This is one of our top picks in the category so we recommend it over others (you're on the right page), read below to learn why we love and recommend it! ⤵
This is one of the better tools in its category, see below if this tool is right for you! ⤵
While Cello can technically handle affiliate programs, that's not what it’s built for. Its strength is enabling in-product referral programs among your users. So if your goal is to work with creators, influencers, or publishers who take affiliate partnerships seriously, this isn't the right platform. But if you want a simple, product embedded way to manage peer-to-peer referrals, Cello is worth trying.
We believe there are better options available in this category, read below to learn what they do well, and what they could do better. ⤵
Manage your affiliate and customer referral programs seamlessly — and get started with the affiliate marketing software built for SaaS professionals, digital creators and marketers.
Cello's core differentiator is that it's built for in-product user referrals rather than traditional affiliate programs. Its purpose is to turn your existing customers into a growth channel through simple peer-to-peer referrals, think “refer a friend, give X and get Y” directly inside your app.
While Cello technically positions itself as an affiliate platform, it's not designed for serious affiliate programs involving high-volume publishers, creators, or influencers. As an affiliate partner ourselves, we find the Cello platform incredibly barebones and not designed for actual performance. Reporting is basic, you can't even see all historic payouts in the dashboard.
So if you're a SaaS product who is signing up for Cello primarily to run and affiliate program, don't. Partners won't take your program seriously.
We do not recommend Cello if you are using it primarily to run your affiliate program as there are much better affiliate-first platforms that are made for creators and publishers.
Cello lets you embed referral widgets, sharing buttons, and unique referral links directly inside your app (web or mobile). This keeps users in your product, removes friction, and increases participation.
Choose referral incentives such as credits, discounts, cash payouts, or account perks. You can tailor the "give X, get Y" structure to fit your business model.
Just like all the worst-offender platforms like Rewardful, Tapfiliate, and FirstPromoter, Cello also gives each affiliate program a unique affiliate sign-in link instead of a unified dashboard. They clearly all copied each other, and sold it to their customers as a feature "You have your own login for your program, it's a white-label of the product! Your users will get the most seamless experience."
But trust us, as affiliate partners, we do not want to manage 100+ separate logins. We want one unified dashboard with all of our programs in one place. And guess what happens when we need to sign into a completely different platform just to access your program? We don't. Ever. If you want affiliates to actually remember your program exists, don’t use Cello or any platform that isolates each program behind its own login.
Cello;s referral payouts manages referrer payment and tax information, monitors thresholds like those that trigger 1099 reporting, and handles the associated financial and legal workflows for you, instead of leaving them to your finance or legal teams. That said, Cello uses PayPal and Venmo for payments which again signals a more peer-to-peer referral program rather than a serious publisher-relationship program.
On top of that, since payments are not unified among many affiliate programs, it often results in a ton of smaller payments from Cello Partners which is an admin annoyance.
Cello's backend for affiliates is incredible barebones. You don't get any meaningful data other than who you referred and how much you earned. Real publishers and creators want more data, like understanding which piece of content is converting best.
Is Cello worth it? If you care about attracting and keeping quality affiliates, then no, no it's not. If you just want a peer-to-peer referral program, give it a shot.
If you want a platform that affiliates (like us) are actually excited to use and work with, just go with Dub Partners on day one. Otherwise you'll be switching to it next year when your annual contract is up anyway, so take the shortcut.
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