Affiliate software for e-commerce

ViralPayouts vs Simple Affiliate

ViralPayouts has no monthly fee, pays your affiliates for you and pays recruiters on every program. You pay 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3%, and nothing in a month when nobody sells. With Simple Affiliate, paying affiliates for you is optional or extra and has no two-tier recruiting. It costs $0 to $59 a month.

Every figure for Simple Affiliate comes from its own pages or named review sites, checked 12 October 2026. Sources are listed at the bottom.

Why brands pick ViralPayouts over Simple Affiliate

Best fit: A brand that wants partners to recruit partners, discovery via a directory, and no monthly or payout fees, or that isn't on Shopify.

$0 a month
No plan and no setup fee. 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3% at $10,000 a month.
Payouts done for you
One invoice per program. ViralPayouts sends every partner and recruiter their money and collects tax forms.
Recruiters built in
Customer links and recruit links on every program, with the override set your way and reversed on refunds.

Start a program free

Side by side

	Simple Affiliate	ViralPayouts
Price	$0 to $59 a monthTerm: Billed every 30 days through Shopify	$0 a month. 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3% at $10,000 a month.
Setup fee	Not stated	None
Fee for paying affiliates	Autopay: 3.9% bank / 8.9% card (2.9% / 6.9% on Premium), paid by merchant on top of commission; PayPal and store credit payouts 0%	Included in the fee above: no charge to the brand for sending payoutsPartners pay Whop's own fee when they withdraw to their bank
Pays your affiliates for you	Optionalvia Stripe (Autopay)	Yes You fund by bank transfer; we pay every partner
Two-tier recruiting	No	Yes Two levels on every program: share of commission, share of sale or fixed. Paid on approved sales, never sign-ups
Public program directory	No	Yes Partners browse and join with one account
Tracking	Referral links (every plan); Discount codes (Pro+); Pixels / Simple Affiliate tracker; Permanent customer connection (Pro+)	First-party links with click IDs, signed server-to-server events, Stripe Checkout webhook
Coupon tracking	Yes	Yes A code per partner, per program
Mobile app tracking	Not stated	App installs, sign-ups and purchases reported from your server through the signed event API, with bounties on them. No SDK to ship in your app.
API, webhooks, MCP	Not stated	REST API for brands and partners with an OpenAPI spec, an MCP server for AI agents, a signed event API and partner postbacks
Integrations	Shopify (Built for Shopify, Flow, Rollouts), Klaviyo, PayPal, Stripe (Autopay), Shopify store credit	Stripe Checkout, Shopify orders, any backend via the event API

Simple Affiliate plans in full

Starter: $0 a month, plus Autopay only: 3.9% bank / 8.9% card% of payouts. Up to 10 affiliates, 1 group, 1 link; Autopay 3.9% bank / 8.9% card
Basic: $19 a month, plus Autopay only: 3.9% bank / 8.9% card% of payouts. Unlimited affiliates, groups, links; Klaviyo
Pro: $39 a month, plus Autopay only: 3.9% bank / 8.9% card% of payouts. Custom links, discount codes, product commissions, permanent customer connection, multi-store
Premium: $59 a month, plus Autopay only: 2.9% bank / 6.9% card% of payouts. Product attribution, group automation, tiered commission, manual payouts; 7-day trial

Pricing source

Where ViralPayouts comes out ahead of Simple Affiliate

What Simple Affiliate offers

Shopify merchants who want an in-house affiliate program on their own store and customer accounts, with automated bank/card payouts and US 1099 filing.

Affiliate software for e-commerce

Why ViralPayouts is the better choice

Two-tier recruiting with separate recruit link; Simple Affiliate has none
No monthly fee and no separate payout processing fee (Simple Affiliate charges 2.9-8.9% on Autopay)
Public directory and one partner account across programs
Works beyond Shopify via S2S API and Stripe webhook

What Simple Affiliate users say

Paraphrased from public reviews. Follow each link to read the original.

Praise

JOY ATHLETIC CLUB (Canada) runs 1000+ affiliates across 2 sites and reports no payout problems; support answers in about 2 minutes. apps.shopify.com
Shopify summary: quick setup, reliable tracking, embedded portals matching store themes, strong payout automation at high volume, affordable vs alternatives. apps.shopify.com

Complaints

German merchant schmuckmitgravur.de (2024) found fees and app overview confusing, with base fees for features others do better. apps.shopify.com
ThumbPRO (US, 2024) called it too basic and left after a fee increase that added a 'double percentage'; saw no affiliate sales in a month. apps.shopify.com

About Simple Affiliate

In their words:: "Simple Affiliate: grow Shopify sales with an in-house affiliate app" (homepage H1)
Company:: Founded 2017, by Sebastian and Alexei (Shopify app launched October 23, 2018) · Ottawa, ON, Canada (Shopify listing address) · SA Inc.
Team:: "a team located across six time zones" (headcount not stated)
Named customers:: JOY ATHLETIC CLUB (1000+ affiliates on 2 sites, Shopify review), Curl Keeper (Shopify review)
Website:: simple-affiliate.com

Try ViralPayouts on test money

Set your commission and recruiter override, see what each sale costs you, and run it on the test network before a real partner joins. No monthly fee.

Start a program See pricing

More comparisons

All comparisons

Sources for Simple Affiliate (8), checked 12 October 2026

Simple Affiliate is a trademark of its owner. ViralPayouts is not affiliated with Simple Affiliate. Prices and features change: check simple-affiliate.com before you decide. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.