Awin vs Tapfiliate

Awin is one of the largest affiliate marketing networks in the world. It traces back to Affiliate Window, founded in the UK in 2000, which merged with Germany's zanox in 2017 to form Awin, headquartered in Berlin and part of the Axel Springer group. Awin also bought the US network ShareASale in 2017 and completed moving ShareASale advertisers onto the Awin platform in August 2025. Its core job is connecting brands with publishers, from cashback sites to creators, and tracking and paying their commissions.

Advertisers get a partner directory and marketplace, campaign and commission management, tracking, reporting and partner payments. Self-serve pricing comes in two tiers, Access for newcomers and Accelerate for growing programs, both with a monthly fee plus a percentage tracking fee on each sale, while Advanced is a custom package with managed services and full feature access. Publishers join for free.

Awin fits retailers and DTC brands that want reach: the company reports about 30,000 advertisers, a million publishers and 1,400 employees. If you want to run your own branded program with only your own partners, software such as Refersion or PartnerStack is simpler, and impact.com is the stronger choice for enterprise partnership automation beyond classic affiliates.

Before you sign, model the total cost: on a $100 sale with a 6 percent commission, the partner earns $6 and Awin takes $3.50 on Access or $2.50 on Accelerate, on top of the monthly fee. Former ShareASale accounts closed on October 6, 2025, so ShareASale-era guides are out of date.

Tapfiliate is cloud affiliate tracking and management software founded in 2014 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and acquired by the affiliate network Admitad in February 2021. It lets SaaS and e-commerce businesses run their own affiliate, referral and influencer programs: tracking clicks and conversions, calculating commissions and giving partners a branded portal.

Tracking works through a JavaScript snippet, REST API, postback pixels and coupon codes, so partners can earn even when no click happens. Commissions can be percentage, fixed, tiered, recurring, lifetime or multi-level. Programs get a white-label portal on a custom domain, an in-app messenger, automation for approvals and payouts, and an offers marketplace. Native integrations cover Stripe, Shopify, WooCommerce, Paddle, BigCommerce and Wix, with Zapier for the rest. Plans are Launch, Scale and Enterprise, priced by monthly clicks and conversions.

Tapfiliate fits online stores and SaaS companies that want more flexibility than a Stripe-only referral tool, such as coupon tracking or multi-level commissions. It costs more than SaaS-focused tools, Launch caps you at 50 affiliates, and overages add up for high-traffic programs. Rewardful and FirstPromoter are simpler for Stripe-billed SaaS, and PartnerStack adds a B2B partner marketplace for larger budgets.

Check usage limits closely: Launch ($89 a month, or $74 billed annually) includes 5,000 clicks and 500 conversions a month, with overages of $1.50 per 1,000 clicks and $15 per 1,000 conversions.