An affiliate commission is the payment a brand makes to an affiliate partner when that partner influences a successful sale. Choosing the right rate is a balancing act: If it’s too low, you run the risk of decreasing affiliate motivation for creators making content about your products. Too high, and the affiliate program costs eat away at your profits.
This guide covers how affiliate commissions work, the most common models to choose from, industry benchmarks to measure against, and how to choose a rate that works for you.
What is an affiliate commission?
An affiliate commission rate is the payment a brand makes to the affiliate for driving a sale in an affiliate marketing partnership. The affiliate promotes the brand’s product on their social media, website, or blog, or with their network, along with a unique affiliate link or code. Every time a customer makes a desired and agreed-upon action—like buying the product or signing up for a newsletter—the affiliate earns a percentage of a sale or a fixed rate payment.
How affiliate commission payments work
You can automate affiliate commission using affiliate tracking software. This software records each conversion made using an affiliate’s unique link and tracks the commission owed.
How often affiliate partners are paid varies. Some programs pay out recurring commissions while others hold them for 30 to 60 days, to account for returns. Brands manage this through affiliate networks, which are dedicated affiliate management platforms or tools like Shopify Collabs, which tracks orders and automates payouts directly through your Shopify bill.
Lauren Kleinman, founder of the PR and affiliate agency Dreamday, recommends brands use affiliate network platforms. “In terms of the different platforms: Typically, for under $150,000 in affiliate revenue per month, we recommend ShareASale [now Awin],” she says on an episode of Shopify Masters. “It’s pretty straightforward and very user-friendly. But when you start getting more revenue coming through the affiliate program, we recommend something more like Impact, which has much better tracking and attribution.”
Lauren explains that platforms like Impact support tiered affiliate commission structures. For example, if a publisher like Vogue refers the traffic, but a coupon platform like Honey is the last click before purchase, brands can allocate a portion of the commission to each party. In a case like this, 80% can go to Vogue and 20% to Honey. This helps affiliates like Vogue still get a commission, even though it wasn’t the last click before a purchase.
Industry benchmarks
Commission rates vary by industry. Lauren says standard rates for well-known publishers run between 10% to 15% per sale, with some brands going up to 20% in exchange for more visibility.
She says that subscription-based brands, on the other hand, operate differently. Because these brands benefit from returning customers, they often pay 75% to100% of the first month’s revenue as a commission, knowing it’ll pay off.
Across categories, typical benchmarks fall in these ranges:
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Physical goods (e.g., fashion, home, beauty): 5%–15% per sale.
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Digital products and online courses: 20% to 50% per sale.
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Subscription services: 15% to 30% recurring payments.
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B2B software and services: 10% to 30% of the first contract value.
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High-ticket items (e.g., furniture, mattresses): 3% to 8% per sale.
These ranges are reference points based on what is widely reported in the industry. Your product category and affiliate partners all factor into what commission rate is sustainable for the goals you’ve set.
Common affiliate commission models
Many brands mix and match their affiliate payout models. There are several common models to choose from:
| Model | How it works | Advantages for brands | Advantages for brands | Best for |
| Pay-per-sale (PPS) | Affiliates earn a fixed percentage of each sale they generate. E.g., a 10% commission on a $100 product is a $10 commission. | A simple model that’s easy to track. You only pay when the affiliate makes a sale. | Profit margins get lower on expensive orders. | Brands with consistent average order values and healthy profit margins. |
| Pay-per-click (PPC) | The affiliate earns money when someone clicks their affiliate link, even if they don’t buy. | Can help with brand awareness and growth as it drives traffic to your store or landing pages. | Clicks don’t always turn into purchases, so if revenue is your goal, then higher traffic may not turn into conversions. | Brands that need to build traffic and get more potential customers to know about them. |
| Pay-per-lead (PPL) | The affiliate gets paid when a customer completes an action, like signing up for a free trial or submitting a form. | Since it’s not about completing a purchase, this can be a good way to build lasting relationships with affiliates. | More complex to track and requires affiliate management software to administer reliably. | Brands with established affiliate programs that want to retain and motivate top affiliates. |
| Pay-per-install (PPI) | Ties affiliate rewards to app or software use. | Good if you’re looking to get more people to try your app for the first time. | Installs and free trials are not guaranteed to draw in more customers. Have a strong follow-up to turn those leads into revenue. | Apps, software, and product-led growth offers where installs are the goal. |
| Recurring commissions | Affiliates earn ongoing commissions for subscription-based products. | Strong fit for subscription businesses because it encourages affiliates to bring in customers who stay longer. | Recurring commissions can be hard to manage. This is where software can help. | Software, memberships, and digital subscription products. |
Considerations for structuring affiliate commissions
Consider factors like your business goals and affiliate model complexity when setting up your commission structure.
Profit margins
If you have slim profit margins, affiliate marketing programs may not be a good fit. Affiliate programs work when commission rates are high enough to make it worthwhile for affiliates, which may not be possible for products with slim margins.
However, if your goal isn’t sales, but brand awareness or lead generation, you may be willing to cut into your profits for long-term benefits. In such cases, you can also adopt a pay-per-click or pay-per-lead model to incentivize your affiliates to get the word out.
Commission tiers
You can build relationships with your affiliates over time by adding tiers to your commission structure. Lizzy Masotta, a senior product lead at Shopify, recommends creating three commission tiers based on affiliate performance and value. For example, valuable “gold” affiliates could earn 20% commissions, “silver” tier affiliates 10%, and “bronze” tier affiliates could make 5% per sale.
Keep the affiliate tiers flexible and performance-based. “If you’re new to working with them, you can always start them at your lowest level and then promote them through the levels as you build more trust and see more continued performance from them,” Lizzy says. These tiers incentivize affiliates over the long term.
Use affiliate marketing metrics like average order value, revenue per visitor, click-through rate, and conversion rate to gauge how affiliates are performing.
Model complexity
Many affiliate programs combine commission models, like offering a higher percentage for the first year of an affiliate partnership. Start simple with one model, like PPS, and then layer on factors like tiers or recurring payments when you hit your goals. Dreamday’s Lauren recommends using software when your revenue substantially grows to help with tracking and attribution. Shopify Collabs, for example, allows you to manage affiliate programs with commission structures that work for your business. It also automates commission tracking and payments, which helps simplify managing programs through tools like spreadsheets.
Affiliate commission FAQ
What is the commission model for affiliate marketing?
There is more than one commission model for affiliate marketing. Common models include pay-per-sale (PPS), pay-per-click (PPC), pay-per-lead (PPL), pay-per-install (PPI), and recurring commissions.
How much do affiliates get paid in commission?
Commission rates vary by industry. Physical goods typically pay 5% to 15% per sale, digital products 20% to 50%, subscription services 15% to 30% recurring, and high-ticket items like furniture 3% to 8%, though popular publishers working with premium brands can earn up to 20% per sale.
What are the highest-paying affiliate niches?
Based on industry benchmarks, digital products pay the highest percentage commissions, at 20% to 50% per sale, followed by subscription services, which can pay 15% to 30%.
What’s the difference between an affiliate network and an affiliate program?
An affiliate program is the way affiliate partners get paid. Affiliate networks are platforms that connect brands with affiliate marketers who create content for social media, podcasts, and other media where you can promote a product. An example of an affiliate program is the Shopify Affiliate Program, where you get rewarded for promoting Shopify. An example of an affiliate network is Awin, where affiliates can explore many brands to partner with.
