Affiliate and referral software: how to choose one

First, do you need it yet?

Running a program with a handful of partners on a spreadsheet is entirely reasonable, and plenty of brands spend money on tooling before they have anyone to track. The threshold worth using is simple: when you can no longer answer which partner drove which sale without guessing, you have outgrown the spreadsheet.

If you are not there, the useful next step is recruiting partners rather than buying software. Our guide to affiliate programs in Australia is written from the other side of that relationship, which is a useful thing to understand before you build your own.

The six questions

1. 1. Does it pay your partners, or only track them?

   Payouts across countries and currencies are the part that quietly eats hours. A tracking-only tool leaves that with you every month.

2. 2. Affiliates, referrals, or both?

   Creators promoting for commission and customers introducing friends are different audiences. Buying for one when you need both is the common and expensive mistake.

3. 3. What does integration actually require?

   A native app for your store is a different proposition from a script and a developer. Ask what breaks at checkout, and who fixes it.

4. 4. Is attribution by link, code, or both?

   Codes work where links do not, particularly for creators talking to camera. If your partners are on video, code attribution is not optional.

5. 5. What happens to your data if you leave?

   Partner relationships, historical performance and payout records. Ask before you sign, because it is a poor conversation to have afterwards.

6. 6. What is the twelve-month total?

   Platform fee, per-transaction fees, payout fees and any onboarding charge. The monthly headline is the least useful number in the quote.

Ask all of them of every platform you shortlist. The answers diverge far more than the marketing pages suggest, and the divergence is where your actual monthly cost and workload live.

Why there is no ranking here

We have a relationship with one platform in this category, Superfiliate, and we have not used the alternatives. A ranked list built on that basis would be steering dressed as research, and this category has plenty of that already.

So the criteria above are the deliverable. They work on whichever platforms you are weighing up, including ones we have never heard of.

The one we do have an offer on

This is an affiliate link, so we earn if you subscribe, at no extra cost to you. That is exactly why the six questions above are not written around Superfiliate's strengths. How we make money.

Common questions

How much does affiliate software cost in Australia?

Almost none of it publishes a price, which is the first thing to know. Pricing is quoted per brand and usually depends on your order volume, the number of partners you manage, and which modules you take. Expect a monthly platform fee, and check separately whether commission payouts, payment processing and support sit inside that fee or beside it. The monthly figure is rarely the whole cost.

What is the difference between affiliate software and a referral program?

Affiliate software manages people promoting you for commission: creators, publishers, media partners. Referral tooling manages existing customers introducing new ones, usually for a reward rather than a percentage. Several platforms now do both, and buying one that only does one is the common mistake when your plan involves both audiences.

Do I need affiliate software, or can I track it manually?

Manually is workable at a handful of partners and stops being workable quickly. The point at which software pays for itself is usually when you cannot answer, from memory or a spreadsheet, which partner drove which sale. If you are still comfortably tracking it by hand, the honest answer is that you do not need to buy anything yet.

What should I check before signing up to an affiliate platform?

Whether it handles the payout side or only the tracking, since paying partners across countries is the part that quietly consumes hours. Whether it integrates with your store without developer time. What happens to your partner relationships and data if you leave. And what the twelve-month cost is including any per-transaction fee, rather than the headline monthly price.

Does Refer Labs earn from this page?

Yes, if you go on to use Superfiliate through our link, and it is the only platform here we have a relationship with. That is also why this page gives you criteria rather than a ranking: we have not used the alternatives, and a league table assembled without that would be steering rather than comparing. Judge the criteria on their own merits and apply them to whichever platforms you shortlist.