PartnerStack explained: how the platform works and pays

PartnerStack is a partner platform built mostly for software companies. A company that sells a subscription product, such as an email tool, a CRM or a website builder, licenses PartnerStack to run its affiliate, referral and reseller programs. Partners create one free account, apply to the programs they want, and get one dashboard and one payment for all of them.

That focus on software shapes almost everything about it. Commissions are often recurring, a referral can be a lead as well as a sale, and the wait between a sign-up and your money depends on how the company handles trials and refunds.

If networks are new to you, what an affiliate network is covers the general model first.

Is PartnerStack an affiliate network?

Partly. PartnerStack is software that companies, mostly software businesses, license to run their partner programs, and it adds a marketplace where partners can find those programs. For you as a partner it feels like a network: one account, one dashboard and one payment. Each company still sets its own terms.

In that sense it sits closer to Impact than to a classic network such as Awin or CJ Affiliate. The company running the program writes the offer, approves the partners and decides which referrals count. PartnerStack runs the tracking, the dashboard and the payments.

How PartnerStack works for partners

The path from sign-up to first payment has five steps.

1. You create a partner account. You describe your site, channel or audience and how you promote. Joining is free for partners.
2. You apply to programs. You find a company in the marketplace or through its own partner page, and apply. The company reviews you and accepts or declines.
3. You get your links. Once accepted, you get a referral link for that company, and sometimes a form to submit leads by hand.
4. PartnerStack tracks the referral. A visitor clicks your link and signs up, and the referral is credited to you as a customer, a lead or both.
5. You get paid. Once the commission clears the company's holding period, it joins your balance and goes out on PartnerStack's next payment.

The parts that trip people up are the program types, the holding period and recurring pay, so they get their own sections.

Affiliate, referral and reseller programs

Software companies use partners in more than one way, and PartnerStack lets a company run several kinds of program side by side.

• Affiliate programs pay for sign-ups that come through your link. This is the type most content creators and reviewers join.
• Referral programs are usually aimed at agencies, consultants and existing customers. You may submit a lead directly, and you are paid when that lead becomes a paying customer.
• Reseller programs are for partners who sell, set up or manage the product for their own clients, often with their own pricing and a closer relationship with the company.

A company can offer different terms in each, so check which program you are applying to. The same company may pay an agency differently from a blogger.

How PartnerStack tracks a referral

When someone clicks your link, PartnerStack records the click and sends the visitor on to the company's site. If that visitor signs up within the program's cookie window, the company reports the new customer to PartnerStack, which ties the customer to your account.

That link to the customer matters more here than on most retail programs. Software customers often start on a free trial or a free plan and pay later, sometimes weeks later. A program that credits the customer at sign-up and pays when the first invoice clears will still pay you, even if the visitor never clicks your link again.

Leads work differently. If a program lets you submit a lead, the company checks it and decides whether it is new to them. A lead they already had in their sales pipeline usually does not count as yours.

What the holding period means on PartnerStack

A new commission does not reach your balance straight away. Each company sets a period during which it can still check the sale and reverse it, for example after a refund, a chargeback, a cancelled trial or a referral the terms do not allow, such as signing yourself up.

So the commission in your dashboard is not yet money you are owed. It is a referral the company still has time to check. A short holding period means you see your money sooner. A long one usually follows a long refund window, which is reasonable, but it stretches the wait.

How recurring commission works on PartnerStack

Because most of the products are subscriptions, many programs on PartnerStack pay a share of each payment rather than a single fee. When the customer pays their next invoice, a new commission is created and goes through the same holding period.

Read the terms for three things: how long the share lasts (a set number of months or the life of the account), whether it covers upgrades and annual plans, and what happens if the customer pauses or downgrades. Our guide to SaaS affiliate programs with recurring commission covers what to watch for in more depth, and affiliate commission types explains the basics of recurring against one-off pay.

How PartnerStack pays partners

Once a commission clears its holding period, it joins your balance. PartnerStack pays partners out on its own schedule, once your balance clears the minimum for the payment method you chose, and it pays you for every program in one go rather than company by company.

The schedule, minimums and payment methods are platform settings. They change from time to time and can depend on your country and currency, so check the current figures in PartnerStack's own help pages rather than an old forum thread. Our guide to payout terms explains thresholds and payment schedules in general.

Put it together and the real wait for a PartnerStack commission is the trial (if there is one), then the holding period, then the time until the next payout. Comparing two programs by commission alone misses most of that.

Whose terms apply on PartnerStack

Two sets of rules stack up.

• The company's program terms set the commission, the cookie window, how long recurring pay lasts, the holding period, the allowed traffic sources and which sign-ups are excluded.
• PartnerStack's terms set the account rules, the payout schedule, the minimums and the payment methods.

So "what do I earn on this customer, and for how long?" is a question for the company's terms. "When does it reach my bank?" is a question for PartnerStack. Read the program terms the way you would read any affiliate agreement.

How can you tell if a program runs on PartnerStack?

Follow the sign-up link on the company's affiliate or partner page. If it asks you to join or log in to PartnerStack, the program runs there. The application page usually carries PartnerStack branding, even when the company has put its own name and colours on it.

Some companies also run a version of their program elsewhere, or move between platforms over time. Finding a program on PartnerStack does not mean it is the only version, or the best one for you.

When PartnerStack suits you

PartnerStack tends to suit you when:

• your audience buys software, and the tools you recommend run their programs there;
• you promote several of them and want one login, one set of reports and one payment;
• you are an agency or consultant, and a referral or reseller program fits how you work better than a link.

It suits you less when you promote physical products, or when the company you care about runs its program somewhere else with better terms.

Before you apply

Open the program terms and note the commission, how long recurring pay lasts, the cookie window, the holding period and the traffic rules. Then compare them with any other version of the same program. Every program listing in this directory shows each network or platform a company runs on, with the terms we read for each and a link to the source, and the SaaS category is a good place to start for software. Our data is not complete and terms change, so check the terms on PartnerStack itself before you accept. That is the version that counts.