# What to offer affiliates for your SaaS: commission, duration and cookie window | RecruitAffiliates.ai Source: https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/what-to-offer-affiliates [Blog](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog) # What to offer affiliates for your SaaS: commission, duration and cookie window Jimi Barkway · 9 October 2026 · 5 min read An affiliate says yes when the maths is clear and they trust you to pay. The rate matters less than most founders think. An **affiliate** is someone with an audience who sends buyers to your product. A **commission** is the cut of each sale you pay them for it. The affiliate isn't buying your product. They're deciding whether to spend their audience's attention on you. So your offer is a way to earn money, and it has to read like one. Here's what goes into it. ## The rate: most SaaS programs sit between 20% and 30% Rewardful published data on 250 of the programs it runs, covering September 2023 to September 2024. The biggest ones, those with over $1 million in referred revenue, paid 24.5% on average. Of those, 53% set a rate between 20% and 30% ([Rewardful's report](https://www.rewardful.com/articles/affiliate-program-revenue-data-report), checked 24 September 2026). Programs with $100,000 to $500,000 in referred revenue averaged 20.7%. Those under $100,000 averaged 22.1%. So 20% to 30% is the normal range. Go below 20% and you'll need a good reason. Go above 30% and you're paying for attention, which can be fine for a launch. ## Work out what you can afford first Don't copy a rate. Work backwards from what a customer is worth to you. Let's say your plan is $40 a month. A customer stays 18 months on average. That's $720 from one customer. Let's say you're happy to spend a quarter of that to win one. That's $180. Now test a rate against it. 25% of $40 is $10 a month. Over 18 months that's $180. It fits. If your customers only stay six months, the same rate pays out $60. You could afford a higher rate, or a longer term. Do this sum before you pick a number. It's the one number you can defend when an affiliate asks. ## Recurring or one-off A **recurring commission** is one you pay on every renewal, not only the first payment. A one-off commission pays once, on the first sale. For a subscription product, recurring is the stronger offer. It turns one good post into money every month. Dub lets a program pay a sale reward in three ways: "One time", "For a set period (anywhere between 3 months to 3 years)", or "For the customer's lifetime" ([Dub help centre](https://dub.co/help/article/partner-rewards), checked 24 September 2026). Here's how the choice changes what an affiliate earns. Let's say your plan is $50 a month and you pay 25%. - One-off: $12.50, once. - 12 months: up to $150, if the customer stays a year. - Lifetime: $450 if the customer stays three years, and more if they stay longer. Same rate. The length of time decides most of the money. Twelve months is a middle ground. It feels recurring to the affiliate, and it caps what you owe. Lifetime is a stronger offer, and harder to take back later. ## The cookie window A **cookie window** is how long after a click a sale still counts for the affiliate. Let's say someone clicks an affiliate's link on Monday. They sign up three weeks later. If your window is 30 days, the affiliate gets paid. If it's 14 days, they don't. Tolt's tracking defaults to 30 days ([Tolt docs](https://docs.tolt.com/javascript/overview), checked 24 September 2026). Rewardful defaults to 60 days and lets you change it ([Rewardful help](https://help.rewardful.com/en/articles/2155812-how-long-are-referral-cookies-valid), checked 24 September 2026). SaaS buyers often take a while. They read a review, start a trial, then pay after the trial ends. A short window cuts the affiliate out of sales they earned. 30 to 60 days is a fair place to start. Say the number in your offer. Affiliates who've done this before will ask. ## Pay on time, every time This is the part affiliates remember. A great rate means nothing if the money turns up late, or not at all. Tell them three things up front: 1. **When you pay.** For example, "on the 15th, for the month before". 2. **How you pay.** PayPal, Wise or bank transfer. 3. **The minimum.** For example, "we pay once you've earned $20". Most programs also wait a while before paying a commission, in case the customer asks for a refund. That wait is a **holding period**. Let's say yours is 30 days. A sale on 1 March becomes payable at the end of March. You wait because taking money back is awkward. A **clawback** is money you take back from an affiliate after you've already paid it. FirstPromoter's data on 3,425 subscription programs found that 2.55% of gross commission value got clawed back after refunds and cancellations ([FirstPromoter](https://firstpromoter.com/blog/affiliate-program-management), checked 24 September 2026). A hold means a refund cancels the commission before you've paid it. Then pay on the day you said. Every month. That's how you keep the affiliates you have. ## What makes a first affiliate say yes Your first affiliate is taking a chance on you. You have no track record with them yet. So make it easy to say yes. **Give them a free account.** They can't review a tool they haven't used. A free account costs you almost nothing. **Make the offer one line.** "25% of every payment for 12 months, 60-day cookie, paid monthly by PayPal." If it takes a paragraph, it's too complicated. **Give them something to post.** A few screenshots, a short description, a link. The less they have to make, the sooner they post. **Offer their readers something too.** A discount for the people they send makes their link easier to click. **Keep in touch early.** FirstPromoter's data found that half of affiliates who ever refer someone do it within 7 days of joining ([FirstPromoter](https://firstpromoter.com/blog/affiliate-program-management), checked 24 September 2026). So the first week counts. Send a short note on day two. Ask what they need. ## Put it together Here's an offer you could send today. Change the numbers to fit your own sum. 25% of every payment for 12 months. 60-day cookie. Paid on the 15th of each month by PayPal or Wise, once you've earned $20. Free account included, and your readers get 20% off their first three months. That's one short paragraph. An affiliate can read it and decide. ## Find people to send it to An offer only matters once the right people see it. [Find your first 20 affiliates free](https://app.recruitaffiliates.ai/signup?from=blog-what-to-offer-affiliates) with RecruitAffiliates.ai. It's 7 days, no card. ## Sources - Rewardful, analysis of 250 affiliate programs (average commission by revenue band, 53% of $1M+ programs at 20% to 30%): https://www.rewardful.com/articles/affiliate-program-revenue-data-report (checked 24 September 2026) - Dub help centre, configuring partner rewards (one time, set period, lifetime): https://dub.co/help/article/partner-rewards (checked 24 September 2026) - Tolt docs, JavaScript tracking overview (30-day cookie duration): https://docs.tolt.com/javascript/overview (checked 24 September 2026) - Rewardful help centre, how long referral cookies are valid (60-day default): https://help.rewardful.com/en/articles/2155812-how-long-are-referral-cookies-valid (checked 24 September 2026) - FirstPromoter, affiliate program management data (July 2026, 3,425 programs; clawback share and time to first referral): https://firstpromoter.com/blog/affiliate-program-management (checked 24 September 2026) ## Find your first 20 affiliates free [Find my affiliates](https://app.recruitaffiliates.ai/signup?from=blog-what-to-offer-affiliates) 7 days, no card.