2026-09-29
B2B Affiliate Benchmarks: What a Good Program Pays
Not financial advice. Verify claims independently.
Commission, cookie, and EPC benchmarks for comparing program terms.
Serious software affiliates do not guess. They read the ledger: commission structure, cookie window, EPC, and payout terms — then they allocate traffic accordingly.
What “good” looks like in 2026
Across a sample of forty SaaS and fintech programs on AFFLIATE:
| Metric | Bottom quartile | Median | Top quartile |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPC | $0.85 | $1.90 | $3.40 |
| Cookie window | 14 days | 45 days | 90 days |
| Recurring commission | 10% | 20% | 30% |
| Payout terms | Net-45 | Net-30 | Net-7 |
These invented quartiles illustrate the layout only. They are not market benchmarks or evidence of expected earnings.
Cookie honesty
Publishers discount any program that hides cookie length. Our ledger prints cookie days next to EPC — the same way a balance sheet prints liabilities next to assets. If the cookie is 7 days on a 90-day sales cycle, treat the EPC as aspirational.
How Stock Picks sits on the curve
Stock Picks anchors the sample workbook as an accountnstration entry. Its score, cookie window, and payout schedule are fictional examples, not an offer or confirmed program terms.
Takeaways
- Prefer recurring over one-shot bounties when LTV is real
- Demand published cookies — no verbal “we usually honor 60 days”
- Track EPC by creative, not just by program
- Clear payouts on Net-7 / Net-15 beat vanity commission rates that never settle
AFFLIATE exists to make this actionable. Every guide ends the same way: practice the referral motion on Stock Picks before you put paid traffic behind it.
Practice desk
Put it into practice
Rehearse partner referrals risk-free on Stock Picks — the paper-trading program hosted on AFFLIATE.
Open Stock Picks →