# Shopify affiliate commission rates 2026: 168 programs Source: https://recruitaffiliates.ai/research/shopify-affiliate-commission-rates-2026 Research · Commission rates # Shopify affiliate commission rates: what 168 public programs state We read the public affiliate pages of 168 Shopify brands on 23 October 2026. The median base commission is 10%. The middle half of brands pay between 8% and 15%. Beauty pays more. Of the 73 pages that state a cookie length, most say 30 days. An **affiliate** is someone who promotes a product and earns a cut of each sale they send. The cut is the **commission**. A **cookie** is the window after a click in which a sale still counts for the affiliate. The **base rate** is the lowest rate a page promises to a new affiliate. By the RecruitAffiliates.ai team · Published 23 October 2026 · Data collected 23 October 2026 · Checked on 23 October 2026 [Download the CSV](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/data/shopify-affiliate-commission-rates-2026-10-23.csv) [Press summary] In short Across 168 public Shopify affiliate programs, the median base commission is 10%, and the middle half sit between 8% and 15%. 44% state exactly 10%. Beauty and skincare is the one category with a higher median (15%). 18% of pages lead with an "up to" figure. 78% of the 73 pages that state a cookie say 30 days. ## Press summary These facts are safe to quote. Each one states its sample and date. - The median base commission across **168 public Shopify affiliate programs** is **10%** (23 October 2026). The "median" is the middle value: half the programs pay less and half pay more. For 137 of them the page names a base rate. For the other 31, the page only says "up to". - The middle half of programs state a base rate between **8% and 15%**. **44%** state exactly 10%. 6% state under 5% and 12% state 20% or more. - **Beauty and skincare** has the highest median base rate, **15%** (24 programs). The other large categories, such as supplements, fitness, fashion and home, are 10%. - **18%** of pages (31 of 168) lead with an "up to" rate and give no floor. This is much more common on pages that name GoAffPro (37%) than on pages that name Refersion (4%). - Of the **73** pages that state a cookie length, **57 (78%)** say 30 days. 12 say 45 to 90 days and 4 say 21 days or less. **Sample:** 168 program pages out of about 2,200 stores checked. **Limits:** only pages that state a percentage, one day, no sales data. **Cite as:** RecruitAffiliates.ai, "Shopify affiliate commission rates: what 168 public programs state", 23 October 2026, https://recruitaffiliates.ai/research/shopify-affiliate-commission-rates-2026. Our rules for data like this are in the [editorial policy](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/editorial-policy). Questions or a different cut of the numbers: [support@recruitaffiliates.ai](mailto:support@recruitaffiliates.ai?subject=Commission%20rates%20data). ## 1. The median base commission is 10% For 137 of the 168 programs, the page names a base rate. The middle half of those sit between 8% and 15%. The lowest is 1.5% and the highest is 35%. The single most common number is 10%. It is stated by 60 of the 137 programs (44%). So if you offer 10%, you match what many public pages say. Wondering how to turn that number into a profit check? Read [what commission your Shopify affiliate program should pay](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/what-commission-should-my-shopify-affiliate-program-pay). Share of 137 programs by the base rate they state. 44% state exactly 10%. ## 2. Few pay under 5%, and few pay 20% or more Only 8 of 137 programs (6%) state a base rate under 5%. Another 27 (20%) state 5% to 9%. Another 21 (15%) state 15% to 19%. At the top, 17 programs (12%) state 20% or more. A page can state a range for its tiers, such as 10% to 20% as an affiliate sells more. For those, we count the lowest figure as the base rate and the highest as the top rate. 19 programs state a range. ## 3. Beauty and skincare pays more than the rest The median base rate for beauty and skincare is 15% (24 programs). The lowest base rate in that group is 8%. For supplements, fitness, fashion and home it is 10%. Tech and gadgets is 8.5%, but only 8 programs state a base rate, so read that one as rough. The reason is not in the data. Beauty products often carry a high margin, which leaves more room to share. Check your own margin before you copy a number. Median base rate by category. Beauty and skincare is 15%. Every other group is 10% or lower (tech and gadgets 8.5%). ## 4. Nearly one page in five leads with "up to" 31 of 168 pages (18%) show only an "up to" rate, such as "earn up to 15%". They give no floor. A new affiliate cannot tell what they would earn on day one. It depends on the app named on the store. 37% of GoAffPro pages do it, against 17% of UpPromote pages, 5% of Social Snowball pages and 4% of Refersion pages. We did not test why. The app's default page text may be one cause. Share of program pages whose only stated rate is an "up to" figure. GoAffPro pages 37%, UpPromote 17%, Social Snowball 5%, Refersion 4%. ## 5. Of pages that state a cookie, most say 30 days Only 73 of the 168 pages state a cookie length. Of those, 57 (78%) say 30 days. 12 are longer: six say 60 days, three say 45 days and three say 90 days. Four are shorter (14 days twice, then 21 days and 7 days). The rest say nothing. So the true figure for all programs is unknown. The 30-day window is the one number most pages agree on. ## The numbers by category and by app The base rate is the lowest rate a page states. The "middle half" is the range between the 25th and 75th percentile. "Top rate" is the highest rate on the page. Rows marked thin have fewer than 10 programs with a base rate, so treat them as rough. **By category** | Category | Programs read | With a base rate | Median base rate | Middle half of programs | Highest top rate | State only "up to" | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Beauty and skincare | 29 | 24 | 15% | 10% to 15% | 25% | 17% | | Health and supplements | 27 | 22 | 10% | 10% to 15% | 35% | 19% | | Fitness and sports | 21 | 17 | 10% | 5% to 10% | 20% | 19% | | Fashion and apparel | 18 | 14 | 10% | 10% to 13.8% | 30% | 22% | | Home and garden | 17 | 14 | 10% | 8% to 18.5% | 30% | 18% | | Food and drink (thin) | 10 | 8 | 10% | 6.9% to 10% | 25% | 20% | | Tech and gadgets (thin) | 12 | 8 | 8.5% | 5% to 12% | 25% | 33% | | All other categories | 34 | 30 | 10% | 5% to 10% | 35% | 12% | **By app** (the app named on the store in the list we took it from, which may not run the page) | App named on the store | Programs read | With a base rate | Median base rate | Middle half of programs | Highest top rate | State only "up to" | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | GoAffPro | 54 | 34 | 10% | 10% to 15% | 30% | 37% | | UpPromote | 53 | 44 | 10% | 7.8% to 10% | 35% | 17% | | Refersion | 26 | 25 | 10% | 10% to 15% | 25% | 4% | | Social Snowball | 19 | 18 | 15% | 10% to 19.5% | 35% | 5% | | Another app, or more than one | 16 | 16 | 10% | 5% to 12.5% | 16% | 0% | All 168 programs: median base rate 10%, middle half 8% to 15%. Social Snowball has a median of 15%, but that is 18 programs, so it is a lead, not a rule. ## How we collected it - **Date:** every page was read on 23 October 2026. - **Where the stores came from:** public Shopify brands from our outbound list that run an affiliate app, plus stores drawn at random from two public store lists that show which apps each store has installed. About 2,200 stores in all. - **Finding the page:** for each store we opened its listed program page where we had one. Otherwise we followed an affiliate or ambassador link from the home page, or tried the usual addresses, such as /pages/affiliate-program. - **Reading it:** a script pulled the commission percentage and the cookie length from the page text. We kept only percentage-of-sale programs that pay in cash. Flat-dollar and store-credit programs were left out. - **Politeness:** one request every three seconds per site. We named ourselves in the request, and skipped any page a site's robots.txt asked us not to fetch. We used free fetches only. No paid service was involved. - **Hand check:** we re-read the saved page text of 20 random rows. 17 matched as first extracted. In one, the page stated a range (3% to 5%). In one, the cookie length had been missed. In one, the page gave two "up to" figures (10% and 15%), and we kept the higher. We fixed the first two. A second pass over rows whose page named another rate fixed 7 more programs that have tiers. The raw table lists each brand. We keep it internal and publish only the groups above. ## What these numbers can't tell you 1. **Only brands that publish a rate.** A brand that hides its rate behind a sign-up form is missing. Brands with a public rate may be more open, or newer, than the rest. 2. **Pages, not payouts.** We read what pages promise. We have no data on what brands pay, or on sales. 3. **A script read the pages.** We hand-checked 20 rows and fixed what we found. Some errors may remain, mostly on pages with more than one rate. 4. **Pages that load their text late.** Some stores build the page in the browser, and the percentage is not in the page we read. Those are missing. 5. **The app is a hint.** It is the app named on the store in our source list. A store may run a different one for this program. 6. **Small groups.** Food and drink and tech and gadgets each have 8 programs with a base rate. Medians on groups that small move with one page. 7. **Not a random sample.** The stores come from our outbound list and from store lists filtered to stores with an affiliate app installed. Stores with no affiliate app, or with a program run by hand, are not here. 8. **One day.** Rates change. Check a brand's current page before you quote it. ## Questions people ask **What commission should a Shopify brand pay?** Public pages tend to say 10%, and the middle half say 8% to 15%. Beauty and skincare says 15%. The right number for you depends on your margin, so work back from profit per order. Our guide on [what commission to pay](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/what-commission-should-my-shopify-affiliate-program-pay) shows the math. **Is 10% a good commission for a Shopify store?** It is the most common figure. 44% of the 137 programs with a stated base rate say exactly 10%. It matches what many pages promise, but it is not a target. If your margin is high, you can offer more. **How long should the cookie window be?** Of the 73 pages that state a cookie length, 78% say 30 days. Twelve say 45 to 90 days. A longer window helps affiliates whose readers take a while to buy. **Can I quote or reuse the numbers?** Yes. Quote them, chart them or reuse the CSV. Please credit RecruitAffiliates.ai, give the date (23 October 2026) and link to this page. The CSV is free to use under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). **Why are there no brand names?** The pages are public, but the brands did not ask to be ranked. We publish groups only. If you run a program and want a number checked, email [support@recruitaffiliates.ai](mailto:support@recruitaffiliates.ai?subject=Commission%20rates%20data). ## Keep reading - Guide ### [What commission should my Shopify affiliate program pay?](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/what-commission-should-my-shopify-affiliate-program-pay) How to turn these medians into a rate you can afford. 4 min read - Research ### [Who promotes Shopify brands: 2026 data](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/research/who-promotes-shopify-brands-2026) Our first study: who already covers shops like yours. 8 min read - Guide ### [How to find affiliates for your Shopify store (and who to ask)](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/find-affiliates-for-shopify-store) Where to find the people to offer your commission to. 9 min read ## Find people to offer your rate to Type your website. We find your first 20 emails free. [Find my affiliates](https://app.recruitaffiliates.ai/signup?from=lp-research-commission-2026) 7 days free, no card.