Understanding Recurring Commissions: Why SaaS Affiliate Programs Pay More

A recurring commission pays you a percentage of every payment a customer you referred makes, for the program's commission period. A one-time commission pays once. In B2B SaaS, where customers pay every month or every year, one referral can keep paying you for 12, 24 or 36 months, and some programs pay for the customer's lifetime.

How recurring commissions work on Reditus

• You earn when someone you referred becomes a paying customer. A signup alone earns nothing.
• Each program sets a percentage for a set number of months, for example 10% for 12 months. Some pay for the customer's lifetime.
• The schedule is fixed: there is no higher first month. Programs reward growth with tiers instead. Public tiers move you up automatically as your paid referrals grow, to a higher percentage or a longer period.
• Every payment within the commission period counts, upgrades and extra seats included, unless the SaaS company excluded that product (often services or onboarding fees).
• On top of recurring commissions you can earn one-off commissions and campaign bonuses.

The math: what one referral is worth

Work it out per referred customer: average monthly deal size × commission % × number of months.

Example: a tool at $100 a month that pays 25% for 24 months. One customer who pays for the full 24 months earns you $600. Ten of them earn you $6,000 ($100/mo × 25% × 24 months × 10 customers). If the same program paid a one-off $100 per customer instead, those ten customers would earn you $1,000.

Customers who cancel earlier earn you less, so the product's retention is part of the math. And your earnings build on each other: the customers you referred earlier keep paying you for the rest of their commission period while you add new ones.

Why SaaS programs can pay more

B2B software costs more than most consumer products, and the customer pays again every month or year. Joran Hofman, our founder, found this out as an affiliate himself: he monetized his site SalesLovesMarketing.co with affiliate links and learned that B2B SaaS pays recurring commissions on higher tickets.

Commissions in B2B SaaS usually sit between 20 and 50%. Early-stage companies tend to pay more and for longer; established programs often pay 20 to 30% for 12 to 24 months.

A higher price isn't automatically better for you. High-ticket software usually has a long sales cycle, so it can take a long time before you know whether your traffic converts.

Is a program worth it? The ten-dollar test

Joran's rule of thumb: you want to earn roughly $10 or more for every payment a customer makes. Multiply the average monthly deal size by the commission percentage. A $50 plan at 20% gives you $10 a month: worth a look. A $15 plan at 30% gives you $4.50: probably not worth a blog post, even though it recurs.

Lifetime or a fixed term?

Lifetime sounds best, and sometimes it is. But it only pays while the customer stays. 36 months at a product with low churn can earn you more than lifetime at a new tool whose customers leave before month 12. Lifetime offers also tend to come from early-stage companies that have to work harder to recruit affiliates, so check how long the company's customers stay before you choose.

How Reditus tracks and pays your recurring commissions

• Every program you join uses the same personal link slug, and one dashboard shows all your programs, links and payouts.
• Commissions earned in a month go into a payout on the 1st of the following month, per program, once your commissions in that program pass its payout threshold. Below the threshold they keep adding up from month to month.
• You're paid before the end of that month, once the SaaS company has paid. You choose PayPal, Wise or IBAN bank transfer (European bank accounts) in your payment settings.
• Reditus takes nothing from your commissions. Your payout method may charge its own fees, but with a Wise account your payouts are free.

So far Reditus has paid out $2.1M+ in commissions to affiliates. The details: when and how affiliates get paid.

See the numbers before you join

Every program page in the Reditus marketplace shows the commission, how long it's paid and the average monthly deal size, with a calculator where you enter the paid customers you expect to refer. Our free EPC calculator shows what recurring commissions mean for your earnings per click; top affiliates in the Reditus network earn $60+ per click.

Looking for programs? Browse our directory of recurring commission programs, or read the marketplace guide.