Software and SaaS affiliate programs that publish a percentage pay a median top rate of 30%, with the middle half between 20% and 35% (155 programs in the PartnersWatch directory, checked 2 October 2026). Recurring programs also sit at a median 30%, but 42 of the 135 recurring programs stop paying after 12 months.
We read the commission terms of all 412 programs in our directory. 287 publish some commission text, and 192 of those state at least one percentage. Everything below comes from those records, with the sample size next to each number. If a cut has fewer than 15 programs, we say it's indicative and leave it out of the headline.
The short answer
| Cut | Median top rate | Middle half (25th to 75th percentile) | Programs (n) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software and SaaS | 30% | 20% to 35% | 155 |
| All industries | 27.5% | 20% to 35% | 192 |
| Recurring model | 30% | 20% to 33.75% | 118 |
| One-time model | 30% | 20% to 35% | 29 |
| Revenue share model | 25% | 15% to 40% | 35 |
| Flat cash amount (no percentage stated) | $205 | $100 to $925 | 38 |
The all-industries figure is lower because it includes travel, retail and franchise royalties, where rates of 4 to 8% are normal. For software, 30% is the number to hold in your head.
| Min | 25th pct | Median | 75th pct | Max | Mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | 20% | 30% | 35% | 125% | 31.5% |
Almost a third of programs that state a rate land in the 20 to 29% band, and another quarter in the 30 to 39% band. Rates of 50% or more aren't rare: 30 of the 192 programs (15.6%) state one, though often as a top tier or as a share of the first payment only.
Show the numbers
| Group | Programs | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under 10% | 11 | 5.7% |
| 10–19% | 24 | 12.5% |
| 20–29% | 61 | 31.8% |
| 30–39% | 51 | 26.6% |
| 40–49% | 15 | 7.8% |
| 50% or more | 30 | 15.6% |
Commission by model: recurring, one-time, revenue share and flat fee
Across the directory's software programs, recurring is the most common model by a distance. Of the 288 software and SaaS programs we list, 39.9% pay recurring commission, 13.5% call it a revenue share, 10.4% pay once, 8.7% pay a flat fee or bounty, and 27.4% don't say.
| Group | n | Recurring | One-time | Revenue share | Royalty | Flat fee / bounty | Not stated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software & SaaS | 288 | 39.9% | 10.4% | 13.5% | 0% | 8.7% | 27.4% |
| Financial services | 21 | 0% | 28.6% | 19% | 0% | 14.3% | 38.1% |
| E-commerce | 17 | 35.3% | 11.8% | 29.4% | 0% | 5.9% | 17.6% |
| Business services | 17 | 23.5% | 23.5% | 0% | 5.9% | 11.8% | 35.3% |
| Education * | 14 | 21.4% | 14.3% | 21.4% | 7.1% | 7.1% | 28.6% |
| Travel & hospitality * | 10 | 0% | 0% | 60% | 0% | 0% | 40% |
| Fitness & wellness * | 9 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 33.3% | 0% | 66.7% |
| Food & beverage * | 8 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 37.5% | 0% | 62.5% |
| Home services * | 8 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 12.5% | 0% | 87.5% |
| Real estate * | 7 | 0% | 0% | 14.3% | 0% | 28.6% | 57.1% |
| Other * | 6 | 33.3% | 0% | 16.7% | 16.7% | 0% | 33.3% |
| Retail * | 4 | 0% | 25% | 25% | 0% | 0% | 50% |
| Health & care * | 3 | 0% | 33.3% | 0% | 0% | 33.3% | 33.3% |
* Fewer than 15 programs in this group: indicative only.
The medians look alike, and that's misleading. A one-time median of 30% (n=29) sounds as good as a recurring median of 30% (n=118), but a one-time percentage usually applies to a single payment. Sendcloud pays 100% of the referral's first month. Surfer pays 75 to 125% of the first monthly payment, or 15 to 25% of an annual subscription, by tier. Those are big percentages of a small base. The one-time mean of 34.66% is pulled up by exactly these first-month offers.
Recurring commission compounds instead. On a $49/month plan, the gap looks like this:
| Offer | Per customer, if they stay 12 months | Per customer, if they stay 24 months |
|---|---|---|
| 100% of first month, one-time | $49 × 1 = $49 | $49 × 1 = $49 |
| 30% recurring, capped at 12 months | $49 × 0.30 × 12 = $176.40 | $49 × 0.30 × 12 = $176.40 |
| 20% recurring, lifetime | $49 × 0.20 × 12 = $117.60 | $49 × 0.20 × 24 = $235.20 |
Revenue share programs (n=35, median 25%) have the widest spread, from 15% at the 25th percentile to 40% at the 75th. The label covers very different deals: Viator pays 8% on completed bookings, and Bright Data pays a 50% revenue share up to $2.5K per customer. Treat "revenue share" as a description of the mechanism, not a rate class.
Royalty programs (n=6) are franchise fees flowing the other way, with a median of 5.95%. That cut is too small to say much about, and it isn't affiliate pay.
Show the numbers
| Group | Programs | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Not stated | 131 | 31.8% |
| Recurring | 130 | 31.6% |
| Revenue share | 60 | 14.6% |
| One-time | 46 | 11.2% |
| Flat fee / bounty | 35 | 8.5% |
| Royalty | 10 | 2.4% |
Commission by partner type: affiliate, referral, reseller, agency
Programs that accept affiliates pay the highest median top rate, at 30% (n=171). Programs for referral partners sit at a median 25% (n=54), resellers at 22% (n=27) and integrators or MSPs at 20% (n=19). Agency programs match affiliates on the median, 30% (n=37), with a tight middle half of 20% to 30%.
| Partner type accepted | Median top rate | Middle half | n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Affiliate | 30% | 20% to 35% | 171 |
| Agency | 30% | 20% to 30% | 37 |
| Referral partner | 25% | 20% to 33.75% | 54 |
| Reseller | 22% | 20% to 30% | 27 |
| Integrator / MSP | 20% | 20% to 27.5% | 19 |
Two cautions. A program can accept several partner types (49% accept one, the rest two or more), so these groups overlap. And reseller rates are often a discount off list price instead of a commission, so 22% is the margin a reseller keeps on the sale, not a payment from the vendor.
The bigger finding is how few partner-heavy programs publish anything. Of the 87 programs that take resellers, 57.5% don't state a commission model at all. For integrators and MSPs (n=100) it's 61%. Affiliate programs are the opposite: only 14.8% of the 264 that take affiliates leave the model unstated. Affiliate terms get published because affiliates compare offers in public. Reseller and integrator terms get negotiated.
| Group | n | Recurring | One-time | Revenue share | Royalty | Flat fee / bounty | Not stated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Affiliate | 264 | 45.5% | 15.9% | 12.9% | 0% | 11% | 14.8% |
| Referral partner | 147 | 27.9% | 7.5% | 21.1% | 0% | 10.2% | 33.3% |
| Integrator / MSP | 100 | 13% | 4% | 20% | 0% | 2% | 61% |
| Agency | 89 | 25.8% | 6.7% | 21.3% | 0% | 3.4% | 42.7% |
| Reseller | 87 | 19.5% | 4.6% | 16.1% | 0% | 2.3% | 57.5% |
| Franchisee | 42 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 23.8% | 0% | 76.2% |
| Agent / broker * | 14 | 21.4% | 0% | 35.7% | 0% | 0% | 42.9% |
| Distributor * | 12 | 8.3% | 0% | 8.3% | 0% | 0% | 83.3% |
| Location operator * | 3 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 100% |
* Fewer than 15 programs in this group: indicative only.
How long "recurring" lasts: 12-month caps vs lifetime
"Recurring" on its own tells you very little. Of the 135 programs that pay recurring commission, 42 cap it at 12 months, 5 cap it at 24 months, 36 pay for the customer's lifetime, and 52 don't say how long it lasts.
Show the numbers
| Group | Programs | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Duration not stated | 52 | 38.5% |
| Capped at 12 months | 42 | 31.1% |
| Lifetime | 36 | 26.7% |
| Capped at 24 months | 5 | 3.7% |
The 12-month cap is the most common stated limit. HubSpot pays 30% recurring for up to one year. Kit pays 50% for 12 months, then 10 to 20% recurring after 12 months at its Bronze, Silver and Gold tiers. Teachable pays 30% recurring for 12 months.
Lifetime programs tend to pay a lower headline rate. MailerLite pays 30% recurring for the lifetime of the customer, Kinsta pays 10% lifetime monthly recurring commission plus up to a $500 one-time bonus, and systeme.io is the outlier at 60% lifetime recurring.
| Program | Partner types | Terms | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| systeme.io | Affiliate | 60% lifetime recurring | Recurring |
| MailerLite | Affiliate | 30% recurring for the lifetime of the customer | Recurring |
| Pabbly | Affiliate | 30% recurring for the life of the customer | Recurring |
| Mighty Networks | Affiliate | 30% recurring for the lifetime of the referral | Recurring |
| Sender | Affiliate | 30-40% lifetime recurring, by tier | Recurring |
| respond.io | Reseller, Referral partner | 15% to 40% lifetime commissions | Recurring |
| Kinsta | Affiliate, Referral partner | Up to $500 one-time bonus plus 10% lifetime monthly recurring commission | Recurring |
| LiveChat (Text) | Affiliate, Reseller | 20% of each paid subscription, rising to 22% after 5 paying customers, for the life of the subscription | Recurring |
| Browse AI | Affiliate | 20% recurring, lifetime | Recurring |
| KrispCall Communications | Affiliate, Referral partner | 30% lifetime recurring commission | Recurring |
The 52 programs that don't state a duration are worth a closer look before you sign up or copy their terms. In our reading, most of them say "recurring" in the headline and put the cap in the agreement. Ask.
Flat-fee programs: the dollar range
38 programs state a flat US-dollar amount and no percentage. Their largest stated amount runs from $20 to $5,000, with a median of $205 and a middle half of $100 to $925.
| Min | 25th pct | Median | 75th pct | Max | Mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $20 | $100 | $205 | $925 | $5,000 | $810.3 |
Flat fees cluster at two ends. Low bounties pay for a signup or a cheap plan: Descript pays $25 per new subscriber and ClickUp up to $25 per new free workspace sign-up. High bounties pay for a closed B2B deal: MarketerHire pays $5,000 cash per new customer, and Deel pays $500 per sales-qualified referral plus $1,000 per new paying customer. The mean ($810.34) is four times the median for that reason, so don't quote the average.
Tiers are rarer than the marketing suggests
Only 24 of the 287 programs with commission text (8.4%) describe tiers or volume steps in their headline terms. GetResponse is a clear example: 40% for 12 months, rising to 50% at 50+ sales a year or 60% at 100+. Pipedrive moves affiliates from 20% to 30% once they make 2 to 5 sales a month for 6 months. Because we count each program's largest stated percentage, tiered programs show their top tier in these figures. Most affiliates never reach it.
Show the numbers
| Group | Programs | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Single stated rate | 263 | 91.6% |
| Tiered / volume-based | 24 | 8.4% |
What this means if you run a program
Price against the median, then decide what you're competing on. A 30% recurring offer puts you in the middle of software programs; it won't stand out, and it won't put anyone off. If you go below 20% you're in the bottom quarter, and you need a reason affiliates will accept it: a high price point, a long cookie, or strong conversion.
Duration is the cheaper lever. Moving from "30% for 12 months" to "20% lifetime" costs you less in year one and more only for customers who stay past month 18 (30% × 12 = 3.6 months of revenue, and 20% takes 18 months to match it). Most affiliates prefer a lifetime offer, and you only pay it on customers who stick.
Publish your terms. 125 of the 412 programs give no commission text at all, and those programs are invisible in every comparison an affiliate runs. Our guide to setting commission rates works through the unit economics, and the ROI calculator tests a rate against your own churn.
What this means if you're an affiliate
Compare the payout per customer, never the headline rate. Multiply the rate by the price, then by the months it's paid for, then discount for churn. The table in the model section above shows how quickly a 100% one-time offer falls behind a modest recurring one.
Check the cap. Of the recurring programs that state a duration, more are capped at 12 or 24 months (47) than pay for life (36). A lifetime offer at 20% beats a capped 30% for any customer who stays longer than 18 months.
Look past the top tier. If the rate you're quoted needs 100 sales a year, plan on the entry rate. Lists like our recurring commission programs and highest paying programs show the entry and top rates side by side, and you can filter the full software category.
Methodology
Source. The PartnersWatch Network directory: 412 published programs, each curated from the brand's own partner, affiliate or franchise page (the record's sourceUrl). Every record in this snapshot was checked on 2 October 2026. Numbers come from the research datasets generated from that file; nothing was taken from other directories or networks. Our editorial policy explains how records are made and corrected.
Sample. 287 programs publish commission text. 192 state at least one percentage, 155 of them in software and SaaS. 38 state a flat US-dollar amount and no percentage. 281 have a commission model recorded. 135 pay recurring commission, by model or by the wording of their terms.
How rates were parsed. For each program we take the largest percentage in its commission text. "Up to 30%" counts as 30, and "75-125%" counts as 125. This is the rate a program advertises, so it leans high: entry tiers are lower. Flat amounts are only counted for programs that state no percentage, and only when written in US dollars, so euro and sterling amounts are left out.
Classification. The commission model (recurring, one-time, revenue share, royalty, flat fee) is the field recorded for each program from its own wording. Recurring duration is classified from the commission text: "lifetime", "for life" or "as long as" counts as lifetime; "12 months", "first year" or "one year" counts as a 12-month cap; "24 months" or "two years" as a 24-month cap; anything else as not stated. Tiers are flagged when the commission text mentions tiers, volume steps or rates that rise with sales.
Statistics. Medians and quartiles use linear interpolation between ranked values. Any group with fewer than 15 programs is marked as a small sample and treated as indicative only (royalty, n=6; flat fee with a percentage, n=1; most non-software industries).
Exclusions. Programs that publish no commission text (125) are excluded from every rate figure, as are programs whose terms are "custom" or "on request" with no number.
Limitations
These are published terms, not paid commissions. A program can advertise 30% and pay most affiliates less, through tiers, holds or exclusions. We have no data on what affiliates actually earn.
Programs that publish terms may differ from those that don't. Reseller and integrator programs mostly don't, so the reseller and integrator medians rest on small, self-selected groups (27 and 19 programs).
The snapshot is a single check date. Terms change without notice, and a program that changed its rate after 2 October 2026 will be wrong here until the next re-check. Each directory listing shows its own checked date and links to the brand's page; read that before relying on a single program's number.
FAQ
What is the average SaaS affiliate commission rate?
The median top rate for SaaS affiliate programs is 30%, across 155 software programs in the PartnersWatch directory that publish a percentage (checked October 2026). The middle half pay between 20% and 35%. The mean is 31.51%, slightly higher because a few programs advertise 100% or more of a first payment.
Is 20% a good affiliate commission for software?
20% is at the 25th percentile for software programs, so it's on the low side but common. It's competitive if it's recurring for the customer's lifetime, or if the product is expensive. A 20% lifetime offer beats 30% capped at 12 months for any customer who stays longer than 18 months.
Do most SaaS affiliate programs pay recurring commission?
Yes, among those that say. Of 288 software and SaaS programs in our directory, 39.9% pay recurring commission, 13.5% a revenue share, 10.4% a one-time commission and 8.7% a flat fee. 27.4% don't state a model. Of the 135 recurring programs, 42 cap payments at 12 months.
How long do recurring affiliate commissions last?
Most often 12 months, when a limit is stated. Of 135 recurring programs in the PartnersWatch directory, 42 cap commission at 12 months, 5 at 24 months, and 36 pay for the customer's lifetime. The other 52 don't publish a duration, so check the agreement.
What do referral partners and resellers earn compared with affiliates?
Programs that accept referral partners pay a median top rate of 25% (n=54), and reseller programs 22% (n=27), against 30% for affiliate programs (n=171). Reseller figures are usually a discount off list price. Most reseller programs (57.5% of 87) don't publish terms at all.
How much do flat-fee affiliate programs pay?
The median is $205 per conversion, across 38 programs that state a flat US-dollar amount and no percentage. The middle half pay $100 to $925. The range runs from $20 bounties for a signup to $5,000 for a closed B2B customer.