What Is a Good Commission Rate in B2B SaaS?

Most B2B SaaS affiliate programs pay between 20 and 50% recurring commission. Where you land depends on your stage. Early-stage programs pay at the higher end and for longer, while established programs often pay 20 to 30% for 12 to 24 months. A product with a niche audience needs a higher percentage or a longer duration too.

Run three checks before you publish a rate.

Step 1: Check it from the affiliate's side

Affiliates judge your program in money, not in percentages. Work out what one paying customer earns them: monthly revenue per account × commission % × number of months.

• Example: $100/month × 20% × 24 months = $480 per customer.
• For ten customers, that's $4,800. Would you recommend your own product for that?

Then run the $10 test: an affiliate needs to earn roughly $10 for every payment a referred customer makes before promoting you is worth their effort.

• $100/month at 20% = $20 per payment. That clears it.
• $19/month at 15% = under $3 per payment. That doesn't, however good the product is.

A high price isn't automatically attractive either. High-ticket products usually have long sales cycles, and many affiliates avoid those, because it takes too long to learn whether their traffic converts.

Step 2: Check your own economics

• Estimate what a customer is worth to you, for example $100/month × 24 months = $2,400.
• Compare it with the total commission on that customer: $480 in the example, paid only on payments you've received.
• Make sure that fits what you're willing to spend to win a customer. Don't give away more than a customer brings in, unless you're deliberately buying growth.

Don't stop at your margins, though. Looking only at your own margins is one of the three mistakes below.

Step 3: Choose a commission model

Recurring commissions (recommended for B2B SaaS)

The affiliate earns a percentage of every payment the referred customer makes for a set number of months, for example 20% for 12 months. Some programs pay for the customer's lifetime.

• 20 to 30% for 12 to 24 months: typical for established programs.
• Higher and longer, toward the top of the 20 to 50% band: early-stage programs and niche products.
• Tiers on top: a higher percentage or a longer period for affiliates who bring in more paying customers. See tiered commission structures.

Recurring is the right call when:

• Your revenue is subscription-based.
• Churn is low to moderate.
• You want affiliates to send customers who stay.

Lifetime or a fixed term?

Lifetime commission mostly comes from early-stage companies that have to work harder to recruit. Established companies can offer a fixed term and still recruit, and products with a lot of upgrade potential often cap the duration too. For the affiliate, a capped term on a low-churn product usually beats lifetime on a high-churn one: 36 months of commission on a product people keep using is worth more than lifetime commission on a tool whose customers leave within a year.

One-time commissions

A one-time commission pays a single amount per referred customer. It's easy to forecast, but the affiliate has no stake in whether the customer stays. And a one-time amount bigger than the customer's first payment invites fake signups.

In B2B SaaS, one-time payments work best as bonuses on top of a recurring commission, for content or for reaching a number of paid referrals. In Reditus you do that with campaigns. Paid content has to be genuine and disclosed the way each platform requires.

Paying per lead or per demo

Affiliates on Reditus are paid when they deliver a paying customer, not per lead or per demo. If you need your program to be more attractive, raise the percentage or the duration instead.

Three mistakes to avoid

• No tiers. Without tiers, your best affiliates have nothing to work toward. Reward growth with a higher percentage or a longer period.
• Looking only at your own margins. If the commission doesn't earn an affiliate enough per customer, they won't promote you, however healthy your margins look.
• Paying less as an early-stage company. Affiliates take more risk on an unknown brand, so early-stage programs need to pay more than established ones, not less.

Setting your rate in Reditus

• Commission schedules are a set percentage for a set number of months, and lifetime is possible. There's no option for a higher percentage in the first month only: use tiers to reward growth.
• Affiliates earn on every payment the referred customer makes within your commission period, upgrades and extra seats included. You can exclude certain products, for example services or onboarding fees. You do that with metadata on the product in Stripe: see how to exclude products from commissions.
• Affiliates can filter the marketplace on commission length, including lifetime.
• Want to start generous and lower the rate later? Lower it for new affiliates and keep your early affiliates on their original deal in a private tier.

More on the two models in how SaaS affiliate commissions work.