Working with the best recurring affiliate programs has to be at the top of your list of powerful marketing hacks.
As an affiliate marketer, your goal should not be to go after programs that will pay you a one-time commission. Instead, you must join programs that offer recurring affiliate income.
After all, that’s how you’ll build multiple passive income streams. Isn’t that the endgame of every marketer who wants to live off affiliate sales?
Today, I’ll present you with a list of the best residual income affiliate programs to help you succeed as a full-time affiliate marketer.
I’ll cover tons of info on today’s topic:
- What are the best recurring income affiliate programs?
- Is there such a thing as a high-ticket recurring affiliate program?
- Should you work only with the best affiliate programs for beginners?
- And what recurring income do affiliate programs offer on average?
This post contains affiliate links – check my affiliate disclosure.
High-Ticket Recurring Affiliate Programs
What Are Recurring Commission Affiliate Programs?
First things first, let’s insert a quick clarification of what an affiliate program is:
An affiliate program is an arrangement between online merchant websites and affiliate partners. According to that arrangement, the merchants agree to pay a percentage of every sale to the marketer behind it.
Each affiliate must contact the merchant sites they want to work with and receive an affiliate link. After you send lots of web traffic to that unique referral link, your affiliate promotions should convert into new sales.
What’s the difference between an affiliate program and a recurring affiliate program?
Most affiliate programs will pay you once the referred customer makes a purchase through your affiliate link. However, when working with a recurring affiliate program, you’ll keep earning a residual affiliate income for a specific period.
You’ll continue to earn money as long as the customer uses the product or service they acquired through your link. In other words, the commission structure of a recurring affiliate program allows you to build a passive income stream from subscription-based models.
First-Year Affiliate Program Vs. Lifetime Commissions Affiliate Program
Before I get to my list of the best recurring affiliate programs, I want to discuss the difference between the first-year affiliate program and the lifetime commissions affiliate program.
Generally, not all recurring income affiliate programs work the same way:
Some will send you commissions for only a year after the initial sale.
You wouldn’t want to see that happening. And it doesn’t have to, if you do your best to work with lifetime affiliate programs.
A lifetime affiliate program allows you to build a long-term income stream. Of course, you can develop an affiliate business that relies on a hybrid model (promoting programs that offer one-time commissions and a recurring revenue stream).
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that working with lifetime affiliate programs is the most profitable strategy for every affiliate marketer:
After all, the best affiliate programs are the ones that will let you earn for years.
Recommended Read:
- Well-Paying Referral Programs To Make Money
- My First Affiliate Revenue (Income Report)
- Comprehensive Guide To Affiliate Marketing
- The Smart Way To Build An Affiliate Marketing Business
6 Best Recurring Affiliate Programs To Make Passive Income
Alright, there is just one clarification about my top picks of recurring affiliate programs I want to make:
Each affiliate marketing program you’ll see is a lifetime affiliate program. It will continue to send you affiliate commissions into your bank account for over 12 months.
Let’s get started, shall we?
1) ConvertKit Affiliate Program
Those who rely on email marketing are familiar with ConvertKit. In case someone isn’t, I’ll explain what the platform does:
ConvertKit is an email autoresponder service that many content creators and business owners use to manage email marketing campaigns. This platform is a user-friendly interface and provides everything you might need to build your email list quickly.
With that said, let’s focus on why you should become a ConvertKit affiliate:
Firstly, the affiliate program has a 60-day cookie duration period – every affiliate has a two-month window to convert the web traffic.
Secondly, ConvertKit offers first-click attribution. Lastly, there is no minimum payout threshold – feel free to withdraw your earnings on the 2nd of the month via PayPal.
Nowadays, ConvertKit pays 50% for the first 12 months and up to 20% recurring commissions beyond the first year.
2) Thrive Themes
We can’t discuss building an email list without squeezing Thrive Themes into the conversation. After all, the company offers WordPress themes, tools, and plugins that focus on boosting your online presence.
Thrive’s products will deliver visually stimulating results and higher conversion rates for your business. Whether you want to build an email list fast or sell your products, Thrive has everything you need to make that happen.
The affiliate program of Thrive Themes will pay you a 35% commission for every sale and a 25% recurring commission on yearly renewals (every future affiliate must go through an approval process).
It offers various promotional materials, software tools to increase your sales, and access to analytics to trace the performance of your offers. You can receive your earnings via PayPal once they reach $20.
3) Elegant Themes
More often than not, marketers consider Elegant Themes as the biggest competition to Thrive. I can see the logic in such an opinion:
Divi (the most popular product of Elegant Themes) is the best WordPress theme – at least, that’s the most common opinion you can read online or hear from YouTube videos or other video content.
What about the affiliate program of Elegant Themes?
That program will pay you a 50% commission for every single referral and lifetime recurring commissions in yearly renewals. Expect a long cookie duration (6 months), marketing tools, and customer service once you gain access to your affiliate dashboard.
Elegant Themes Affiliate Program
4) Tailwind Affiliate Program
To sum up, Tailwind is a powerful tool many rely on to grow their business presence on Social Media platforms (mostly Pinterest and Instagram).
One of its advantages is that it saves time – the tool will post for you on the Social Media accounts you prefer.
Considering you’re here to learn about the affiliate program of Tailwind and not its ease of use, let’s talk about this:
Currently, Tailwind will pay you a 15% commission rate for every initial sale and up to 25% recurring lifetime commissions. For example, you can earn up to $30 for every annual plan subscription of Tailwind you manage to sell.
Depending on the number of sales you make for Tailwind, you’ll also receive content bonuses of up to $250.
Tailwind’s affiliate program offers a long cookie duration (90 days). It’s a good option to consider if you approach the world of affiliate marketing as yours to conquer!
5) Wealthy Affiliate
Generally, Wealthy Affiliate is an online teaching platform that provides professional blogging and business training for affiliate marketers.
Without a doubt, the top advantage of WA is that anyone can start using it for free – creating an account requires only an email address.
There is much to receive from WA, including training, SEO tools, keyword research tools, hosting, SSL certificates, and website backups (and it will all be for free).
Now, its affiliate program is one of the best affiliate programs for beginners to join nowadays.
I must point out that the amount of money you can make promoting WA depends on the membership and paid plan your referred customer chooses.
Take some time to learn more about Wealthy Affiliate:
- Why Wealthy Affiliate Is The Best Deal For Every Newbie Blogger
- How To Make Money On Wealthy Affiliate – Earn On The Platform Itself
- Success Stories Of Wealthy Affiliate Students
6) Shopify Affiliate Program
Under number six on my list of best recurring affiliate programs is Shopify.
Chances are, you already know that Shopify is the most popular platform you can use to build and host an online store. Shopify offers advanced features and marketing automation. That makes it the right place to sell anything from physical products to online courses.
These days, Shopify is behind millions of eCommerce businesses. It comes with a free trial – anyone can launch an online shop for free.
With that said, Shopify offers different plans to all its users. And your affiliate commissions will depend on the subscription fee your referrals pay.
As a result, the commission structures of Shopify vary – some affiliates receive a one-time commission while others can secure recurring payments.
WordPress Best Recurring Affiliate Programs
In my opinion, promoting WordPress themes and plugins is a clever strategy for every experienced affiliate marketer:
WordPress is the most popular content management system and website builder – millions of bloggers have their websites built on this platform.
Subsequently, opportunities to earn affiliate commissions by referring new customers to WordPress are abundant.
If marketing WordPress makes sense for your business niche, consider working with these affiliate programs that offer recurring commissions (RC):
- MemberPress (25% RC)/MemberMouse (20% RC)
- Zen WP (8% RC, plus a $3,000 bonus for every 100th customer)
- Superb Themes (60% commission per sale)
- Premium Coding Themes (up to 50% commission)
- CSSIgniter Themes/Plugins (50% per sale, plus the possibility for renewal commissions)
- Access WP (10% RC)
- Memberium (10% lifetime commission)
Of course, Elegant Themes and Thrive Themes also belong in this category – their recurring affiliate programs are in my top 6 picks above.
Recurring Income Affiliate Programs For Graphics And Design
Graphic design is a process that millions of people must manage daily. Subsequently, the customer base for graphic design tools, products, and services is enormous.
Feel free to promote any of the following graphics and design recurring affiliate programs:
- Canva Pro ($36 per sale)
- Design Pickle (15% RC)
- PicMonkey (50% per sale, plus 25% RC)
- Designrr (50% RC)
- Stencil (30% RC)
- Snappa (30% RC)
- Pixpa (50% commission per lead)
- DepositPhotos (40% for first purchase, 25% RC)
Promoting these recurring commission affiliate programs is a great way to advance your affiliate online business. You’ll receive monthly payments and earn extra income for your affiliate marketing efforts.
Best Recurring Affiliate Programs For Web Hosting
No site can appear online without web hosting. Thousands of new blogs are launched daily, and each needs a hosting provider.
Joining the various affiliate programs of hosting companies allows you to generate enormous affiliate sales, considering they are constantly in high demand.
Take your pick of hosting providers that offer lucrative affiliate payments and a lower minimum threshold for withdrawal:
- Kinsta (up to $500 per sale, plus 10% RC)
- Cloudways (up to $125 per sale, plus $30 + 7% RC every month)
- Nestify ($50 sign-up bonus, plus the possibility of RC)
- VirMarch (15% RC)
- JixHost (20% RC)
- Beyond Hosting (40% RC)
- Liquid Web (up to $1,500 per sale)
- RoseHosting (50% commission for the first month, 10% RC)
Best Recurring Affiliate Programs For VPNs
Does anyone need an insight into the VPN providers? I don’t think so:
How about we skip the unnecessary small talk and jump to the relevant information?
- IPVanish (100% for the first month, 35% RC)
- PureVPN (35% RC)
- Private Internet Access (33% commission)
- Hide My Ass (100% for the first month, 30% RC)
- ZenMate (35% RC)
- TorGuard (30% RC)
- Nord VPN (100% for the first month, 30% RC)
Live Chat Affiliate Programs That Offer Monthly Recurring Commissions
Can you guess the best way to keep a new user satisfied regardless of the business you’re developing? I’ll tell you one of the proven ways to ensure that a company can guarantee customer satisfaction: a live chat.
A live chat provides the opportunity for direct communication with potential customers and clients. Offering high-quality customer service is the secret sauce that will keep your clients paying for your great products or services.
Each of the live chat recurring commission programs below is an excellent choice for marketers and content creators:
- LiveChat (20% RC)
- JivoChat (30% RC)
- Olark (25% RC)
- LiveAgent (20% RC)
- Online Chat Centers (20% RC, up to 50% first commission)
- Provide Support (30% RC)
- PureChat (over 30% RC)
- Chatrify (20% RC)
- Crisp (20% RC)
Best Recurring Affiliate Programs For Chatbots
Chatbots are an alternative way to offer outstanding client support. Global brands don’t hesitate to rely on a chatbot, since having one is a good option to consider.
Shall we discuss the chatbot affiliate programs that can bring decent ongoing commissions?
- Tars (30% RC)
- ChitChatChimp (10% RC, 50% first commission)
- MobileMonkey (20% RC)
- Collect.chat ($50 for every ten referrals, 30% RC)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Recurring Commission Affiliate Programs
SEO stands for search engine optimization.
Every marketer or blogger needs in-depth knowledge of SEO to rank their blog posts on search engines (Google, Bing, and Yahoo). Of course, in-depth knowledge of digital marketing and best practices for content creation is also necessary to achieve that.
With that said, here are the best affiliate marketing programs of SEO tools you should begin promoting:
- Semrush (40% RC) – the Semrush affiliate program is my top choice in this paragraph because Semrush is an invaluable SEO tool, in my opinion.
- SerpStat (up to 30% RC)
- LongTailPro (30% RC)
- SEO Clerks (10% lifetime commissions)
- ProRankTracker (20% RC)
- SpyFu (40% RC)
- AccuRanker (20% RC)
- Mangools ($487 per lead)
- SEOPressor (50% RC)
- Linkody (30% RC)
- Linkredible (up to 30% RC)
- Link-able (50% per lead RC)
- Netpeak Software (30% RC)
- FATJOE (10% RC)
Best Affiliate Programs For Automation
Speaking of tools, the SEO ones are not the only systems that deserve your attention.
On the contrary, tools that will do wonders for the automation of your business should be a priority for you as a marketer. An effective sales funnel is a must to convert your target audience from readers to buyers.
Consider joining these affiliate programs:
- HubSpot (100% commission of your referral’s first-month revenue, plus 15% RC for one year)
- Pipedrive (35% RC)
- Capsule (20% RC)
- Drip (30% RC)
- Wishpond (30% RC)
- Active Campaign (between 20-30% RC)
- amoCRM (35% RC)
- Active Trail (15% RC)
- Hubstaff (30% RC)
- Builderall SEO (30% RC)
- ONTRAPORT (25% RC)
- JotForm (30% monthly RC)
Automation tools eliminate the need for constant contact with your readers, viewers, and leads. All small businesses should use them to make the working process easier.
I Earn Such Commissions Every Month – See How To Do The Same!
Best Recurring Affiliate Programs For Landing Pages
I’m probably the biggest fan of Thrive Architect – this powerful tool is among the best on the market right now. However, other landing page builders can also do an outstanding job.
And most of them have well-paying affiliate programs:
- ClickFunnels (40% RC)
- InstaPage (50% first-time payment, plus 30% RC)
- LeadPages (30% commission)
- Landingi (up to 35% RC)
- Kartra (40% RC)
Email Marketing Best Recurring Affiliate Programs
Email marketing is not a thing of the past. Creating email marketing campaigns to build or nurture an email list is a non-negotiable part of the job of large and small business owners.
No email campaign will be possible without access to an email marketing tool (or email marketing platform). Hopefully, you already know you need more than a welcome email or collecting email addresses to create an effective marketing campaign!
How about we take a look at the affiliate programs of email automation tools and email marketing software?
- GetResponse (33% RC)
- Aweber (30% RC)
- Sendlane (30% RC)
- MailTag (50% RC)
- MailerLite (30%RC)
- Benchmark (25% RC)
- Sendloop (10% RC)
- Automizy (40% RC)
- Moosend (30% RC)
The GetResponse affiliate program is your best option – it contains affiliate bounty programs that offer an upfront commission of $100 per sale.
Content Marketing Affiliate Programs Offering Recurring Payment
Relying on content marketing is a proven way to build an engaged audience and establish an impressive online presence.
Here, the key to success is to create content that addresses questions or solves problems for your readers.
In my opinion, these are the affiliate programs of content marketing and CRM tools you should consider joining:
- Pabbly (15% RC)
- Improvely (50% for the first month, 10% RC)
- Right Message (20% RC)
- Brick & Mobile (20% RC)
- URL Profiler (25% RC)
- PPC Protect (25% RC)
- Sumo (30% RC)
- SalesHandy (20% RC)
- Clicky (20% RC)
- ClickMagic (35% recurring lifetime commission)
- TubeBuddy (50% RC) (for your YouTube channel)
- Ninja Outreach (50% RC)
- Convert Flow (30% RC)
- Customerly (30% RC)
- Viral Loops (30% RC)
- Mouseflow (10% RC)
- OptinGun (10% RC)
- Optmyzer (10% for the first month, 15% RC)
- GrowthList (40% RC)
- Supermetrics (20% RC)
- Hunter.io (30% RC)
- Trck.me (30% RC)
- Deadline Funnel (33% RC)
- UpViral (50% in the first month, 30% RC)
- Answer Base (50% in the first month, 15% RC)
- GetSiteControl (30% RC)
- Repixel (30% RC)
Best Recurring Affiliate Programs For Social Media Management
Billions of people spend time on various social media platforms. That many individuals with social media accounts can become a wide audience and an enormous traffic source for your business.
There is no need to promote only one social media management tool when you can use your marketing materials to spread the word about multiple options:
- Opesta (40% RC)
- Crowdfire (35% RC)
- Planable (20% RC)
- AgoraPulse (20% RC)
- VidiQ (20% RC)
- SocialOomph (40% RC)
- SocialPilot (30% RC)
Recurring Affiliate Programs For Advertising
To sum up, I’ll show you affiliate programs of companies that connect advertisers and publishers:
- Voluum (20% RC)
- Adcash (5% RC)
- RevenueHits (10% RC)
- InfoLinks (10% RC)
- Propeller Ads (5% commission)
- ClickAdilla (5% RC)
Payment Processors Affiliate Programs
Each person purchasing a product or service online must use a debit or credit card to complete the payment. Naturally, most businesses can’t operate without payment processors.
Here are the top payment processors and SaaS affiliate programs to promote:
- AShop ($50 per sale)
- National Processing (up to 70% RC)
- Merchant Focus (20% RC)
- Eclipse Merchant Services (20% RC)
- Authorize.net (30% RC)
Best Recurring Income Affiliate Programs For Online Courses
Does promoting online courses suit your business?
Then maybe you should begin working with these affiliate programs:
- Teachable (30% RC)
- LearnWorlds (25% RC)
- Thinkfic (20% RC)
- Academy Of Mine (up to 20% RC)
Webinar Affiliate Programs
Hosting a webinar can boost your online sales, especially if you invite well-known guests who are experts in their relevant fields.
- Easy Webinar (30% RC)
- Webinar Ninja (30% RC)
- ClickMeeting (30% per sale)
- Demio (30% lifetime recurring commission)
Best Recurring Affiliate Programs For eCommerce
Starting an eCommerce business is a direction thousands of people are going in.
Subsequently, it’s no surprise that Shopify stock is on the rise most of the time – people need this eCommerce platform to help them launch an online store.
The good news is that the affiliate program of Shopify is not the only platform you can promote:
- Debutify (40% RC)
- Sellfy (25% RC)
- Shopio (25% RC)
- Samcart (40% RC)
- Payhip (50% RC)
- Proof (30% RC)
- Spocket (30% RC)
- Eggflow (20% RC)
- Market Hero (50% one-time commission)
- SendOwl (40% RC)
- Wholesale2b (30% RC)
- EasyStore (100% commission for the first month, 20% RC)
- Dropified (30% RC)
Recurring Commission Affiliate Programs Health And Beauty
Do you have a site in the beauty niche?
If you want to promote skincare, haircare, and other beauty programs, check the affiliate programs of Jade Bloom (10% RC) and doTERRA (20% RC). Further market research until you find the right programs offering high commission rates is a good idea.
Related: Why Market Health Is The Best Beauty Affiliate Program
Best Recurring Affiliate Programs FAQs
What Is A Recurring Affiliate Program?
A recurring affiliate program is an affiliate marketing program that lets you earn commissions if your referrals continue to use the products they purchased through your affiliate link.
In other words, a recurring affiliate program will pay you for an extended period after you make the sale.
Which Affiliate Marketing Program Is The Best?
Many affiliate marketing programs can be the best if they suit your niche and the nature of your business.
Some of the best affiliate marketing programs are the referral programs of Shopify, ConvertKit, Thrive Themes, and Fiverr.
What Is The Most Profitable Affiliate Program?
List Of The Best Affiliate Programs Offering High Commissions:
- Shopify
- ConvertKit
- Elegant Themes
- Thrive Themes
- Canva Pro
- Kinsta
- Cloudways
- Semrush
- HubSpot
- ClickFunnels
- National Processing
- Market Hero
- EasyStore
What Is A High-Ticket Affiliate Marketing?
Typically, high-ticket affiliate marketing is promoting affiliate programs that offer large affiliate payouts.
Most marketers prefer promoting high-ticket affiliate programs. Such a strategy allows them to earn more in a relatively short time.
My Closing
I hope you’ll find my list of the best recurring affiliate programs helpful.
Many programs will allow you to earn more than a decent income online.
With that said, I believe you should always go for the lifetime affiliate programs that will reward your marketing efforts generously.
Now, which are your favorite affiliate programs?
Share with me in the comments section, and we’ll chat!
More Affiliate Marketing Ideas You May Like:
Which one of these recurring affiliate programs do you use?
Honestly, Marta, that’s not an easy question to answer:
I personally use at least 20 of the affiliate programs that offer recurring payments, including ConvertKit, Thrive, and Shopify.
I’m new to the affiliate scene and this post just blows my mind. I didn’t know some of them can be that lucrative! And most of the platforms/tools that you just mentioned here, I’ve never heard of them or actually know that I can make money by promoting themes… that’s crazy.
I’ve used Shopify before and now I wonder who did I give my Shopify commission to….
Anyway, thanks for the tips! 🙂
Gonna write these down.
You are so welcome, Wina!
It took me a lot of time to collect the best options where affiliate programs are being concerned.
Glad to see that my hard work is paying off!
Excellent and informative site you have here – I have bookmarked it for future reference because you can be sure I will be looking at it again and again.
Ron
WOW!
One of the biggest compliments I’ve ever gotten!
Thank you so much, Ron!
Thank you for such an array of information. As someone new to blogging, I didn’t realize there were ways to make money with themes. Actually, it sounds like you can become and affiliate for almost anything that helps us with our online business.
This is truly wonderful.
I have heard of Shopify and I want to check it out.
In order to set up a storefront, will It be like affiliate marketing?
Will I build it based on a niche and consistently write content?
Hey there!
Actually, Shopify works in a bit different way.
I have a whole post about it, you can go and check it out!
You have some great information and I really like the recurring commission paid out. I feel that is truly the best way to go. I am a newer affiliate marketer and still using a free theme. You talk about the need to eventually needing to purchase a theme for it to do everything that you will want. I am unaware of what advantages the paid themes can do. Will you need less plug-ins since it has more to offer upfront? Some additional information on what paid themes can do would be great. Also, thanks for the information about tailwinds. I know I had heard something about it when I first started, but I had kind of forgotten about it. I am going to take a look at Tailwinds and see how it can help. Thanks for the information.
Hey there, Marla!
To answer your question – yes, a paid theme definitely requires less uploaded plugins in WordPress.
For example, my theme includes social sharing options, so I wouldn’t have to go for a separate plugin if I choose not to.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for the insights here.
I love using tailwind. It makes posting socially so automated.
I didn’t really think about buying a theme but I do think that it may be time to start considering it. I am at the point where I want my site to be absolutely personal in every aspect and my free theme doesn’t allow me to do so.
I will be looking into shopify – it’s my time.
Thanks!
You are so welcome!
Tailwind is a lifer, I’m loving it as much as you do!
As for the theme – the paid ones are so worth it.
And Shopify is just awesome, glad that you are considering it as well.
Very informative nice
Thanks, I appreciate that!
Great review on affiliate programs! I’ve heard of Tailwind and Shopify but not the others.
There are some programs you can join where you can make some kind of money but Wealthy Affiliate is by far the best out there!
You can join for free and get training, support, help building your website and getting traffic and creating your own online business income.
I like to compare the different programs because in the end nothing matches up to Wealthy Affiliate!
Hey again, Rob!
Always a pleasure talking to you.
And once again – I completely agree with you:
Wealthy Affiliate has no competition!
Hello, recurring affiliate commissions are great, but sometimes they are difficult to achieve. I have been promoting Wealthy Affiliate and even thought that I know that it is a great product and I use it myself, I have had better results with other affiliate programs.
This is because the niche is very competitive, I suppose. (I am not whatsoever making a negative comment about Wealthy Affiliate, it’s just competitive to promote a product in the make money online niche)
Hey back! Thanks for taking the time to comment on my article.
I guess is different for everybody.
Wealthy Affiliate is not the only product I like to promote. And yes – the niche is competitive.
But what can you do when the product is so worth it?
You gotta keep trying, right?