A fair affiliate commission rate is the highest amount you can pay a partner while still making money on the customers they bring, and for most programs that lands somewhere between 10% and 30% of the sale, or a fixed fee worked back from what a customer is worth to you. That’s the short answer. The useful answer depends on your margins, whether the revenue recurs, and which action you’re paying for, so this guide walks through the benchmarks by model and industry, then shows you how to set your own number instead of guessing.
I build affiliate tracking and payout software (Rekomi) and run a program of my own, so setting and adjusting commission rates is something I think about from both sides: what makes a partner want to promote you, and what keeps the program profitable. Get the rate right and good partners lean in. Set it too low and nobody bothers; set it too high and you’re buying revenue at a loss.
What decides the right commission rate
Before any benchmark, four things move your number more than industry averages do:
- Your margin. A digital product with 90% margin can pay far more than a physical product running on 20%. The rate has to fit under the margin with room to spare.
- Customer lifetime value. If a customer stays for years, you can pay generously on the first sale because you keep the renewals. One-off purchases are tighter.
- Recurring or one-time. Recurring commissions are worth more to a partner per sale, so you can often set a lower percentage than a one-time payout and still be attractive.
- The action you pay for. A percentage of a sale, a flat fee per sale, a bounty per lead, and a rate per click are priced completely differently, because each one carries a different amount of risk for you.
Typical commission rates by model and industry
These are the ranges you’ll commonly see. Treat them as a starting point, not a rule, and always check them against your own math in the next section.
- SaaS and subscriptions: often 20% to 30% of the sale, frequently recurring for the customer’s lifetime or a fixed number of months. High margins and recurring revenue make software the most generous category.
- Digital products, courses, and info: 30% to 50%, sometimes higher. Margins are high and delivery cost is near zero, so the rates run rich.
- Physical products and ecommerce: 5% to 15%, because margins are thinner. Higher for premium or high-margin niches.
- Cost per lead (CPL): a flat bounty, commonly a few dollars to $50 or more, scaled to how much a qualified lead is worth to you.
- Cost per click (CPC): a flat rate, usually from a few cents up to a dollar or so per validated click, for seeding traffic.
One honest note on the percentages: what matters to a good partner isn’t the headline rate, it’s the expected earnings per click they send you. A 40% commission on a product nobody buys is worth less than 20% on a product that converts. The best partners do that math, so a fair rate plus a page that actually converts beats a flashy rate on its own.
How to calculate your own rate
Don’t inherit a number from a blog post, including this one. Work it back from what a customer is worth. Here’s the clean version.
- Start with the lifetime value of a referred customer, or the profit on the first sale if you’d rather stay conservative.
- Decide the share of that value you’re willing to hand a partner. For recurring software, 20% to 30% of the first year (or of lifetime value) is a common, sustainable band.
- Convert to whatever structure fits: a percentage, a flat fee, or a per-lead bounty.
The worked example: you sell a $50/mo product, a customer stays about 12 months (roughly $600 in lifetime value), and you decide 25% of that is a fair partner share. That’s $150 per customer. You can pay it as a recurring 25% commission ($12.50/mo for as long as they stay), or as a one-time flat $150 on the sale. The recurring version usually recruits better, because it turns into real monthly income for your partner, and it self-corrects if the customer cancels early. Run it both ways and see which one your partners prefer; the total cost is the same when the customer stays the full year.
Flat, percentage, recurring, and tiered: pick the structure
- Percentage of sale: scales with order value, the default for most SaaS and ecommerce.
- Flat fee per sale: predictable, good when order values vary a lot or you want a simple pitch.
- Recurring: pay for the customer’s lifetime, a set number of months, or just the first payment. The strongest recruiting tool for subscription products.
- Tiered: raise the rate as a partner drives more volume, so your best affiliates earn more and stay motivated.
- Per-affiliate custom rates: pay a key partner more than the default without changing everyone else. Useful for a big creator you want to land.
This is the part Rekomi is built for. You can set a program default (percentage or flat), make it recurring for one payment, a set number of months, or lifetime, layer tiered rates on top, and give individual affiliates or whole partner groups their own custom rate, all in the same campaign. You can also run cost-per-click and cost-per-lead campaigns with fixed rates when the action you’re paying for isn’t a sale. Once the rates are set, Rekomi handles the other half of the job: turning earned commissions into actual payouts through Stripe or PayPal, with the tax forms done for you. The flat 3% platform fee only applies when an affiliate actually earns, so the rate you set is the rate that drives the cost.
Common mistakes when setting rates
- Copying a competitor’s rate without knowing their margins. Their 40% might be reckless, or a loss leader you can’t afford to match.
- Ignoring lifetime value and pricing off the first sale only, which usually leaves you paying too little to recruit anyone good.
- Paying a flat percentage on refunded or churned sales. Reverse commissions when a sale is refunded or a subscription cancels early, so you’re not paying for revenue you gave back.
- Setting it and forgetting it. Revisit rates as your margins and conversion change; a rate that made sense last year may not now.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good affiliate commission rate?
A good rate is the most you can pay while still profiting on the customers a partner brings. In practice that’s often 20% to 30% for SaaS (frequently recurring), 30% to 50% for digital products, and 5% to 15% for physical goods. Always check the range against your own margins and lifetime value.
How are affiliate commissions calculated?
A commission is the agreed rate applied to the referred action: a percentage of the sale, a flat fee per sale, or a fixed bounty per lead or click. The tracking platform attributes the action to the right partner and calculates what they earned, then reverses it if the sale is later refunded.
How do I decide my affiliate commission percentage?
Work backward from customer lifetime value and pick the share you’re willing to give a partner (commonly 20% to 30% for recurring software). Convert that share into a percentage, a flat fee, or a per-lead bounty. Never set the number from an industry average alone; your margins decide what’s sustainable.
Should affiliate commissions be recurring or one-time?
For subscription products, recurring commissions usually recruit better because they become real monthly income for your partner, and they self-correct if the customer cancels. One-time payouts are simpler and fit one-off purchases. Many programs offer recurring for a set number of months as a middle ground.
Do this next
Pull one number: the lifetime value of a referred customer. Decide the share you’re comfortable handing a partner, and that’s your rate, in whatever structure fits your product. Then make sure your platform can pay it the way you want (recurring, tiered, or per-partner) and reverse it on refunds. If you want to set flexible rates and have the payouts and tax handled for you, you can start a 14-day Rekomi trial and set your commission structure in a few minutes.
