VPN affiliate programs with recurring commission, and what a renewal is worth
By the LinkedAffiliate team ·
A VPN subscription renews on a very different clock from most software. A customer who buys a two-year plan through your link pays once, then nothing for two years, then either renews or leaves. So a recurring commission here is a short list of large, widely spaced payments, not a steady monthly trickle, and each of those payments can go wrong in its own way.
This guide is about those renewals. It covers how recurring commission works on VPN and security programs, what changes between the first sale and the second, and how to compare programs on what a customer is worth after they renew. For the programs ranked by rate, and for how plan length shapes the first sale, start with our guide to the highest paying VPN affiliate programs.
Where to start in the directory
These are the 12 VPN and security programs in the directory with published terms, best rate first. Each name links to its listing, which shows the terms we read and the page we read them from.
| Program | Best rate | Cookie window | Networks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oxylabs | 50% | 30 days | Direct (in-house) |
| Surfshark | 40% | 30 days | Direct (in-house) |
| VPN Secure | 35% | 60 days | Direct (in-house) |
| Optery | 30% | 90 days | Direct (in-house) |
| MalCare | 20% | 60 days | Direct (in-house) |
| Icedrive | 20% | 60 days | Direct (in-house) |
| Geonode | 10% | 90 days | Direct (in-house) |
| IPRoyal.com | 10% | 60 days | Direct (in-house) |
| Internxt | See listing | 30 days | Direct (in-house) |
| Kaspersky | See listing | 30 days | Direct (in-house) |
The directory does not yet record recurring payment as its own field, so a rate in this table may be paid once or on every renewal. Open the listing, follow the link to the source page and look for the words that describe duration: "recurring", "renewals", "lifetime", "first purchase only". Treat the table as a shortlist to check, and expect it to change as we add programs and companies correct their own listings.
How recurring commission works on a VPN program
You refer someone, they buy a plan, and the program credits the sale to you. On a program that pays on renewals, it then links the customer's account to your affiliate account, so each later payment on that account earns you a share without the customer ever clicking your link again. Our guide to affiliate commission types covers the basic maths of one-off against recurring pay.
Two things make this category its own case. The payments are far apart, because most VPN customers buy a year or more at a time. And the first payment is often the cheapest one per month, because providers tend to sell the first term at an introductory price and renew at a standard one.
The renewal is a different sale from the first one
Read the terms for what the program pays on the renewal itself, not just whether it pays. Common patterns include:
- the same rate on every payment, first sale and renewals alike;
- a high rate on the first sale and a lower one on renewals;
- a renewal commission for a set number of renewals or years, then nothing;
- renewals paid only on certain plans, or only on products bought through your link.
The price matters as much as the rate. If the first term was sold at a discount and the renewal is charged at the full price, a percentage commission on the renewal can be worth more than the rate suggests. If the program pays a fixed amount per sale, the price makes no difference at all. Our guide to SaaS affiliate programs with recurring commission covers what happens when a company changes its prices or its terms partway through a referral, which applies here just as much.
What happens at renewal time
Auto-renewal switched off. Many customers turn off auto-renewal soon after buying, then decide later whether to come back. If they renew by hand through the same account, most programs still see it. If they buy again with a new email address, the link to you is usually gone.
A different plan. A customer on a two-year plan may renew on a monthly one, or the other way round. The renewal is then a smaller or larger payment, and a few programs only pay renewal commission on the plan length you first referred.
A reminder email with a discount. Providers often try to keep customers with a renewal offer. A discounted renewal is still a renewal, but your share of it shrinks with the price.
A gap. A customer whose plan lapses and who returns months later may be treated as a new customer. Whether that sale is yours depends on whether the program keeps the referral on the account or ends it at expiry. The terms rarely say this, so ask the program team in writing.
What happens to a VPN renewal commission if the customer gets a refund?
It is usually reversed, the same way a refunded first sale is. Many VPN and security products let a customer ask for their money back within a set number of days, and some apply that window to renewals too, not only to the first purchase. A customer who forgets to switch off auto-renewal and then asks for a refund takes your renewal commission with them. Programs that pay on renewals often hold that commission until the refund window has passed.
That makes renewal income lumpy and slow to confirm. Our guide to affiliate payout terms explains holds and minimum payouts, which decide when a renewal actually reaches your account.
Sales the program may not see
Not every payment a customer makes is one the affiliate program can track:
- App store purchases. A customer who first bought on the website may later subscribe or renew inside a mobile app, where the payment goes through the app store. Some programs do not credit those payments to affiliates at all.
- A new account. A customer who signs up again with a different email address is a new customer to the provider, and usually to the program too.
- A reseller or bundle. VPNs are sometimes sold inside a bundle with another product or through a partner. A renewal that runs through someone else's checkout may not count.
- A coupon from elsewhere. On a first sale, a code from a coupon site can replace your referral. Check whether the same can happen on a renewal, or whether the account link wins.
None of these is unusual, and a program is not doing anything wrong by excluding them. They are simply payments you should not count on when you estimate what a referral is worth.
Add-ons and security suites
Many providers sell more than a VPN: password managers, antivirus, encrypted storage, or a suite with all of them. A customer you referred for the VPN may later add one of these, or move up to the suite at renewal. Check whether the program pays on every product the account buys or only on the one you referred, and whether an upgrade at renewal earns the renewal rate, the first-sale rate or nothing.
The same goes for plans that cover more people. A customer who moves from a single plan to a family or team plan pays more, and some programs pay on the larger amount while others keep paying on the original plan.
How to compare two recurring VPN programs
Estimate what one referred customer is worth over a realistic period, using the same assumptions for both programs:
- Pick the plan length a typical reader of yours would buy first, and its price.
- Work out the first-sale commission on that plan.
- Work out the renewal commission on the renewal price, which may be higher than the first price, at the program's renewal rate.
- Multiply that by the number of renewals you can reasonably expect, and stop at whatever limit the program puts on renewal pay.
- Adjust downwards for refunds, app store renewals and anything else from the list above that the program does not credit.
With long plans, even one renewal is years away, so use a cautious guess and do not count on a second. The point is to stop a high first-sale rate with no renewal pay from looking better than a slightly lower rate that keeps paying when the customer comes back.
Keep your own records
Affiliate dashboards show what the program has credited, not what you are owed. Because VPN renewals come so rarely, a missing one is easy to miss. Keep:
- a dated copy of the terms you joined under, especially the lines about renewals;
- a rough note of how many customers you referred in each month, so you know roughly when their renewals should land;
- any announcement about new terms, a new affiliate platform or a change of owner.
When the renewal month comes and the dashboard shows nothing, you can then ask a clear question with dates attached.
Match the program to readers who renew
Renewals come from customers who keep using the product. A reader who bought a VPN for one trip rarely renews, and a reader who runs it every day on every device often does. Content that helps people pick a product they will keep, with an honest word about which plan suits them, earns more renewals than content built around a first-term discount. Long research and comparison visits also make the cookie window worth checking, since it decides whether you get the first sale that every renewal depends on.
Where to go from here
Browse every program in the VPN and security category, open the listings on your shortlist and read the source pages for five things: whether renewals pay, at what rate and for how long, how refunds on renewals are handled, whether app store payments count, and whether add-ons and upgrades earn commission. Save a copy of what you find, with the date.