Fraud waits before payout
A sale that trips one of the 13 rules can't reach a payout until you release it. Rewardful and Tapfiliate flag a sale for you to review. Tolt says Radar stops fraud, but doesn't publish how.
What the 13 rules catchAffiliate tracking software comparison, with sources.
This affiliate tracking software comparison puts AffiliateTracking next to Rewardful, FirstPromoter, Tolt and Tapfiliate on 11 questions. Every cell comes from the vendor's own pricing or help pages, rechecked on . Where they're ahead, we say so.
The short version5 tools
Run it on your own serverOnly AffiliateTracking
Pay once instead of monthlyOnly AffiliateTracking
Lemon Squeezy built inOnly AffiliateTracking
Sends payouts for youThe other four
Multi-level payoutsFirstPromoter, Tapfiliate
The full table, with a source for every cell, is below.
Side by side
Five tools, the same eleven questions
Entry plans and what they include. Scroll sideways on a phone.
| Question | AffiliateTracking | Rewardful | FirstPromoter | Tolt | Tapfiliate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free to self-host (open source) | $49/mo | $49/mo | $69/mo | $89/mo |
| Limit on the entry plan | No revenue or affiliate caps | $7,500/mo affiliate revenue | $5,000/mo affiliate revenue, 1,000 affiliates | $10,000/mo affiliate revenue | 50 affiliates, 5,000 clicks, 500 conversions a month |
| Extra fees | None | 3% on managed payouts | None stated | 2% on auto payouts | Overage per 1,000 clicks and conversions |
| Free trial | Not needed: self-host is free | 14 days | 14 days, no card | 14 days, no card | 7 days on Launch |
| Self-host | ✓ Yes | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Fraud checks | 13 rules on every sale | Self-referral, blocking search and listed domains | Self-referral, paid-ad traffic, reCAPTCHA, approval thresholds | Self-referral blocking, brand ad blocking, a check against 200,000+ partners | Self-referral, IP and domain blocklists, duplicate conversions |
| A flagged sale | Held with the evidence until you release it | Flags it and emails you to review | Flags it. Ad traffic and sales over a set amount can wait for your approval | Says it stops it before payout. Its pages don't say how | Flags it for you to approve or reject |
| Sends payouts for you | ✗ No, you pay from your own account | PayPal or Wise by CSV, or managed for 3% | From your Stripe balance on every plan, one-click PayPal from Business | Yes, from Growth up, for 2% | Automated through Trolley, from Scale |
| Billing tools | Stripe, Paddle, Chargebee, Recurly, Lemon Squeezy, Polar | Stripe, Paddle | Stripe, Paddle, Chargebee, Recurly, Braintree | Stripe, Paddle, Chargebee | Stripe, Chargebee, Recurly |
| Multi-level payouts | Tracks the tree. Payouts not built | Not listed | Up to 3 levels | Not listed | From Scale |
| A ledger affiliates can check | ✓ Yes, every journal sums to 0 | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
Our data, from published prices
What 12 months costs at $20,000 a month
A program whose affiliates bring in $20,000 a month, priced on each tool's cheapest plan that covers it. Overage, yearly discounts and trials aren't counted.
| Tool | Plan that covers it | 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| AffiliateTracking self-host | Open source, every feature | $0, plus your server |
| Tapfiliate | Launch, $89/mo, if you stay under 50 affiliates and 500 conversions | $1,068 before overage |
| Tolt | Growth, $99/mo | $1,188, plus 2% on auto payouts |
| Rewardful | Enterprise 30k, $149/mo | $1,788 |
| FirstPromoter | Enterprise, from $149/mo | $1,788 or more |
Where they're ahead
If one of these matters most to you, one of them may suit you better. That's fine.
They send the money
All four can pay affiliates for you, some for a fee. Tolt also files 1099s from Growth up. AffiliateTracking works out who's owed what, and you send it yourself.
Multi-level payouts
FirstPromoter pays sub-affiliates up to 3 levels deep, and Tapfiliate has multi-level from Scale. We track the tree but don't pay on it yet.
More checkouts
FirstPromoter connects to Braintree, and Tapfiliate to Shopify and WooCommerce. We track none of those yet.
Where AffiliateTracking is different
Four things none of the other four offer the same way.
Free to run yourself
Self-host is open source under the AGPL-3.0 and runs on your server as one file. No bill at all, and your data never leaves your box. Read the affiliate tracking source code on GitHub.
What self-host includesNo caps as you grow
Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tolt move you up a plan as affiliate revenue grows. Tapfiliate counts clicks and conversions. We don't count either.
Plans and pricesBooks that balance
Every sale, refund and payout is a journal whose lines sum to zero. Affiliates see the same proof in their portal.
Why the books always balanceTool by tool
What each one is good at, and what changes if you move.
Rewardful
Simple and Stripe-first, with 0% transaction fees. Its 11 plans step up with affiliate revenue, from $7,500 to $2.5 million a month. It flags self-referrals and can block search traffic.
- Moving over: import your affiliates, and old ?via= links keep working
FirstPromoter
The widest feature list of the four, with 3-level sub-affiliates and one-click PayPal payouts. The entry plan stops at $5,000 a month and 1,000 affiliates.
- Moving over: import your affiliates, and old ?fpr= links keep working
Tolt
Sends the money for you from Growth up, for a 2% fee, and files 1099s. Plans step up at $10,000, $20,000 and $50,000 a month. Fraud protection runs under the name Tolt Radar.
- Moving over: import your affiliates, and old ?ref= links keep working
Tapfiliate
Priced on usage rather than revenue, with overage fees past the plan's clicks and conversions. Strong on ecommerce carts. Automated payouts go through Trolley, from Scale.
- Moving over: import your affiliates, and old ?ref= links keep working
Switching takes an afternoon
Export your affiliates from your old tool as a CSV. The import shows you a dry run first: how many affiliates, which codes clash, and anything that looks off.
In the admin screen, it's under Import from another tool. From the command line, use the command below. Then add one attribute to the tracking script, and old links keep working. Balances stay in your old tool, so pay those out first.
# 1. See what would change, then import affiliate-engine import -from rewardful \ -csv affiliates.csv --dry-run # 2. Keep old ?via= links working <script src="https://yourbrand.affiliatetracking.co/t.js" data-param="via" async></script>
Sources
Each vendor's own pages, first read on and rechecked on . Prices change, so check before you decide. Spotted something out of date? Email support@affiliatetracking.co.
Rewardful
FirstPromoter
Compare FAQ
What's the best affiliate tracking software for SaaS?
It depends on what hurts most. If you want payouts sent for you, look at Tolt or FirstPromoter. If fraud, fixed costs or owning your data matter more, we built AffiliateTracking for that.
Is AffiliateTracking a Rewardful alternative?
Yes. It covers the same Stripe and Paddle setups, with no cap on affiliate revenue and a self-host option. You'll send payouts yourself, the same way Rewardful's non-managed plans work.
Why is the starting price free?
That's self-host: the engine is open source under the AGPL-3.0, so you download it and run it on your own server for nothing. If you'd rather we run it, that's managed hosting, priced per company.
Can I move my affiliates over?
Yes. Import from Rewardful, FirstPromoter, Tolt or Tapfiliate with a dry run first. Old links keep working through the script's data-param setting.
How often is this page checked?
By hand, every quarter, with the date at the top. If a vendor changes their pricing and we miss it, email us and we'll fix it.
Seen enough tables?
Try it on real sales.
Self-host for free: the code is open source. Or let us run it for you.