — 90 days.

The best streaming platform for gamers currently is Twitch.

With nearly 3 million concurrent viewers and $2.3 billion made in 2020 alone, it’s easy to see why.

Twitch separates affiliates and partners, with lower requirements for affiliates — a Twitch account with at least 50 followers.

Commissions come from subscriptions to an affiliate’s channel (up to $24.99/month) and a 5% - 50% rate on all games sold.

Because this program is almost exclusively interacted with on the platform itself, the cookie duration remains a mystery.

Astro Gaming is a gaming electronics manufacturer with a large online store that ships internationally.

Their products target the more hardcore gamers who aren’t often catered to by generic brands.

Any Astro Gaming affiliates are outsourced to other networks like AvantLink.

While commission sits at just 5% per sale, remember that exclusive electronics like these don’t come cheap, so your 5% will still be a substantial amount.

Also, the affiliate cookie duration is an impressive 120 days, so you’ll have plenty of time to gather referrals.

This online platform gives customers instant access to antivirus software, gaming subscriptions, and other secure services.

G2Deal’s biggest selling point is that they offer these services at unbelievably cheap prices, so their products almost sell themselves.

Affiliate commissions are between 8% - 15%, with your affiliate cookie lasting just 30 days.

Online video game rentals and resales are a surprisingly lucrative and busy aspect of the gaming niche.

GameFly’s business model mirrors that of Netflix’s curated subscription service and is owned by Alliance Entertainment.

Commissions on this platform are generally between $5 - $15 per lead and 10% of the sales price, but cookies expire in 30 days, which isn’t very long.

We suggest you look at the other options in this niche if you need a more substantial income.

Wix is a free website builder with hundreds of templates, online hosting, and mobile-site creation included.

This platform has some of the highest commission rates — $100 per sale, but that’s only if your referrals select Wix’s Premium plan.

Affiliate cookies expire after 30 days, so you don’t have all that much time to seal the deal.

This web hosting company is owned by Endurance International and collectively hosts over 2 million domains.

Bluehost promises affiliate commissions of $65 per referral, which is a smaller, but not insignificant, payout when compared to Wix.

The biggest difference is that your affiliate cookies with Bluehost last 3x as long as Wix’s.

This program is definitely a more attractive option, as you have more time to convert your leads, making it more likely to convert more often.

Cloudways is another platform that combines web building with hosting services.

This program gives you multiple options so that you can build an affiliate marketing business that suits you.

Earning in Performance Slabs, you’ll get $125 commission per sale and $30 plus 7% lifetime recurring commission if you opt for their Hybrid model.

The affiliate cookie lifespan with this program is 90 days, so this kind of program appeals to most affiliates.

WordPress’ hosting platform, WP Engine, is the quickest and most dependable cloud hosting service if you have a WordPress website.

WP Engine also offers 2 flexible options in their program — $200 per sale or 100% first month and then 35% for any StudioPress themes added.

The affiliate cookies also stand out, lasting 180 days for WP Engine referrals and 60 days for those looking to purchase StudioPress themes.

WP Engine also offers a ton of support tools, co-branded assets, and discounts for its affiliates to really sweeten the deal.

As a newer kid on the web hosting block, Kinsta has had to work hard to stand out from the crowd.

They do this by being an alternative WordPress hosting site, as well as providing lots of different ways to make money as their affiliate.

As a Kinsta affiliate, you can earn up to $500 per sale and 10% recurring income on the products you help them sell.

You get a 60-day affiliate cookie, but your conversions are also paid out in that 60-day window, so you won’t be waiting for ages for your paycheck.

Honestly, this affiliate program is a tough one to beat.

While SurfShark VPN, like many others, focuses on giving you privacy and eliminating ads while you surf the web, they include a host of other services too.

This VPN allows you to connect an unlimited amount of devices while also protecting you with their RAM-only servers.

The commission rate on SurfShark VPN is 50%, although if you become one of their top affiliates, there are extra bonuses that you’ll earn on top of that.

The affiliate cookie tracks your referrals for just 30 days, and payments are made using PayPal, so their affiliates can be from all over the globe.

This more commercial network provides end-to-end encryption and makes its users appear to be in several different locations at once.

IPVanish differentiates between partners and affiliates and includes many payout options, including being paid in local currency.

The commissions here are very attractive — up to 100% of new sales and 35% on renewed subscriptions (a recurring commission).

However, the cookie duration is unknown, so it’s difficult to know how long you have to implement your promotional efforts.

If you’re after a more interactive and fun program, then becoming a PureVPN affiliate might be perfect for you.

The VPN service itself provides users with secure and private streaming, web searching, and file sharing.

Affiliate commission on this platform varies from 100% for the first month to 50% recurring on the longer-term plans.

Your affiliate cookies don’t last too long, just 30 days before they expire.

NordVPN is available as an application for Mac OS and iOS, Windows, Linux, and Android devices.

Affiliate Programs like this one have higher acceptance rates combined with their 100% commission on monthly plans and 50% for term plans.

The affiliate cookie duration is 30 days, which is pretty standard in this niche, but there’s a dedicated affiliate manager to help you convert.

This VPN service encrypts your search data and masks your IP address while you browse the web.

ExpressVPN also has a flexible commissions structure, with more sales earning you higher rates.

The affiliate cookie lasts 90 days, and you’ll get lots of support from their affiliate management team to increase your conversions.

ActiveCampaign helps businesses build newsletters, send triggered campaigns, and create personalized messages which are targeted via powerful, easy-to-use email marketing and contact management.

The ActiveCampaign Partner Network is their version of an affiliate program.

The commission you earn from this platform is 20% - 30% and recurs every month, so you’ll always have money coming in, month to month.

Affiliate cookies also last 90 days, so you’ll have plenty of time to convert those leads.

Moosend allows the easy management of multiple email campaigns and mailing lists, as well as designing responsive newsletters using their built-in campaign editor.

Commissions on this platform’s affiliate program also recur monthly — 30% for each pay-as-you-go or monthly plan purchased by your referrals.

Affiliate cookies also have a decent 90-day lifespan, so you should be able to keep increasing your income.

Buzzsprout is a podcasting platform that makes starting your podcast quick and easy.

Unlike other affiliate programs, Buzzsprout rewards its affiliates and also their referrals.

Affiliates earn a 20% recurring (or $25) commission on all paid account referrals, and the referrals are incentivized to use your link because they receive a $20 Amazon gift card.

You’ll have 90 days before these affiliate cookies expire, so you’ll have plenty of time to earn substantial affiliate revenue.

One of the highest-paying affiliate programs comes from Thinkific.

This platform allows users to create, promote, and sell courses online.

As a Thinkific affiliate, you can make up to $1,700 per year for each referral you send their way.

The commission is 30%, recurring monthly through PartnerStack.

The only downside we can see here is that affiliate cookies last just 30 days, not long enough to generate too many conversions.

ClickFunnels is a one-stop website and sales funnel building software that removes the need for coding and web developers.

Most affiliate or partner programs offer you the choice between a percentage and a flat fee for your commission.

With ClickFunnels, you earn up to 50% recurring commission as well as $100 extra for the sale of some front-end offers.

High-paying programs like this are hard to come by, so while affiliate cookies only last 45 days, you might still want to jump on this deal.

Brosix is an Instant Messaging Software for Businesses, providing encrypted, real-time communications, across multiple applications, to streamline how day-to-day business gets done.

The Brosix sales-based affiliate program is highly rewarding and the perfect solution for affiliates in search of a steady income stream.

You can earn a recurring 30% commission for each new customer who signs up via your link and uses a paid plan.

Commissions are paid to partners for the first client payment period.

The cookies last 60 days.

Brosix has a variety of payment plans for customers, which allows you to tailor your offers to meet the needs of your audience.

In addition, for every visitor led through the Affiliate program, they offer 1-Month Free Trial.

Now that you understand how affiliate programs work, choosing which ones will work for you is simple.

Get started with one or two, and sign up with systeme.io to support your affiliate marketing needs.

All the tools you need are here with us, and it won’t cost you a cent!

Or, better yet, opt into systeme.io’s affiliate marketing program, and start your journey today!