Rakuten LinkShare vs Trackdesk

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.

Trackdesk is affiliate software for managing affiliate, referral, and partnership programs. It supports direct linking, coupon-based tracking, ad click tracking, and server-to-server tracking. Teams can manage partners centrally with in-platform messaging and branded affiliate portals; unlimited affiliate partners are among its listed capabilities. Analytics include real-time data, customizable reports, and error logs. Commission features include recurring commissions and bulk payouts through PayPal, Wise, Tipalti, bank transfers, BTC, and ETH. Trackdesk describes AI tools for commission recommendations, revenue insights, postback configuration guidance, and program management through MCP-compatible clients. Listed integrations include Stripe, AppsFlyer, WooCommerce, Zapier, Shopify, PayPal, and others. Business costs $299 a month and includes 5 seats, 10 active offers, 100 coupon tracking, 900+ integrations, and one marketplace offer. Enterprise is $499 a month; Enterprise PLUS starts at $1,199 a month. A 14-day trial is available, but there is no free plan. For volumes above 20 million clicks per month, a private server may be required.