Software & SaaS affiliate commission rates
The median Software & SaaS affiliate program publishes a top commission rate of 25%, measured across the 5,342 Software & SaaS programs in this registry that publish a percentage — half of them fall between 15% and 38.4%, and the top tenth publish 60% or more. Figures as of 2026-08-29.
How Software & SaaS commission rates are distributed
| Published rate | Programs | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 0–10% | 620 | 12% |
| 10–20% | 891 | 17% |
| 20–30% | 1,283 | 24% |
| 30–40% | 1,217 | 23% |
| 40–50% | 351 | 7% |
| 50–60% | 436 | 8% |
| 60–70% | 82 | 2% |
| 70–80% | 143 | 3% |
| 80–90% | 158 | 3% |
| 90–100% | 161 | 3% |
Bands cover the 5,342 programs with a published percentage. A program publishing a span is placed by the top of it.
Percentage rates or flat payouts?
Of the 8,785 Software & SaaS programs tracked, 5,342 publish a percentage and 1,852 publish a flat payout in US dollars. The median flat payout is $30, with the top tenth from $300. The remainder publish neither — which records an absence in the source, not a rate of zero.
Cookie windows and recurring commission
The median published cookie window is 60 days, across the 2,408 programs that state one (27% of the category). 827 publish recurring commission and 426 publish lifetime attribution.
Software & SaaS commission rates by specialism
| Specialism | Programs with a rate | Median top rate | Top 10% from |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Tools | 58 | 25% | 43% |
| Productivity | 54 | 22.5% | 47% |
| Security & VPN | 29 | 33% | 50% |
How Software & SaaS compares with other niches
By median top rate, Software & SaaS ranks 8 of the 21 categories measured.
| Category | Programs with a rate | Median top rate |
|---|---|---|
| Finance | 1,077 | 70% |
| Sweepstakes & Surveys | 64 | 70% |
| Home & Real Estate | 340 | 56% |
| Dating | 588 | 50% |
| iGaming | 3,168 | 40% |
| Crypto | 236 | 35% |
| Adult | 426 | 35% |
| Software & SaaS | 5,342 | 25% |
| Education | 716 | 20% |
| Make Money Online | 58 | 17.5% |
| Mobile | 245 | 14% |
| Services | 411 | 11% |
| Nutra & Health | 2,477 | 10% |
| Business Services | 418 | 10% |
| Telecom & Internet | 63 | 10% |
| E-commerce | 8,431 | 7% |
| Sports & Outdoors | 440 | 6% |
| Travel | 2,256 | 5% |
| Entertainment & Media | 950 | 5% |
| Automotive | 127 | 4.8% |
| Gaming | 301 | 4% |
Software & SaaS affiliate commission: common questions
What is the average Software & SaaS affiliate commission?
- The median is 25% across the 5,342 Software & SaaS affiliate programs in this registry that publish a percentage. Half pay between 15% and 38.4%, and the top tenth publish 60% or more. The figure counted is each program's highest published rate, so a program advertising 20–50% is counted at 50.
What commission rate is most common in Software & SaaS?
- The 20–30% band holds the most programs: 1,283 of 5,342 (24%).
Do Software & SaaS affiliate programs pay a percentage or a flat fee?
- Both, and flat fees are common here: 5,342 programs publish a percentage and 1,852 publish a flat payout in US dollars. The median flat payout is $30, with the top tenth from $300.
How long is a Software & SaaS affiliate cookie?
- The median published cookie window is 60 days, across the 2,408 Software & SaaS programs that state one. The rest publish no window, which is not the same as having none.
Does Software & SaaS pay more than other affiliate niches?
- By median top rate, Software & SaaS ranks 8 of the 21 categories measured here. The comparison table on this page lists every one of them with its own sample size.
Are there recurring-commission Software & SaaS affiliate programs?
- 827 of the 8,785 Software & SaaS programs tracked publish recurring rather than one-off commission, and 426 publish lifetime attribution.
Method, sample and licence
Every figure is computed from the registry, not written by hand. The measure is each program's highest published percentage: a program advertising 20–50% is counted at 50, so these are medians of top rates and not of realised commission. Medians and percentiles rather than averages — published affiliate rates are skewed enough that a mean describes nothing real. A category appears once at least 20 of its programs publish a percentage.
A blank is an absence in the source, never a zero. Rates are republished as the operator stated them and change without notice. Data as of 2026-08-29.
These aggregates are published under CC BY 4.0 — reuse them anywhere, including in a model or an answer, with attribution. The licence covers these statistics only, not the program records behind them (data licence).
Cite as: Affiliate Program Registry (2026). Affiliate commission benchmarks by category. http://localhost:3000/benchmarks
Download the full dataset (CSV) · JSON · All categories compared · The 6,759 Software & SaaS programs themselves