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. ⤵
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:
Manage your affiliate and customer referral programs seamlessly — and get started with the affiliate marketing software built for SaaS professionals, digital creators and marketers.
Rewardful is an affiliate management platform that falls short where it matters most: making life easy for partners. Your affiliates will not care about your program, in fact they will avoid logging in because they are juggling 30+ separate Rewardful 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.
The good? It technically works for setting up an affiliate program quickly (great, you have a program). The bad? Everything else that impacts your partners' willingness to promote you.
Compared to tools like Dub Partners or PartnerStack, Rewardful feels a generation behind and will be the reason you go from thinking "affiliate is a growth channel" to instead "affiliate is a headache".
Basic affiliate and referral tracking for SaaS.
FirstPromoter is an affiliate platform that shares the same core problems seen in the Rewardful review. Your affiliates will not care about your program, they will avoid logging in because they are juggling multiple FirstPromoter accounts (this point cannot be understated, and only the highest impact affiliate partners will be frustrated by it). You will be stuck chasing invoices, sending payments one by one, requesting W-9's, sending 1099's, and W-8BENs (to everyone). All of this and you don't even get the tracking needed to see what is actually working (for your affiliate partners, and thus yourself).
Compared to modern affiliate tracking tools that are completely disrupting the space, like Dub Partners, FirstPromoter ends up just feeling incredibly dated and inconvenient for everyone. When we see FirstPromoter, we don't believe you're taking your affiliate program seriously.
Curious how this app compares to others?