Total cost, not list price
Platform fee, percent of revenue, payout fees and seat limits are recorded separately, so you can compare what a program really costs.
Documented facts, not a quality ranking. Pricing and rights depend on the selected plan.
| Decision criteria | ReferralCandy | AffiliateWP |
|---|---|---|
| Consider for | Ecommerce companies whose main objective is new customer referral growth and who can budget platform success fees. | WordPress stores that want to run an affiliate program within their own installation and need WooCommerce product attribution. |
| Paid entry / monthly | $9/month | Not verified |
| Billing detail | Basic $9/month plus 10.5% success fee; Grow $79/month +3.5%; Scale $249/month +1.5%; Enterprise $799/month +0.25%. Vendor describes month-to-month contracts. | The live pricing page lists introductory first-year ANNUAL licenses: Personal $149.50 (normal $299/year), Plus $199.50 (normal $399/year), Pro $299.50 (normal $599/year). Do not interpret these as monthly rates; promotions and renewal prices differ. |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Free plan detail | No permanent free subscription; a seven-day trial is available. Vendor says referrals from the trial do not incur success fees. | No free version and no free trial; vendor lists a 14-day refund guarantee for new purchases. |
| Commissions | ReferralCandy's own success fee is NOT the same as rewards paid to advocates. Merchants choose coupon, store-credit or cash rewards and separately budget platform fees. | Percentage or fixed commissions for eligible WordPress checkouts; recurring, lifetime and tiered/multi-tier commission workflows are Pro-level features. Validate plugin-level support for refunds and renewals. |
| Tracking method | Customer referral links and coupon-based attribution for net-new ecommerce purchasers with configurable rewards and referral campaigns. | WordPress referral links, coupon codes, WooCommerce order attribution and site-owned affiliate dashboard; not a direct integration with Paddle Billing subscriptions. |
| Payouts | Merchant options include PayPal, Venmo, bank transfer, Tremendous gift/debit cards and store credit. Vendor describes processing fees as pass-through, not an extra ReferralCandy transaction markup. | Vendor documents international payouts, Stripe, PayPal and store-credit options with zero platform transaction fees; external processing charges and regional eligibility may still apply. |
| Integrations | Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce and custom ecommerce, with integrations including Klaviyo and reward providers. Standalone Paddle Billing subscriptions are not native in the reviewed docs. | WordPress and WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads and supported membership/course/form plugins. Other hosted ecommerce platforms require a different tool. |
| API available | Yes | No |
| Consider the limitation | SaaS merchants requiring subscription renewal commission ledgers or retailers assuming the $9 subscription is their total cost. | Shopify-only merchants and buyers expecting the advanced Pro commission options on the cheapest annual license. |
| Sources checked | 2026-10-21 | 2026-10-21 |
| Check the source | ||
| Next step | Visit ReferralCandy ↗ | Visit AffiliateWP ↗ |
Platform fee, percent of revenue, payout fees and seat limits are recorded separately, so you can compare what a program really costs.
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