We believe there are better options available in this category, read below to learn what this software does well, and what they could do better. ⤵
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The referral category deserves a bit of an explanation because we continually see confusion arise when it comes to the competitors in this space. You'll often hear terms like "affiliate", "referral", "link tracking", and "partner portals" all used interchangeably.
And with that, not all referral tracking tools are created equal, nor are they focused on the same needs. They can actually be broken up more into 5 main sub-categories:
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An affiliate tracking tool for large B2C eCommerce businesses like GAP and Honey (not for B2B SaaS companies)
Impact was built in 2008 when third-party cookies were the norm. While they’ve tried to modernize and adapt to first party cookies with their Universal Tracking Tag (UTT) their system still depends on a redirect “bounce hop” a quick, invisible detour through an Impact domain before sending a visitor to your site. Modern browsers increasingly block or skip these tracking hops. This means tracking never fires leads to unattributed referrals, missing conversions, partner disputes, and ultimately an unreliable affiliate program.
Impact is one of the most expensive affiliate platforms in the industry. Most SaaS companies pay between $10,000–$30,000/year, despite the platform being built for enterprise eCommerce rather than SaaS. More modern, SaaS-native platforms like Dub Partners or PartnerStack often cost less and provide more accurate, dependable tracking thanks to first-party cookies.
Manage your affiliate and customer referral programs seamlessly — and get started with the affiliate marketing software built for SaaS professionals, digital creators and marketers.
Tapfiliate is an affiliate management platform that has similar issues as Rewardful and FirstPromoter. They all lack a good partner experience resulting in your affiliates not caring about your program. In fact, they will avoid logging in because they are juggling 30+ separate Tapfiliate accounts. You will be stuck chasing invoices, sending PayPal payments one by one, and drowning in hundreds of tiny transactions… all while your affiliates have zero idea which of their content is converting.
While It technically works for setting up an affiliate program quickly (great, you have a program). The problem is it's a half-baked solution that will directly impact your partners' willingness to promote you.
Compared to tools like Dub Partners or PartnerStack, Tapfiliate feels a generation behind and will be the reason you go from thinking "affiliate is a growth channel" to instead "affiliate is a headache".
For these prices, there are much more modern affiliate platforms
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