Affiliate commission rates by industry
We read the published terms of 1,686 affiliate programs on their own pages. The typical program that pays a percentage pays 20%, and half pay between 10% and 30%. 30% of all the programs pay a recurring commission, and the typical cookie window is 30 days. The industry decides most of it: VPN & security pays a median 35%, Fashion & beauty 7%.
Counted from the same verified terms the program pages show. Latest check Oct 9, 2026.How we verify
Commission rates by industry
The typical rate is the median headline percentage of the programs that pay one; half of them sit inside the middle range. Flat bounty is the median fixed amount of the programs that pay one; recurring is the share of the industry's programs that pay for as long as the customer stays.
| Industry | Programs | Typical rate | Middle half | Flat bounty | Recurring | Typical cookie |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VPN & security | 55 | 35% | 25% to 70% | $70 | 36% | 60 days |
| Marketing & SEO | 211 | 30% | 20% to 30% | $300 | 63% | 75 days |
| Crypto & trading | 89 | 30% | 20% to 50% | – | 26% | 30 days |
| Finance & fintech | 77 | 30% | 20% to 50% | $200 | 17% | 45 days |
| SaaS & software | 417 | 25% | 20% to 30% | $150 | 50% | 60 days |
| Hosting & web | 114 | 25% | 20% to 35% | $125 | 22% | 60 days |
| Business services | 72 | 25% | 20% to 30% | $175 | 29% | 60 days |
| Education & courses | 85 | 20% | 10% to 30% | $40 | 21% | 30 days |
| Telecom & mobile | 22 | 20% | 10% to 25% | $50 | 23% | 30 days |
| Health & wellness | 54 | 16% | 10% to 30% | – | 4% | 30 days |
| E-commerce & retail | 98 | 15% | 8% to 30% | – | 33% | 30 days |
| Travel | 65 | 10% | 6% to 20% | – | 5% | 30 days |
| Gaming | 43 | 10% | 5% to 20% | – | 9% | 30 days |
| Pets | 24 | 10% | 6% to 12% | – | 8% | 30 days |
| Home & garden | 76 | 8% | 5% to 12% | – | 0% | 30 days |
| Electronics | 54 | 8% | 5% to 11.9% | – | 0% | 30 days |
| Food & beverage | 37 | 8% | 4.8% to 10% | $10 | 0% | 30 days |
| Fashion & beauty | 88 | 7% | 4% to 10% | – | 0% | 30 days |
Industries with at least 15 verified programs. A dash means fewer than eight programs in that industry pay that way, too few for a fair figure.
How long recurring commissions last
30% of the programs pay a recurring commission. What their terms say about when it stops:
All industries
509 recurring programs- For the customer's lifetime
- 109 · 21%
- Recurring, no end stated
- 296 · 58%
- For a set period
- 104 · 20%
Most common set periods: 1 year (84), 2 years (8), 3 months (7).
SaaS & software
208 recurring programs- For the customer's lifetime
- 42 · 20%
- Recurring, no end stated
- 120 · 58%
- For a set period
- 46 · 22%
Most common set periods: 1 year (37), 3 months (4), 2 years (3).
Cookie windows
936 of the 1,686 programs publish how long a referral is credited after the click; 750 (44%) do not.
- Under 30 days105 · 11%
- 30 days373 · 40%
- 31 to 59 days56 · 6%
- 60 days146 · 16%
- 61 to 90 days191 · 20%
- Over 90 days65 · 7%
How programs structure the rate
Flat amounts run from a few dollars for an app install to thousands for a B2B sale; the median is $100, and half sit between $25 and $250.
Setting your program's commission
- Compare with your own industry. The median is what a typical program offers; the top of the middle half is where a program starts to stand out. SaaS & software: 25% is typical, 30% or more is the top quarter. Marketing & SEO: 30% is both typical and the top-quarter mark, so anything above it stands out. Hosting & web: 25% is typical, 35% or more is the top quarter.
- In software, recurring is expected. 50% of SaaS programs pay for as long as the customer stays, and 78% of those state no end.
- A long cookie is still rare. Only 43% of the published windows are 60 days or longer.
- Publish your terms. 44% of programs publish no cookie window, and affiliates compare what they can read.
Run a program? Listing it here is free, rankings cannot be bought, and every listed program gets a badge for its affiliate page.
How we counted
- Which programs: the 1,686 programs in the directory whose terms we verified against a primary source, usually the program's own affiliate page. Programs we know only from a network's bulk records are left out.
- The headline rate: the highest percentage a program's terms state, the rate it advertises ("up to 6%" counts as 6%, "25 to 35%" as 35%). Tiered programs start lower, so read the figures as what affiliates are offered, not what every affiliate earns.
- Flat amounts are in the currency the program states, mostly US dollars, and the largest amount a program names counts.
- Recurring and cookie windows are read from the same terms the program pages show, with the same rules (see the methodology).
- What it is not: a census of every affiliate program. It counts the programs an affiliate can join today that we track, and it updates with every data pass. The program-level data is in the open dataset; which platforms software programs run on is on affiliate software market share.
Frequently asked
- What is a typical affiliate commission rate?
- Among the 1,340 programs in our directory that pay a percentage and publish it on their own page, the median headline rate is 20%, and half pay between 10% and 30%. It depends heavily on the industry: VPN & security programs pay a median 35%, Fashion & beauty programs 7%.
- What commission do SaaS affiliate programs pay?
- The median SaaS and software program pays 25% (half pay between 20% and 30%), counted over 365 programs that publish a percentage. 50% of the 417 SaaS programs we verified pay a recurring commission, and their median cookie window is 60 days.
- What commission should I offer affiliates?
- Start from what affiliates can compare you with in your own industry. The median is what a typical program offers; the 75th percentile is where a program starts to stand out. SaaS & software: 25% is typical, 30% or more is the top quarter. Marketing & SEO: 30% is both typical and the top-quarter mark, so anything above it stands out. Hosting & web: 25% is typical, 35% or more is the top quarter. The rate is not the whole offer: how long it recurs and the cookie window are compared too.
- How long is a typical affiliate cookie window?
- The median published window is 30 days, and 43% of the programs that publish one give 60 days or more. 44% of the 1,686 programs we verified publish no cookie window at all.
- Do recurring affiliate commissions last forever?
- Not always. Of the 509 recurring programs we verified, 405 (80%) pay for the customer's lifetime or state no end, and 104 (20%) stop after a set period, most often 1 year.
- How were these benchmarks counted?
- From the commission terms of the 1,686 programs in our directory that we verified against a primary source, usually the program's own affiliate page. A percentage program's headline rate is the highest percentage its terms state. The figures update with every data pass; the latest program was checked on Oct 9, 2026.