Rakuten LinkShare vs Refersion

Rakuten LinkShare is an affiliate marketing network for brands seeking customers and publisher partnerships. Advertisers can use partner recommendations, campaign planning, custom promotions, commission rules and performance reports. Partnership Discovery applies AI and machine learning to recommend publishers from product categories and plain-language searches. Advertisers can choose first-touch, last-touch and other attribution or commissioning models. Audience Engine uses existing brand data for partner-based audience segmentation, targeting and personalised offers. Rakuten Advertising says its network has more than 150,000 top-tier partners and launch takes less than one month. The service includes a partner portal and API access and is listed for Android, iOS, web and API. Pricing is on request. Publisher network access is listed at free, though inactivity fees may apply after 12 consecutive months without commissionable activity.

Refersion is an affiliate tracking and management platform for direct-to-consumer ecommerce brands running affiliate, influencer, or ambassador programs. It helps brands discover partners, track referrals, set commissions, and arrange payouts. Partner discovery uses product categories and a description of the brand’s ideal customer to surface potential affiliates. Refersion promotes first-party tracking without cookies or redirects. Commissions can be based on sales percentage or subscriptions; Growth includes advanced commission options. The platform describes automated affiliate payments and automatic generation of required US tax forms for eligible affiliates. A free Marketplace Listing lets affiliates view and apply to offers, but tracking, commission management, and payouts require a paid plan. Launch costs $39 a month plus 3% of affiliate-driven sales; Growth costs $199 a month plus 2%. Growth includes API access and chat support. Listed integrations include Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, Chargebee, Stripe, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, and Zapier.