Free affiliate tracking software: what to check before you choose

Starting an affiliate program is a cheap experiment in theory: affiliates only earn when they bring you a sale. The software that tracks those sales, though, often costs money from day one. That's why so many people start by searching for free affiliate tracking software.

Free tools can be a good way to start. But "free" means very different things from one product to the next, and the differences tend to show up later, once your program is running and switching is harder. Here's what we'd check before choosing one.

What affiliate tracking software does

Whatever it costs, affiliate tracking software does three jobs:

• Attribution. It works out which affiliate sent the customer who placed an order.
• Commissions. It calculates what each affiliate earned, using your rules, and accounts for refunds and cancellations.
• Payouts. It helps you pay affiliates, either by giving you a list to pay by hand or by paying them automatically.

Most tools also give affiliates a way to sign up, get their links and see their results. The differences are in how well each job is done, and what you pay for it as you grow.

What "free" usually means

Free plans tend to be limited in one or more of these ways:

• A trial, not a plan. Some tools are only free for a few weeks.
• A revenue or order cap. You can use it for free until your program reaches a certain size.
• A cap on affiliates or on how many programs, landing pages or users you can have.
• Fees on commissions or payouts. The software is free, but you pay a percentage of what flows through it.
• Features held back for paid plans, like automatic payouts or different commission rates.

None of these are bad in themselves. A cap that lets you prove your program works before you pay is fair. The problems start when the limit only becomes clear after you've invited your affiliates and wired the tool into your checkout.

Seven things to check

1. How orders are tracked

This is the most important question, and the hardest to change later. Many tools put a tracking script on your site that sets a cookie in the visitor's browser and reports the purchase from the thank-you page. That's quick to set up, but browser-based tracking can be blocked by ad blockers and privacy settings, and it may need to be covered by your cookie consent.

The alternative is server-side tracking: your own platform remembers which affiliate sent the visitor and reports the order from your backend. It takes a developer to set up, but your attribution doesn't depend on what happens in the browser.

2. What it costs as you grow

Read the limits of the free plan and work out when you'll hit them. Then check what happens when you do. Are you upgraded automatically, is your program paused, or do affiliate links stop working? A good free plan tells you this upfront.

3. Fees on commissions or payouts

A "free" tool that takes a few percent of every commission can end up costing more than a paid plan. Check the pricing page and the terms for transaction or payout fees, and remember that your payment provider may charge its own fees too.

4. How affiliates get paid

Paying affiliates by hand works for three affiliates. It doesn't for thirty. Check whether the tool pays affiliates automatically, through which payment methods, and how it handles refunds before paying out.

5. How flexible commissions are

Most programs start with one flat rate, then want more. For example, a higher rate for your best affiliates, or a lower rate on low-margin products. Check whether the free plan allows any of that, or what it would cost to get it.

6. How affiliates join

Affiliates need a way to apply, or be invited, and to get their links. Check whether you can invite affiliates by email, import an existing list, or give them a sign-up page that looks like your own brand.

7. Testing and data

Before real money is involved, you'll want to test the whole flow: a referral, an order, a commission and a payout. Check whether there's a test mode or sandbox. And check what data the tool stores about your customers, especially if you sell in the EU.

Where Affilibee fits

We built Affilibee for teams that run their own store, checkout or app and want affiliate tracking connected to it through an API. Here's how it answers the questions above:

• Tracking is server-side. Your platform reports orders through the Affilibee API, so there's no third-party tracking script on your site.
• The free plan has no time limit and needs no credit card. It covers up to $1 000 in monthly revenue and up to 50 affiliates. If you go over the revenue limit two months in a row, we ask you to upgrade within 14 days.
• Payouts are automatic through PayPal, once a month, after a pending period that takes refunds into account. They go from your PayPal account, so PayPal's usual fees apply. We're also working on payouts through Stripe Connect.
• Commissions can differ per product with two product segments on the free plan, and paid plans add tiers for different groups of affiliates.
• Affiliates can be invited by email, imported, or sign up through your own landing page.
• Testing happens in a sandbox, with test orders and test affiliates kept apart from your live data.

It's not the right tool if you want a plugin you install with a few clicks and no code. You'll need a developer to send orders from your checkout.

If that sounds like your setup, you can see everything the free plan includes on our free affiliate tracking software page, or create a free account and follow the getting started guide.