Almost half of the affiliate marketing companies in a 2021 industry study paid their partners a flat rate per action, according to Statista, and a percentage of the sale was also common. The software programs reviewed here lean the other way: four of the six pay a percentage of subscription revenue over months instead of a single fee.
That shift changes the maths for both sides. A percentage of a monthly subscription is worth very little on day one and a lot by month twelve, so the rate on its own says less than the duration, the cookie window and the fine print around renewals.
This piece compares the published terms of six well-known software affiliate programs, checked on 6 November 2026, and sets them against older industry benchmarks. It is written for SaaS founders pricing a new program and for affiliates deciding which programs deserve their traffic. The headline figures come first, followed by what each one means in practice.
Editor’s Choice
- Four of six programs reviewed pay a percentage of revenue for 12 months, at rates between 20% and 60%.
- Published cookie or referral windows run from 30 to 180 days, against a 30-day norm in IAB’s affiliate handbook.
- Elementor is the only percentage-based program of the six that pays on the first purchase alone.
- Shopify pays a fixed bounty of up to $150 per qualified referral, with amounts varying by the referral’s location.
- Affiliate networks can add an override of 1% to 30% on top of every commission paid.
- Safari deletes cookies set by JavaScript after 7 days without user interaction with the site, whatever the program promises.
Commission Rates by Program
Figures come from each company’s own affiliate page. Rates are the base tier unless noted.
| Program | Commission | How long it pays | Cookie / referral window |
|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot | 30% recurring | Up to 1 year | 180 days |
| Kit (formerly ConvertKit) | 50% | First 12 months of each referral | 90 days |
| GetResponse | 40% (50% at 50+ sales, 60% at 100+ sales a year) | 12 months | 90 days |
| Notion | Up to $50 per activated signup plus 20% of year-one revenue | Year one | 180 days after the click, last click wins |
| Elementor | 45% to 55% (55% on Elementor One during its launch phase) | First purchase only | 45 days |
| Shopify | Up to $150 per qualified referral, varies by location | One-off | 30 days, up to 400 days for trial stores that convert |
The 12-month cut-off is the common thread. Four of the six programs stop paying after the first year of a customer’s subscription, and none of the six pays a flat percentage for life by default. Kit comes closest: affiliates who refer 10 paying customers within a year earn an extra 10% recurring commission for as long as those customers stay.
Volume tiers are the other lever in the table. GetResponse lifts its rate from 40% to 50% once an affiliate passes 50 sales in 12 months, and to 60% past 100 sales. For the software company, a tier costs less than a higher base rate, because the extra percentage goes only to partners who have already shown they can sell. For a new affiliate, it means the advertised maximum is rarely the rate on the first few referrals.
Recurring vs One-Off Payouts
Running each structure on the same customer makes the headline rates comparable. Take a hypothetical plan at $100 a month that stays active for a full year.
At 30% for 12 months, the affiliate earns $360. At 50% for 12 months, $600. Notion’s model on the same revenue works out at $240 plus a signup bonus of up to $50. A one-off 45% on the first monthly payment would come to $45. Elementor softens that gap on monthly Elementor One plans by basing its 55% on the subscriber’s first three months of payments.
For the SaaS company, the trade-off is cash flow against retention risk. A one-off bounty is paid early, before the business knows whether the customer will stay. A recurring share is paid only while the customer keeps paying, so a customer who churns in month three stops costing anything from month four, which suits a business whose own revenue arrives monthly.
Recurring terms also need more bookkeeping. Every renewal, upgrade, refund and cancellation changes what is owed, and spreadsheets break down quickly once a program has more than a few active partners. Software for managing SaaS affiliate programs usually connects to the billing system, such as Stripe or Paddle, and applies the commission rule to each invoice as it is paid, reversing it when a payment is refunded.
Cookie Windows Have Grown Longer
The IAB’s affiliate marketing handbook describes the standard set-up as last-cookie-wins with a 30-day cookie. Shopify’s tracking window matches that figure exactly. The other five programs in the table go further, with Elementor at 45 days, Kit and GetResponse at 90, and HubSpot and Notion at 180.
Longer windows reflect how software is bought. A shopper might click a retail link and check out within the hour, while a business buyer often reads a review, books a demo, runs a free trial and waits for budget sign-off. Shopify’s 400-day window for trial stores that later move to a paid plan is the clearest example of a program adjusted to that pattern.
What the Cookie Window Does Not Guarantee
A 180-day promise only holds if the cookie survives. Safari’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention deletes cookies written by JavaScript once a visitor has gone 7 days without interacting with the site, and an affiliate cookie set by a script in the browser falls under that rule. A Safari click followed by a signup three weeks later, with no visit in between, can reach the site with no affiliate cookie left.
For affiliates, this means a long published window can shrink in practice for Safari visitors. For SaaS companies, it is a reason to capture the referral on the server at signup, so the partner is recorded on the customer account and the browser cookie stops mattering once the trial begins.
The Hidden Cost of Networks
The commission an affiliate sees is not always the full cost to the business. The IAB handbook notes that affiliate networks charge an override, also called a network payout or transaction fee, that can range from 1% to 30% of each commission paid to publishers. On a $100 commission, a 20% override adds another $20.
Running the program in-house removes that layer. The fee saved can go into a higher rate or a longer recurring period, both of which make the program look stronger in comparisons like the table above.
Bottom Line
SaaS affiliate commissions in 2026 cluster around a percentage of revenue for 12 months, typically 20% to 50% at the base tier, with cookie windows of 90 to 180 days. Among the six, one-off payouts appear only at Elementor, which pays on the first purchase, and Shopify, which pays a fixed bounty. Founders pricing a program should settle the duration before the rate, since it decides what a good referral is worth over a year. Affiliates comparing programs should treat a long cookie window as an upper limit, given how Safari handles script-set cookies.
