4 Best Affiliate Tracking & Management Software for WordPress

When we first started exploring affiliate tracking solutions for WordPress, we quickly learned that choosing the right software was important.

That’s why when our partner brands started their affiliate programs, we made sure to help them select a reliable solution like AffiliateWP.

Through helping many businesses set up their referral programs, we’ve discovered that success depends on having the right tracking and management tools in place.

Many website owners don’t realize that affiliate software isn’t just about counting clicks – it’s about creating a system that both you and your affiliates can trust.

In this guide, we’ll share the best affiliate tracking solutions for WordPress. These recommendations come from real experience running affiliate programs that generate revenue.

Best Affiliate Tracking and Management Software for WordPress

Overview of the Best Affiliate Tracking and Management Software

If you are in a hurry, then you can take a quick look at our top picks to choose the right affiliate tracking software for your site.

#	Plugins	Best For	Pricing
🥇	AffiliateWP	Affiliate tracking and management	$149.60/yr. + Free
🥈	Easy Affiliate	Tracking self-hosted affiliate programs	$99.60/yr.
🥉	ShareASale	Sending payments to each affiliate	$625
4	Impact	Tracking customer interactions and campaigns	$500/mo.

How We Test And Review Affiliate Tracking And Management Software

Affiliate marketing allows you to build a sales army to reach more potential customers instantly. It’s a great way to make more money online and grow your revenue.

However, managing that affiliate team on your own can be a lot of work because you need to keep track of each affiliate and their sales and then pay their commission regularly.

We have made this easier for you by testing popular affiliate marketing tools and paying special attention to the following criteria:

Ease of Use: We focused on tools that are beginner-friendly with a simple setup process. The affiliate software we recommend offers intuitive dashboards, quick onboarding, and helpful tutorials or documentation.
Features: We looked for essential features like real-time affiliate tracking, fraud prevention, performance-based segmentation, and multiple payout options. Bonus points go to tools that support coupon tracking, custom commission rules, and easy affiliate recruitment.
Reliability: Every tool we include has been tested by our team on a live WordPress site. We also considered customer feedback, plugin updates, and the quality of support provided.
Scalability: Whether you’re just starting or growing a high-volume affiliate program, we only highlight tools that can scale with your business.
Value for Money: We evaluated pricing plans to ensure you’re getting the best features at a fair cost. Free versions, flexible upgrades, and no hidden fees are major pluses in our book.

Why Trust WPBeginner?

At WPBeginner, we don’t just write about tools — we actually use and test them.

When it comes to affiliate tracking and management plugins, we’ve tried many of them firsthand on real websites. We look at how easy they are to set up, how well they work with WordPress, and whether the tracking is accurate.

Some of our partner brands use AffiliateWP to manage their own affiliate programs, and we’ve seen how powerful and flexible it can be. We’ve also explored other popular tools to compare features like payouts, reporting, fraud protection, and ease of use.

So when you read a recommendation on WPBeginner, know that it’s based on real experience. For more information, see our complete editorial process.

Let’s take a look at the best affiliate management solutions for WordPress.

1. AffiliateWP

AffiliateWP is the best affiliate tracking and management software, and it’s actually built as a WordPress plugin. This makes for a seamless process since you can manage your affiliate program right from your WordPress site.

It was developed by Pippin Williamson and Andrew Munro, the folks behind Easy Digital Downloads. It beats other solutions regarding cost-effectiveness and the control it offers over your affiliate program.

We have thoroughly tested the tool on a real website and have found it to be super beginner-friendly. To learn more, see our AffiliateWP review.

Creating an affiliate network in WordPress

It is a reliable system in the market and is used by other WordPress plugin developers to sell their products. This is a great solution for those looking to build a small group of affiliates.

We love that AffiliateWP comes with a clean, central dashboard that makes managing your entire affiliate program super easy.

Right from your WordPress admin area, you can see how your affiliates are performing, track clicks and referrals, view real-time reports, approve applications, and manage payouts.

It’s designed to be intuitive, so even if you’re new to affiliate marketing, you’ll quickly feel comfortable navigating everything.

For more experienced marketers, AffiliateWP includes advanced features like custom commission rates, referral link tracking, affiliate coupon codes, and integrations with top WordPress plugins like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, MemberPress, and WPForms.

Whether you’re running a small store or scaling a larger program, it gives you the tools to grow confidently from one central place. To get started, see our tutorial on how to create a referral program in WordPress.

Pros of AffiliateWP

We love that you can quickly review affiliate applications with the AI Affiliate Review feature.
A one-time purchase entitles you to a year of support and updates. License plans start from $149.60 per year.
You run your own affiliate program on your own site and build your own network.
Complete integration with Easy Digital Downloads, WooCommerce, iThemes Exchange, and other popular WordPress eCommerce plugins.
Our testing revealed that it has real-time reporting for you and your affiliates.
We were impressed that you can see your top-performing affiliates and build lasting partnerships without paying hefty fees.
You get a 14-day money-back guarantee.
A bulk payment option is available for PayPal and integrated Payouts services to make your life easy.

Cons of AffiliateWP

You manage everything, including plugin updates, ensure tracking is done properly, etc.
The plugin runs on your WordPress hosting server, which means you’ll need more resources if your site is large.
You don’t have access to an existing network of affiliates, so you will have to bring affiliates to sign up for your program.

Why we recommend AffiliateWP: If you want to run and manage an affiliate program for your website all by yourself, then we recommend AffiliateWP.

Pricing: Starts at $149.60 per year for a single site license. It includes unlimited affiliates and supports multiple payout methods.

Get started with the AffiliateWP plugin!

2. Easy Affiliate

Easy Affiliate, formerly known as Affiliate Royale, is one of the most beginner-friendly affiliate tracking plugins for WordPress. It’s designed to give you everything you need to run a self-hosted affiliate program, without relying on third-party platforms or complicated integrations.

When we were evaluating the tool, we really liked that you can manage your entire program directly from your WordPress dashboard, which makes things simple and easy to control.

To learn more, see our Easy Affiliate review.

An example of an affiliate dashboard, created using Easy Affiliate

With this tool, you can track clicks, referrals, and sales in real time, manage affiliate applications, and set commission rules — all in one place.

Plus, we love that it includes built-in fraud detection, which keeps your program safe by alerting you to suspicious activity. That’s super helpful if you’re just starting out and want peace of mind.

Protecting your referral program against fraud and suspicious activity

It integrates smoothly with tools many online businesses already use, like WooCommerce, MemberPress, PayPal, and major email marketing services.

That means you can set up your affiliate program to work alongside your online store or membership site with minimal hassle.

Whether you are a small business owner or growing a large program, Easy Affiliate offers the flexibility and control you need to track performance, reward your affiliates, and grow your revenue.

Pros of Easy Affiliate

We found Easy Affiliate super simple to use, and you can add an affiliate program in just a few clicks.
While investigating, we discovered that you can manage and monitor different affiliates, edit their accounts, download their links and banners, and view payment history from dashboard.
The software offers detailed reports to track the performance of your affiliates and even lets you set up different commission levels along with commission tracking for each user.
You can also secure your payments through the fraud detection feature and flag suspicious affiliate behavior before you pay your partners.
We like that the plugin lets you create custom affiliate tracking links and supports Pretty Links, so your URLs are short, clean, and memorable.
Seamless integration with eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads, payment services like PayPal, and email marketing tools like ConvertKit.

Cons of Easy Affiliate

Easy Affiliate doesn’t offer a free trial to test the software before making a purchase.
There isn’t a network of affiliates you can use to grow your business instantly. You’ll have to reach out to people to join your affiliate program, which can be time-consuming.

Why we recommend Easy Affiliate: If you are looking for a self-hosted affiliate program to track and manage your referrals, then we think this is a great solution.

Pricing: The basic plan costs $99.60 per year for a single site license. It seamlessly works with MemberPress, Easy Digital Downloads, WooCommerce, and other popular eCommerce services.

Get started with the Easy Affiliate plugin!

3. ShareASale

ShareASale is one of the most well-known affiliate networks and has been around for 20 years.

With over 270,000 affiliates in their network, it’s a great option if you want to get your products in front of an audience fast, without having to manually recruit and manage each affiliate yourself.

One of the biggest reason of ShareASale being on this list is how they handle affiliate payments.

Instead of you having to send payments to each affiliate individually, the tool collects all the data, handles payment processing, and ensures each affiliate is paid on time.

This can be a huge time-saver, especially as your program grows. We use ShareASale for our own products like OptinMonster and WPForms, and it’s been reliable in making sure affiliates get paid accurately and consistently.

Just keep in mind that the platform does charge a per-transaction fee, which can add up — so we usually only recommend it for businesses that are ready to scale or have a strong product-market fit.

Pros of ShareASale

The software is hosted on the ShareASale server, so you don’t need to worry about managing or updating it.
ShareASale takes care of tracking and sending payments to each affiliate, which saves time.
We appreciate that you get access to the large network of affiliate marketers on ShareASale.
Our research revealed that there is no monthly recurring fee, and you only pay a small percentage when an affiliate makes a sale.
Some other features of ShareASale are real-time tracking, segmentation of top performers, and connecting multiple sites into one account.

Cons of ShareASale

When testing the tool, we didn’t like it’s user interface and found it to be a bit clunky.
There is a one-time setup fee of $625, and there’s a recurring transaction fee.
There’s a $35 monthly transaction fee, and new merchants are given a 30-day grace period. We have never had an issue meeting this after the grace period.

Why we recommend ShareASale: If you want a system that sends automatic payments to each affiliate, then ShareASale is a great choice.

Pricing: ShareASale has a $625 one-time setup fee. It also charges a $35 monthly platform fee and a 20% commission on your merchant transactions.

Get started with the ShareASale plugin!

4. Impact

Impact offers an affiliate marketing solution where you pay only for the affiliates you work with and not the network fees.

This significantly reduces the cost as you pay only for the platform and the number of affiliates you work with.

Plus, we love that Impact lets you track customer interactions across different devices. Its cross-device tracking feature gives you a detailed picture of your customer journey and the devices your affiliates and customers are using.

The software also has tracking options that help you accurately measure your affiliate campaigns. There is also fraud protection, so you can easily identify suspicious affiliates before payout.

Pros of Impact

In our opinion, it provides great analytics and insights into your marketing campaign.
When testing the tool, we found that you can see exactly who is bringing you more sales and developing strategic partnerships accordingly.
Powerful user-interface
Other features include mobile tracking, SEO-friendly URLs, coupon tracking, and integration with Salesforce and other CRM platforms.
We love its fraud protection features that help you securely payout affiliates.

Cons of Impact

Monthly recurring fee, but you don’t pay the network fee for each affiliate that you bring, which can be a perk for larger programs.
A smaller network of affiliate marketers.

Why we recommend Impact: If you want to consistently track customer interactions and campaigns, then Impact is a great choice.

Pricing: The starter plan costs $500 per month. It includes onboarding, migration, and support.

Get started with the Impact plugin!

Which Affiliate Tracking Software Should You Choose?

You need to choose a solution based on your own budget and requirements. If you’re looking for a cost-effective solution for WordPress, then we recommend going with either AffiliateWP or Easy Affiliate.

Both are excellent options, however, AffiliateWP’s payout services really give you the best of both worlds.

If you want more advanced features and don’t mind the per-transaction cost and higher fees, then ShareASale is the way to go.

We hope this article helped you find the best affiliate tracking software for your WordPress site. You may also want to look at our other WordPress guides for affiliate tracking and management sites.

Best WordPress Guides for Affiliate Marketing Sites

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