SaaS affiliate programs are a great way to build a business as a creator or affiliate marketer. Many SaaS companies that offer affiliate programs provide recurring commissions, so your earnings can compound just like their's!

We've collected a list of some of the best SaaS affiliate programs we could find and have all the details you need to know to start researching which programs will be best for you.

What should you look for in a SaaS affiliate program?

There are a lot of factors to consider when promoting an affiliate program beyond how much money you're going to earn, otherwise we'd just promote fat loss tea, and acai berries. We've got some tips on some key factors to take into account, because you don't want to burn your relationship with your audience.

• Recurring vs One-Time Payouts
• Commission Rates
• Cookie duration
• Audience Match/Relevance

Recurring vs One-Time Payouts

Some affiliate programs will offer recurring commissions for the duration of the customer's subscription, while others will offer a simple one time payout. Pay attention to what types of commissions you're getting. A recurring commission means your commissions will stack over time, meaning you don't need to refer as many customers. However, recurring commissions depend on your customer not churning (unsubscribing).

Commission Rates

How much you make from an affiliate program depends heavily on how much you make from each referral. While some programs may have recurring commissions, they might not pay a large percentage off of each sale, or a one time program might offer a small one time payment. In each case if you're not making much per referral you'll need to then refer a lot of customers. If the program you're working with is in a small niche it could be hard to find enough customers to refer. In niches like web hosting you'll see fairly generous one-time commissions, and while it's a one-time payout you can be sure there will always be more customers to refer.

Cookie Duration

The cookie duration for the affiliate programs you promote is important because this determines how long after pressing your link the customer's referral will be credited to you. For example, if the cookie duration is 30 days, and the customer subscribes 31 days after clicking your link, you likely won't get the credit for that referral.

Audience Match/Relevance

It's important to ensure that the programs you support are relevant to your audience. While web-hosting programs are often the most lucrative, that doesn't matter much if your audience aren't looking to set up a website. You also want to weigh the competitiveness of certain niches. Building an audience for a smaller niche can be much less competitive, so it can be lucrative to be a big fish in a smaller pond.