Four ways affiliate programs lose money.
We went through 206 low-star reviews of affiliate tools. The same four problems kept showing up. Here's each one, and what we do about it.
Coupon hijack
Browser extensions paste your codes at checkout. The sale goes to them, not the creator who earned it.
→ A code used by a buyer who already has an affiliate gets held for review.
Webhook replays
Stripe retries an event. A lot of tools count it twice. You find out at payout.
→ Each event is stored once by its ID. A replay changes nothing.
Lost cookies
Ad blockers and Safari wipe the cookie. The sale still happens. The affiliate gets nothing.
→ Coupons, customer history and signed tokens decide credit. The cookie is backup.
The growth tax
Revenue caps. Per-click overages. A cut of every sale. Your program grows, and so does the bill.
→ $99 once to self-host. Or a flat monthly plan with no caps.
A fraud flag should stop the money.
12 rules run the moment a sale comes in, before anything is credited. If one fires, the commission is held. You see the evidence. Then you release it or uphold it.
New rule? Run it in dry-run first. It scores sales without holding anything.
Who gets credit when the cookie's gone?
The server decides. In this order.
Coupon code
If a code was used, its owner gets the sale. Works for podcasts, TikTok and print.
Existing customer
A referred customer stays with their affiliate. Every renewal follows them.
Signed link
Set on click. It's signed, so nobody can edit it in the browser.
IP match
Always flagged, so you can check it.
Your affiliates can check the math.
Every cent is written down twice. Once where it came from, once where it went. That's a double-entry ledger, same as your accountant uses.
Entries are never edited. Mistakes get reversed, with a note. Each affiliate sees their own ledger, and it always adds up to zero.
Good affiliates stay where they trust the numbers.
Everything else you'd expect. Done properly.
Commission on usage, not just plans.
Credits, tokens, metered billing. Each usage event settles the difference, so affiliates earn on what customers actually spend.
Recurring and lifetime
Upgrades, downgrades and refunds each recalculate the commission.
Multi-tier
Partners recruit partners. Set the depth, the rates and the caps.
Payouts
Stripe Connect transfers, or PayPal and Wise batch files. Thresholds and NET terms.
Your brand
Portal on your domain, in your colors. Or embed it with one script tag.
Leaderboards
XP, levels and badges. Earned from paid commissions only, so nobody games them.
Ask your data
Read-only MCP server. Ask Claude or Cursor how your program's doing.
GDPR tools
Trim IPs before they're stored. Export or erase an affiliate on request.
Audit log
Every change, by whom, and when. Append-only.
Works with your billing. Not just Stripe.
Something else? Send server-side events or postbacks from any stack.
Bring your program with you.
Export a CSV from your current tool. Run the import as a dry run, read the report, then import for real. Changed your mind? Roll it back.
Pay once and host it. Or let us run it.
No revenue caps on any plan. No per-click fees. No percentage of what your affiliates bring in.
Self-host
Every feature, on your own server. No monthly bill from us.
Cloud
Not live yetHow we compare.
From each tool's public homepage and pricing page, checked 28 Sep 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Running in 5 minutes. One file.
No Docker Compose. No Redis. No queue to babysit. Download it, run it, point your links at it.
Fair questions.
What do I get for $99?
The self-host binary, a license key and 1 year of updates. You pay once and run it on your own server. After a year it keeps working, you just stop getting updates. Not happy? Full refund within 14 days.
What happens when a commission is flagged?
It's held, with the evidence attached. It can't be paid out until you release it.
Can I move from Rewardful or FirstPromoter?
Yes. Export a CSV, run the import as a dry run, read the report, then import for real.
Do you take a cut of affiliate sales?
No. Self-host is $99 once. Cloud is a flat monthly price with no percentage on top.
Does it work for ecommerce, or only SaaS?
Both. If your store can send a billing event or a server-side postback, it works.
Is it GDPR friendly?
You can trim IPs before they're stored. You can export or erase an affiliate's data on request, and the books still balance.
Stop paying commission on fraud.
Buy self-host for $99 and run it today. The cloud waitlist is open.