SaaS affiliate programs with the longest cookie windows, and where they break
By the LinkedAffiliate team ·
A reader clicks your link to a project management tool, likes what they see and leaves. Five weeks later they come back, but this time they install it from an app marketplace inside the software their team already uses, and the bill arrives through that marketplace. Your cookie is still sitting in their browser, well inside the window. The sale never touches it.
Cookie length gets most of the attention when SaaS programs are compared, and it is a fair place to start. This page lists the SaaS programs in our directory with the longest published windows, then covers the ways a SaaS sale can slip around a cookie however long it lasts: marketplaces and app stores, readers who already have an account, the company's own brand ads, and sign-ups that happen somewhere the cookie cannot see.
SaaS affiliate programs ranked by cookie window
These are the 32 SaaS programs in the directory with published terms, longest cookie window first. Each name links to its listing, which shows every program the company runs, the terms we read and the page we read them from.
| Program | Best rate | Cookie window | Networks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pabbly | See listing | 365 days | Direct (in-house) |
| MacPaw | 35% | 180 days | Direct (in-house) |
| FirstPromoter | See listing | 120 days | Direct (in-house) |
| BillingNow | 35% | 90 days | Direct (in-house) |
| Copper CRM | 15% | 90 days | Direct (in-house) |
| KrispCall | 30% | 90 days | Direct (in-house) |
| Landbot | 20% | 90 days | Direct (in-house) |
| parallels.com | See listing | 90 days | Direct (in-house) |
| Senja | 30% | 90 days | Direct (in-house) |
| Tutor LMS | 30% | 90 days | Direct (in-house) |
Here is how the category looks as a whole:
- Programs with published terms
- 32
- Median best commission
- 25%
- across 24 programs that publish a percentage
- Median cookie window
- 60 days
- across 32 programs that publish one
A program shown as "Not published" did not state a window on the page we read, which is not the same as having none. Some only show it once you are approved, and some keep it in the agreement. The list is also not every SaaS program in the world, and it changes as we add programs and as companies correct their own listings. Treat it as a shortlist, then read each source page before you build content around one.
If the rate matters more to you than the window, our guide to the highest paying SaaS affiliate programs ranks the same category by commission, and covers trials and free plans in detail.
What the window has to cover on a SaaS sale
On most SaaS programs the cookie only has one job: carry your referral from the click to the moment the customer is tied to an account. After that, the program follows the account, and renewals are credited without any cookie at all. Our guide to SaaS affiliate programs with recurring commission covers that part of the deal.
So the question is not only how many days the window lasts, but which moment it has to reach. If the program credits you at sign-up, the window only has to cover the time between the click and the sign-up. If it credits you at the first payment, it has to cover the trial as well, and a trial longer than the window is a sale you start and never see. Our cookie windows explainer covers when the clock starts and what resets it.
Marketplace and app store purchases
A lot of software is no longer bought on the vendor's own website. Teams add tools from the app directories of the platforms they already use, plugins come from a plugin store, mobile apps are paid for through the phone's app store, and larger companies buy through cloud marketplaces so the cost lands on an existing bill.
When the purchase happens there, the vendor's website never sees the visitor, so the affiliate cookie set on that website is never read. The marketplace handles the billing, and in many cases the vendor does not even know who the customer clicked through from. A long window on the vendor's site does not reach into a marketplace checkout.
What to check:
- Does the program say which purchases count? Some terms limit commission to sign-ups and payments made on the company's own site.
- Is there a marketplace or partner listing? If the product is mostly installed from a marketplace, ask whether those installs can be credited at all, for example through a referral code or a special link.
- Who your readers are. If they are developers or IT buyers, a share of them will go through a marketplace by habit, and you should expect fewer credited sales than your clicks suggest.
Does a long cookie window help if the reader already has an account?
Usually not. Most SaaS programs only pay on new customers, and they decide who is new by looking at the account, not the cookie. If your reader opened a free account a year ago and upgrades after clicking your link, many programs treat that as an existing customer and pay nothing, however long the window is. Some programs do credit upgrades from free accounts that had no referral yet, so check the terms for words like "new customers only" or "existing accounts".
This matters more for well-known tools than for new ones. If you write about a product many of your readers have already tried, a large share of your clicks come from people with a dormant account, and the window length makes no difference to them. A newer product that few readers have heard of tends to turn more of your clicks into genuinely new accounts.
The company's own brand ads and emails
A reader who liked a tool often comes back later by searching its name. If the company runs search ads on its own brand name, the first result may be its own ad, and the reader clicks that rather than typing the address.
What happens next is set by the program's terms. Many programs only let one affiliate take the credit, and leave the company's own marketing out of it, so your cookie survives a click on their ad. Others count their own paid ads or email campaigns as a last click that overrides the affiliate cookie. On those programs, a reader who returns through a brand ad or a trial reminder email may no longer be yours, even inside the window.
This is often in the attribution section of the agreement, under wording like "last non-affiliate click" or "paid search". If you cannot find it, it is a fair question to ask the program team before you commit: does a click on your own ads or emails replace my referral? Our guide on how to read an affiliate agreement shows where clauses like this usually sit.
Sign-ups the cookie cannot see
Some SaaS sign-ups happen in places a browser cookie set on the marketing site does not reach:
- A different domain for the app. If the marketing site and the app run on separate domains, the program has to pass your referral across. Most do, but it is worth a quick test with your own link before you send traffic.
- Desktop and mobile apps. A reader who clicks on a phone and later signs up inside a desktop app, or the other way round, starts with no cookie in the place they sign up.
- A teammate's invitation. If your reader asks a colleague to set up the workspace, or accepts an invite from one, the account is created from someone else's browser. Our guide to B2B affiliate programs with the longest cookie windows covers buyers who are not the reader in more depth.
Programs that also offer a referral code or a coupon entered at checkout get around most of these, because the code travels with the person rather than the browser. If a program offers one, it is worth using alongside your link.
A long window does not change what happens after the sale
Once the customer is tied to your account, the cookie has done its job. How much the referral is worth from there depends on how long the share lasts, what happens on an upgrade or a cancellation, and whether new terms apply to customers you have already sent. When you are paid is another separate question: programs often hold commission until the refund window has passed. Our guide to affiliate payout terms explains holds, thresholds and net terms.
Checking the window before you join
Five questions to answer from the program's own pages:
- How many days is the window, and is it on the public page or only in the agreement?
- Is the referral credited at sign-up or at the first payment, and is the trial longer than the window?
- Do purchases through marketplaces or app stores count?
- Are upgrades from existing free accounts credited, or only brand new customers?
- Do the company's own ads or emails count as a click that replaces yours?
Most of these answers sit in the agreement rather than on the sign-up page, so save a dated copy when you join.
Where to go from here
Browse every program in the SaaS category, open the listings with the longest windows and read each source page for where the sale has to happen and who counts as a new customer. A long window only pays when the sale passes through the place your cookie is waiting.