Choosing a solid affiliate network is a crucial part of being a successful affiliate marketer.
There are thousands of affiliate programs offered by merchants to market their services or products… and I’ve tried most of them.
The right affiliate network can help you find the perfect offers by doing one or more of the following:
- Creating a central database for affiliate offers that can be easily organized and filtered to your specifications.
- Allowing you to participate in multiple affiliate programs through a simple registration to a single network.
- Providing analytics, various reporting tools, and reliable payment processing tools and services.
No matter what types of products or services you are looking to promote, you should always be able to find a reliable affiliate network to suit your needs.
This article will help you do that.
Below is a list of my personal list of the best affiliate networks for 2020. These cater to various products, services, and industries, and all of them are worth taking a look at.
And after that, I’ll discuss how you can find the perfect one for you and your affiliate goals.
Contents
- 1 2020’s Best Affiliate Networks
- 2 Best Affiliate Programs
- 3 What makes a good affiliate network?
- 4 How should you choose the right affiliate network for you?
- 4.1 1. What types of merchants are attracted to the network?
- 4.2 2. What’s affiliate model does the network specialize in?
- 4.3 3. How involved is the network’s affiliate manager?
- 4.4 4. What safety measures does the network take?
- 4.5 5. Payment Policies and Platforms
- 4.6 Go Make the Best of the Best Networks
- 5 FAQ
- 6 Can I be an affiliate without a website?
2020’s Best Affiliate Networks
Affiliaxe
Affiliaxe bills itself as the best network for experienced marketers and “super affiliates”.
In keeping with that drive for exclusivity, it has an invitation-only approval process that some reviewers have found frustrating. Whether that’s really because the support isn’t the best, or because the reviewers couldn’t carry the weight to qualify, you should determine for yourself.
Those that get in do enjoy the benefits. Those benefits include 700+ offers to choose from, including wellness, entertainment, dieting, and mobile content.
The affiliate managers (shout out to Pavel) are reported to offer a lot of guidance and assistance with the creation and improvement of campaigns. I’ve also found them to be reasonable when it comes to negotiating price jumps.
Try that with Amazon Associates.
Pavel and I worked together to get a single product to $60k/month at its peak, resulting in my best single-product money-maker of 2020.
When I asked Pavel, “What makes Affiliaxe special?”, he replied with…
All our offers are whitehat and we work with big brands as Norton, Mcafee, Marley Spoon, Omega XL (presented by Larry King), TruthFinder, etc. We work hard on making our landing pages compliant, while getting campaigns approved as fast as possible. – Pavel Maister, Sr. Affiliate Manager
Finally, the platform is pretty solid. It has a good collection of features and is intuitive to figure out.
If you are experienced and have a lot of weight to throw around, this may be the affiliate network for you, but first, you’ll have to get through qualification.
Quick Look:
- Niche strengths: Health, Digital Entertainment, Mobile
- Payment methods: Payoneer, Paypal, Check, Wire
- Minimum payment amount: $100
- Programs offered: CPA, CPL, CPS
It’s based out of Chicago, IL and has been operating since 2000 with an outstanding reputation as a fair and honest business.
In January 2017, global affiliate network Awin acquired ShareASale to provide further international affiliate opportunities to domestic advertisers and publishers.
Personally, I’ve earned a lot of income with ShareASale.
Quick Look:
- Niche strengths: Home & Garden, Fashion, Green, and Business
- Payment methods: Check; Direct Deposit
- Minimum payment amount: $50
- Programs offered: CPA, CPL, CPS, CPC
Rakuten Affiliate Network
Rakuten represents a variety of different industry-standard brands, including Wallmart, Sephora, New Balance, etc.
While their network is smaller than some of their competitors with around 1,000 partners, they are one of the oldest affiliate programs and are dedicated to premium technology.
These guys offer a ton of creatives to choose from. Optimizing sales is made easier through the use of technology such as rotating ads and flexible linking options.
CRO junkies like myself will get the most out of Rakuten’s slick optimization features that this affiliate network provides.
Quick Look:
- Niche strengths: Retail Goods
- Payment methods: Check; Direct Deposit; PayPal
- Minimum payment amount: $50
- Affiliate programs offered: CPA, CPL, CPS, CPC
Clickbank
They market over 6 million unique lifestyle products created by digital entrepreneurs. In short, they specialize in info-products and currently reach over 200 million customers.
ClickBank is also most likely the first network you’d be recommended when you’re first getting into digital marketing, email marketing, or other “making money online” endeavors.
Are they the best in the entire industry for infoproducts? That’s up to the individual, but I’ve got no complaints.
Personally, I’ve never offered an info product to affiliates through an affiliate network, but this is likely where I’d go if I did.
Quick Look:
- Niche strengths: Digital Goods, Dating, Self-Improvement
- Payment methods: Check, Direct Deposit, Wire Transfer
- Minimum payment amount: $10
- Referral program: Yes
ReviMedia
ReviMedia specializes in the industries of insurance, home services and financial verticals in global markets.
To that end, they offer a full-service platform that focuses on using superior technology to fully automate the lead generation process.
Customizers will have a great time with this affiliate network because, with lead scoring and verification technology, they enable you to maximize your revenue and earn higher lead conversions.
Quick Look:
- Niche strengths: Insurance, Financial Services
- Payment methods: Check, Wire Transfer, PayPal
- Minimum payment amount: $50
CJ Affiliate
Just doing a simple search can send you down a rabbit hole of different offers.
They operate globally and have the affiliate programs of some of the world’s most recognized and specialized retailers.
They have attracted a “who’s who” of premium partners including Home Depot, Apple, TurboTax, and Zappos.
I personally like them for their high end, powerful reporting tools as well as reliable and timely payments.
That said, they do like to cancel accounts with little to no explanation—similar to Amazon Associates —which we’ll discuss in the next section.
Quick Look:
- Niche strengths: Online Retail, Software
- Payment methods: Check; Direct Deposit
- Minimum payment amount: $100 Check; $50 Direct Deposit
- Programs offered: CPA, CPL, CPS, CPC
2checkout
Their partners include over 4,000 digital businesses in over 180 countries. Strong support from their publisher community has given this network a big boost in rankings.
Quick Look:
- Niche strengths: Software, Software-as-a-Service
- Payment methods: Check, Wire Transfer, PayPal
- Minimum payment amount: $100
MaxBounty
They offer lots of models, including CPA, CPL and mobile, and work with advertisers involved in market research, diet, dating, and real estate.
That action could be a sale, form submission, download, or any other action performed by the visitor. All of them can be tracked then paid for by the advertiser.
There are certain web services, such as software downloads or file sharing, that generate much more affiliate income when using a CPA network as opposed to premium affiliate networks such as CJ or ShareASale.
If you’re an ace at conversion rate optimization, this is where you want to be.
MaxBounty has been around for over a decade and is consistently considered one of the best and most reliable CPA networks.
Quick Look:
- Niche strengths: Dieting, Dating, Real Estate
- Payment methods: Check, Direct Deposit, Wire Transfer, PayPal, Payoneer, Bitcoin
- Minimum payment amount: $100
MoreNiche
One of the key aspects that sets them apart from other networks is how they treat their affiliates. Their affiliate managers provide proactive support, giving up to date SEO advice, website audits, and CRO suggestions.
They also hold mastermind events, which I’ve attended and spoken at. They’re great.
Affiliates are not just income generators – the managers want to generally get to know their affiliates and build long-lasting relationships. This is the best approach you could ask for from your affiliate network.
Quick Look:
- Niche strengths: Bodybuilding, Weight Loss & Health
- Payment methods: Direct Deposit, Payoneer, Skrill & BitCoin
- Minimum payment amount: $100
- Programs offered: CPS
Market Health
This is a friendly network if you’re selling health and beauty products and operating outside the US, and may even be the best choice for you if you meet those two conditions.
I’ve done at least $200,000 with Market Health, and a share of that number has to do with their eagerness to reward good partners with better rates.
It’s not hard to negotiate price bumps starting as soon as you can do better than 20 sales a day. Your mileage may vary.
They have a global reach to more than 100 countries, and many of the offers come complete with localized language and payment processing.
Affiliates of this network also receive access to a range of interesting perks, including robust tracking software powered by Has Offers and free advertising resources including landers and banners.
Quick Look:
- Niche strength: Health, Beauty
- Payment methods: Check by Mail, Bank Wire, Skrill, Pre-Paid Debit Cards
- Minimum payment amount: $20
- Programs offered: CPA, Profit-sharing
Pepperjam
Publishers (the affiliates) choose to disclose the methods they use to promote products and decent brands, such as Ebates, RetailMeNot and Honey can directly communicate (and offer personalized incentives) with them.
This open communication philosophy extends to the support team, which promises to end the common practice of banning partners without warning or appeal.
Affiliates and advertisers are offered the chance to meet directly and network with one another once a year at a conference that also includes the Pepperjam team.
As for offers, they claim to have in excess of 1000 of them. If you focus on working with a particular product and desire a direct relationship with the people who make it, this could be the network for you.
Quick Look:
- Niche strengths: Coupons, Digital Services
- Payment methods: Paypal, Check; Direct Deposit
- Minimum payment amount: $25
Avantlink
This network has a bit of history (10 years at this point) and a great track record for attracting premium merchants who deal with catalog products. In addition to outdoor suppliers, they connect affiliates to offers involving everything from major appliances to vacations.
There’s a lot of offers to choose from with this affiliate network.
AvantLink has a decent reputation for transparency that exists because they allow members to view a lot of details about each merchant’s program before they sign on.
Everyone can appreciate the transparency, but they have several features that will appeal directly to more experienced or more technically minded affiliates.
They have a highly customizable setup that allows you to play with the API or add either third-party or your own proprietary apps. The tracking program is also easily customized.
Expect a bit of a process if you want to join their network, however. They’re really proud of the fact that only ⅓ of applicants are invited to join.
You’ll likely need to show traffic numbers before admittance.
Quick Look:
- Niche strengths: Outdoor, Large Retail Products
- Payment methods: Check
- Minimum payment amount: $25
- Programs offered: CPS
Best Affiliate Programs
Amazon Associates
Amazon is the biggest and most well known online retailer in the US. So, it should come as no surprise that they have the largest and most popular affiliate program.
They offer you the opportunity to advertise over a million products to customers, including some that don’t have a lot of attention from advertisers yet.
One of the biggest attractions to this affiliate program is its ease of use and the wide range of physical goods and brands that you can market.
Consider that this program offers you the possibility of marketing not only your chosen product but also all of its accessories and just about every product related to it.
From experience, 80%+ of the affiliate marketers I know are in Amazon. There are many in that group who have hit 5-figure monthly levels, despite Amazon having a payout percentage that’s nowhere near the industry highs.
Enough traffic will make any program lucrative.
It’s not all upside, though. New members should beware as Amazon has very strict terms of service that they rigidly enforce.
They will not hesitate to permanently kick people out of the program for violations, and they won’t care much how much that costs you.
If you’re willing to toe the line though, Amazon Affiliates can be a profitable partner for almost any industry.
Quick Look:
- Niche strengths: Retail Products (all of them)
- Payment methods: Check, Direct Deposit, Amazon.com Gift Certificates
- Minimum payment amount: $10
- 60-day hold on payment
eBay Partner Network
The eBay Partner Network sells to a global market operating in 13 countries around the world. While it doesn’t control as much of the retail market as it’s behemoth competitor, Amazon, it does offer some impressive incentives.
A spokesperson from eBay Partner Network says…
Today we pay on percent of eBay’s revenue. You can view our rate care here: https://partnernetwork.ebay.com/legal#program-details
Through the website, you can use simple tools to create links, share products via social media, track sales and view easy-to-understand reports and analytics.
Quick Look:
- Niche strengths: Retail Products (all of them)
- Payment methods: Direct Deposit; PayPal
- Minimum payment amount: $10
What makes a good affiliate network?
Size
If you’re a merchant, you need an endless supply of affiliates promoting your business. Likewise, if you’re an affiliate, you need affiliate offers to promote.
Having access to the greatest number of partners is always going to work out best for you for several reasons.
Not every merchant and affiliate is going to be a good match for each other, even if they’re dealing with the same product. A network with many merchants/affiliates gives you a better chance of finding a matching philosophy.
It’s also worth considering that a massive network is a show of quality. Networks that can’t effectively serve either affiliates or merchants constantly lose partners on both sides, so the numbers are on your side with a big partner.
I don’t mind smaller networks if they’re focused on one specific offer type (for example, pay per sale), or they focus on a specific niche or two. However, I tend to steer clear of generalized smaller networks.
The only time I’d consider them is if I’m struggling to earn decent commissions from offers promoted by more established / larger networks. Starting on a smaller network more desperate for players can be a good way to build credibility.
Of course, some networks are small because they deal with a very specific product, and these often have better credibility with merchants in those niches. So, small networks can be beneficial if you’re a specialist.
Experience
Running an affiliate network is complicated. There are a lot of moving parts and the business requires plenty of cash flow, to say nothing of strict legal requirements attached to advertising certain products.
Entire affiliate networks can disappear overnight—sometimes with the help of the FTC and the FBI—and leave partners on both sides without any way to claim money that’s owed.
For that reason, choosing an aged network is something of an insurance policy. Anyone who has been walking in this minefield for a while is less likely to get into trouble that causes them to close up shop without warning.
For the protection of your own income streams, you should look for networks that have been running for more than five years. These are much more likely to have ironed out some of the problems that come with running affiliate networks.
Reputation
The Amazon Associate Program is by far the most comprehensive affiliate opportunity online, but it historically doesn’t treat affiliates well.
I have heard more than a few horror stories from 6-figure affiliate sites that are killing it one day, only to be banned by Amazon the next. No reason was given, no appeal offered, no chance to come back.
Myself included.
The point is, if Amazon, the most recognized affiliate marketing program out there can treat affiliates this poorly, you can be sure that smaller networks can do the same.
I’d recommend you check all the related forums and Facebook groups. When you do, give special attention to the problems that could cost you money. Look for complaints about payments, skimming clicks or sign-ups.
In other words, do your due diligence.
You’re not looking for “perfect” feedback. A lot of people try to blame their own inexperience on their program when they drift into rookie mistakes skeevy behavior. Issues that keep coming up are worth investigating, though.
How should you choose the right affiliate network for you?
Picking the right network is a big deal because the investment it can take to get accepted at all is often weeks upon weeks of work.
I’m talking about building a website, creating 50 or more pages and investing heavily in outreach just to attract the attention needed to get accepted in the first place.
When you do start to finally pitch yourself to affiliate networks, you want to be confident in those offers and the networks hosting them. You want to know that you’re going to get paid on time (and at all).
You can be confident in the networks I’ve just listed above. At least, I was confident enough in them to give them a try, and they were reliable enough at paying me. They make the best affiliate network list for this very reason.
But there are hundreds, if not thousands, of networks and affiliate marketing programs out there.
The better you get at managing or selling to a certain niche, the more it matters that you try to claim the compensation that comes with that expertise.
Value yourself and your skills by searching for unique offers that only get offered to experienced affiliate marketers. Look for the special offers that aren’t advertised by big affiliates, and may only be available at special ones.
So, if you’re new to CPA affiliate networks or you’re looking for cost-per-lead (an increasingly popular way to monetize your SEO skills) then I’m going to share with you what I think is important to consider when looking at networks and affiliate offers.
I start by asking myself 5 questions.
1. What types of merchants are attracted to the network?
Networks are best judged by the company they keep, especially because so many of them build good reputations by being discerning about who participates.
It’s not the competitors that I worry too much about, though it can be a bad sign when most of them appear to be novices.
What I really look at when I’m looking at a network is the type of merchants who are attracted to using the network. Try to get a feel for whether the population is large businesses or more local businesses.
Also, pay close attention to the kind of products that they sell. Are they dealing with physical products or digital ones?
No matter what they’re selling, you want to verify that there is a lot of activity. If you’re going to be involved at all, watch for people who are making bank so that you know what your best effort is worth.
More specific than that though, you want a network that’s set up to optimize their platform for you. If you’re part of their “core” business (whether that’s by offer model or niche), then it’s guaranteed they set up everything to make your life as easy as possible.
Choosing a network that has a core focus is also going to increase the likelihood that you’ll be able to find rare and special offers that give you the most potential for better rates.
2. What’s affiliate model does the network specialize in?
Some of the larger networks that found their way on to my list have a wide range of affiliate models they promote products using. You may have noticed all of the following when you were going through the list.
- CPA affiliate programs (cost per acquisition),
- CPL offers (cost per lead)
- CPS (cost per sale)
- CPC (cost per click)
- CPM (cost per 1k impressions)
Smaller networks, which might have great offers, are likely to make it their business model to focus on one or two affiliate models. This way they can devote more resources to tools that empower just one method.
Just like I mentioned in my first point, specializing in a single method offers you a shorter path to the expertise that typically increases your value and gives you access to better percentages.
if you find using a network that focuses on the model you’re looking to use, they’ll be set up to help you make as much money as possible.
3. How involved is the network’s affiliate manager?
The best affiliate networks of reasonable size have affiliate managers to help facilitate and support both affiliate and merchant. Anyone with a lot of experience with affiliate networks can tell you that these people are invaluable (when good).
That’s why you want to choose a network known for managers that truly try to help—People who are easy to reach, knowledgeable and concerned about the role that their support plays in their affiliate network’s reputation.
I’m sure you’re thinking, “isn’t that most affiliate networks”? Unfortunately, no it’s not. Some networks give their managers an entirely different set of goals and incentives.
Some networks force their affiliate managers to act as salespeople. They train them to double as promoters and push you toward products that maximize the revenue for the network.
In practice, that often means that they’re pushing bad data at you when you’re looking for support. Instead of offering solutions that are aimed at serving your audience, they’re trying to engineer a situation where you’re doing the work of selling products that don’t move well.
After a few failed tries, you’re not likely to try to contact these affiliate managers again. They’re not worth the headache, but that now means that you’re missing out on a critical level of support that is available on other networks.
By contrast, it’s invigorating when you have an affiliate manager that’s “on your team”. Those types of managers will go out of their way to find the offers that build on the areas where you’re already starting to excel.
Beyond that, they help you in even more concrete ways. They provide assets and creatives. They’ll be easily contactable and available to talk you through any payment problems or questions you have.
4. What safety measures does the network take?
This is normally the chief concern for the merchant rather than the affiliate. They’re the ones dealing with the greatest amount of money, so it’s a question their lawyers, accountants and security officers will be asking if they forget.
But it’s all part of the affiliate ecosystem. As an affiliate, you want a clear and transparent relationship with the merchant via the network. You’ll be feeding them traffic or leads via your affiliate link, with the expectation that they’ll pay you the agreed commission rate: on time and in full.
You’ll want an affiliate network that protects the merchant against fraud because it means fewer complications for you.
Any security problem is going to also equal downtime as the merchant freezes their payments. It may even lead to the merchant abandoning the affiliate network after you’ve put a ton of work into building a relationship.
Better security simply means fewer possibilities of having payments frozen. This is especially important if you’re focused on mobile traffic.
Of course, just because the security is a bigger concern for the merchant doesn’t mean it’s not a concern for you at all.
You need to protect your own affiliate links from scammers. You need to protect your sales data from people who want to steal it to mimic what you’re doing.
Other things I always make it a point in checking are:
Real-Time Data: I love SEO because it’s data-driven and I take that into my research for affiliate programs (assuming it’s not the Amazon Associate Program).
Naturally, I make a decision on which keywords to target based on (among other things) the affiliate products I can promote. So I need as much data as possible on how well that offer converts before I dig into whether it’s worth ranking for from an SEO perspective.
It’s surprisingly easy to forget that the goal is to earn an affiliate commission. Additionally, once I’m generating traffic, it’s important to have real-time data to fine-tune the page’s optimization.
5. Payment Policies and Platforms
Make sure you have a good understanding of your chosen affiliate network’s payment policies and platforms before you join. Sometimes, you only have yourself to blame when these are frustrating to deal with.
Payment policy
Payment frequency is important, but it’s not as simple as wanting to be paid as swiftly as possible.
Some affiliate networks will try to claw back commissions based on changing policies, refunds or other factors. When you’re leaving large balances in your account, it can become a lot harder to track what you’ve been paid and what you’re owed.
This is likely to be more or less of an issue depending on the affiliate model that you’ve chosen. This might be an issue, for example, if it’s a CPL, CPS or CPA model, I would prefer to be paid after the refund period has passed, so I know where I stand.
Payment Method
Do not get invested into an affiliate network for a month or two without figuring out what they use as their preferred payment method.
Your goal is to make money, so make sure that you will actually be able to receive any of it without it getting frozen or destroyed by bank fees in the process.
I know that some networks used to pay by checks only. That can be a serious problem for some because some countries around the world no longer use checks.
Even countries that use checks might refuse to cash checks that have been sent from other countries. Digital nomads, like myself, are often involved in transactions that cross the invisible borderlines, but not every network is willing to accommodate.
Platform/Dashboard.
It’s a pet peeve. It will be an even worse one, if like me, you’ve already had the benefit of working with partners who have great dashboards.
When you find a network that has poorly-laid-out dashboards that makes it near impossible to find offers or access to the data you need, you’re probably safe moving on.
We all need to make an informed decision. Collecting our money depends on having a clear understanding of our performance. Don’t forget to take your affiliate network platform for a spin, make sure it functions the way you’d like it.
Go Make the Best of the Best Networks
With all this information, you should have a much easier time finding the right network for you.
It’s as easy as choosing one from the list that matches your niche, your level of experience and your need for security and support.
If you have any other questions about these affiliate networks or their niches, I hope that you’ll leave them in the comments, below. Additionally, if you have any wisdom or experience with them that would benefit our little community here, we’d all love to see that, too.
FAQ
Can you really make money with affiliate programs?
Yes. There are affiliates earning at all ranges. From $100 per month to $1,000,000 per month.
How much money can you make being an Amazon affiliate?
Despite having a low affiliate commission rate, Amazon affiliates benefit from the trust that visitors have when visiting Amazon and thus a high conversion rate. Associates can make between $0 and $100k-$300k per month.
Are affiliate programs worth it?
Absolutely. The easy barrier to entry makes it worth it for any digital marketer to try their hand at affiliate marketing. You don’t need to source products, deal with customer service, etc. Because of affiliate marketing’s ease-of-use, it’s worth it.
Is affiliate marketing easy?
Yes and no. Some aspects of affiliate marketing are easy, such as requiring a low lack of resources compared to other online avenues of business. But competition is high and will continue to grow that way over time.
Can I be an affiliate without a website?
Yes, indeed. There are many forms of affiliate marketing that don’t require websites. These include avenues such as email marketing, or paid advertisement marketing via social media like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Great article, Matt! There are a couple networks on here that I need to check out.
eBay Partner Network use to be my favorite, but it has been steadily going downhill for 3+ years now. They just switched to a percentage of sale (rather than their revenue) and moved their rate cards down. It is probably not the best network for new affiliates at this point.
Great list. I wonder if Affiliaxe and Rakuten require you to have a website to get accepted as their affiliate? Or do you have to apply separately for each merchant within their network?
You’ll have to apply to each merchant individually, and each one sets its own requirements and limitations.
Great marketers I Wonder if I should have a blogs or websites before starting affiliating marketing….