Outlook Spotlight

10 Best Affiliate Marketing Software In 2023

The best affiliate marketing software for affiliates is Lasso. It’ll give you a complete page- and link-level breakdown of your affiliate links, so you can see EXACTLY what works, and what doesn’t, and refine your efforts from there.

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Best Affiliate Marketing Software
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The right affiliate marketing software helps brands scale their affiliate programs and revenue, as well as helps affiliates track their affiliate links and surface insights on what is converting for them.

I’m a full-time affiliate marketer, both as an affiliate, and working on affiliate marketing tracking software myself to help brands scale, so I feel uniquely qualified to discuss the best software for affiliate marketing.

The best affiliate marketing software for affiliates is Lasso. It’ll give you a complete page- and link-level breakdown of your affiliate links, so you can see EXACTLY what works, and what doesn’t, and refine your efforts from there.

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The best affiliate software for brands depends on your budget. If you have big budgets and want to scale quickly, large marketplaces like Impact, CJ, Awin, and Partnerstack are great for this.

Whereas, if you are a smaller brand, then DIY affiliate software like Post Affiliate Pro, Tapfiliate, and Rewardful are great.

Best Affiliate Marketing Software For Affiliates

1. Lasso

Pros:

  • The best software for affiliates looking to track their affiliate links
  • Most affordable option starting at $24/month, whereas others can cost $500+ per month
  • Integrates with all other affiliate marketing networks like Impact, Awin, CJ, Refersion

Cons:

  • For affiliates, so not useful for brands setting up an affiliate program

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Lasso is a powerful affiliate marketing software that offers a range of features to boost your revenue, both by increasing conversions with their affiliate displays, and from their advanced analytics tools that show you where you can increase your revenue.

High-converting affiliate displays

Lasso’s affiliate plugin creates high-converting affiliate displays that get more clicks and conversions, and they’re the most customizable of any affiliate software.

Recent case studies from customers such as Jared Bauman, the host of the Niche Pursuits podcast, showed that Jared increased his affiliate revenue by 106% when he switched from AAWP to Lasso

Here’s an example affiliate display made with Lasso:

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This AAWP vs Lasso comparison is also an interesting look at the different features, and other bloggers such as Jon Dykstra, and Shawna Newman, have also found Lasso to significantly outperform both AAWP and Affiliatable and Lasso resulted in significantly higher affiliate clicks and conversions.

This increased his income by $700 per month just by switching to Lasso, a 30x return on the cost, and increasing the value of his site by around $28,000 instantly.

Affiliate link tracking

Lasso is also well-known for its Lasso Performance affiliate analytics tools. This automatically adds custom subIDs to each of your affiliate links, so they can be tracked individually. 

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From this, Lasso can tell which of your affiliate links led to conversions, and therefore the earning per click (EPC) of each of your affiliate links, and the revenue that each page on your site generates.

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It then generates reports for you so you can see exactly how much each page and link on your site earns, pointing you towards which pages you should prioritize and optimize to further increase your revenue.

Affiliate link management

On the link management side, the Lasso affiliate plugin stores all your affiliate links in a central dashboard. This allows you to make changes to one affiliate link, and it’ll make these changes across your site, saving you hours of time.

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For example, if one product goes out of stock, Lasso will even alert you to this. Then, when you switch it out for another product, it’ll change this across every other location this link features in.

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Lasso also scans your site to find affiliate links that don’t have your affiliate ID. This could be just you forgetting to add your tag in, or from being hacked or having writers adding their links in. This keeps you safe, and prevents any revenue leaks from affiliate conversions not being attributed to you.

Overall, for the price it’s by far the best affiliate marketing software, and all affiliate marketers would benefit from both the plugin and the analytics software.

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Price: $24/month for the full suite of affiliate marketing tools

Best Affiliate Marketing Marketplaces

These two-sided marketplaces are software platforms that connect affiliates and brands together. The main marketplaces, including Impact, Awin, and CJ have thousands of brands and affiliates, and sort the affiliate link creation, tracking, and more.

Then, you can integrate these with affiliate tracking software such as Lasso and optimize your affiliate links from there.

2. Impact

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Pros:

  • Largest affiliate marketplace
  • Extensive software tools like tracking, fraud detection, and subID tracking

Cons:

  • Not as detailed affiliate tracking for affiliates as software like Lasso, Voluum or Affluent

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Impact is a comprehensive affiliate marketing software that caters to the needs of both advertisers and publishers. With Impact, you can easily manage your affiliate partnerships, track your performance, and analyze your data. 

The software offers advanced tracking capabilities, allowing you to monitor the success of your campaigns in real-time. Impact also provides robust reporting and analytics tools, enabling you to gain deep insights into your audience and optimize your marketing strategies.

I use Impact to track which of the affiliate programs I’m in are performing best, and how this has trended over time. And then for more advanced tracking over each page on my site, I use Lasso for the complete EPC, CTR and revenue breakdown.

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You can also add subIDs to track affiliate links on a more granular scale, though Lasso automates this for you and saves you time.

Additionally, Impact offers a suite of collaboration features, making it easy to communicate with your affiliates and streamline your workflow.

Pricing: Free for affiliate marketers, starts at $500/mo for companies starting affiliate programs

3. Awin

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Pros:

  • Huge selection of brands, especially in Europe and UK
  • Also owns ShareASale for even more brands and variety

Cons:

  • Expensive for merchants, with 2.5% of tracked affiliate revenue charged

Awin is a leading affiliate marketing network that connects advertisers with publishers across various industries. It’s especially popular for European and UK affiliate programs, but is also hugely popular in North America.

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With Awin, you can access a vast network of publishers and leverage their audience to drive more conversions. The platform offers advanced tracking and reporting tools, allowing you to monitor your performance and optimize your campaigns. 

Awin also provides robust fraud prevention measures, ensuring that your affiliate program remains secure. Plus, Awin offers excellent customer support, helping you navigate the world of affiliate marketing and achieve your goals.

Pricing: Starts at £75 per month plus 2.5% tracking fee

4. CJ

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Pros:

  • Excellent for large brands to build and scale affiliate programs
  • Large selection of brands which brings affiliate promoters to the platform

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Cons:

  • Expensive to set up

CJ (formerly known as Commission Junction) is one of the largest affiliate marketing networks in the world. With CJ, you can access a wide range of advertisers and choose the best partnerships for your audience. 

The platform offers advanced tracking and reporting tools, allowing you to monitor your performance and optimize your campaigns. CJ also provides a suite of promotional materials, making it easy to promote your affiliate offers and drive more conversions. 

Additionally, CJ offers excellent customer support, ensuring that you have all the resources you need to succeed in affiliate marketing.

It’s a more professional affiliate marketplace – for example, huge software companies like Autodesk use CJ for their affiliate program. If you’re a smaller company, the prices might be prohibitive. 

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Price: By contact only.

5. Refersion

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Pros:

  • Building more and more effective marketplace for affiliates and brands

Cons:

  • Poor tracking for affiliates – with CSVs that are difficult to export, and difficult to track any specific link clicks, which can put them off

Refersion is a user-friendly affiliate marketing software that is perfect for beginners. With Refersion, you can easily create and manage your affiliate program, track your conversions, and analyze your performance.

The software offers a range of features, including customizable referral links, automated payouts, and detailed reporting. 

Refersion also integrates seamlessly with popular platforms like Shopify, making it easy to implement and manage your affiliate program. Plus, Refersion provides excellent customer support, helping you navigate the world of affiliate marketing and achieve your goals.

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It’s easy for affiliates to sign up, and Refersion has also been growing their marketplace to give your affiliate programs more visibility and attract new promoters.

However, the reporting for affiliates is not as good as alternatives. When I was an affiliate for Refersion, it was difficult to see what sales I had driven in each month, and required confusing CSV exporting to get any significant data. Other platforms have this within their web app reporting, saving time and getting access to better data.

Pricing: Starts at $99/month

6. Partnerstack

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Pros:

  • Best affiliate software for SaaS brands who want to scale their affiliate program

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Cons:

  • Not suited for most brands, or affiliates, who aren’t in SaaS or software

Partnerstack is an all-in-one affiliate marketing platform that allows you to build and manage your affiliate program with ease. With Partnerstack, you can easily recruit and onboard affiliates, track your performance, and optimize your campaigns. 

If you’re a SaaS company, Partnerstack is the best affiliate software for you. Partnerstack works with hundreds of existing SaaS companies, including multi-billion dollar startups like Notion, and Monday.com. Partnerstack’s large network of SaaS affiliates will get your SaaS wider distribution.

The platform offers advanced tracking and reporting tools, allowing you to monitor your conversions and analyze your data. Partnerstack also provides a range of promotional materials, making it easy to promote your affiliate offers and drive more conversions. 

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Additionally, Partnerstack offers excellent customer support, helping you maximize your revenue and achieve your goals.

Pricing: Bespoke based on your needs

7. Partnerize

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Pros:

  • Great reporting tools for affiliates and affiliate managers
  • Has large brands on there which attracts affiliates, such as Chewy

Cons:

  • Expensive to get started

Partnerize is a comprehensive affiliate marketing software that offers a range of features to help you optimize your campaigns and drive more conversions. With Partnerize, you can easily manage your affiliate partnerships, track your performance, and analyze your data. 

Partnerize is probably most notable for hosting Chewy’s affiliate program. But they also have a huge range of other brands and a marketplace that attracts big affiliate promoters and influencers, as well as merchants.

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The software provides advanced tracking capabilities, allowing you to monitor your conversions in real-time. Partnerize also offers a suite of promotional materials, making it easy to promote your affiliate offers and drive more conversions.

Pricing: By contact only

Best Affiliate Marketing Software For Creating Your Own Affiliate Program

While marketplaces like Impact and CJ are great for getting your affiliate program instant visibility, they’re also expensive and take an extra % on all sales earned.

So, some brands turn to software like Tapfiliate and Rewardful, which are more low-cost options for building your own affiliate program.

8. Post Affiliate Pro

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Pros:

  • Well-known and reliable affiliate program software

Cons:

  • More expensive than cheaper alternatives like Tapfiliate and Rewardful

Post Affiliate Pro is a comprehensive affiliate marketing software that offers a wide range of features to help you optimize your campaigns and drive more conversions. 

With Post Affiliate Pro, you can easily manage your affiliate program, track your performance, and analyze your data. The software provides advanced tracking capabilities, allowing you to monitor your conversions in real-time. 

Affiliate partners also get access to these reporting features, so they can do some basic analysis – though, they’ll need to integrate their Post Affiliate Pro dashboard into Lasso to get access to a deeper level of analytics.

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Post Affiliate Pro also offers a suite of promotional materials, making it easy to promote your affiliate offers and drive more conversions.

Pricing: Starts at $129/month

9. Tapfiliate

Pros:

  • Reliable low-cost affiliate program software
  • Good level of analytics for affiliates and affiliate managers

Cons:

  • Limited options for recurring affiliate payments

Tapfiliate is a user-friendly affiliate marketing software that is perfect for beginners. With Tapfiliate, you can easily create and manage your affiliate program, track your conversions, and analyze your performance. 

The software offers a range of features, including customizable referral links, automated payouts, and detailed reporting. Tapfiliate also integrates seamlessly with popular platforms like Shopify and WordPress, making it easy to implement and manage your affiliate program. 

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It’s cheaper than Post Affiliate Pro if you’re a smaller brand just looking to get started.

Plus, Tapfiliate provides excellent customer support, helping you navigate the world of affiliate marketing and achieve your goals.

However, there are limitations, such as for recurring affiliate payments, as well as free tiers. It is difficult to program these into the current system, resulting in having to manually assign payments to affiliates and slowing down efficiency.

Pricing: Starts at $89/month

10. Rewardful

Pros:

  • Cheapest way of launching an affiliate program for your brand

Cons:

  • Simple and basic, but without the same analytics tools as more advanced affiliate software 

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Rewardful is a simple and effective affiliate marketing software that helps you build and manage your affiliate program with ease. 

With Rewardful, you can easily set up and track your affiliate links, monitor your conversions, and analyze your performance. 

The software offers a range of features, including customizable referral links, automated payouts, and detailed reporting. Rewardful also integrates seamlessly with popular platforms like Shopify and Stripe, making it easy to implement and manage your affiliate program.

It has the lowest starting price out of these software options for hosting your own affiliate program.

Pricing: Starts at $49/month

FAQs

What software do I need for affiliate marketing?

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To succeed in affiliate marketing, you will need reliable affiliate marketing software that allows you to track your performance, manage your partnerships, and optimize your campaigns. The best software options offer advanced tracking and reporting tools, seamless integration with popular platforms, and excellent customer support.

For affiliates, you can use software like Lasso to better track your affiliate links using custom subIDs for page-level revenue, EPC and CTR data. You should also use software for creating affiliate displays that encourage readers of your content to click, which Lasso also offers.

What platform is best for affiliate marketing for beginners?

For beginners, user-friendly affiliate marketing software like Refersion or Tapfiliate can be a great choice. These platforms offer intuitive interfaces, easy setup processes, and robust customer support to help beginners navigate the world of affiliate marketing.

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Is affiliate marketing worth it for beginners?

Yes, affiliate marketing can be a lucrative venture for beginners. With the right strategies and tools, beginners can earn a steady stream of passive income through affiliate marketing.

However, it is important to invest time and effort in understanding your niche, choosing the right products or services to promote, and implementing effective marketing strategies. It isn’t easy, and there are many pros and cons to affiliate marketing.

If you truly understand your niche, you’ll understand the micro intent behind their needs, which is crucial in creating content that converts well for affiliate marketing.

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What is the best system for affiliate marketing?

The best system for affiliate marketing depends on your specific needs and goals. It is important to consider factors like ease of use, tracking capabilities, reporting tools, integration options, and customer support when choosing an affiliate marketing software. Conduct thorough research and consider your requirements before making a decision.

You should also have a system for your business, including your targets for revenue, and an exit plan. For example, understanding when you plan to sell your affiliate site is crucial in planning ahead and reaching a valuation you’re happy exiting for.

You should also note the quick wins you can add on your site for optimizing affiliate revenue, which tools like Lasso will help surface.

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In conclusion, choosing the right affiliate marketing software is crucial for the success of your affiliate marketing campaigns. 

With the options presented in this guide, you can find the best software that suits your needs and helps you maximize your revenue. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced affiliate marketer, investing in the right software can significantly enhance your performance and drive more conversions.

Disclaimer: The above is a sponsored post, the views expressed are those of the sponsor/author and do not represent the stand and views of Outlook Editorial.

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