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This article will review the 21 best affiliate marketing networks. I will also show you how to sign up and get approved in these networks, which is best for you, and how to get your payments.
Affiliate marketing is not an easy game. But if you take the time to educate yourself, you can become good at it and make a nice monthly income. Here is our complete affiliate marketing guide for beginners.
Below are the top recommended affiliate marketing networks you can check out and choose from that suit your needs.
Table of Contents
- 1 ShareASale
- 2 Amazon Associates
- 3 CJ Affiliate by Conversant
- 4 Impact
- 5 MaxBounty
- 6 Rakuten
- 7 Clickbank
- 8 eBay Partners Network
- 9 JVzoo
- 10 FlexOffers
- 11 avangate
- 12 Pepperjam Network
- 13 AWin
- 14 OneNetworkDirect
- 15 RevenueWire
- 16 LinkConnector
- 17 TradeDoubler
- 18 AvantLink
- 19 AffiliateFuture
- 20 Commission Factory
- 21 WebGains
- 22 Affiliate Marketing Networks FAQs
- 23 Conclusion
Whereas affiliate networks like Amazon Associates are focused entirely on Amazon products, ShareASale houses affiliate programs for 4,500+ merchants, both big and small.
You can sign up for all these merchants from one place—the ShareASale dashboard—generate links and view your statistics.
Overall, ShareASale is an excellent option for both digital and physical products.
For example, you’ll find many WordPress theme and plugin shops, hosting providers, etc.
On the physical side, you’ll find plenty of big and small merchants, such as Warby Parker (sunglasses), Sun Basket, Wayfair, Reebok, NFL Shop, and thousands of other small and large businesses.
ShareASale’s affiliate marketing network also has a fair and honest reputation and is well-known and recognized within the industry.
ShareASale details:
- Niche/product types: A little of everything, including physical and digital products.
- Average commission rate: Depends on the specific merchant you sign up with.
- Cookie duration: Depends on the specific merchant you sign up with.
- Minimum payout: $50
ShareASale PROs:
- Thousands of merchants for both physical and digital products, including lots of well-known merchants
- Trustworthy – They’ve been around forever and work with lots of big brands
ShareASale CONs:
- The dashboard design is a little clunky, though it’s gotten a lot better
Why should you use ShareASale to find affiliate products?
- Their affiliate network is vast, and it offers around 4000 affiliate programs in 40 different categories to choose from
- Direct deposits are available (so you can have commissions directly deposited into your account on the 20th of each month)
- A custom link creation feature is available (which helps you easily create license plate links with social media features and deep links directly to products)
- You can have ShareASale pay you via checks in the mail, wire transfer, or direct deposit, and it’s completely free to join as an affiliate.
Amazon Associates
Amazon Associates Review
Well, do I even need to introduce this? Amazon is an American electronic commerce and cloud computing company in Seattle, Washington.
In the US, this is the largest internet retailer. You can use this affiliate network to access over a million products and advertise to your consumers.
Check our guide on how to make money with Amazon Associates.
Amazon Associates PROs:
- Massive selection of products;
- Universal cookie, so you get credit for everything people buy within the cookie duration;
- Amazon is by far the biggest name in e-commerce;
- Shallow payout threshold – only $10.
Amazon Associates CONs:
- The universal cookie only lasts for 24 hours
- Some categories – like video games – have meager commissions (1%)
- You need to register for each country individually
Why should you use Amazon Associates to find affiliate products?
- You will get access to millions of products.
- Amazon is a trusted brand worldwide (and almost everyone knows this brand)
- You can include product search and look-up capability and product information. Also, features such as Customer Reviews, Similar Products, Wish Lists, and New and Used listings should be added.
- One of the biggest pros is that you have 90 days to get a commission if your customers visit your links and add anything to the shopping cart.
CJ Affiliate by Conversant
Commission Junction Review
This was also formally known as Commission Junction. They also reach millions of consumers who usually shop online through their affiliate marketing companies. They include Dotomi, Mediaplex, ValueClick Media, Greystripe, and Commission Junction.
Commission Junction PROs:
- There is a huge range of big and small merchants to choose from
- A nice back-end dashboard to help you manage your affiliate marketing efforts
- It has a deep link generator bookmarklet that makes it easy to generate links
Commission Junction CONs:
- The dashboard is a little complicated when you’re just starting (though I like it overall).
Why should you use CJ affiliate to find affiliate products?
- Offers cookieless tracking. This type of tracking generates unique click IDs from users, created only when a user clicks on your affiliate referral tracking link. Thus, advertisers can precisely track individual transactions.
- It offers you real-time reporting so you can get up-to-the-minute analytics.
- CJ Affiliate pays out within 20 days of the end of the month, as long as you have a minimum payment threshold of $50 (Direct Deposit) or $100 (Check).
Impact
Impact Affiliate Network Review
This is another good affiliate marketing website for making money online. It usually has accurate tracking technology, flexible contracting, and an automatic payment processing system.
Combined, all these allow customers to manage their marketing campaigns, thus maximizing their growth.
Impact Affiliate Network PROs:
- Dedicated affiliate management dashboard. It has a ton of details for affiliates.
- The Impact affiliate network is very user-friendly for new affiliates.
- You can find a huge database of affiliates and sellers with which to partner.
Impact Affiliate Network CONs:
- The reports section can be difficult to navigate at times.
- You have to follow a learning curve to be successful with them.
MaxBounty
MaxBounty Review
MaxBounty is a Canadian-based CPA affiliate network established in 2004; the company has stood the test of time in becoming one of the industry’s well-known and reputable names. It is usually considered among the most popular and best CPA affiliate networks.
Currently, MaxBounty has thousands of satisfied affiliates who earn some cash through CPA advertising. It has some of the highest-paying affiliate programs.
MaxBounty PROs:
- A highly effective approval process with quick response.
- Reliable platform with a user-friendly interface.
- Their affiliate managers are accommodating and interested in helping you succeed.
- It provides educational resources to educate yourself properly as an affiliate marketer.
MaxBounty CONs:
- You can easily get banned if your traffic is questionable.
- MaxBounty has a rigorous registration process for affiliates who do not have a website.
Rakuten
Rakuten Review
Rakuten was formally known as Buy.com. It has become one of the biggest marketing affiliates and ranks among the top 3 e-commerce companies worldwide.
This is mainly because it has over 90,000 products from 38,500 shop owners and over 18 million customers. This makes Rakuten Ichiba one of Japan’s largest e-commerce sites and among the world’s most significant when it comes to sales.
Rakuten Affiliate Network PROs:
- It gives you access to big-name merchants like Walmart and Best Buy
- A trusted name (Rakuten is a billion-dollar company)
- Nice-to-have features like easy ad rotation
Rakuten Affiliate Network CONs:
- The back-end dashboard looks a little outdated.
- Not as big a selection as some other affiliate networks
- Not available for the EU audience
Clickbank
ClickBank details:
- Niche/product types: ClickBank focuses on digital products, but you’ll also find some physical products (and ClickBank makes it easy to filter between the two).
- The average commission rate depends on the specific merchant you sign up with, but it is usually pretty high. You’ll find both percentage and flat-rate commissions.
- Cookie duration: Depends on the specific merchant you sign up with, but usually ~60 days.
- Minimum payout: $10
This is one of the biggest paying affiliate marketing companies available today. Clickbank has been providing its services for more than 17 years while still focusing on digital information products. Being one of the largest online retailers, they have a vast library of over 6 million products to reach 200 million customers globally.
ClickBank PROs:
- Lots of smaller niche offers that you won’t find on other affiliate platforms
- There are pretty high commissions for most merchants
- A $10 minimum payout makes it easy to get paid
- Offers weekly payments
ClickBank CONs:
- ClickBank’s refund policy means you might lose commissions
- You have to wade through some outdated, low-quality products.
Why should you use ClickBank to find affiliate products?
- It offers more than 6 million unique affiliate products.
eBay Partners Network
I am more than sure that many of us still don’t know that eBay has an affiliate network. eBay has been in this business for more than 20 years and is still providing first-class tools, reporting, and tracking. It is also known to be one of the best affiliate programs.
eBay Partners Network PROs:
- There is a huge variety of products because you can promote anything on eBay
- Can sell used products, which is unique
- Low payout – just $10
eBay Partners Network CONs:
- The cookie only lasts for 24 hours
JVzoo
JVZoo Review
JVZoo is another extensive affiliate program network, with over 800,000 active affiliates and over $1.2 billion in sales.
The best part about using JVZoo is everything is instant. That means every time you make a sale through your affiliate referral links, your affiliate commission will instantly be deposited into the affiliate’s JVZooPay account. From your JVZoo account, you can withdraw money from your bank or Payoneer account.
Remember that the new affiliate members must wait until the product refund period is over before they can be paid. Still, those established in the program can avail of instant payouts.
Unlike most affiliate marketing platforms like ClickBank, JVZoo doesn’t allow its affiliates to promote products immediately. It would be best if you first approved the product vendor to promote any affiliate product from the JVZoo platform.
JVZoo PROs:
- JVZoo is integrated with PayPal, Stripe, and BlueSnap
- It’s completely free to join for affiliates as there are no setup or monthly fees whatsoever
- You keep 100% of the commissions you earn
- JV Zoo offers products in a wide variety of niches
JVZoo CONs:
- It would be best if you were approved by the vendors first.
- There are many junk products that you should stay away from
- Some of their good products also offer upsells, and you don’t get commissions for those
FlexOffers
Join FlexOffers appears to be one of the best websites for affiliate marketing. They always use multiple marketing, data delivery, and advanced payment solutions to cover the advertisers’ and publishers’ needs. They also offer many unique products and services, and when you join them, you get access to an affiliate publishing network plus other advantages.
FlexOffers PROs:
- Easy sign-up process and very friendly to new affiliates.
- Flex-Rev$hare program – you get paid for sales made by sub-affiliates.
- It is one of the few mainstream networks that offer credit card offers.
- There are tens of thousands of advertisers to choose from
FlexOffers CONs:
- Lack of advanced link creation tools.
- Customer support options are decidedly average.
- If you’re outside the USA, the only payment option is PayPal (For payments over $5,000, you can use a wire transfer)
avangate
This is also one of the best affiliate programs for digital commerce. It usually supports a cloud platform that focuses on subscription billing and global software payments. Over 4000 digital businesses trust this program in more than 180 countries.
Avangate Affiliate Network PROs:
- Many companies sell digital products, especially software.
- Reliable monthly payments
- You can create discount coupons to boost sales.
- Advanced, customized reports
Avangate Affiliate Network CONs:
- The software is ten years old and works poorly.
- The minimum payout threshold is $100. This is somewhat high compared to other networks.
Pepperjam Network
Termed as the largest affiliate network globally, the Pepperjam affiliate marketing network focuses mainly on exclusive publisher distribution, technology development, and strategic planning. All these are always channeled towards delivering great pay-for-performance results. This helps the publishers to reach their consumers while offering the products they want, thus bringing success to your business.
On July 28, 2020, Pepperjam announced its business acquisition by Partnerize, a global leader in partnership automation.
Pepperjam Affiliate Network PROs:
- They provide dedicated account managers.
- Several big brands are worthy of your attention, including Puma and 888Casino.
- You can receive payment via PayPal as long as your earnings hit $25.
- Easy-to-use affiliate link-building tools.
Pepperjam Affiliate Network CONs:
- Limited payment options.
- There are no public EPC metrics.
- It has an oddly clumsy payment structure.
AWin
Earlier, it operated under the name “Zanox,” Awin is an award-winning global affiliate marketplace operating since 2000. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, CEO Mark Walter’s affiliate company currently boasts around 1,000 employees, 15 offices worldwide, over 100,000 contributing publishers, 13,000 advertisers, and a global presence in over 180 countries.
The company now operates across various categories: travel, finance, retail, and telecommunication. It partners with established industry giants such as Marks & Spencer, ESI Media, Business Insider, 1&1, HP, O2, and ASOS.
Awin Affiliate Network PROs:
- AWIN is simple to understand and use.
- Applying to affiliate programs is easy and quick.
- Various tools and widgets are available that are simple but still high quality.
- Their convert-a-link plugin means you no longer need to convert your links manually!
Awin Affiliate Network CONs:
- Sometimes, your payments can be pending for a long time.
- Some people have complained about their customer service
- $5 sign-up fee (it’s refunded if you’re approved, but you’ll lose it if you’re not approved)
OneNetworkDirect
The OneNetworkDirect affiliate marketing network, which has been in business since 2006, has over 400,000 products, a good chunk of some of the world’s well-known companies like Trend Micro, VMWare, BitDefender, D-Link, etc.
They have great solutions and a team of experts to help you out. Their affiliates usually receive great bonuses and advantages. Promoting their brands and unique products can earn up to 60% commission.
OneNetworkDirect PROs:
- Well-known International Merchants like BitDefender, VMWare, TrendMicro, Avast, etc.
- Earn up to 60% Commission as it has one of the highest commission rates
- Various Reporting Options
OneNetworkDirect CONs:
- Customer Support Could be Better
- The website Could be More Informative
RevenueWire
RevenueWire (formerly AffiliateWire) is a comprehensive e-business platform for affiliate marketers and merchants of digital products.
Affiliates provide high-demand digital products that convert at 3% and higher, up to 75% commission, a top-converting shopping cart with sales tracking, and powerful analytics and reporting tools, all in a seamless platform.
Their e-commerce platform is available in over 120 countries.
RevenueWire Affiliate Network PROs:
- Ease of Use – It’s effortless to use, even for a newbie affiliate marketer.
- Sign up, and you’ll have to answer a few easy questions to be ready to start.
- An excellent user interface that offers excellent navigation and searching filtering capabilities.
RevenueWire Affiliate Network CONs:
- Steep learning curve – Although you do not need prior knowledge, you must be persistent before earning a decent income.
LinkConnector
LinkConnector is a pay-per-action affiliate marketing program that helps you make money online. It also has a pay-per-call. They also use a technology that allows direct links to websites.
LinkConnector Affiliate Network PROs:
- The merchant list includes huge names like Disney Store and Writer’s Digest across many categories.
- Individual attribution for coupons to prevent coupon hijacking
- Exclusive Naked Link technology so affiliates benefit through better SEO results and higher payouts.
LinkConnector Affiliate Network CONs:
- 60% of the applicants are rejected, as LinkConnector boasts a meticulous screening process for affiliates.
- Merchants can control which websites and landing pages their brand is displayed on.
- The platform is more focused on making merchants happy than affiliates.
TradeDoubler
This is another excellent marketing company, and signing up with them means success for your business. Their technology usually delivers quality results by bringing in quality traffic, which their marketing experts also facilitate. They also help their clients maximize their investments and monetize their traffic.
Tradedoubler says they have over 2,000 advertisers and over 180,000+ active publishers that generated over 1,6 billion euros in revealing revenue. Brands’ portfolio includes ING, Groupon, Microsoft, HP, Orange, and more.
Tradedoubler Affiliate Network PROs:
- Many brands like Philips, HP, The Body Shop, and others are big-name.
- They developed a technology to track affiliate sales even when the browser turned off cookies.
- Payments made monthly when you have accrued 30 GBP (40 USD)
- Adding one website per account allows you to access multiple affiliate websites.
Tradedoubler Affiliate Network CONs:
- There must be a large amount of traffic to the network.
- Pan-European based only
- Somewhat confusing (outdated) terms and conditions.
AvantLink
This is the industry-leading technology platform for affiliate referrals. This affiliate marketing program works hard to remain on top by constantly updating and upgrading its platform. It also emphasizes quality rather than quantity and consistently implements new tools and technology.
AvantLink Affiliate Network PROs:
- Lots and Lots of Merchants Available
- Wide Range of Product categories
- Robust Set of Features like access to a data feed manager, custom link builder, API, product ad widget, etc.
- Detailed Merchant Overviews
AvantLink Affiliate Network CONs:
- Poor customer support.
- Lack of reports clarity.
AffiliateFuture
Having a database of more than 600 advertisers and 300,000 publishers, Affiliatefuture is just one of the best marketing networks one can get. They usually offer personalized services and have highly trained managers to help you with your marketing problems.
Affiliate Future Network PROs:
- Provides a lot of support for affiliates and merchants.
- Huge range of merchants
- Regular free events for merchants and affiliates.
- Provides training for their affiliates.
Affiliate Future Network CONs:
- Outdated user interface.
- Not many promotional tools are available for affiliates.
- PayPal payment method is not supported.
Commission Factory
Commission Factory makes performance-based marketing available to everyone without requiring a steep learning curve to get involved and be successful.
The platform has been designed to foster collaboration between Merchants, Affiliates, and Agencies to grow mutually beneficial and prosperous relationships. Because they have little to no entry barriers, Commission Factory has an enormously fast-growing user base enables companies of all sizes to discover the power of performance marketing.
Commission Factory Network PROs:
- Provides a lot of support for affiliates and merchants.
- Huge range of merchants
- Regular free events for merchants and affiliates.
- Provides training for their affiliates.
Commission Factory Network CONs:
- Outdated user interface.
- Not many promotional tools are available for affiliates.
- PayPal payment method is not supported.
WebGains
WebGains Review
Webgains is also a good affiliate marketing network that incorporates different people, technology, partnerships, creativity, and not forgetting delivery.
They claim to have over 1800 advertisers and around 250,000 publishers. Their platform is available to publishers in 230 countries. The niches they focus on are sports, lifestyle, travel, gadgets, and fintech.
Webgains usually provide various services with experts ready to help your business. Sign up with Webgains today and start enjoying some of these priceless benefits.
WebGains Affiliate Network PROs:
- Rapid growth affiliate marketing network.
- Cutting-edge technology.
WebGains Affiliate Network CONs:
- Customer support issues
- Not so many affiliate programs are available anymore
Affiliate Marketing Networks FAQs
Which affiliate network should I use?
Here are some pointers that will help you choose the best affiliate marketing network for you:
- Availability of products in your niche – Most affiliate marketing networks focus on several niches—some on gambling and casinos, others on digital products, others on physical products, etc.
- Convenience – You probably don’t want to hog into 11 different dashboards regularly.
- Minimum payouts—If you spread your traffic too thin, it might be challenging to hit each platform’s minimum payout regularly.
- The platform’s technical aspects—You should choose an affiliate network that works well, offers multiple promotional methods, and provides extensive reports to analyze your success.
Here’s the thing about affiliate platforms and networks – you don’t have to choose just one! Rather than selecting a single network, sign up for all the ones that interest you to find the best advertisers and payouts.
How To Get Approval in these Best Affiliate Networks?
Here are some newbie-friendly and reliable affiliate marketing networks to get instant approval: ShareASale, Amazon Associates, and JVZoo.
Get your account approved to at least three affiliate marketing networks so that you can compare the quality of products, conversion rate, etc. This will help you in the long run.
How much money can I make with affiliate marketing?
Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income earned over $2 million through affiliate marketing in 2017. John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneurs on Fire earned $25,865 — in June 2020 alone.
You shouldn’t be disappointed if you don’t make too much and stay consistent with your work.
How To Get Payments From Affiliate Networks?
Conclusion
So here you have it: a complete guide on the best affiliate marketing networks for beginners. These programs allow you to make money online without sweating. Try it today and see how much you can earn.
Do you need help choosing the most suitable affiliate marketing network? Then check out our affiliate marketing consulting service, and I will happily guide you in your affiliate marketing journey.
Further readings on affiliate marketing:
- How to Start an Affiliate Marketing Blog and Grow It to $100K
- Affiliate Marketing for Beginners [Complete Guide]
- How to Monetize Your Website with Amazon Associates
- How to Monetize Your Blog [ 14 Proven Methods] [Ultimate Guide]
- High Paying Affiliate Programs for Bloggers and Marketers [65+]
- 21 Best WordPress Plugins For Affiliate Marketers
Now, it’s time to set your goal and start working.
If you are still confused by any of the above topics, please do not hesitate to ask a question in the comment section. I will do my best to answer and guide your affiliate marketing journey.
“21 Best Affiliate Marketing Networks for 2021” is one of the best guide for Affiliate Marketing. It’s very helpful in the world where the dynamics of society are constantly changing. Thanks for the useful information.
Thank you Ramkumar for your nice words. We have several other great guides on affiliate marketing. Hope those help you in your affiliate marketing career: https://monetize.info/affiliate-marketing-guides/
Great work.. Thank you for sharing this amazing info.. Keep it up..
Thank you ADX. Appreciate it.
Thanks for the comprehensive write-up! I am definitely going to use some affiliate advice you present here as it sounds thoughtful and helpful. Would you mind also writing a piece on pop-up ads?
Hello Melanie.Glad I could help. Well we have a similar top on display advertising networks. You may check it here https://monetize.info/best-advertising-networks/
“This is such an insightful post on earning through referrals! I’ve personally found referral programs to be an excellent way to make money directly into my bank account. One platform I’d recommend is ReferRush, which simplifies creating and managing referral campaigns for businesses, and also offers great opportunities for individuals to earn through referrals. Thanks for sharing this – looking forward to more tips from your blog!”