Affiliate tracking software for SaaS

What affiliate tracking software actually tracks

For a SaaS business the chain is longer than click and checkout. A visitor arrives through a partner's link, browses, leaves, comes back, starts a trial, and only then pays. After that the same customer renews every month, upgrades, sometimes asks for a refund. A tracker that only sees the first checkout pays the partner once and never again; one that cannot see refunds pays commission on money you gave back.

So affiliate tracking for subscriptions is two jobs: remember which partner a visitor came from until they become a customer, and then follow that customer's payments in your billing system for as long as the commission runs.

Three ways a sale gets credited to a partner

Good tools support all three, because partners promote in different ways.

• Referral link and cookie. The partner shares a link such as yoursite.com/?ref=CODE. A script on your site stores the code (in Refgrow, the latest.js script with a 30-day cookie by default, changeable in project settings) and attaches it to the signup.
• Coupon codes. Podcasts, videos and newsletters do not carry links well, so each partner gets a code. In Refgrow, connected Stripe accounts get a Promotion Code per affiliate created automatically; Lemon Squeezy discount codes are matched by name when the payment webhook arrives. If a customer has both a cookie and a coupon, the coupon usually wins.
• Server-side calls. When your checkout is custom, your backend reports the payment through an API. Refgrow takes these on POST /api/v1/conversions and records a repeated call with the same reference only once.

Why billing webhooks matter more than the pixel

Browser pixels miss payments: ad blockers, closed tabs, and every renewal, which happens with no browser at all. Trackers built for SaaS listen to the billing provider instead. When Stripe, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, Polar or Dodo Payments sends a payment or refund event, Refgrow credits or reverses the commission without anything running on your site.

This is also where the price of a mistake sits. In Refgrow, commissions reported from the browser rather than from your billing provider or server wait for your approval and are kept out of automatic payouts, because anyone can call a browser endpoint.

Other affiliate tracking tools you will see on lists

Lists of the best affiliate tracking software usually mix SaaS tools with platforms built for other jobs. Three that come up often, with what their own pricing pages say:

• Post Affiliate Pro: $89/mo for 10,000 tracking requests a month, unlimited affiliates, 1 campaign; Pro $139 (1M requests), Ultimate $269 (6M), Network $649 (20M). It prices by tracking requests (impressions, clicks and sales) rather than by affiliate revenue.
• Everflow: a partner marketing platform with quote-based pricing and a 6-month commitment.
• AffiliateWP: a WordPress plugin, $149.50/yr for one site (Plus $199.50/yr (2 sites), Pro $299.50/yr (5 sites, auto payouts, multi-tier)). It fits when the site you sell from runs on WordPress.
• Tracking is one part of running a program. Recruiting partners, approving them, messaging them and paying them is affiliate management software, which most SaaS tools bundle with tracking.

What to check before you pick a tool

• Does it connect to your billing provider natively, or will you write the tracking yourself? Check the billing column in the table above.
• Does it follow renewals, upgrades and refunds, not just the first payment?
• Can partners be credited by coupon code as well as by link?
• Your marketing site and app on different root domains? Cookies do not cross them, so the tool needs a way to pass the code through to checkout.
• Is there a cap on affiliate revenue per plan, and what happens when you pass it? Most tools in the table price by it.
• Are there fees on top of the plan, for example on payouts?