Affiliate marketing has grown in popularity in recent years since it helps affiliates earn passive income. This means you can make money in your sleep. For this reason, affiliate marketing remains the most popular way of earning passive income.

However, it’s important to note that not all affiliate marketing programs are similar. Some programs give one-time commissions, while others offer recurring commissions.

If you want to make tons of cash from affiliate marketing, you should opt for recurring affiliate programs.

What’s A Recurring Affiliate Program?

If you’re just dipping your toes in the affiliate marketing world, you’re probably unfamiliar with recurring affiliate programs.

Recurring affiliate programs repeatedly pay you a commission for every subsequent customer payment instead of getting a single payment for every referral.

You get new payments every period with recurring programs until the customer you referred opts out of the paid service or product. Most recurring affiliate programs typically have a lifetime agreement.

In most cases, when an advertiser offers you recurring affiliate programs, it’s because they’re getting recurring payments from a client you referred—for instance, client contracts or subscription items.

Otherwise, these programs are the same as other affiliate programs. In most instances, you’ll be given an affiliate link that you can use to track your sales and promote the product.

Why Consider Recurring Affiliate Programs?

When you market a product through an affiliate program, you invest a lot of time in your customers. Therefore, the notion that you can get recurring commissions for your time and effort is very appealing.

Recurring affiliate programs enhance your value and boost your passive income significantly. High customer referrals mean that you’ll receive a high payout yearly or monthly, depending on your agreement.

Additionally, most of these programs come with bonuses and higher first-month payments, making them more worthwhile and appealing.

As attractive as earning recurring commissions sounds, several drawbacks are hard to ignore. These include:

• Making what a one-time payment offers upfront may take long
• Regular affiliate programs could have higher payouts
• You rely on the program, service, and company to remain favorable and active
• If a customer cancels, your commission disappears

Overall, it’s worth considering recurring affiliate programs as they offer the potential to earn you a consistent and long-term passive income.

Various recurring affiliate programs are available for a wide range of niches like website development, marketing, businesses, and online courses.

In this article, we’ll look into over 20 leading recurring affiliate programs for various niches that you can consider joining.

The Best Recurring Affiliate Programs For Every Niche

 

1. Teachable

Teachable is among the leading e-learning programs for developing and selling attractive online courses. It has over 186,000 lessons and 18 million students. The platform has excellent reviews from thought leaders such as Pat Flynn.

This program is flexible and is suitable for individuals who want to teach online without many restrictions. You can tackle various subjects, from cake decorating to Facebook advertising.

Affiliates can make a recurring 30% commission every month if subscribers join the platform using their unique affiliate link.

Subscription plans range from $29-$499 every month, so you can earn a commission of up to $150 for every sale you close.

Affiliate features

• Commission: 30% (recurring)
• Cookie life: 90 days

2. Sendinblue

The Sendinblue program allows clients and businesses to interact via email marketing, chat, SMS, marketing automation, among other channels. This program has over 175,000 users globally.

The company’s affiliate program is growing in popularity thanks to its user-friendliness. They offer two types of programs: one for agencies and another for bloggers.

The platform’s popularity is due to its inexpensive pricing plans. This makes the program an attractive income-generating opportunity for bloggers and email marketing publishers.

You earn a commission of $100 for every paying customer.

You also get the chance to join a network with leading affiliates like CodeinWP, Capterra, email vendor selection, and email tool tester.

Sendinblue makes payouts in euros. However, the program is available to Americans, and it converts your commission to your current currency during payment.

Affiliate features

• Commission: You earn a $5 commission when a client creates a free account and $100 when a client buys a subscription.
• Cookies last 90 days.

3. Bigcommerce

This is a digital store builder platform that has been operational since 2009, powering numerous online stores in more than 150 countries. The automotive, health, manufacturing, fashion, and food industries are among the sectors that benefit from Bigcommerce.

You earn a 200% commission the first month a customer signs up, which translates to $500 for every customer you refer or $1,500 for company customers.

Affiliate features

• Commission: 200% or $1,500 for each corporate client
• Cookie life: 90 days

4. Ispring

This platform offers tools for online learning. These tools can help you develop courses and hold online classes. Their most popular product is the iSpring Suite, award-winning software that allows the creation of role-plays, video tutorials, ebooks, engaging quizzes, and online courses.

iSpring has a user-friendly interface, making it easy for anyone to understand, and is ideal for any learning needs. This has led to its rise in popularity among individuals in various disciplines.

They have two affiliate programs, iSpring Suite Max and iSpring Suite, which cost $970 and $770.

This means that if you refer ten clients in a month, you can earn a commission of $1000.

You’ll receive qualifying commissions after every four months.

Affiliate features

• Commission: 10% per sale
• Cookie life: 90 days

5 . Convertkit

This platform is a newcomer in the email marketing industry. Convertkit helps its customers broaden their client base using forms, email drip campaigns, and landing pages.

Its affiliate program is oriented towards existing Convertkit users who believe email marketing would benefit their audience.

You earn a 30% lifetime commission for every paying client or webinar listener you refer through the affiliate program,

Their plans range between $29-$200, making the earning potential tremendous. Joining the program is free.

Convertkit’s free affiliate program doesn’t offer any incentives or discounts for the affiliate product that affiliate marketers advertise.

Affiliate features

• Commission: 30% recurring
• Cookie life: 30 days

6. Shopify

Shopify is an industry leader in the drop shipping sector. It has over 500,000 stores globally.

You’ll get everything you need for your store to be operational on Shopify. This includes; analytics tools, web hosting, payment processing, store management solutions, shopping carts, and website builders.

Shopify’s affiliate program suits individuals who target eCommerce businesses that want to establish an online store.

Affiliates earn a 200% commission if a customer they refer signs up for a monthly subscription. If you refer a customer who registers for a Shopify plus account, you earn a bonus of $2,000.

Shopify affiliates get more than just a commission; they get free Shopify content and priority support to help them advertise their stores.

Joining Shopify is free. However, it has one disadvantage, as an affiliate, you can only target customers who sell products online but have not set up an eCommerce store yet.

Affiliate features

• Commission: 200%
• Cookie life: 30 days

7. Kajabi

You can use this platform to create online course landing pages, develop websites and launch marketing initiatives.

All users can access the free affiliate program on the platform.

Affiliates earn a 30% commission if you refer a member who remains active after their free trial ends.

Affiliates also receive bonuses as they bring in more referrals. As you climb the affiliate ladder, you’ll receive rewards that are only limited to the platform’s affiliates.

Affiliate features

• A 30% recurring Commission
• Cookie last for 30 days

8. Thinkific

This platform makes it easier for users to share their expertise, expand their business and expand their audience in subjects they enjoy. Users on Thinkific can market, develop and sell memberships and courses using their brands.

Thinkific’s affiliate program is ideal for individuals whose target market includes the following:

• Business and thought leaders interested in developing educational products
• Entrepreneurs looking to diversify their income
• Individuals with knowledge or skills to share

As an affiliate, you earn a 30% commission (recurring) for every new user you refer to the platform and access pre-written promotional and creative material.

Affiliates on the platform receive up to $1700 in revenue for every referral.

Affiliate features

• Commission: 30% recurring
• Cookie life: 90 days

9. Unbounce

This platform offers users a way to develop, publish and test landing pages smoothly. It assists marketers in developing A/B test landing pages and publishing them without technical know-how.

Unbounce has an equally unique affiliate program. Affiliates earn a 20% recurring commission when referring new customers to the platform.

Additionally, new users get a 20% discount when they sign up for an account.

Unbounce has various resources to assist you in succeeding in their program. They offer a customizable dashboard where you can track your progress, a coach to help you promote them well, and promotional and training material.

This affiliate partnership is a win-win for all parties, particularly for affiliates who wish to help their clients improve the number of conversions on their landing pages.

Affiliate features

• A 20% recurring commission
• Cookie duration: 90 days

10. Elementor

Elementor is a website builder that uses drag and drops functionality to simplify website design. Elementor has numerous templates, integrations, design tools, and widgets that allow you to customize WordPress without having to code.

Aside from their software, Elementor has over 100,000 active users who share tips and advice. These members even set up meetings where they help each other grow professionally.

You’ll receive a 50% commission for each new user you refer to the platform as an affiliate.

Elementor has five unique plans that range from $49-$999 per year. This way, an affiliate can market different plans to different individuals.

The platform offers a very profitable affiliate program, with most affiliates earning more than $10,00 every month.

Affiliate features

• Commission: 50% per sale
• Cookie life: 45 days

11. Aweber

Aweber is the best platform for email drip campaigns and newsletters. This platform has been in existence since 1998 and boasts of over 1 million users.

As an Aweber affiliate, you can make money using two methods:

There’s an in-house program that offers a 30% commission. These plans usually range between $20-$150 every month – a substantial payout.

There’s also the CJ Affiliate network affiliate program, where you can earn $300 for every sale. However, for this program, cookies only last for 45 days.

• Commission: 30% recurring
• Cookie life: 45 days

12. Semrush

Semrush runs an affiliate program—BeRush—specializing in competitive analysis solutions and SEO for digital marketers.

The affiliate program is very lucrative.

An affiliate earns a 40% commission (recurrent) when they refer a new user to the platform. They earn the same 40% commission for any future purchases these users make. This translates to $160 every month per referral.

They also offer cookies that can last for ten years.

Additionally, since BeRush works under a first cookie attribution model, if someone you refer cancels their plan but renews it within ten years, you’ll still earn a commission from their new plan.

The platform’s brand items are available in 5 languages. Signing up takes a few minutes, and the approval is instant.

• 40% recurring Commission
• Cookie duration: 10 years

13. Kinsta

This platform was developed in 2013 by WordPress designers aiming to build the best WordPress hosting system in the world. Its mission is to provide top-notch WordPress hosting that’s dependable, safe, and quick.

The platform’s affiliate program provides both recurring and upfront payments at a monthly commission rate of 10%.

Affiliates can earn as much as $500 depending on the subscription the referral purchases. Kinsta’s plans are as follows:

• Enterprise Plan: $500
• Starter Plan: $30
• Business Plan: $150
• Pro Plan: $100

Even though 10% can seem like a meager commission, the platform has an exemplary client retention rate (95%); hence it’ll possibly have a long-term value.

• Commission: Initial $500 per referral + 10% recurring
• Cookie life: 60 days

14. Leadpages

Leadpages is a platform where users can collect contact details from individuals for marketing purposes.

Affiliate marketers earn a 30% commission (recurring) for every paying client.

Monthly plans range from $25-$200.

You can also earn a $5,000 bonus if you refer ten or more customers within a specific time frame.

All affiliates have access to sidebar pictures, banners, and affiliate links. Affiliates can post an affiliate link that directs users to a free content page such as a blog post or a video rather than a product page.

• Commission: 30% recurring
• Cookie life: 30 days

15. Getresponse

Getresponse offers a CRM tool, webinar hosting, email marketing, opt-in forms, and other marketing automation tools.

Like AWeber, GetResponse offers two affiliate programs. Affiliates have the option of joining one or both.

There’s a self-hosted program where affiliates receive a recurring commission of 33%.

They also offer significant bonuses depending on the plan, which usually range between $15-$1,200 every month.

Affiliates can also receive a $135 commission for each sale they make through the CJ Affiliate network (Commission Junction). However, in this program, the cookie lasts for 30 days only and not 120 as in the in-house program.

• Commission: 33% recurring
• Cookie life: 120 days

16. Flywheel

Flywheel is a dedicated WordPress hosting solution platform. Flywheel aims to eliminate all web hosting hassles so that users can focus on web design and development.

Affiliate marketers receive a commission of $500 for every qualifying referral.

Affiliates also have access to various design resources like co-branded landing pages, attractive social media visuals, and banners.

Flywheel’s staff work with affiliates to design distinct visuals to elevate your commissions.

There are no minimum threshold affiliates need to meet to earn a commission.

• Commission: 30%, up to $500 for each referral
• Cookie life: 90 days

17. Greengeeks

Greengeeks is an environmentally-friendly web hosting platform where affiliates can earn a $100 commission for every sale. The platform has a well-paying tier system —affiliates make $50 per sale and $100 for six sales or more.

Additionally, the program has different content, banners, and creatives to make sure you’re happy with the banner or link you use on your website or blog.

Greengeeks may be a great alternative to look into if you think your website visitors or blog’s audience have an interest in exploring web hosting sites—for instance, if you create freelancing-related content.

This brand promotes eco-friendly alternatives, so you’ll have the chance to spread a great “green message” to your blog guests.

• Cookie life: 30 days
• Commission: $50 for a single sale up to $100 for six sales

18. Pabbly

Pabbly is a form creation, email verification, workflow automation, and subscription billing platform.

The most popular plan consists of all of the platform’s apps with unlimited capabilities.

Pabbly has a unique affiliate marketing program. Their program stands out because whether you promote all or some of their products, you earn a 30 % commission for every sale you close.

Pabbly uses one cookie to track all transactions. This means that affiliates earn a commission for all products bought through their affiliate link.

This saves affiliates a lot of energy and time as they don’t have to promote every product separately.

If a product you’re promoting is on sale, you’ll receive a $183 baseline commission.

Pabbly also provides affiliates with one dashboard where they can track their sales. This means affiliates can analyze all their commission-related info in one spot.

• A commission of 30% (recurring)
• Cookie duration: 30 days

19. Fiverr

Some of the Fiverr offers to sell on your blog or website include:

• Fiverr Learn: hosts courses that help freelancers and businesses develop their talents
• Regular Fiverr Services: freelance market where there are digital services for various industries
• Vetted Services: a professional membership on Fiverr called Fiverr Pro that offers access to hand-vetted talent

You should consider working with Fiverr if you have clients who need a freelancer for marketing, design, or technical things or if you write blogs for businesses.

This platform offers you a dashboard to run and examine affiliate campaigns and creative assets to assist you in advertising.

Commissions vary depending on the service you promote.

• Commission rate: Fiverr CPA costs range between $15 and $50; the charge is 10% RevShare for Fiverr Pro, and 30% for each Fiverr Learn course order.
• Cookie life: 30 days

20. Wix

Wix is a web development platform popular for web hosting services. It offers $100 for every premium referral without an upper limit on the number of people you can refer. This program provides limitless payments with less work.

Wix provides you with creatives and links as well as landing pages and banners in various languages—to help you place their link on your site easily.

You must reach a minimum sales goal of $300 each month to get compensation. If you get less than the target, your funds will stay in your account until you attain the goal.

Wix is an effective program for you if the prospects who regularly visit your social media page, blog, or website are interested in establishing their sites on a hosting provider. However, you should reconsider if you are not certain that you’ll reach the minimum sales target.

• Commission rate: $100 for each Premium sale
• Cookie duration: 30 days

21. Elegant Themes

This program sells website-building tools and WordPress themes for a subscription fee. Promoting these themes can earn you a commission as high as 50%. The annual plan costs $89.

Elegant themes also give commission on yearly renewals—you’ll earn recurring income every year a client pays an annual renewal fee for the themes.

• Commission rate: 50% per payment for the renewals lifetime (customers may be annual or monthly)

22. LiveChat

LiveChat is a customer support live chat site that businesses buy on a subscription basis. They offer AI and tools to help you communicate with your customer via chat.

This program provides a 20% commission that lasts the lifetime of each chat or chat subscription you sell. LiveChat supports partners with goodies like an open API, readymade promotional materials, and customized offers.

• Cookie life: 120 days
• Commission rate: 20% recurring lifetime commission

23. eBay Partner Network

eBay’s affiliate program has more than a billion listings from various product categories. The program provides most benefits similar to the Amazon Associate program—a wide range of products and high conversion rates.

eBay partner network gives a commission of  50% to 70% of auction charges and not the selling price.

eBay takes a revenue portion for every product sold by charging vendors an auction fee. You’ll receive a cut of the proceeds eBay gains from the transactions as per the product category.

Some valuable products to market include those in the Accessories and Fashion categories.

• Commission rate: 50 to 70% of auction charges as per the category
• Cookie duration: 24 hours for “buy it now” products and ten days for auction items

24. SocialPilot

This marketing automation tool enables subscribers to simultaneously plan and publish updates and images, videos, or blog posts across all social media platforms. An affiliate gets a recurring income every time the client renews their subscription.

You can earn a 30% lifetime commission for each new paid subscription—the subscriptions range from $20 to $100 and above. The commission applies every time a customer renews a subscription.

• Commission: 30% recurring lifetime commissions for each new paid subscription
• Cookie duration: 60 days

25. Constant Contact

Constant Contact provides ultra-modern email marketing for small firms, entrepreneurs, and bloggers.

You can use this program to target new eCommerce customers, automate your email marketing campaigns, create Facebook and Instagram ads, and send follow-up emails to boost your online business income.

The program pays out a commission of $5 for qualified leads and $105 if the referral purchases from Constant Contact.

Constant Contact gives a free tracking dashboard, promotional resources, and personalized assistance to help you advance with the affiliate program. Companies like Shopify, WordPress, and Facebook use Constant Contact as an email marketing tool.

• Commission rate: $5 for every individual who signs up for a free trial and $105 when they buy an account.
• Cookie duration: 120 days

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Recurring Affiliate Programs

Having a firm foundation of content that draws stable traffic, including recurring affiliate programs, can boost your passive income generation. Over an extended period, your recurring revenue will generate more profits than commissions from one-off sales from networks like ShareASale.

The initial month’s payment for many recurring affiliate programs is greater than the usual amount for most programs. Note that some programs provide extra bonuses as an incentive to enlist other affiliates.

On the contrary, it could take longer to earn what one-time payment programs provide. Additionally, your commissions reduce when any of your referrals cancel orders. Ways To Find The Best Affiliate Programs For Your Niche

Since there are several lucrative affiliate programs to join, you need to research extensively to select the best program for your niche. You can find the best program through the following ways:

1. Affiliate Directories

These are affiliate programs listings that can help you find new programs. Affiliate program managers get visibility for their programs here, and affiliates can also find the best programs in their niche.

The listings are usually sorted by commission type or topic to simplify finding the ideal affiliate program for your niche. You can find these directories in articles or Google.

2. Google Search

Google is the most straightforward way to search and find the best affiliate program in your niche.

Just enter the phrase “affiliate marketing program” and “a particular product or your niche” in the search engine—you’ll find several programs that fit your topic.

Alternatively, you can search for a particular merchant and include an “affiliate program” at the end of the search term to get a program of a company of your choice. Some companies use “associate program” and “partner program” instead of an affiliate program.

You’ll find several sites with affiliate programs that you could sign up for. Go over the pages on Google and compile a list of potential affiliate programs to join.

Some well-paying programs are geo-locked, so ensure you don’t join local affiliate programs if you don’t want to promote their product locally.

Suppose you’re in a niche where promoting physical products makes sense. In that case, some programs offer various physical commodities to promote, like the eBay Partner Network (eBay’s program) or Amazon Associates Program (Amazon’s program).

Pick the products carefully since commissions differ by product categories.

3. Find Affiliate Links

Identify lucrative affiliate programs through affiliate links from sites similar to your website—identify your competitors.

Begin by compiling a list of sites that are similar to yours.

Enter your established website in a competitor analysis tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush, which gives you a direct list of websites to research.

For a new website, select a site that has identical content to what you wish to create for your website. Use this website URL to identify competitors and compile a list. Then visit the websites and search for affiliate programs.

Find affiliate promotions by clicking the links of products mentioned and find out if the links have affiliate ID ( something like Html?id=5598) at the end. The affiliate ID tracks the sales for this promotion and indicates the product is part of an affiliate program.

Lastly, go to the product’s website, sign up for the affiliate program and begin marketing the item.

At times affiliate programs are hidden from the main company site. You can look in the website footer or send them a message to inquire if they have a program.

4. Competing Products

You can find affiliate products to promote by identifying competing goods to the ones you’re already marketing.

Identify products or services with the same functionality as those you have an in-depth review on and find out if affiliate programs are on their websites.

Create comparison articles if the sites have affiliate programs. These articles can greatly value your audience as they help viewers determine which product they should buy.

Things To Check Before Joining An Affiliate Program

Commission Structure

Ensure you only choose lucrative affiliate programs—do this by checking the commission structure. Some affiliate partner programs offer recurring commissions, while others give a one-time fee for each sale.

Recurring commissions earn you several commissions for each client you bring to the firm. Programs with recurring commissions are high-paying since you continue receiving commissions for the same promotional effort.

Reputation

There are two things to factor in if the company is popular:

First, determine the level of competition present in terms of affiliate promotion for this firm. It will be challenging to get your content to rank in Google if you choose a very successful program.

Secondly, you’re better off creating affiliate promotions for a popular brand since people usually view them as reliable.

Whether you choose to promote a well-known or unpopular company,  ensure you pick quality products with great value.

Customer Reviews

Don’t recommend bad products with negative reviews. Before joining an affiliate program, go through online reviews to confirm the product and company ratings.

Product Range

Although this isn’t a bone of contention when joining the program, it will be easier to make different content if the firm provides several products.

Frequently Asked Questions

 

1. What’s A Recurring Affiliate Commission?

This commission earns you cash as long as your referred client remains with a business or company. Recurring affiliate programs pay commission on each billing period on a subscription.

2. How Can I Market Affiliate Links?

Know your audience and make content that will solve their problems. Then add your affiliate links to get a commission when they click on them. You can market your affiliate links in social media posts, emails, etc.

3. Where Can I Find Recurring Programs Online?

You can find recurring affiliate programs online by conducting a Google search. Enter “your niche and recurring affiliate program” in the search engine, e.g., email marketing recurring affiliate programs. You’ll get several programs in your niche. You can also use an affiliate programs explorer tool to find your ideal affiliate programs.

4. Can I Join Recurring Affiliate Programs For Free?

Yes, you can join all affiliate programs free of charge. Companies encourage people to sign up for affiliate programs for free to get maximum sales. However, some affiliate programs may require you to purchase their product or service before joining.

5. What’s The Difference Between Lifetime & First-Year Recurring Payments?

Lifetime recurring payments never expire as long as you meet the conditions, while first-year recurring commissions expire after one year.

If a client signs up for a website building service and stays for four years before shifting to a competitor,  an affiliate with a one-year agreement will receive a commission for the first year—but not for the client’s remaining three years.

An affiliate with a lifetime agreement would get commissions for four years but lose the commission when the customer leaves the service.

Bottom Line

You can get started with these free affiliate programs to make some money. These programs are very lucrative, and you can start earning passive income from your visitors if your website already has some traffic.