What is an affiliate network, and do you need one?

An affiliate network is a middleman between companies that want to pay for sales and the people who send them. The company lists its program on the network. Affiliates join the network once, apply to the programs they like, and the network tracks the clicks, counts the sales and sends the money.

That is the whole idea. The details that matter to you are who pays for it, whose rules you end up following, and when skipping the network is the better deal.

What an affiliate network actually does

A company could build all of this itself, and some do. A network sells it as a package:

• Tracking. It issues your links, records the click, sets the cookie and matches the sale back to you.
• Reporting. One dashboard for clicks, sales, pending and approved commissions across every program you run through it.
• Payments. It collects from the company and pays you, usually in one transfer that covers all your programs.
• Recruitment. Companies get access to affiliates already on the network, and affiliates get a marketplace of programs to browse.
• Policing. Most networks review applications, watch for fraud and step in when a company and an affiliate disagree about a sale.

The program itself still belongs to the company. It sets the commission, decides who gets approved and decides which sales count. The network runs the plumbing.

Who pays for the network

The company does. Networks usually charge some mix of a setup fee, a monthly fee and an override, which is a cut added on top of every commission the company pays out. The exact pricing varies by network and is often negotiated, so it is rarely public.

For you as an affiliate, joining the established networks is free. That does not mean the cost is invisible. A company paying a network override has less margin left for your commission, which is one reason the same company can offer a slightly better rate through its own in-house program.

How joining through a network works

1. You join the network. You create an account and describe your site or channel. Some networks approve almost everyone, others review you before you can apply to anything.
2. You apply to programs. Inside the network, each company still decides whether to accept you. Being on the network is not an approval to promote every program on it.
3. You take your links. Once approved, you get tracking links or a link builder for that company.
4. Sales are tracked and held. The network records each sale, holds it as pending while the company's return window runs, then approves or reverses it.
5. The network pays you. Approved commissions from every program land in one balance, and the network pays it out on its own schedule once you clear its minimum.

Step five is where networks earn their keep for smaller affiliates. Five small programs that would each take months to reach their own minimum can clear one shared minimum much faster. Our guide to payout terms covers thresholds and schedules in more detail.

Whose terms apply on a network

Two sets of terms stack on top of each other, and mixing them up is a common mistake.

• The company's terms decide the commission, the commission type, the cookie window, which traffic sources are allowed and which sales are excluded.
• The network's terms decide the payment schedule, the minimum payout, the payment methods, the currency and the account rules that apply across every program.

So a question like "when do I get paid?" is usually answered by the network, while "how much do I get paid?" is answered by the company. Read both before you join.

Affiliate networks and partnership platforms

Not every service in this space works the same way. Classic networks such as Awin and CJ run a shared marketplace and handle payments for the programs on it. Other services, such as Impact and PartnerStack, call themselves partnership platforms: software a company licenses to run its own program, sometimes with a marketplace attached.

For an affiliate the difference shows up in small places. On a classic network you tend to get one account and one payment for many programs. On a platform you may sign up separately for each company, even when the login looks the same. Neither is better in general. Just check, for each program, who actually sends the money.

Network or in-house program, which is better?

Neither, on its own. It depends on what you promote and how much admin you can live with.

A network tends to suit you when:

• you promote many programs and want one dashboard and one payment;
• you are starting out and need shared minimums to get paid at all;
• you want a neutral party to go to if a company reverses sales without explanation.

An in-house program tends to suit you when:

• you send a lot of sales to one company and want to deal with it directly;
• it offers better terms in-house than through the network, which happens;
• the company only runs its program in-house, as many smaller software companies do.

Plenty of affiliates use both. The sensible move is to compare the actual terms side by side rather than picking a side in advance, and our side-by-side guide to affiliate networks vs in-house programs covers what to check.

Do affiliate networks charge affiliates to join?

The established networks are free for affiliates. They earn from the companies, through setup fees, monthly fees or a cut added on top of each commission. A network that asks an affiliate for money up front is a reason to look elsewhere.

Can a company be on more than one affiliate network?

Yes, and many are. A company may run one program in-house and others on one or more networks, often with different rates, cookie windows or payout terms on each. Compare them before you pick where to join.

Finding out which network a program uses

A program's own affiliate page usually says where to sign up, and the sign-up link gives it away if the page does not. In this directory, every program listing shows each network a company runs on, with the terms we read for each and a link to the source, and the network pages list the companies on each network. If you are new to how the pieces fit together, start with how affiliate programs work, then come back here when you are deciding where to apply.