3 Best Affiliate Marketing Software to Manage a Successful Partner Program

Scaling a business all by yourself is hard.

Between skyrocketing ad costs and influencers charging a fortune for posts that barely move the needle, traditional growth strategies just aren’t cutting it anymore. That’s why savvy B2B SaaS companies and B2C brands are ditching the old playbook and turning to affiliate and partner programs.

Why? These programs let you grow with leverage:

• Pay only for real results (no more guessing if that Instagram post was worth $5K).
• Build long-term momentum as affiliates keep promoting you.
• Boost your reputation with authentic, organic growth.

But here’s the catch: launching a successful program isn’t as simple as slapping a “Join My Affiliate Program” button on your site. You need the right platform to attract top-tier partners, keep them engaged, and track results without pulling your hair out.

After joining hundreds of affiliate programs ourselves and speaking with both software companies and consumer brands, we’ve identified the top affiliate marketing software platforms that make running a partner program easy and scalable.

Let’s dive in.

Top Choices at Glance

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Now, to help you make more sense of the list and what's behind it, we'll first go into more detail below on what we looked for, what makes each of these platforms stand out, and ultimately help you decide which software is best for your business.

What Makes the Best Affiliate Marketing Software?

Choosing the right affiliate marketing software is critical for your partner program's success. Here’s the specific criteria we considered when ranking the best providers.

Marketplace vs. Hosted Software

There are two different kinds of affiliate marketing software: marketplace and hosted. So, the first choice you'll have to make is which kind to choose. Here's a look at how they differ:

Marketplace platforms combine affiliate management tools with a built-in network of pre-qualified affiliates. They're ideal if you want rapid growth or lack existing affiliate relationships. Marketplaces significantly reduce the effort needed to recruit affiliates and are therefore a generally better choice for most companies. The downside is that they come at a higher cost since you also pay for the marketplace.

Hosted affiliate software provides a standalone tool that lets you run your own affiliate program - but you must find and recruit affiliates yourself. This option gives you full control and branding opportunities, but no built-in network. Its dashboard is focused solely on your own product, making it a good choice for companies that prioritize customization and brand consistency. However, you'll need an active strategy to recruit and engage affiliates independently.

Ease of Use

Ease of use can make or break your affiliate program—both for your internal team managing the program and for the affiliates promoting your product. We evaluated each platform from two crucial perspectives:

For companies running the program

A clunky interface or a dashboard that takes weeks to understand is a productivity killer. You need to set up campaigns, review affiliate applications, adjust commissions, and monitor performance without needing a manual or a customer support rep on standby. A clean, intuitive dashboard saves time and lets you focus on growing the program, not babysitting the software.

For Affiliates

Affiliates are just like your customers—they want a seamless experience. If they can't find their links, track their sales, or understand how commissions work in under a few clicks, they'll bounce. Worse, they may choose to promote a competitor whose platform makes things easier. That’s why modern navigation, fast loading speeds, and mobile-friendly dashboards are non-negotiables. The best platforms reduce friction at every step—from signup and onboarding to grabbing assets and checking payout status.

We also looked at:

• How intuitive the campaign creation and commission-setting tools are
• Whether affiliate onboarding is guided or self-service (with real clarity)
• If real-time reporting is readable without needing to export CSVs

Pricing Models

Pricing should align with the value provided and reflect the scale of different company sizes. Affiliate software pricing varies widely and often goes beyond just a flat monthly fee. Here's what we considered to give you a clearer picture of value-for-money:

1. Fixed software cost vs. performance-based pricing: Many top-tier platforms charge two fees: a monthly base fee for using the software and an additional variable cost based on the sales generated by affiliates. While that second fee can climb quickly, it can still be worth paying if the platform comes with a high-quality marketplace of active affiliates that boosts your exposure effectively.
2. Hidden fees: We’ve paid close attention to which platforms are fully transparent with their pricing and which tend to sneak in costs around affiliate payouts, advanced features, or even API access.
3. Scalability: We considered how pricing aligns with company size and growth stage to ensure the software remains a great fit for startups as well as enterprise businesses.

Features

Several features and characteristics make a sophisticated affiliate program. We’ve considered the following as most important:

• Accurate tracking and robust analytics
• Flexible commission structures and automated payouts
• Fraud detection and prevention
• Integration with your existing tech stack (CRM, billing platforms)
• Affiliate communication and management tools
• Support options in case something breaks (and how fast they respond)

3 Best Affiliate Marketing Software

1. PartnerStack

PartnerStack is a very modern and user-friendly platform built specifically for B2B SaaS companies. It’s a popular name in the industry with a marketplace full of active affiliates familiar with software and SaaS products.

They do an excellent job when it comes to streamlining processes and boosting discoverability.

Apart from their clean discovery page, you can reach out to partners via email campaigns, and apply for multiple other incentives to kickstart your journey by getting more attention and partnerships rolling in from the start.

Unlike other marketplace platforms where you’re left in the dust, their campaigns actually have an impact as they appear in prime spots visible to partners logging in, making it efficient to get your program noticed.

Note that most of these push marketing features are exclusive to those companies paying for their higher-tiered packages.

That said, PartnerStack is not a cheap investment, making it a primary choice for established companies and those seeking fast growth, ready to invest in their partnerships. They only offer custom pricing with monthly fees starting at a minimum of $500 plus variable costs based on affiliate performance.

2. Impact.com

Impact.com is even larger than PartnerStack and caters to both software and B2C companies, making it a more versatile platform. With more than 300,000 active affiliates, its marketplace offers massive exposure potential. However, given its versatility, these active partners are also coming from very different backgrounds.

Impact.com comes with deeper analytics and partnership types, allowing for more flexible contracts and reporting capabilities. The downside? It comes at the cost of simplicity and ease of use, both for program managers and affiliates.

While Impact.com is packed with features, the interface feels dated and unintuitive. Navigating the dashboard, setting up campaigns, or adjusting commissions can take more time than it should.

From the affiliate’s side, the experience isn’t much smoother. Viewing performance stats, or accessing promotional assets isn’t as straightforward as on more modern platforms. This added friction can lower engagement, especially among affiliates used to cleaner systems.

Still, it's one of the most powerful options if you're running a consumer-facing brand or need advanced reporting.

Similar to PartnerStack, pricing is also custom and starts at $500 per month with variable costs based on affiliate performance.

3. Tolt

Tolt is the new but fast-growing option in the affiliate marketing space focused on simplicity, budget-friendliness, and a sleek user experience. It doesn't offer a marketplace – just the software side – which gives you complete control and a white-label feel.

It’s ideal for SaaS startups that want to set up an affiliate program without a huge upfront investment. While you’ll need your own affiliate recruitment strategy, the platform itself makes setup and management incredibly easy, and your affiliates will love it too.

Pricing starts at a fixed rate of $49/month, with the most feature-rich plan costing $199/month and no performance-based variable fees.

Decision Guide

Each platform has its pros, cons, and use cases. To choose the best option for you, it's important to assess which options best match your current situation and desired outcome. Here's a bit of an overview to help you sort it out:

Choose PartnerStack if:

• You run a SaaS company.
• You want to grow fast by being visible on a large marketplace.
• You value ease of use.
• You want to attract high-quality partners in the software industry.
• You don’t mind spending at least $500+/month.

Choose Impact.com if:

• You require more features, different partnership types, and deeper analytics.
• You own a B2C brand.
• You want to grow fast by being visible on a large marketplace.
• You don’t mind spending at least $500+/ month.

Choose Tolt if:

• You run a startup SaaS company.
• You value ease of use.
• You’re on a budget (max $49 to $199 per month without variable fees).
• You don’t require a marketplace and prefer to have your own branded portal.

The key distinction between these three is how they handle affiliate discoverability and ownership of your program. PartnerStack and Impact.com are marketplaces bundled with software since your program is part of their ecosystem, which gives you access to thousands of potential partners who are already active.

Tolt, on the other hand, gives you full control and branding but requires that you bring the affiliates in yourself.

Whichever you choose, the right tool combined with a clear strategy can help you turn your affiliate program into a powerful growth engine.