Here’s something unusual: if you’re hunting for the best affiliate software for Dodo Payments, Dodo has already done half your research. Their documentation has a dedicated Affiliates section that names the platforms they integrate with, and I think that’s the single smartest place to start. This article walks the whole field: the three tools in Dodo’s docs, one more with a legit self-documented integration, what each actually costs, and the popular tools that can’t help you here.
Fair warning: I’m the person behind Rekomi, which is one of the tools in Dodo’s docs, so take the ranking with that grain of salt. Every number below comes from live pricing pages and documentation checked this week. When something is a vendor’s marketing claim rather than a thing I verified, I label it.
The short version:
Rekomi if you want tracking, payouts, and tax forms handled in one place (from $29/mo).
Affonso if you want Dodo’s launch partner and revenue-sized tiers (from $15/mo billed yearly).
Refgrow if you want flat pricing and the affiliate dashboard embedded inside your own app ($29/mo).
And Dub Partners if you’re already a Dub customer and want links plus partners in one place (from $90/mo).
Start with what Dodo’s own docs say
Dodo’s Affiliates documentation lists three integration partners by name: Affonso, Dub Partners, and Rekomi. That vendor-vetted list matters more here than it would on Stripe, because Dodo is a merchant of record: the customer pays Dodo, not you, so affiliate tracking has to plug into Dodo’s webhooks and metadata directly. A tool either speaks Dodo or it doesn’t; there’s no generic fallback that sort-of works.
One tool from outside that list earns its spot anyway: Refgrow publishes its own detailed Dodo Payments integration docs with webhook setup, per-product commission rates, and per-affiliate overrides. Self-documented rather than Dodo-documented, but documented is documented, so it’s on the list. That makes four real options, and honestly, four is a healthy field for a platform this young.
New to Dodo Payments? The 60-second version
Dodo Payments is a merchant of record and billing platform aimed squarely at AI and SaaS companies: subscriptions, usage-based and credit-based billing, hosted checkout, and global tax compliance handled for you, selling into 220+ countries. Pricing is pay-as-you-go with no fixed costs: 4% + 40¢ per transaction for US domestic cards, +0.5% for subscription billing, +1.5% on international payments, and +3% where PayPal or BNPL is the payment method. There’s also a startup program with up to 12 months of free credits, which explains why so many AI tools you’ve seen on your timeline run their checkout here.
The affiliate-relevant part of the architecture: every sale lands as a signed webhook event with metadata attached, and checkout links accept referral parameters. That’s the surface all four tools below build on. So, which one? Here’s the field.
The four options, side by side
| Tool | In Dodo’s docs? | Price | Payout fees | Payouts + tax handled for you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rekomi | Yes | $29-$99/mo, 14-day trial | 3% of affiliate payouts | Yes: 165+ countries, W-9/W-8 and 1099s included |
| Affonso | Yes | $15-$149/mo billed yearly, tiered by affiliate revenue | None | Managed payouts from the $29/mo Growth tier; tax stays yours |
| Dub Partners | Yes | $90/mo (Business) or $300/mo (Advanced) | 5% (3% on Enterprise) | Automated global payouts with tax compliance |
| Refgrow | Self-documented | $29/mo flat, unlimited affiliate revenue | None | Automated via your own PayPal or Wise; tax stays yours |
Rekomi
Rekomi is the tool I helped build, and Dodo’s docs describe it as the option that “also handles affiliate payouts and tax forms for you,” which is exactly the positioning I’d pick too. The connection is one pasted Dodo API key (no OAuth dance, no webhook wiring on your side), and from there one-time purchases, subscription renewals, and refunds all track automatically. Paste the key and tracking is live!
Why it’s on the list: it’s the only Dodo option where the money side is fully done for you. Rekomi is the payer of record: it sends affiliate payouts in 165+ countries (Stripe Express direct deposits in 42, bank deposits in 60 more, PayPal in 66 more), collects W-9s and W-8s, and files 1099-NECs at year end. One detail I’m genuinely proud of: commissions on Dodo are computed on the pre-tax product amount, so you never pay an affiliate a cut of the VAT that Dodo collected for the government. Small thing – real money.
What it costs: $29/mo Starter, $49/mo Growth, $99/mo Pro (14-day free trial), plus a flat 3% of affiliate payouts. The 3% only exists when affiliates actually earn, so a $0-payout month costs you $0 in take.
The trade-off: no free plan, and if you’re happy paying affiliates manually forever, the flat-price tools below are cheaper on paper. The subscription plus 3% is priced for founders whose time is worth more than the payout run.
Verdict: pick Rekomi when you want to launch the program and never think about paying people or chasing tax forms again. Setup details live on the Dodo integration page and in the step-by-step Dodo Payments affiliate program guide.
Affonso
Affonso has the deepest relationship with Dodo of anyone here: when Dodo announced its Affiliates feature, the launch post credited Affonso as the engine behind it. The integration is API key plus webhook, walked through step by step in Dodo’s own documentation, and it tracks one-time purchases, subscriptions, and upgrades automatically.
Why it’s on the list: launch-partner status aside, it’s a genuinely complete suite: flexible commission rules, affiliate groups, coupon and link tracking, fraud detection, a customizable partner portal, and an affiliate discovery tool. They say 500+ brands use it. From the Growth tier upward, Affonso also offers managed payouts, so the paying-people problem is solvable here too.
What it costs: tiers are sized by monthly affiliate-driven revenue: Launch $15/mo (up to $1,000/mo; $19 on monthly billing), Growth $29/mo (up to $10,000/mo, adds managed payouts), Elite $79/mo (up to $30,000/mo), Enterprise from $149/mo. Those are yearly-billing prices (monthly billing runs higher), with a 14-day trial.
The trade-off: the revenue caps mean success moves you up the price ladder, so model next year’s tier, not this month’s. Managed payouts don’t exist on the entry tier, and tax forms remain your job at every tier.
Verdict: the natural pick if you want the tool Dodo built its affiliate story around, at a friendly entry price.
Dub Partners
Dub comes at this from the link side: it started as the modern link-management platform, and Dub Partners layers a full partner program on top of that link infrastructure. Dodo’s docs list it as an integration for powering affiliate programs with Dub’s conversion tracking and attribution analytics.
Why it’s on the list: if you already run your marketing links on Dub, adding partners to the same dashboard is very appealing, and the feature set is serious: automated global payouts with tax compliance, dual-sided incentives, real-time analytics, and an AI landing page generator. This is the most polished, most funded product on the page.
What it costs: Partners lives on Dub’s Business plan at $90/mo ($2,500/mo included partner payouts) or Advanced at $300/mo ($15,000/mo included), each with 5% payout fees on top; Enterprise drops the fee to 3%. 14-day trial.
The trade-off: price. At $90/mo plus 5% of payouts before you’ve paid a single commission dollar of your own, it’s several times the cost of everything else here, and the payout caps arrive fast on a healthy program. You’re buying the whole Dub platform, which only makes sense if you’ll use the whole Dub platform.
Verdict: the premium option: right for funded teams already living in Dub, oversized for an indie product’s first affiliate program.
Refgrow
Refgrow isn’t in Dodo’s docs, but its own Dodo documentation is real and specific: webhook-based payment tracking, per-product commission rates, and per-affiliate commission overrides. Its signature move is the embedded dashboard: one script tag and the entire affiliate experience lives inside your product instead of on a separate portal.
Why it’s on the list: flat, simple pricing with no revenue caps, automated payouts through your connected PayPal or Wise, fraud protection, and a cross-promotion network for finding affiliates. For a developer-tool audience, the in-app dashboard is a clever retention trick: your users see their referral earnings every time they open your product.
What it costs: $29/mo for 1 program with unlimited affiliates and unlimited affiliate revenue; $49/mo for 3 programs. 14-day trial, no card required, no transaction fees.
The trade-off: payouts run through your own PayPal or Wise balance and tax forms stay your responsibility; the embedded model assumes you have an app and a spare afternoon of frontend work; and you’re trusting Refgrow’s own docs on Dodo rather than Dodo’s.
Verdict: the best flat-price pick, especially if the affiliate program should feel like a feature of your product.
Who’s missing from this list, and why
Rewardful, Tolt, FirstPromoter, PromoteKit, and Sled: none of them lists Dodo Payments among supported platforms as of this writing. Same structural reason as always with a merchant of record: those tools watch your Stripe (or Paddle, or Chargebee) account, and on Dodo your payment account isn’t part of the transaction. If you’re migrating billing to Dodo from Stripe and you run affiliates on one of these, budget for switching the affiliate tool at the same time. Your program’s history won’t move itself, so plan the export early.
Affiliate software for Dodo Payments: quick answers
Does Dodo Payments have built-in affiliate tracking?
Partly. Dodo markets an Affiliates feature, but under the hood it works through integration partners: their docs walk you through connecting Affonso, Dub Partners, or Rekomi. You’ll be using one of those platforms either way, so pick deliberately.
How does affiliate tracking work on Dodo Payments?
Through signed webhooks and checkout metadata. The affiliate’s tracking link stamps a referral onto the checkout, Dodo fires a webhook when the payment lands, and the affiliate tool matches the metadata to credit the right person. Subscription renewals carry the same metadata, which is what makes recurring commissions work.
What’s the cheapest way to start?
Affonso’s $15/mo Launch tier (billed yearly) is the lowest entry price, and it’s a fine place to start under $1,000/mo of affiliate revenue. Just do the two-year math before choosing purely on entry price: tier steps, payout fees, and the hours you’ll spend paying people manually are all part of the real cost.
Can I run a referral program for existing customers on Dodo?
Yes. All four tools run customer-referral programs on the same rails: your customers get tracking links (or join your program directly) and earn a commission or reward for each new customer they bring. Mechanically it’s identical to an affiliate program; only the audience changes.
Do commissions include the tax Dodo collects?
They shouldn’t. Dodo is the merchant of record, so VAT and sales tax ride inside every charge. Check that your tool calculates commissions on the product amount, not the tax-inclusive total; on Rekomi the pre-tax basis is the default for Dodo.
Answer the payout question
Open Dodo’s Affiliates docs in one tab and this comparison in another, and pick based on the payout question: who’s going to actually send your affiliates their money? If the answer should be “not me,” the Rekomi setup guide gets you from API key to a live program in about ten minutes. If the answer is “me, happily,” Affonso and Refgrow both start cheap and set up fast. Whichever you choose, get the tracking live before your next launch, because affiliate programs compound, and the best day to start compounding was yesterday!
