How Much Does an Affiliate Program Cost? (WooCommerce Breakdown, 2026)

Running an affiliate program on a WooCommerce store can cost nothing in software if you use a free plugin. Paid WooCommerce affiliate plugins cost between $99 and $599 a year and take no cut of your sales. Hosted affiliate apps and networks charge a monthly fee plus 2% to 3.5% of every affiliate sale, so what you pay them goes up as the program grows.

The software is the small part of the bill, though. Commission costs far more, and so does the discount if your affiliates share coupon codes. Payout fees and your own time come after that. In our example of a small store doing $2,000 a month in affiliate sales, the first year comes to about $5,300 in cash, or 22% of the sales the affiliates brought in.

Jump to what you need:

• Comparing prices? What each plugin, app and network costs
• Want a full budget? Two example budgets
• Selling with discount codes? What a coupon sale costs you
• Trying to keep costs down? Ways to spend less

A quick disclosure: we make Coupon Affiliates, a WooCommerce affiliate plugin, and it appears in the price comparison below. Every other price comes from that company’s own pricing page, and we’ve listed a downside for every option, ours included.

How We Worked Out These Numbers

We took every plugin, app and network price from the vendor’s US pricing page on October 12, 2026, including our own Coupon Affiliates pricing page. Payout fees come from PayPal’s US merchant fees page and Stripe’s Connect pricing page on the same day. All prices are in US dollars and leave out sales tax and VAT.

The example budgets use ordinary numbers for sales, commission and the number of affiliates. We list each one so you can swap in your own, or put your figures into our affiliate program ROI calculator instead.

The Costs of Running an Affiliate Program

Every affiliate program has the same handful of costs. How big each one gets depends on how you set the program up. If you’re new to affiliate programs, our guide to WooCommerce affiliate marketing explains how they work first.

Software or network fees

You can pay for the tracking side in three ways:

• A WooCommerce plugin. You pay a yearly fee or a one-off price, and nothing per sale. The program runs inside your own store.
• A hosted affiliate app. It runs on the vendor’s servers and connects to your store. Most charge monthly, and some also take a percentage of affiliate sales.
• An affiliate network. You pay a monthly fee and a percentage of each sale, and in return the network lists your program in front of its publishers.

Look out for first-year prices. AffiliateWP, SliceWP and Coupon Affiliates currently all discount the first payment and renew at full price, so the table further down uses the full price to show what year two costs.

Commission

You pay commission to an affiliate for each sale they refer, and for most programs it’s the largest cost. Rates usually fall between 5% and 30%, and 10% to 15% on new customer orders is a sensible starting point for a typical WooCommerce store, as long as your margins allow it. Our guide to setting WooCommerce affiliate commission rates goes through how to pick yours.

You only pay commission when a sale happens, which makes it easier to budget than ads. It also means the bill grows as the program does. The free affiliate commission calculator shows what a given rate costs per order.

The discount on coupon sales

If affiliates share a discount code, the discount counts as a cost too. Take a $60 order with a 10% affiliate code. The customer pays $54, and if commission is calculated on what they paid, the affiliate earns $5.40. You’ve given up $6 in discount and paid $5.40 in commission, so $11.40 of a $54 sale (about 21%) goes on that referral.

That’s money well spent when the code brings in shoppers who wouldn’t have bought otherwise. It’s a loss when the code turns up on coupon sites and people who were already at your checkout use it. Our post on coupon affiliate marketing covers how to set the discount and commission together, and the discount break-even calculator shows how many extra sales a discount needs to cover itself.

In Coupon Affiliates, you decide in the calculation settings whether percentage commission includes the coupon discount. With that setting off, commission is worked out on what the customer paid, as in the example above.

Payout fees

Sending money to affiliates usually costs a little. For US businesses, PayPal Payouts charges 2% per payment, capped at $1.00 in US dollars, or a flat $0.25 per payment when the payout is sent through the Payouts API. Payouts to other countries cost 2%, capped at $20. If the affiliate receives a different currency from the one you send, PayPal adds a 4% conversion spread.

Coupon Affiliates sends PayPal payouts through the Payouts API, using an app you create in PayPal’s developer dashboard, so US stores pay the flat $0.25 rate. Stripe Connect pricing depends on how your Connect account is set up. When your platform handles pricing for connected accounts, Stripe lists $2 per monthly active account plus 0.25% + 25 cents per payout. When Stripe bills the connected accounts itself, it lists no fee for the platform.

Wise shows its fee before you confirm each transfer, and the amount depends on the currency. Paying affiliates in store credit costs no fees at all, because they spend it in your shop. Our guide on paying affiliates in store credit explains how that works.

Your time

Someone has to find affiliates, approve them, answer their questions, check for leaked codes and send the payouts. On a small program that’s usually the owner. Most budgets leave this out, and joining a network doesn’t remove it, since you still look after the partners who join.

To put a number on it, multiply the hours you expect to spend each week by 52, then by what an hour of your time is worth. At two hours a week and $40 an hour, that comes to $4,160 a year, more than any of the plugins below cost.

Other optional costs include a designer for banners (our creatives guide covers what to make), free products for creators to try, and bonuses or contests for your top affiliates.

What Each Plugin, App and Network Costs

This table shows the yearly software or platform cost of seven options at three levels of affiliate sales. Commission isn’t included, because you pay that whichever option you choose.

Last updated: October 12, 2026, from each vendor’s US pricing page. Plugin prices are full renewal prices. AffiliateWP currently takes 50% off the first year, SliceWP Pro is $169 for the first year, and Coupon Affiliates takes 25% off the first payment. Awin’s first month is free. Prices exclude tax.

Plugins cost the same at $50,000 a month as they do at $2,000, while tools that take a percentage cost more the better your program does. At $50,000 a month in affiliate sales, Awin Access comes to about $21,600 a year before any commission. That fee pays for a directory of publishers, which our comparison of an in-house affiliate program vs an affiliate network looks at in more detail.

Price is only one part of choosing. To compare features as well, see our roundup of the best WooCommerce affiliate plugins. Each option below gets a short summary with a downside.

Coupon Affiliates

Best for: WooCommerce stores whose affiliates share coupon codes, such as creators, podcasters and customers.

Pros:

• The free version runs a full program with coupon codes, referral links, a registration form and an affiliate dashboard
• PRO takes no cut of sales and includes PayPal, Stripe, Wise and store credit payouts on every plan

Cons:

• Only works with WooCommerce
• Payouts need PRO, so on the free version you pay affiliates outside the plugin
• No W-9 collection or 1099 forms for US affiliates, and no marketplace to find affiliates

Pricing: A free version is available. PRO is $23.99/month, $179.99/year or $599.99 once for one site, with a 7-day free trial and a 14-day money-back guarantee after it.

Affiliate for WooCommerce

Best for: stores that want a paid extension from the WooCommerce Marketplace with detailed commission rules.

Pros:

• The cheapest paid option here at $99 a year, with no platform fee
• Lifetime and multi-tier commissions come included rather than as add-ons

Cons:

• No free version or trial, only a live demo
• Product updates and support depend on keeping the yearly subscription

Pricing: Affiliate for WooCommerce is $99 a year, or $158.40 for two years, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. It’s rated 4.5 out of 5 from 124 reviews on the WooCommerce Marketplace.

SliceWP

Best for: WordPress sites that want every add-on included in one license, whether or not they use WooCommerce.

Pros:

• All features and add-ons come with every plan
• A 30-day money-back guarantee

Cons:

• The sale price only covers the first year, and Pro renews at $229
• The single-site plan comes with email support, and priority support needs Pro Plus

Pricing: SliceWP Pro is $229/year for one site and Pro Plus is $349/year for 10 sites. Lifetime licenses cost $589 and $899.

AffiliateWP

Best for: WordPress businesses that sell through more than WooCommerce, such as memberships, courses or forms.

Pros:

• No platform or transaction fees on any plan
• Connects to WooCommerce and more than 20 other WordPress plugins

Cons:

• Lifetime commissions, recurring referrals and tiered rates are only on the $599 Pro plan
• No free trial, and the intro discount only applies to the first year

Pricing: AffiliateWP Personal is $299/year, Plus is $399/year and Pro is $599/year at full price, with a 14-day money-back guarantee.

GoAffPro

Best for: stores on a tight budget that are happy for the affiliate program to run in a hosted app rather than inside WordPress.

Pros:

• A free Hobby plan with unlimited affiliates and sales
• Works with WooCommerce and several other store platforms

Cons:

• A branded affiliate portal, bonuses, multi-level marketing and the payout scheduler all need Premium at $49/month
• GoAffPro recommends the free plan for stores with fewer than 100 orders a day

Pricing: GoAffPro Hobby is free, Premium is $49/month and Business starts at $99/month.

Refersion

Best for: brands close to $1 million in yearly sales that want affiliate discovery and payments handled by one hosted tool.

Pros:

• A free listing in its affiliate marketplace, with affiliate discovery on paid plans
• Handles affiliate payments and tax forms for you

Cons:

• Takes 3% (Launch) or 2% (Growth) of affiliate-driven sales on top of the monthly fee
• That percentage means the bill grows every time your affiliates sell more

Pricing: Refersion Launch is $39/month, or $29/month billed yearly, plus 3% of affiliate sales. Growth is $199/month, or $159/month billed yearly, plus 2%. Scale is quoted.

Awin

Best for: stores that need publishers they can’t find themselves and have nobody free to recruit.

Pros:

• Awin says more than a million partners are in its directory
• Awin pays the publishers, so you don’t run payouts

Cons:

• A 3.5% tracking fee on the value of every sale on the Access plan, on top of commission
• Publishers belong to the network, so they don’t move with you if you leave

Pricing: Awin Access is $49/month plus a 3.5% tracking fee, with no joining fee and the first month free.

Two Example Budgets

A small program built on coupon codes

This store’s affiliates are mostly creators sharing discount codes. Here’s what we assumed:

• $2,000 a month in affiliate sales after discounts, or $24,000 a year
• Affiliates share a 10% discount code
• Commission of 10% on what the customer paid
• 10 affiliates paid once a month through PayPal Payouts in the US
• Coupon Affiliates PRO on a yearly license at full price

The discount line is bigger than commission because the 10% comes off the full price. $24,000 after discounts means $26,667 at full price, so customers saved $2,667. Your time comes on top of all this. On the free version of the plugin, the software line drops to $0, but you’d send each payout yourself.

A larger program built on links

This store works with bloggers and review sites that share links, with no discount codes. Here’s what we assumed:

• $10,000 a month in affiliate sales, or $120,000 a year
• Commission of 12%
• 25 affiliates paid once a month

Running it in-house saves about $4,500 a year here, but it assumes you can find 25 good affiliates on your own. If you can’t, the network fee buys that reach. Our guide on how to recruit affiliates shows where to start looking.

Ways to Spend Less

• Start on a free plugin, then upgrade once sending payouts by hand takes too long.
• Hold commission until your refund window has passed, so you don’t pay on returned orders. Our post on commission refunds and clawbacks explains how.
• Set the discount and commission together, so their combined cost still fits your margin.
• Keep codes off coupon sites with clear terms and regular checks. See our guide to preventing coupon abuse.
• Set a minimum payout amount and pay monthly, so you send fewer, larger payments.
• Offer store credit as a payout option. Affiliates who already shop with you can spend it at checkout, and it costs you nothing to send.
• Compare renewal prices, not first-year prices, before you buy.

FAQ

Can you start an affiliate program for free?

Yes. Free plugins such as the free version of Coupon Affiliates and free hosted plans such as GoAffPro Hobby let you run a program without paying for software. You still pay commission on every sale, and free versions tend to leave things out. Ours, for example, doesn’t include built-in payouts, so you’d pay affiliates yourself.

How much should I budget for commission?

Budget it as a percentage of affiliate sales, not a fixed amount. If you pay 10%, set aside 10% of whatever your affiliates bring in, plus the cost of any discount they share. Our guide to affiliate commission rates helps you pick a rate your margins can carry.

Is affiliate software a monthly or yearly cost?

It depends on the type. WooCommerce and WordPress plugins are usually billed yearly, and some offer a one-off lifetime price. Hosted apps and networks usually bill monthly, and some add a percentage of every affiliate sale.

What hidden costs should I look out for?

Check what the plan renews at after the first year, and whether any percentage of sales is charged on top of the monthly fee. Payout fees and currency conversion add up too: PayPal adds a 4% spread when an affiliate receives a different currency from the one you send. Network contracts can have minimum terms, so read those before you sign.

Do I have to pay commission on refunded orders?

Not if you set the program up to cancel it. Coupon Affiliates removes the commission when a referred order is refunded, and holding payouts until your refund window closes means you rarely have to claw money back. Our refunds and clawbacks guide covers the details.

Is it cheaper to use an affiliate network?

Rarely in cash terms. A network charges a monthly fee plus a percentage of every sale, while a plugin charges a flat fee. A network can still be the better deal if it brings you publishers you’d never find yourself, because commission on extra sales costs less than having no affiliates at all.

Our Take

We sell a plugin with a flat price, so bear that in mind as you read this. In our view, the software is a small line in most WooCommerce stores’ budgets, and commission and discounts make up most of the rest. Pay a percentage of sales only if you need what it buys, such as a network’s publishers or a hosted marketplace. Otherwise, put your effort into getting the commission rate and discount right.

To try it on your own store, start on the free version of Coupon Affiliates or try PRO free for 7 days. Our step-by-step guide to creating a WooCommerce affiliate program walks through the setup.

Elliot Sowersby

Elliot Sowersby is a WordPress developer from Yorkshire, United Kingdom. He is the founder and lead developer of Coupon Affiliates and RelyWP.