Adding an affiliate program to your WordPress-powered business can get you more leads, traffic, and sales. In the following article, I’ve reviewed the ten best WordPress plugins to start an affiliate program. Please note that I have focused on plugins you can install on your WordPress website to set up and run your affiliate program leaving aside SaaS affiliate programs or affiliate networks.
Without further ado, here are WordPress’s top 10 affiliate marketing plugins for WordPress. I’ve not listed them in any particular order, as they all have strengths and weaknesses. That’s why I recommend you check them and decide which works best for your business.
Table of Contents
AffiliateWP
AffiliateWP is a feature-rich premium WordPress affiliate plugin that will help you create and manage an affiliate program. It is perfect for business owners, bloggers, designers, developers, and photographers and has robust affiliate and referral tracking features.
It comes with more integrations than EasyAffiliate. To name a few: WooCommerce, EDD, WP Simple Pay, Gravity Forms, Formidable Forms, WPForms, Contact Form 7, s2Member, OptimizeMember, MemberPress, and a couple of others.
AffiliateWP is highly customizable, and you own all your data, unlike many large affiliate networks. There are no limits on how many affiliates you can sign up for or how much you can earn.
PROs of AffiliateWP
- Plenty of integrations, including popular eCommerce & membership WP plugins;
- Unlimited affiliates and creative (visual resources or text links);
- Good range of affiliate management tools;
- Empower your affiliates to create their links coupons;
- Monitor accurate affiliate tracking and reporting;
- A range of add-ons is available to increase functionality.
CONs of AffiliateWP
- Payments are via a ‘Payout Service’ with fees attached
- Certain features are only available with the most expensive plan, such as PayPal payouts, some integrations, an affiliate portal, recurring referrals, lifetime commissions, etc.
- Limited site usage (1 to 10 domains depending on the plan purchased)
- No lifetime plans are available
Pricing Plans of AffiliateWP
There are three pricing plans for Easy Affiliate, and all of them are covered by a 14 days money back guarantee:
- The Personal plan costs $149.50 first year and $299 for each other year you keep the subscription. It has one domain installation, supports unlimited Adblock-proof affiliates, and comes with WooCommerce, MembersPress, Easy Digital Downloads, and many other services. Besides, it uses secure cookie tracking and other methods through Easy Affiliate’s built-in methods.
- The Plus plan costs $199.50 for the first year and $399 for each other. It supports three domain installations. The only difference is the number of domains they cover (one and three, respectively).
- The most expensive plan, Professional, costs $299.50 for the first year and $599 for each other. It covers up to ten domain installations and includes many more features like lifetime commissions, recurring referrals, vanity coupon codes, API connectivity, Zapier integration, push notifications, QR codes, and many others.
A 14-day money-back guarantee covers all purchases.
AffiliateWP Review
I don’t think I’m wrong when I say that Affiliate WP is the WP affiliate plugin with the highest number of features. Also, the number of integration is considerable. This makes AffiliateWP a versatile, flexible, and reliable choice for running a robust affiliate program of any size.
On the other hand, the pricing tag and the feature structure, where some are available only on the Professional plan, make Affiliate WP one of the most expensive solutions on our list. It is pretty prohibited for startups and beginners.
Easy Affiliate
Easy Affiliate is a powerful affiliate WordPress plugin that helps you create an utterly self-hosted affiliate program for your WordPress membership site or eCommerce store within minutes.
The MemberPress team, one of the world’s most popular WordPress membership plugins, also created Easy Affiliate. So you can expect the same quality development standards.
Set up is simple, and the plugin will soon have you monitoring clicks and sales brought in by your affiliates and managing their commission payments.
Furthermore, Easy Affiliate integrates with many other solutions, such as MemberPress, WooCommerce, PayPal, MonsterInsights, FormidableForms, WPForms, Pretty Links, ConvertKit, Active Campaign, GetResponse, and Easy Digital Downloads.
PROs of Easy Affiliate Plugin
- One-click payouts with no transaction fees through PayPal
- Real-time reports
- Shopping cart integration manages multiple gateways like PayPal, Authorize.net, etc.
- Fraud detection and advanced security features
- Supports PayPal one-click and bulk payments and also offline payments
- It comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee
CONs of Easy Affiliate Plugin
- There are no lifetime subscriptions;
- Limited site usage (1 to 5 domains)
- The Basic plan is quite limited, and some add-ons are available only on higher pricing plans.
Pricing Plans of Easy Affiliate
There are three pricing plans for Easy Affiliate, and all of them are covered by a 14 days money back guarantee:
- The basic plan costs $99.50 annually, is available for only one domain installation, supports unlimited Adblock-proof affiliates, and comes with WooCommerce, MembersPress, and Easy Digital Downloads. Besides, it uses secure cookie tracking and other methods through Easy Affiliate’s built-in methods.
- The Plus plan costs $149.50 per year and supports three domain installations. Besides all the features in the basic plan, it comes with multi-level affiliate commissions, automatic fraud detection, and ConvertKit, MailChimp, and GetResponse integrations for advanced email marketing.
- The Pro plan comes with all the features, supports five domain installations, and costs $199.50 per year. Besides all the Plus plan features, you get Advanced commission rules, Active Campaign integration, TaxReports add-on, 2000+ Zapier integrations, and developer tools.
Easy Affiliate Review
This WordPress affiliate plugin is well-coded and comes with most of the features you need to run a successful affiliate program for your WordPress-powered business. However, I consider the plans and availability of features a little bit strange.
Get Easy Affiliate WordPress Plugin
Solid Affiliate
Solid Affiliate is a premium WordPress affiliate plugin to help create and manage a solid affiliate marketing program. It is purely for WooCommerce, making it ideal for owners of eCommerce stores wanting to promote their products through affiliate marketing. Despite having plenty of advanced features, setup is simple, so getting your program off the ground should be quick and painless.
PROs of Solid Affiliate WP Plugin
- Flexible commission rates;
- Automatic commission tracking and payouts via PayPal, including bulk payouts
- Coupons for affiliates to offer their promotions
- Detailed reports and analytics
- Dedicated affiliate portal and frontend dashboard
- It gets updated at least once a month. Check their changelog for details.
- A generous 30-day moneyback guarantee supports the plugin
CONs of Solid Affiliate WP Plugin
- It needs more integrations as it works only with WooCommerce and WooCommerce Subscriptions.
- Needs more bulk automation for affiliate tasks, such as adding affiliate groups
- Cookie-less affiliate tracking is not supported, so affiliates can lose revenue if cookies are cleared in the browser.
Pricing Plans of Solid Affiliate
Solid Affiliate has three payment plans that come with yearly payment plans.
- The personal plan comes with one site license and one year of support and updates, costing $149.99 per year.
- The next plan is Expert and comes with three sites license and 1-year support and updates and costs $199 per year.
- Lastly, the professional plan comes with ten sites license and one year of support and updates. It costs $299.99 per year.
All purchases come with all add-ons included and are covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Solid Affiliate Review
Solid Affiliate is a, well, solid option if you’re looking to choose a WooCommerce affiliate plugin. Its first version was released over a year ago, but it has made much progress. The main drawback is that it has only WooCommerce integration, and the price is, in my opinion, quite spicy.
Get Solid Affiliate WordPress Plugin
SliceWP
SliceWP is an excellent freemium plugin for creating and managing an affiliate program on your WordPress site. The free version is very usable, offering a good feature set. At the same time, the premium plans add all the extras you may need as your program gains momentum, such as customizable affiliate registration forms, PayPal integration, and social sharing. The premium plan also includes access to a dedicated support team to quickly address any issues you encounter.
PROs of SliceWP
- Integrates with the most popular eCommerce platforms and WordPress membership plugins;
- Good array of features in the free version, although the premium plans have many more;
- Fixed or percentage-based commissions;
- Robust affiliate registration and management features;
- Unlimited affiliates and creatives;
- Automatic PayPal payouts to save time paying your affiliates.
CONs of SliceWP
- Premium plans are more expensive than some competitors;
- It doesn’t have all the features of the competitors but has the essential ones.
Pricing Plans of SliceWP
In addition to the free version, SliceWP is available in three premium plans: Basic ($99/year), Pro ($169/year), and Pro Plus ($259/year).
- Personal – $99 for use on a single site and access to six add-ons – custom affiliate fields, reports, affiliate social share, per-product commission rates, per-affiliate commission rates, and custom conversion tracking
- Extended – $159 for use on three sites and access to seven add-ons – everything in Personal plus the affiliate coupons add-on.
- Professional – $219 for use on ten sites and access to all nine add-ons – everything in Extended plus recurring commissions and PayPal payouts.
A 30-day money-back guarantee covers all purchases.
SliceWP Review
In a nutshell, SliceWP looks very well both for admins and affiliates. On top of that, it makes it very easy to set up and run an affiliate program, even if you aren’t a technical person. If you’re using one of the built-in integrations, setting up tracking is super easy – all you do is select your platform, and SliceWP automatically starts tracking commissions. Beyond that, you get flexibility in setting up commissions and other affiliate behavior.
Post Affiliate Pro
Post Affiliate Pro is an easy-to-use WordPress affiliate plugin with an extensive toolbox for managing affiliates, tracking referrals and sales, and generating reports. The plugin supports over 230 integrations, including content management systems, eCommerce platforms, and payment gateways. Furthermore, the higher-paid plans also include a site replication feature that allows you to create personalized pages for each of your affiliates on your site.
PROs of Post Affiliate
- An expansive range of marketing, tracking, and management tools;
- Detailed reports;
- Integrates with most popular eCommerce platforms, including WooCommerce;
- Unlimited affiliates and creatives;
- Over 230 integrations and 125 plugins included;
- 14-day free trial available.
CONs of Post Affiliate
- Tracking requests (impressions, events, clicks, and sales) come with monthly limits, which trigger extra charges once those limits are exceeded;
- Very expensive compared to other plugins.
Pricing Plans of Post Affiliate PRO
The Post Affiliate Pro software comes in 2 versions. One is Post Affiliate Pro which comes with two plans (Pro and Ultimate), and Post Affiliate Network if you want to launch on an affiliate network. We will discuss only the Post Affiliate Pro plans below, as those are suitable for affiliate program management.
- The first plan, PRO, costs $129/mo and comes with 1 million monthly tracking requests, unlimited affiliates, over 125 plugins and 220 integrations, advanced tracking methods, mass payments, multiple currencies, etc.
- The advanced plan, Ultimate, costs $249. On top of features in the Pro, the pan comes with 6 million tracking requests/months, recurring commissions, performance rewards, multiple administrators, lifetime referrals managers, site replication, etc.
Considering these pricing tags, Post Affiliate Pro probably only suits established businesses with complex affiliate marketing requirements. A 14-day free trial covers all purchases.
Post Affiliate Pro Review
Unlike other solutions, PAP is a SaaS with many integrations, including a WordPress plugin. If you’re looking for a professional solution for your affiliate program that comes with a higher price tag, then you may consider Post Affiliate Pro for your affiliate program.
Get Post Affiliate ProWP Affiliate Manager
Suppose your budget for starting an affiliate program is limited. In that case, you will be happy to find that WP Affiliate Manager is a free WordPress affiliate plugin with some great features to help get your affiliate marketing program off the ground. You can have any affiliates and creatives, plus it integrates with many eCommerce solutions, including WooCommerce, PayPal, Stripe, and MemberPress. However, some integrations do require a free or premium add-on.
PROs of WP Affiliate Manager
- Easy management, tracking, and payment of affiliates
- Real-time sales and referral tracking
- Integral affiliate portal where users can sign up for your program and manage their membership
- Flat-rate or percentage-based commissions
- Translation ready
- Customizable affiliate registration
- Paypal commission payments, with the option for manual adjustments (e.g., for bonuses)
- Good range of free and premium add-ons to extend the functionality
- Good documentation
CONs of WP Affiliate Manager
- The complicated pricing structure includes free and premium support and free and premium add-ons.
- The interface could be optimized better for user experience (UX);
Pricing plans of WP Affiliate Manager
The pricing structure of WP Affiliate Manager is quite complex.
- First, we have the free version that you can download from the WordPress repository, and it offers you access to detailed tutorials and community support.
- Then there is the Single site plan that costs $39 and comes with all the features of the free version and premium technical support from the devs.
- Lately, the developer license costs $97 and offers unlimited site installation and premium technical support.
Now that you’ve chosen a support plan, we have to discuss add-ons and integrations. There are a couple of add-ons you can download for free, including Paid Membership Pro, S2Member, WooCommerce, and Stripe. On top of that, 18 premium add-ons have to be purchased separately depending on what feature you need: track Woo Coupons, Award Bonus Commission, Optimize Press integration, Gravity Forms integration, and Active Campaign or Member Press integrations. These add-ons cost between $29 and $39 each for one-year updates and a single site license.
WP Affiliate Manager Review
Unlike other affiliate marketing plugins in this article which are paid only, WP Affiliate Manager comes with a free version that may help you start an affiliate program for your WordPress website at no cost. If you need a specific integration, you can purchase it individually. The bottom line is that WP Affiliate Manager is a good enough solution to start an affiliate program for your WP website.
Get WP Affiliate ManagerYith WooCommerce Affiliates
Yith is a freemium WordPress affiliate plugin that, even in its free form, has sufficient functionality to help you establish and manage an excellent affiliate program for your WooCommerce store. However, the Premium plan takes the features list to a different level. With robust Affiliate and link tracking tools, plus it is possible to configure the cookie validity duration. Furthermore, you can easily convert your existing users into affiliates.
PROs of Yith WooCommerce Affiliates
- A simple affiliate registration process
- Variable commission rates
- Configurable cookie validity
- Automatic commission and refund calculation and payouts
- Real-time sales and referral tracking
- Integral affiliate portal
- Translation ready
CONs of Yith WooCommerce Affiliates
- The Features are somewhat limited in the free version;
- Works only with WooCommerce
Yith WooCommerce Affiliates Price
There are both free and premium versions of Yith. The premium one costs $99.99 annually and includes updates and support plus many other valuable features. Furthermore, it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so trying out the extensive premium features is risk-free.
Yith WooCommerce Affiliates Review
With YITH WooCommerce Affiliates, you can add an affiliate program to your WooCommerce website in a couple of hours or even less. The cost is affordable and has most of the features you need.
Ultimate Affiliate Pro
->Try WC Affiliate[/caption]
WC Affiliate is one of the most feature-rich yet affordable WooCommerce Affiliate Plugins that enables a full-fledged affiliate program for your WooCommerce store. It was created by Codexpert, the same team that created some renowned plugins such as Woolementor, ShareLogins, etc.
PROs of WC Affiliate
- Exclusively built for running affiliate programs on WooCommerce stores;
- Robust, accurate, and bug-free WooCommerce affiliate management solution;
- It’s user-friendly and easy to use;
- Comes with comprehensive documentation;
- Fully customizable dashboard;
- Automated payout system that integrates with Paypal and Stripe;
- Comes also comes with lifetime payment plans and a money-back guarantee;
CONs of WC Affiliate
- It works only with WooCommerce-based stores;
Pricing Plans of WC Affiliate
There are three plans of WC Affiliate that come with yearly and lifetime payment plans:
- The personal plan comes with one site license and one year of support, costing $79.99. If you purchase the Personal lifetime plan, it costs $159.99 and comes with lifetime support and updates.
- The next plan is Professional and comes with five sites license and 1-year support and updates. If you purchase the Professional lifetime plan, which costs $359, you get five sites license but lifetime support and updates.
- Lastly, the agency plan comes with an unlimited sites license and one-year support and updates and costs $599.99 for a year. If you order the lifetime Agency plan, you pay $959.99 but get unlimited site licenses, lifetime support, and updates.
A 14-day money-back guarantee covers all purchases.
TapAffiliate
Tapfiliate is an affiliate program tracking tool that is flexible and scalable. Tapfiliate contains the capabilities you need if you’re seeking software to help you develop and manage your eCommerce or SaaS affiliate program.
The simple platform allows you to set up your affiliate program with little effort. You may develop white-labeled affiliate sites and add marketing assets to your platform to suit your brand. On the other hand, affiliates have access to a dashboard and a suite of reporting tools to track their progress.
The Tapfiliate created an easy WordPress plugin that you can install from your WordPress admin and will integrate Tapfiliate with your WordPress in minutes.
PROs of Tap Affiliate
- Each conversion results in a payment to the affiliate who brought the consumer or user to your site.
- Tapfiliate provides an admin dashboard where you can view and control your program’s data.
- Affiliates have a dashboard where they may share links and other marketing materials and track their success.
CONs of Tap Affiliate
- There is no free version of this affiliate SaaS;
- There were no inbuilt features for the newsletter.
Tap Affiliate Pricing Plans
There are three pricing plans for most users, and an enterprise plan built custom for each user.
- The starter plan is $59/month and comes with real-time reporting, coupons, item ad category-based commissions, affiliate recruitment, and automation through Zapier and webhooks. The plan covers 100,000 clicks, 35,000 conversions, 500 affiliates, and one affiliate program.
- The next plan is the essential one which costs $89/month and comes with all the features of the Starter plan along with access to partners’ networks, white label, and MLM capabilities. The essential plan covers 200,000 clicks, 75000 conversions, 1000 affiliates, and unlimited affiliate programs.
- The last plan is the PRO one, which costs $149/mo and comes with all the starter plan features, custom domain and onboarding fields, and incentives. The PRO plan covers 500,000 clicks, 250,000 conversions, 10,000 affiliates, and unlimited affiliate programs.
All these plans come with a 14-day free trial. If you exceed your plan’s monthly included impressions, clicks, or conversions, they will calculate a small overage fee you will have to pay. Also, you can change your payment plan anytime.
Tap Affiliate Review
Tapfiliate is a cloud-based affiliate tracking software fully customizable and optimized to deliver conversions. With Tapfiliate, you can automate most of your Affiliate Marketing tasks, including Affiliate Tracking, Commission Management, or Multi-Level Marketing (MLM).
Once you’ve integrated it with your WordPress website using their official plugin, you just have to arrange the affiliate program and commission structure. You’ll be ready to start inviting affiliates to the platform.
Affiliate Plugins for WordPress FAQs
What Is a WordPress Affiliate Plugin?
A WordPress affiliate plugin allows you to set up and manage an affiliate marketing program for your business through your website. The essential functions of a WordPress affiliate plugins are 1) Recruiting and managing affiliates, 2) Tracking the performance of affiliates, 3) Creating sharable links and redirects for your products, and 4) Paying commissions earned by the affiliates.
Why Do You Need an Affiliate Plugin for WordPress?
Affiliate marketing is an excellent way of casting your net far and wide and can be much more cost effective than traditional marketing methods. Furthermore, you have complete control over the terms and conditions of your affiliate marketing program and who can join it.
Final Thoughts
All of these plugins make it easy to create your affiliate program. The best choice for your business depends on your resources and goals:
- AffiliateWP is an excellent choice for business owners who want to create a fully customized affiliate experience.
- WordPress Affiliate Manager is ideal for business owners who want to create a simple affiliate program on a tight budget.
- Easy Affiliate is the best program for business owners whose primary concern is ease of use for them and their affiliates.
- Post Affiliate Pro is ideal for businesses with large audiences that require extensive reporting and some money to spare.
- YITH WooCommerce Affiliates is great for WooCommerce users who want to create a simple affiliate program.
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing is an excellent way of getting other people to do your marketing for you in return for a commission. It is basically ‘pay-as-you-go,’ which is a real advantage for all businesses, particularly smaller ones that don’t have a massive advertising budget. Establishing an affiliate program is more straightforward than you think, and a WordPress affiliate plugin can make implementing it easy too.
Are you already using affiliate marketing to promote your products through your WordPress site? If so, are you using a plugin? Which is your favorite? And if you have yet to venture into affiliate marketing, I hope this article has inspired you.
Which WordPress affiliate plugin are you most interested in? Let us know in the comments below!