19 Best Affiliate Programs for Digital Marketers in 2026

Kit pays 50% of a referred customer’s first year, GetResponse starts at 40% for twelve months, and HubSpot pays 30% for up to a year.

Those three numbers come straight from each company’s affiliate page, and all three differ from our own earlier version of this list.

This list is for marketers who already write, film or email about marketing, SEO, ecommerce or WordPress and want programs that fit that content. If you have no audience yet, start with the audience; no commission rate fixes zero clicks. Brand new to all of it? Our step-by-step plan for affiliate marketing beginners covers niche, platform and first programs.

We read every program’s own affiliate or terms page on 5 November 2026 and dropped anything we couldn’t confirm. This is research on published terms, not a test of each dashboard.

Which Affiliate Programs Pay Digital Marketers Best?

Here’s the short version. Rates are the published entry-level terms; several programs pay more once you send more sales.

Program	Best for	Commission	Cookie	Our verdict
Kit	Email, creator and newsletter content	50% of first 12 months	90 days	Best recurring deal for creator audiences
GetResponse	Small business email marketing	40% for 12 months (up to 60%)	90 days	Strong if your readers run small businesses
HubSpot	B2B, CRM and sales content	30% recurring for up to 1 year	180 days	Long cookie, premium product
Leadpages	Landing page and lead gen content	Up to $400 per customer	Not published	Good payout, vague cookie terms
Semrush	SEO and content marketing	$100 to $300 per sale at entry tier, $10 per trial	120 days	Top pick for SEO sites with traffic
Shopify	Ecommerce and dropshipping	Up to $150 per referral	30 days	Easy sell, rate varies by country
Fiverr	Freelancing and small business	25% of first order + 10% for 12 months	30 days	Works for broad audiences
Amazon Associates	Product reviews and gear	0% to 10% by category	24 hours	Fine first program, bad only program
Bluehost	Beginner WordPress hosting	$65+ per sale	30 days	Simple flat bounty
WP Engine	Managed WordPress hosting	$200 or first month (Lite $100)	180 days	Best hosting bounty here
Kinsta	Premium WordPress hosting	$50 to $500 + 10% monthly for life	60 days	Best recurring hosting deal
Teachable	Course creators	30% recurring for first year	30 days	Good fit for creator-economy content
Coursera	Career and skills content	15% to 45% on eligible purchases	30 days	Wide range, check what counts
Udemy	Course recommendations	Not published on its page	Not published	Join only if courses fit your posts
CJ	Big-brand offers	Set by each advertiser	Varies	Join once you have steady traffic
Awin (now includes ShareASale)	Retail, travel, finance brands	Set by each brand	Varies	Best all-round network to start
ClickBank	Digital products and info offers	Vendor-set, up to 90%	Vendor-set	High rates, check product quality
Rakuten Advertising	Premium retail brands	Set by each brand	Varies	Better for bigger publishers
impact.com	Direct SaaS and brand programs	Set by each brand	Varies	You’ll end up here anyway

Affiliate Networks: One Signup, Hundreds of Brands

A network is a marketplace. You join once, then apply to individual brands inside it, and each brand sets its own rate and cookie.

That’s why we can’t give you one commission number for CJ or Awin, and anyone who does is guessing.

Networks are also where you’ll find the boring but useful programs: insurance, travel, retail. If you need help keeping links organised across several networks, our list of affiliate tracking tools covers the software side.

Awin (Now Includes ShareASale)

• Commission: set by each brand
• Cookie: set by each brand
• Payout: SEPA, BACS, ACH and local transfers; international payments through Payoneer
• Approval: no minimum follower count for creators, though individual brands have their own rules
• Best for: bloggers and creators covering retail, travel, fashion or finance
• Skip it if: you only write about B2B software, where most brands run their own programs

Awin says it connects creators with 30,000+ brands.

ShareASale now redirects new sign-ups to Awin, and its site states that Awin has owned it since 2017 and is moving everything onto one platform. If an old guide tells you to join both, that advice is out of date.

Our verdict: the best first network for most marketers, mainly because the brand mix is wide and creators don’t need a big following to apply.

CJ (Commission Junction)

• Commission: set by each advertiser
• Cookie: set by each advertiser
• Payout: two payouts a month, dozens of currencies, local bank payouts through Payoneer
• Approval: you apply to the network, then to each advertiser
• Best for: sites with steady traffic that want big consumer and finance brands
• Skip it if: you’re brand new; advertiser approvals are harder without traffic

CJ says it paid more than $1.8 billion in publisher commissions a year. That money is concentrated with established publishers, though. Our honest take: join CJ when you can show an advertiser real numbers, not on day one.

ClickBank

• Commission: set by each vendor as revenue share or a flat CPA; ClickBank advertises up to 90%
• Cookie: set by each vendor
• Payout: weekly or every two weeks; default payment threshold $100, which you can change
• Approval: free account; you need five sales using at least two payment methods before your first payout
• Best for: info products, courses and software in health, wealth and hobby niches
• Skip it if: your audience is B2B or you can’t vet the products yourself

ClickBank lists 4,000+ products and says it has never missed a payment since 1999.

The catch is product quality: a 75% commission on a course with heavy refunds pays less than 30% on a tool people keep. If flat CPA payouts are new to you, read how CPA offers work before you pick one.

Rakuten Advertising

• Commission: set by each brand
• Cookie: set by each brand
• Payout: not published on the publisher page
• Approval: application to the network, then per brand
• Best for: established publishers working with premium retail, luxury and travel brands
• Skip it if: you want small SaaS or creator tools

Rakuten says it reaches 190+ countries and has paid over $1 billion in commissions. It’s a solid network, but the brand list leans toward big retail, so it fits a deals or shopping site better than a marketing blog.

Impact.com

• Commission: set by each brand
• Cookie: set by each brand
• Payout: handled by Impact for each brand you join
• Approval: per brand
• Best for: anyone promoting SaaS; Semrush, HubSpot, Shopify, Coursera and Udemy all run their programs on it
• Skip it if: never, really; you’ll create an account the moment you join one of those programs

Old posts call it Impact Radius. Today it’s impact.com, and it matters less as a place to browse and more as the dashboard many direct programs use. One login, several programs, which is handy.

Email Marketing and CRM Programs With Recurring Pay

Recurring programs are where digital marketers earn the most per reader, because the software keeps billing and you keep getting a cut.

Here’s the catch: most now cap that at 12 months, so “lifetime” claims in older lists are usually wrong.

Kit (Formerly ConvertKit)

• Commission: 50% of each referral’s first 12 months; refer 10+ paying customers in a year and you also get 10% recurring for as long as they stay
• Cookie: 90 days
• Payout: through PartnerStack by Stripe, PayPal or direct deposit; $5 minimum; commissions held 31 days for refunds
• Approval: a person reviews every application, usually in two to three business days
• Best for: creators, bloggers and newsletter writers
• Skip it if: your readers are enterprise teams who need a full CRM

This is the program that changed most since our last update, which said 30% lifetime. The new deal pays more up front and only pays for life if you’re a steady referrer. For a creator audience, it’s our first pick.

GetResponse

• Commission: 40% for 12 months to start, 50% after 50 sales in 12 months, 60% after 100
• Cookie: 90 days
• Payout: PartnerStack, released around the 13th of each month
• Approval: review of your site, channels and audience, about 72 hours
• Best for: small business, ecommerce and webinar audiences
• Skip it if: your readers already live inside Kit or HubSpot

GetResponse used to offer 33% lifetime or a $100 bounty. That choice is gone. The tiered 40% to 60% plan is still generous, and the 90-day cookie gives slow buyers time.

HubSpot

• Commission: 30% recurring for up to one year on the Starter tier; higher tiers can add cost per sign-up or custom rates
• Cookie: 180 days
• Payout: through Impact by direct deposit or PayPal, $10 minimum
• Approval: reviewed in two to three business days
• Best for: B2B, sales, SaaS review and course content
• Skip it if: you’re an agency referring clients one by one; HubSpot points you to its Solutions Partner Program instead

HubSpot’s page says sales can reach $1,000+ per referral. Treat that as a ceiling, not an average. The 180-day cookie is the real draw, because B2B buyers rarely sign up on the first visit.

Leadpages

• Commission: up to $400 per referred customer, depending on plan
• Cookie: not stated; the page only promises an “industry-leading attribution window”
• Payout: monthly on the 15th by PayPal or bank deposit, $50 minimum
• Approval: no minimum audience size; applications are reviewed for brand fit
• Best for: landing page, lead generation and small business marketing content
• Skip it if: you need clear cookie terms before you commit

Our old link pointed to Leadpages’ partner page, which is now an agency and technology program.

The affiliate program lives at a separate URL. Ask the affiliate team for the cookie length before you write a big comparison around it.

SEO, Ecommerce and Marketplace Programs

These four suit different audiences, so don’t join all of them. Pick the one that matches your top three posts.

Semrush

• Commission: at the Basic tier, $300 per Semrush One sale, $200 per SEO Toolkit sale and $100 per AI Visibility Toolkit sale; up to $450 per sale at the top tier; $10 per free trial
• Cookie: 120 days, last click
• Payout: through Impact by EFT or PayPal
• Approval: sites generally need 1,000+ monthly unique visitors; coupon, cashback and email-only applications are usually declined
• Best for: SEO, content marketing and agency blogs
• Skip it if: your site is new; you’ll likely be declined until traffic grows

Our older version said “up to $200”. That’s now the entry rate for one product. Semrush is the best single program for an SEO blog, and it pairs naturally with the SEO tools we compare for affiliate sites.

Shopify

• Commission: up to $150 per qualified referral on Basic, Grow or Advanced plans; amount varies by the referral’s location
• Cookie: 30 days from the click; free trials are tracked for up to 400 days
• Payout: $10 minimum, by direct deposit or PayPal; commissions are added on the 22nd of each month
• Approval: usually processed within 24 hours; an active site and commerce content help
• Best for: ecommerce, dropshipping and print-on-demand content
• Skip it if: your audience prefers self-hosted stores

Shopify is an easy recommendation for beginners, but be fair to readers who might be better off elsewhere. Our Shopify vs WooCommerce comparison helps you send each reader to the right platform, which is how you keep their trust. Readers who already sell on WooCommerce and want affiliates of their own can start with our roundup of WooCommerce affiliate plugins.

Fiverr

• Commission: 25% of a new buyer’s first Marketplace order plus 10% of their other orders for 12 months; Logo Maker pays a $30 CPA plus 10%
• Cookie: 30 days; the referred user has to register within that window
• Payout: commission starts only when the referred buyer places a first order; Fiverr’s affiliate FAQ lists a $100 minimum before you can claim payment
• Approval: apply through Fiverr Partnerships; approval rules aren’t listed on the commission page
• Best for: small business, freelancing and side-hustle content
• Skip it if: your readers hire agencies, not freelancers

Fiverr dropped its old fixed $15 to $150 CPA table. Commissions now follow what the buyer spends, so a reader who orders a big project pays you more than one who buys a $10 gig.

Amazon Associates

• Commission: 0% to 10% depending on category on Amazon.com; Luxury Beauty pays 10%, books and kitchen 4.5%, most other categories 4% or less
• Cookie: 24-hour session; items added to the cart in that window still count if ordered within 89 days
• Bounties: flat payouts such as $12 for a Prime free trial and $20 for an Audible Standard trial
• Approval: not re-checked for this update; read the operating agreement before you apply
• Best for: gear reviews, desk setups and “what I use” pages
• Skip it if: you write about software; the rates are too low to justify the effort

Amazon is a fine first program and a bad only program.

The 24-hour window means you earn on what readers buy today, not what they research for a week. Our beginner’s guide to Amazon affiliate marketing walks through getting started. Based in India and just starting out? Our shortlist of affiliate programs that accept Indian beginners compares rupee payout minimums.

Hosting Programs for WordPress Audiences

Hosting pays well because the customer is worth a lot to the host. We keep this section short on purpose: our full list of hosting affiliate programs goes deeper on each host’s terms.

WP Engine

• Commission: $100 per Lite plan; other plans pay $200 or the first month’s payment, whichever is higher
• Cookie: 180 days
• Payout: around the 20th of the month after the referral reaches 62 days, if the account stays active
• Approval: application reviewed through Everflow
• Best for: agencies, developers and business WordPress sites
• Skip it if: you promote through social posts only; links must sit on a domain you own

The affiliates URL in our older version returned a 404, so we’ve linked the current page. A 180-day cookie on a $200+ bounty is the best one-off hosting deal in this list.

Kinsta

• Commission: one-time bonus of $50 to $500 plus 10% monthly recurring for the life of the account
• Cookie: 60 days, last touch
• Payout: monthly
• Approval: manual review within three business days; coupon sites, social-only profiles and sites without an affiliate disclosure are usually rejected
• Best for: developer, agency and performance-focused WordPress content
• Skip it if: your readers want the cheapest plan possible

Kinsta is the only host here with lifetime recurring pay. It’s a premium product, so it converts on technical content and poorly on “cheapest hosting” posts.

Bluehost

• Commission: $65 or more per qualified sale
• Cookie: 30 days
• Payout: 45 to 70 days after the sale, by PayPal or direct deposit
• Approval: open to anyone with a blog or website, per Bluehost
• Best for: beginner blogging tutorials
• Skip it if: you plan to run paid search ads; SEM campaigns need approval first

Bluehost is the simple flat-bounty option. If your readers are setting up their first site, pair it with a guide on setting up your own blog so the recommendation has context.

Course Platforms and Learning Programs

Two ways to earn here: recommend platforms to people who want to sell courses, or recommend courses to people who want to learn. The first pays better.

Teachable

• Commission: 30% recurring for the first year of each referred subscription
• Cookie: 30 days
• Payout: through PartnerStack
• Approval: reviewed in two to three business days
• Best for: creator-economy, coaching and course-building content
• Skip it if: your readers are students, not creators

If your audience is thinking about selling their own digital products, Teachable fits the conversation naturally.

Coursera

• Commission: 15% to 45% baseline on eligible purchases (courses, Specializations, professional certificates, Coursera Plus); degrees excluded
• Cookie: 30 days
• Payout: through Impact
• Approval: free to join through Impact
• Best for: career, data and skills content
• Skip it if: you mostly recommend degree programs, which don’t earn commission

Our older version listed a 45-day cookie. Coursera’s page now says 30 days, so plan content around that.

Udemy

• Commission: not published on Udemy’s affiliate page, which only promises “competitive commission rates”
• Cookie: not published on the affiliate page
• Payout: through Impact
• Approval: reviewed within three to four business days
• Best for: posts that already recommend specific courses
• Skip it if: you want to know your rate before you apply

We removed the “up to 50%” claim from our older version because Udemy doesn’t publish it. You’ll see the actual rate inside Impact after approval.

What Most Program Lists Get Wrong

Most lists copy last year’s numbers. In this update alone, Kit, GetResponse, HubSpot, Semrush, Fiverr, Coursera and WP Engine all had terms that differed from what we’d published, and ShareASale had folded into Awin.

The second mistake is ignoring approval rules. Semrush generally wants 1,000+ monthly visitors, and Kinsta rejects coupon sites and social-only profiles. Applying too early gets you a polite no.

The third: chasing the highest percentage. A 4% Amazon commission on a $50 order is $2, next to a $200 WP Engine bounty, but the hosting reader is much harder to win.

Match the program to the reader you already have, then grow the reader with free traffic sources that work for affiliates.

How Do You Choose the Right Affiliate Program?

Start from your content, not from the commission table. Ask what your top five posts are about, then pick one program per topic.

• You write about email, newsletters or creators: Kit first, GetResponse second.
• You run an SEO or content marketing blog: Semrush, once you clear its traffic bar.
• You cover WordPress and hosting: WP Engine for bounties, Kinsta for recurring pay, Bluehost for beginner tutorials.
• You cover ecommerce: Shopify, plus Awin for retail brands.
• You make B2B or sales content: HubSpot, for the 180-day cookie.
• You review physical gear: Amazon Associates, with one higher-paying program alongside it.

Before you apply anywhere, make sure you have a real site and a few useful posts live. Approval teams look at your content, and you can’t place links without a home for them.

Questions Digital Marketers Ask About Affiliate Programs

So, Which Programs Should You Join First?

If you create marketing content, join Kit or GetResponse for recurring pay, Semrush or HubSpot for your strongest topic, and Awin for everything else. That’s three programs, and it covers most of what a digital marketer writes about.

One warning: every rate here can change without notice. Check your dashboard before you quote a number to readers, and keep your own dated notes.

Your next step: pick the one post on your site that gets the most traffic, choose the program that fits it best from the table above, and apply this week.