Best Affiliate Programs With Recurring Commissions in 2022

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Affiliate marketing exemplifies everyone's dream of earning money while sleeping.

It's the one activity on the web where you exert minimal effort to market a product and wake up to commissions that were generated while you were in dreamland.

Yes, it is one of the best things the web has made easier.

The concept behind it, which is paying commission for referred businesses, may have been around before the internet and affiliate marketing itself but the process involved has just become easier with a more accessible virtual marketplace.

best affiliate programs with recurring commissions

Earning through this type of performance-based marketing is made even better through recurring affiliate programs, where commissions don't just come in at one time but repeatedly.

Who doesn’t want this?

So, if you're looking to build a passive income, you should look into affiliate marketing.

Because not all programs are created equal, it's important that you perform your due diligence. Search for the best affiliate programs with recurring commissions that go as high as 60% or more.

In this article, you will learn: 

At the end of this post, you'll be fully equipped to start with beginner affiliate programs or improve how you're earning commissions now.

What are recurring affiliate programs?

In the past, getting paid a commission through affiliate marketing is often a once-off sale. Once the transaction is completed, you'll have to chase the next commission.

The best recurring commission affiliate programs work the exact opposite. You only need one referral to get paid over and over again.

Here's an example based on one of the top-selling affiliate software.

  • The cost of the software is $100/month.
  • The commission rate is 20%. 

This means that, for every subscriber you refer, you get $20/month.

For as long as a referred subscriber continues to use the software, you will receive the same $20/month payoff over and over again.

So, if you referred 5 subscribers, you get a total of $100 for the first month, another $100 in the next month, and so on and so forth.

What if you made an additional 3 referrals before the first month ended?

recurring affiliate programs

You do the math. And the best part?

You use the same referral, so you don't do any work after the initial one. The best job in the world if you can call it that.

What are the best affiliate programs with recurring commissions in 2022?

Below is a list of the best money making affiliate programs that were selected based on the commission you'll earn and how low the barriers are to becoming an affiliate.

Just to be clear; promoting different products is not easy and commissions don't just land on your lap without you making the initial effort to promote and sell affiliate products.

But with the right recurring affiliate platforms, you are sure to earn big.

Let’s get started.

Builderall

Category: Internet marketing suite

Commission rate: 2-tier structure

builderall affiliate

Builderall Business is the affiliate program where you advertise a range of digital marketing tools under one roof . Because of the high demand for the products offered, you know that you’re promoting products that actually sell.

It has a 2-tier program or leveraged system with recurring affiliate commissions. 

Tier 1 - direct sales earned on your first month will return 100% commission. Then, every following month, the residual income will drop to 30%.

Tier 2 - sales made by referred customers will earn you a commission of 30%.

To put this into perspective, say you earned $69 on a single tier 1 lead during your first month, and then $20 the following month. You also earned $20 on your tier 2 lead every month.

What's great about the platform is that:

  • The product on offer is evergreen. 
  • The product on offer is in high demand. 
  • You get paid monthly commissions.
  • It has long retention rates. 
  • You get bonus commissions for low, mid and high-ticket courses.

The payout is set at 30 days at first sign up but is reduced to just 5 once your probation period is up.

Builderall Business is definitely one of the best affiliate programs to promote.

By the way, if you want to also use the platform, it offers a forever free plan and a 14 day free trial for the premium plans. 

For more information, study my in-depth Builderall review.

Clickfunnels

Category: Sales funnels

Commission rate: 40% commission rate overall + rewards

Before signing up for ClickFunnels, make sure to get ClickFunnels 30 Days Marketing Plan. Everyone who has ever had a ClickFunnels account, needs these 30 day blueprints. The summit is totally free.

clickfunnels affiliate

Many consider Clickfunnels as one of the high paying affiliate products because it not only offers a recurring commission but also other rewards

  • Get 40% recurring affiliate commissions for every Clickfunnels sales made. 
  • Get 40% commissions on all the sales made from related products in the Clickfunnels ecosystem. 
  • Get 100% commission per sale of the One Funnel Away Challenge, a course on building a high-converting funnel. 
  • Get 5% commissions every time a Clickfunnels affiliate signs up under you. 
  • Payment to lease your dream car. Get $500 a month when you signup 100 paying customers of ClickFunnels and $1000 per month for 200 signups. 

But these payouts are just some of the things that make ClickFunnels one of the best money making affiliate programs

  • It uses a sticky cookie that works across multiple products, earning you residual income for every referral. 
  • Offers free training to help you achieve your financial goals. 
  • Give you a chance to get rewards through various programs, including the ClickFunnels dream car program. 

Thanks to ClickFunnels’ sticky cookie, you will have more than one way to get paid.

Kartra

Category: Internet marketing suite

Commission rate: 40% for life

kartra affiliate

Kartra is an all-in-one marketing platform that provides businesses with the tools they need to run their business. Considering that there are more than 32.5 million businesses (and counting) in the US alone, the tools on offer are one of the top-selling affiliate products.

So it's not a surprise that the Kartra affiliate program is one of the best paying affiliate programs based on the target market alone.

Most importantly, as an affiliate of Kartra, you will: 

  • Get paid 40% commission for every sale and lifetime recurring payment you generate over the course of a lifetime. 
  • Get a 10% commission for life for every sale and recurring payments from your affiliates when you sign up as a 2nd-tier JV partner.
  • Automatically get a higher/upgraded payout if your referral upgrades their account package with Kartra. 
  • Get a variety of tools to promote your affiliate program. These are: 
  • Email swipe templates
  • Book funnel templates
  • List builder templates
  • Master class templates
  • Banner creatives
  • Feature banners
  • Social media swipes

The affiliate program is built within Kartra, so no need to set it up anywhere else. If you own a business, you can scale it up by creating an affiliate through the Affiliate program management system.

You can also add a JV promotional page for more residual income. With this built-in platform, you know exactly where to promote affiliate products.

If you want to know everything in detail, make sure to read my Kartra review.

KWFinder

Category: SEO

Commission rate: 30% lifetime commissions

kwfinder affiliate

As a more affordable alternative to other SEO tools, such as Ahrefs and SEMrush, you can bet that KWFinder is one of the high ticket affiliate products. It's easier to promote too since it has several amazing features.

  • Keyword research (KWFinder)
  • Analyze organic search results (SERPChecker)
  • Track position of ranking keywords (SERPWatcher) 
  • Analyze backlinks (LinkMiner)
  • Analyze a website completely (SiteProfiler)

Because KWFinder offers different plans, some of which in discounted prices, the rate of commission will be adjusted accordingly.

Even if you only earn a commission from a monthly basic plan, it can quickly add up. This makes KWFinder one of the best affiliate programs to make money.

GetResponse

Category: Email marketing

Commission rate: 33% lifetime

getresponse affiliate program

This pitch right here is reason enough to sign up and join GetResponse's affiliate marketing program. The company is also one of the first to offer recurring commissions to promoters and advertisers.

When you sign up, you have a choice between two commission programs:

Affiliate Bounty Program - where you get a generous one-time payment of $100 for every account you refer.

Affiliate Recurring Program - where you’re paid a recurring monthly commission of 33%.

In either option, payouts are done monthly and you will be provided with free marketing materials and real-time earning statistics.

What's even better is that GetResponse affiliate program is: 

  • Free to join
  • No cap on earnings
  • Get paid monthly by check or other payout methods you prefer
  • Earn commission when a referred visitor activates their account within 120 days. 

Because email marketing tools are in demand, you have access to the best paying affiliate programs.

As Reno Van Boven of renovanboven.com said, "The GetResponse affiliate program is a huge opportunity for all affiliate marketers to easily increase their online revenue! The email software industry is sky-rocketing and with lucrative payouts such as with GetResponse you can count on great ROI."

Why not try it yourself?

Regarding other email marketing software, you might want to check my guide: best autoresponders for affiliate marketing.

Stencil

Category: Image creation tool

Commission rate: 30% lifetime

stencil affiliate

As an image creation tool that is used by webmasters, internet marketers, and bloggers, Stencil offers one of the best earning opportunities. Advertised right, you will receive a big payout promoting it.

How much exactly?

30% commission per sale that pays every month for as long as your referred client stays with the software. How much you'll earn will depend on the type of account a referred client signs up with.

Because there's no minimum payout, you would still receive a residual income, regardless of the balance.

Monthly direct payouts are done via PayPal.

When you become a Stencil affiliate partner, you will have your own full-featured dashboard where you can track your affiliate links and commissions.

Moreover, you will receive support and advice, complete with banners, content, images, and logos to get you started.

It's one of the best beginner affiliate programs, especially because you will have direct access to a dedicated affiliate liaison when you join. All you need is to send an email for all your queries and concerns. 

TD Web Services

Category: Web tools and services

Commission rate: 35% recurring commission per referral

td web services affiliate

TD Web Services is David against the many Goliaths in web hosting brands, such as VMware, GoDaddy, and Bluehost.

Despite its small size, it offers one of the high-paying web hosting affiliate programs.

What makes it a great option is the:

  • High approval rates 
  • Proven high conversion rates
  • Flexible billing cycles
  • Friendly support to its affiliates

Rates of commission, as shown below, vary, depending on the service a referred customer buys.

If your referred client buys everything on the list, your commission will add up quickly.

In addition, TD Web Services affiliate program comes with cash rewards of up to $1,000, based on the accumulated amount of sales made per month.

TD Web Services also offers the ShareASale Affiliate Program where you can get a one-time commission of up to 50%, depending on your monthly total.

Elegant Themes

Category: WordPress themes

Commission rate: 50% per sale

elegantthemes affiliate

If you want to sell affiliate products that pay high, sign up with Elegant Themes' affiliate program. Considering that the popular open-source platform (WordPress hosting) powers 34% of the internet as of 2019, themes are definitely one of the high commission affiliate products.

Elegant Themes boasts of a 50% commission rate for each theme you sell and a commission for every renewal on subscriptions.

For as long as referred visitors pay their yearly renewal fees, you will earn residual income.

As an affiliate, you will be provided with text links and a range of banners that you can use on your website.

Active Campaign

Category: Email automation/CRM

Commission rate: 20-30%

activecampaign affiliate

Rated one of the best residual income affiliate programs, ActiveCampaign pays you up to 30% of commission for every referral made.

What is great about ActiveCampaign is that:

  • Getting started is easy. 
  • There are no extra fees involved. 
  • Payouts are done every month. 
  • Customer retention is high, which guarantees long-term recurring commission. 

Now, the commission you'll earn depends on which tier you belong to.

  • Silver Tier - Get paid 20% for a new referral. 
  • Gold Tier - Get paid 25% when you bring in a new monthly business amounting to $100 in the past 3 months. 
  • Platinum Tier - Get paid 30% when you bring in new monthly business amounting to $500 in the past 3 months or you have active accounts worth $2,000. 

Join the ActiveCampaign affiliate program and you can start earning tomorrow. 

Thrive Themes

Category: WordPress themes and plugins

Commission rate: 35% of each sale

thrivethemes affiliate

With a huge number of websites using WordPress, Thrive Themes have some of the top-selling affiliate products. For every sale made, you will be paid 35%, the actual amount of which depends on the product a referred customer buys.

Moreover, Thrive Themes made the list as one of the best residual income affiliate programs for several other reasons:

  • It's a well-known brand, a feature that makes it easy to sell as an affiliate product.
  • You'll be supplied with all the help you need, including well-designed banner ads, and affiliate advice and training. 
  • Get access to analytics to track your traffic and commission in real-time
  • Earn commissions on yearly renewals of membership subscription that is paid yearly. 
  • Direct payouts are made via PayPal at a low payment threshold of $20. 

With a total of 10 products to sell, including page builders, plugins and themes, it will not take much to earn residual income from this affiliate program.

Aweber

Category: Email marketing

Commission rate: 30%

aweber affiliate

Designed to make email marketing more convenient, Aweber provides a tool to automate the process of collecting email addresses, sending emails, broadcasting emails, and creating an entire email campaign.

With more than 240 million email users in the US alone in 2017, Aweber's tool is definitely one of the high ticket affiliate products. For every referral made that converts and stays on for a month, you will start earning a recurring commission of 30%, with payments sent monthly.

Now, different subscription plans earn different incomes.

If your referral customer signed up for the $19/month subscription plan, you will receive $5.70 after a month. If the customer stays for a year, then you earn $68.40, which then doubles the next year.

Imagine if all 10 referred customers sign up, and with the $149/month plan at that.

With Aweber, you don't have to pay anything to sign up and you will have access to some amazing features, such as custom links, banners, email swipes, and video ads.

Given this list of the best affiliate programs with residual income, you should not waste time in getting started. Now is the best time to sign up and start earning money. 

MailerLite

Category: Email marketing

Commission: 30%

mailerlite affiliate

Voted as the cheapest e-mail marketing software, MailerLite offers a high paying affiliate program. All you need is to add the special affiliate link that will be provided to you upon sign up and get visitors to your website to click the link.

You also get banners that you can use to promote your link on social media (Facebook, Instagram), forums, blogs, and other online platforms.

What's great about joining the MailerLite affiliate program is that: 

  • Your application will be automatically approved. 
  • You'll be provided with a user-friendly dashboard where you can track clicks, conversions, sales, and revenue in real-time. 
  • You'll have access to support dedicated to affiliates. 

Now, the 30% payout from the software is applicable to both the initial sale and recurring payments. Certain conditions apply.

  • A potential customer must click the affiliate link and then sign up during that session for a sale to be eligible for a referral fee. 
  • Referrals are given one week from their visit to sign up for MailerLite for you to earn a commission from their purchase. 
  • Once your commission reaches $120, you can claim a payout that will be credited to your PayPal account after 45 days. 

You also have the option to let your earnings accumulate before you claim a payout.

Leadpages

Category: Landing page builder

Commission: 30% lifetime

leadpages affiliate

What makes Leadpages one of the best affiliate programs with residual income is it sells products that are guaranteed to generate new leads and increase conversion rates. This is what every business and website owner wants for their website.

With this online web-based tool, you can create landing pages and email popups, and deliver deals that will convert a visitor into leads or customers.

How does the Leadpages affiliate program work?

Market a suite of lead generation tools to potential customers and earn a 30% recurring commission. This applies to all sales, including upgrades and renewals.

For as long as a referred customer stays with the platform, you will receive a commission.

What's great about the Leadpages affiliate program is that referrals get tech support, marketing education, and great software that helps with customer retention.

This helps ensure you'll get that commission for life.

Moreover, it offers 3 subscription plans that are all paid either monthly or yearly, which keeps residual income coming.

Clearly, it's one of the most attractive affiliate products to sell.

Better Proposals

Category: Business coaches

Commission: 20% recurring commission

Better Proposal affiliate

This software is a great affiliate program for anyone who is in the field of helping business owners in certain industries do better. For example, you might help social media managers or freelancers earn more for their work. 

Basically, it’s a good choice if you help others scale their businesses in different niches. You should be able to create content that would highlight the need for proposals and how it can help your viewers sign more clients. 

One unique thing you’ll like about the program is that you’ll be asked to set up a template when you join. If someone uses a similar template, a pop-up will be displayed with your business details. Think of it as an advertising avenue - it’s beneficial for you and for the viewer. 

The great thing about it is that:

  • You get a recurring 20% commission for the entirety of your deal.
  • Your business can get featured regularly on the platform’s Facebook community and other socials.
  • The CEO - Adam Hempenstall will be scheduled to make an appearance on your Facebook group.
  • You’ll have your own branded squeeze page. 

Overall, it’s an incredibly lucrative program that you should look into if you want a deal that would run for several years.

Snappa

Category: Graphic design software

Commission: 30%

snappa affiliate

Snappa provides marketers and entrepreneurs the fastest way to create graphics, which quality rivals that of pros but without the high cost. Because every website needs graphics design, the app is a lucrative affiliate product to promote.

What's great about the Snappa Affiliate Program is that:

  • You'll have instant approval for your application. 
  • You'll receive dedicated support and access to real-time stats of clicks, conversions, revenue, etc. 
  • You'll earn through a recurring income model. 

As an affiliate partner, you will receive a 30% recurring commission for every successful subscription. For as long as your referred customer stays with the app, your commission is guaranteed.

So, if you made a sale of $50 from a single referral, you will earn a $15 commission.

If a referred visitor signs up for an annual subscription, you will be paid a commission equivalent to what you'll earn for an entire year upfront.

Snappa's annual plan is definitely a profitable affiliate programs to promote.

How about the payout process?

  • Payouts are scheduled at the beginning of the month. 
  • Direct payments will be made via your PayPal account. 

You should give Snappa affiliate program a try.

So, do your homework on how to promote affiliate products and learn the best way to sell them for bigger payouts.

How do you ensure success in recurring affiliate programs?

Meet Rae Hoffman Dolan, or you might know her more as Sugar Rae. Before she became a legend in the realm of online marketing, helping establish the digital marketing agency PushFire, she was a mother who's son suffered a massive stroke in 1998.

sugar rae

The lack of online support groups for parents like her prompted her to start a non-profit website where parents and families of stroke patients can share their joys and pains.

In 2001, she stumbled upon affiliate marketing and used the platform to sell affiliate products to fund her website's maintenance needs.

Fast forward to today, Sugar Rae is a highly successful affiliate marketer, a testament that affiliate marketing works.

You can do the same but you must put in some work. 

To succeed in affiliate marketing:

  • Only promote products that you understand and love. It's difficult to convince visitors to buy what you're selling with fake recommendations.
  • Choose affiliate products that are evergreen and from trusted brands.
  • Start strong with emerging categories. Find out which category is the most popular and use it to your advantage.
  • Consider working with affiliate networks, which serves as an intermediary between affiliates and merchants. Joining a network will help you compare different commission rates across different programs.
  • Learn how to promote affiliate products accordingly. Try out different techniques and use the ones that work best for you.
affiliate marketing process

There's no one formula that will ensure success in affiliate marketing. But start with the tips listed above to help you establish your space online.

Obviously, to get to know and understand the products above, you need to try them out, at least their main features. So I'd recommend you to pick one or two first and sign up for their free trials.

For more resources about affiliate marketing, study my other in-depth guide:

How To Start An Affiliate Marketing Business (The Complete Beginners Guide)

Conclusion

In conclusion, recurring affiliate programs are one way to make money online and put marketing skills to good use. Now that you know the necessary information and the tools to get started in this lucrative project, get right to it.

Start earning commissions for life with minimal effort.

What do you think about my list of the 14 best money making opportunities?

Let us know on the comments below. 

About the author 

Peter Keszegh

Most people write this part in the third person but I won't. You're at the right place if you want to start or grow your online business. When I'm not busy scaling up my own or other people' businesses, you'll find me trying out new things and discovering new places. Connect with me on Facebook, just let me know how I can help.

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