What is your affiliate link worth?
Calculate earnings per click, monthly commission, and the clicks you need to hit a target income. One-time and recurring commission modes built in.
How affiliate commission actually compounds.
Four numbers drive affiliate income: clicks, conversion rate, price, and commission rate. The fifth, refund rate, determines what you actually keep. EPC bundles the first three into a single comparable metric.
EPC (earnings per click)
Conversion × Price × Commission %
EPC is the single most useful number for comparing affiliate offers. It collapses conversion rate, price, and commission rate into a per-click dollar value. A 1% conversion at $100 with 50% commission ($0.50 EPC) and a 2% conversion at $250 with 20% commission ($1.00 EPC) only differ on EPC.
Monthly commission
Clicks × EPC
Once you know EPC, projection is trivial. The lever most affiliates over-optimize is clicks; the lever they under-optimize is EPC. Doubling EPC by switching offers or improving the pre-sell is usually faster than doubling traffic.
Recurring lifetime value
Monthly price × Commission % × Lifespan
For SaaS and subscription affiliates, lifetime commission per sale is what matters. systeme.io's 40% recurring on a $97/mo plan at a 24-month average lifespan is $930.24 per customer ($38.80 × 24), versus a 40% one-time commission on a $97 product that pays $38.80 total.
Net after refunds
Gross commission × (1 - Refund %)
Almost every affiliate program claws back commission on refunds and chargebacks. Refund rates: 5-10% for established info products, 1-3% for SaaS subscriptions, 15-30% for impulse digital products. Always plan from net, not gross.
Affiliate EPC benchmarks by category
| Category | Typical conversion | Typical commission | EPC range |
|---|---|---|---|
| SaaS recurring (lifetime) | 1-3% | 20-40% recurring | $2-$8 |
| High-ticket courses ($1,997+) | 0.5-2% | 30-50% | $5-$20 |
| Mid-tier info products ($300-$997) | 1-3% | 40-50% | $1-$5 |
| Low-ticket digital ($27-$97) | 2-5% | 50-75% | $0.50-$2 |
| Physical (Amazon Associates) | 5-10% | 1-10% | $0.05-$0.50 |
| Comparison & review traffic | 5-15% | varies | $2-$10 |
Source: ClickBank top-1000 EPC ranges 2023, Impact Radius affiliate marketplace data, ShareASale category averages 2024. EPC ranges assume typical traffic-to-offer match; specialist comparison sites and review affiliates routinely earn 3-5x category EPC averages.
Honest answers.
EPC (earnings per click) is the average commission an affiliate earns for each click they send. EPC = total commissions / total clicks. It's the cleanest single metric for comparing affiliate offers because it bakes in conversion rate, price, and commission percentage. Typical EPC ranges: $0.10-$0.50 for general physical products, $0.50-$2 for digital info products, $2-$5 for SaaS tools with recurring commissions, and $5-$20+ for high-ticket courses or coaching ($1,997+) with strong launch sequences.
Affiliate conversion rates are typically lower than direct sales because traffic intent is mixed: a healthy cold-traffic affiliate funnel converts 1-3% of clicks into sales. Warm-traffic affiliate funnels (existing email list, content site with high topical relevance) can convert 3-7%. High-intent affiliate placements (comparison pages, "best of" roundups, review sites) routinely hit 5-10% because the visitor has commercial intent. Numbers above 10% usually indicate either heavy retargeting or warm-list-only traffic.
Commission rates vary by category. Digital products and courses: 30-50% is standard, with 50% being the typical default on platforms like ClickBank and JVZoo. SaaS recurring: 20-40% recurring is common, with systeme.io paying 40% recurring for the lifetime of the customer. Physical products: 4-15% depending on margin; Amazon Associates pays 1-10% by category. Information products on launch promotions: 50-75% on front-end with the merchant earning back on the back-end upsells they keep 100% of.
Recurring is almost always better long-term if the product has reasonable customer retention. A 40% recurring commission on a $30/month SaaS with a 24-month average lifespan is worth $288 lifetime per customer ($12 × 24); the same effective dollar value as a one-time 40% commission on a $720 course. The advantage of recurring: revenue compounds. Year one earns from year-one referrals; year two earns from year-one plus year-two referrals. Most six-figure affiliates concentrate on recurring SaaS offers for exactly this reason.
Clicks needed = target income / EPC. If your EPC is $1.50 and your target is $5,000/month, you need 3,333 clicks per month. This is the reverse-engineering formula every serious affiliate uses for planning. The trap: people optimize for traffic volume when they should optimize for EPC. Doubling EPC from $1 to $2 halves the traffic you need; doubling traffic just doubles your work.
Most affiliate programs claw back commission on refunds, so refund-adjusted commission is the number that matters for take-home income. Typical refund rates: 5-10% for established info products, 10-20% for cold-traffic info products, 1-3% for SaaS subscriptions, and 15-30% for low-priced impulse digital products. Calculate net commission = gross commission × (1 - refund rate). A 50% commission on a $500 product looks like $250, but with a 15% refund rate the realistic average is $212.50.
40% recurring, for life.
systeme.io's affiliate program pays 40% recurring commission on every customer you refer, every month, for as long as they stay. Free to join.
Join the program