Affiliate Commission Structure Templates
Four structures, worked through with real numbers
Four affiliate commission structures, flat one-time, percentage recurring with a cap, tiered by milestone, and per-product, each worked through with real numbers and a note on the kind of business it suits. Copy the one that fits and price it before you publish it.
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Commission Structures
Choosing between them
The decision that matters most is not the percentage.
Decide the SHAPE before the number. A 20% one-time rate and a 20% recurring rate are not variants of the same offer, over a twelve-month customer lifetime the second costs twelve times the first, and founders routinely compare them as though the percentage were the only difference. Work out what you can pay from your margin, not from what anyone else pays, and remember that a rate is much easier to publish than to change.
Structure one, flat amount, one-time
A fixed sum per sale, paid once. Best where the price is the same for everyone and the product is not a subscription: courses, communities, one-off tools.
| Field | Value | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Flat | Same payout whatever the order value |
| Amount | $90 per sale | Simple to state and easy to repeat in a video |
| Basis | One-time | Paid on the first purchase only |
| At a $299 price | 30.1% effective | Compare against your margin, not against the headline |
| At 25 sales/month | $2,250/month | Flat from month one, no cohort ladder |
The reason to pick this over a percentage is communication, not economics. “$90 a sale” is a sentence an affiliate can say out loud; “30.1% of $299” is not.
Structure two, percentage, recurring, capped
The default for subscription products, and the one where the cap does the real work. Without a cap you are agreeing to pay for a customer forever.
| Field | Value | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Percentage | Scales with what the customer actually pays |
| Rate | 20% | Applied to net sale value |
| Basis | Recurring | Paid on each renewal, not just the first payment |
| Cap | 12 payments | Stops the liability compounding indefinitely |
| On a $49/mo plan | $9.80/payment · $117.60 per customer | Against $588 of revenue over 12 months |
| Uncapped, 36-month life | $352.80 per customer | Three times the cost, same acquisition |
A cap is usually a better lever than a lower rate: 25% for 12 payments recruits better than 10% forever and, on most lifetimes, costs less. It only works if it is published at signup.
Structure three, tiered by milestone
The rate rises as a partner delivers. Rewards the few affiliates who actually drive volume without raising your cost on the many who send one sale a quarter.
| Milestone | Rate | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| 0–5 sales | 15% | The starting rate. Most partners never leave it. |
| 6–20 sales | 20% | The first step is deliberately reachable, it has to feel winnable. |
| 21–50 sales | 25% | Where a partner is doing real, repeated work. |
| 51+ sales | 30% | Your top ten partners, and worth every point. |
Tiers only motivate if the next step is visible and close. A ladder whose first rung is 50 sales is a flat rate with extra text. Commission tiers are a Business-plan feature; the Startup plan runs a single rate.
Structure four, per product
Different rates for different SKUs or plans. The right answer when your margins genuinely differ across the catalogue, and unnecessary complexity when they don't.
| Product | Margin | Rate | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual plan | 85% | 25% | High margin, low churn, pay generously for it |
| Monthly plan | 80% | 15% | Same product, worse retention, so a lower rate |
| Onboarding service | 35% | 5% | Mostly delivery cost; a 20% rate here loses money |
| Hardware add-on | 20% | $15 flat | A percentage of a thin margin is not worth administering |
Use this when margins differ by more than about twenty points. Below that, the extra explaining costs more than the rate difference saves. Per-product rates start on the Business plan.
Adding a step-down
Any of the four can carry one, and it is easier to publish at launch than to introduce later.
A step-down drops the rate after a set number of payments, 25% for the first six, then 12% thereafter, say. It pays generously in the window where the partner's work is most visible and reduces the long tail of paying full rate on a customer who now renews on their own. Changing a rate after affiliates have joined is a partner-relations problem; a step-down published at signup is simply the deal. Step-down schedules are a Business-plan feature.
Before you send it
What to change
The parts that are yours.
Shape before number
20% recurring over twelve months costs twelve times 20% one-time.
Start from margin
30% on a 40% margin leaves you ten points. On 85% it leaves fifty-five.
Cap, do not cut
25% for twelve payments recruits better than 10% forever, and usually costs less.
Make tier one reachable
A ladder whose first rung is fifty sales is a flat rate with extra text.
Per-product only if margins differ
Worth it past about twenty points of difference. Below that the explaining costs more.
Publish the step-down at launch
At signup it is the deal. Introduced later it is a problem.
View as a table
| Payment | Rate | Commission |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25% | $12.25 |
| 2 | 25% | $12.25 |
| 3 | 25% | $12.25 |
| 4 | 25% | $12.25 |
| 5 | 25% | $12.25 |
| 6 | 25% | $12.25 |
| 7 | 12% | $5.88 |
| 8 | 12% | $5.88 |
| 18 | 12% | $5.88 |
Write it once, then enforce it
These four structures are all things the product does
A structure you cannot enforce is a spreadsheet. Each of the four maps to a real rule in the commission builder.
In the document
Flat or percentage, one-time or recurring
In the product
Commission plans
The four combinations are the four basic rules. Available on every plan; per-affiliate and per-product variants start on Business.
In the document
“Capped at 12 payments”
In the product
Payment caps
Cap by number of payments or by months. The cap is what stops a recurring rate compounding into an open-ended liability.
In the document
The tiered ladder
In the product
Commission tiers and milestones
Rates that rise as a partner passes a milestone, applied automatically rather than renegotiated. A Business-plan feature.
In the document
The step-down after six payments
In the product
Step-down schedules
Scheduled at signup so the change is part of the original deal rather than a later announcement. A Business-plan feature.
Templates
The other templates
Free to read, free to copy, no account needed.
Affiliate agreement
The contract between you and each partner, covering commission, attribution and clawbacks.
Get the templateRecruitment email
A three-email sequence for approaching creators who have never heard of you.
Get the templateProgram terms
The public terms affiliates accept when they sign up.
Get the templateOnboarding sequence
Five emails for the two weeks after a partner joins.
Get the templateNeed to calculate something rather than send it? The free tools price a program, model a commission and search for creators.
FAQ
Questions people actually ask
Direct answers, including the ones that do not favour us.
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We are not going to publish an industry average, because we have not measured one and a number invented for a marketing page is worse than no number. What is true: the rate has to survive your margin, and the basis, one-time versus recurring, capped versus not, moves the total far more than the percentage does. Model your own numbers rather than copying someone else's.