These features ensure your partners are rewarded for every subscription renewal or every future purchase made by a referred customer, driving long-term revenue.
Why Use Recurring Commissions?
Continuous Reward: The affiliate receives a commission every time the referred customer renews their subscription.
Customer Tracking: It is extremely useful for SaaS businesses that need to keep track of users who signed up for a trial or lead form (Customers) and permanently tie them to an affiliate, even if the user converts to a paid subscription much later. (Learn more about our Customer feature here)
Recurring vs. Lifetime Commissions: What's the Difference?
While both models reward long-term value, they are not the same.
Key Differences at a Glance
Feature | Recurring Commissions | Lifetime Commissions |
What is Rewarded | Subscription Renewals (MRR) | All Subsequent Conversions by the referred customer. |
Mechanism | You pay a commission every time the customer makes a scheduled payment (monthly/yearly). | The customer is permanently attributed to the first affiliate, regardless of cookies or future links. |
Best For | SaaS, Membership, and Subscription Services. | E-commerce (for repeat purchases) and any business prioritizing customer ownership. |
🎯 The Difference Explained with an Example:
Imagine a customer, Ellen, referred by Affiliate A.
If you use ONLY Recurring Commissions (e.g., a simple SaaS subscription):
Affiliate A earns a commission when Ellen pays in Month 1, Month 2, Month 3, and so on.
BUT, if Ellen cancels and then signs up six months later via Affiliate B's link, Affiliate B may get credit (depending on your cookie window).
2. If you use ONLY Lifetime Commissions (e.g., an E-commerce store):
Affiliate A gets credit for Ellen's first purchase (a coat).
Affiliate A gets credit for Ellen's second purchase (a pair of boots) a year later, even if no one clicks a link.
BUT, if the store offered a subscription box, Affiliate A would only get credit for the first box, not the monthly renewals, unless Recurring Commissions were also enabled.
What integrations have recurring commissions
Recurring commissions require a specific setup to correctly link the customer to the affiliate over time.
Important Note on Integrations
Not all integrations support recurring commissions out of the box.
Recurring Commissions are supported by the following integrations:
Lifetime Commissions are supported by the following integrations:
How to Set Up Lifetime/ Recurring Commissions
There are two primary ways to set up recurring commissions, with the first being the recommended route for reliable tracking.
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Smart Connected (Recommended)
This method links the customer directly to the affiliate using your integration, ensuring commissions are attributed automatically on every payment.
API: You can create a customer through our API. This customer is then permanently linked to one of your affiliates. Whenever the customer makes a future purchase, a commission will be attributed. Please note that this option typically requires developer assistance.
Zapier: Depending on your integration, we have pre-made Zaps to set up recurring commissions automatically.
Direct Integration: Check your integration settings. Some platforms (like Stripe) may support recurring commissions immediately upon successful integration.
2. Time-Based (Manual)
Note on Integration: This model is used when your current integration setup does not support the Smart Connected option.
You can set up recurring commissions in your platform manually using a time-based model. These will log a conversion automatically on a fixed cycle (e.g., every month), regardless of whether a payment took place or not.
Pro Tip: If you want to limit the total amount of commissions an affiliate is entitled to for any given customer, you can set up caps within your program settings.
FAQ
❓Can I run a hybrid program that pays different commission types (e.g., One-Time and Recurring) within the same program?
Yes, this is possible, but it requires a strategic setup via the REST API.
By default, recurring commissions are enabled at the program level. However, commissions become "recurring" only when they are tied to a specific customer ID. You can use this mechanism to separate your commission types:
Commission Type | Action Required (REST API) | Rationale |
Recurring (e.g., subscription fees) | You MUST create a customer and include the customer_id when submitting the conversion. | The commission links to the customer's status (active/canceled) and will continue to be tracked automatically based on your rules. |
Non-Recurring (e.g., one-time bonuses or lead fees) | You MUST submit the conversion WITHOUT a customer_id. | Since the commission is not tied to a customer record, it will remain a single, one-time payment. |
You should still include the external_id (your internal order/lead ID) for all conversions to ensure you can match them with your data.
For detailed documentation on the required fields, please refer to the following API endpoints:
❓How to assign different commission rates to different affiliate groups?
Yes. You can organize your affiliates into groups (e.g., 'VIP Partners' or 'Coupon Sites') and assign a unique commission percentage to each group. See our guide on Assigning Different Commission Rates to Different Affiliates for more detail.
❓How can I set up a tiered commission structure where the commission percentage changes after the first conversion (e.g., 50% for the first sale, 10% afterwards)?
Tapfiliate does not have a built-in feature for automated, progressive commission tiers based on the number of customer conversions.
However, you can implement this specialized structure using our powerful Extra Commissions feature combined with your internal system logic. Your backend needs to track the customer's purchase history (first sale vs. subsequent sales) and pass the appropriate commission value (50% or 10%) via the integration code when sending the conversion data to Tapfiliate.
Important Note: Since implementing this solution requires custom logic and tracking on your server, ongoing maintenance and development of this specialized logic are managed by your internal development team.
❓Can I run a hybrid commission program that combines a fixed fee and a percentage (e.g., a fixed amount for the first conversion, and a percentage commission for subsequent sales)?
Tapfiliate allows you to set your default commission as either a fixed amount or a percentage, and the same rule applies to any Extra Commissions you set.
While the system does not natively support logic to automatically switch the commission model based on a customer's history (e.g., applying a fixed rate for the first purchase and a percentage for the second), you can achieve this through custom implementation. Your developers would calculate the final hybrid value (fixed + percentage) or determine the purchase stage, and then pass the final, pre-calculated commission amount to Tapfiliate via the integration code.
Important Note: Since this solution utilizes custom logic and calculations managed on your server, ongoing maintenance and development of this specialized logic are handled by your internal development team.
Next Steps
Your recurring commission rules are now defined. To complete your setup and expand your partnership ecosystem, continue with the following steps:
Exploring Other Programs: If you plan to leverage word-of-mouth growth alongside your affiliate program, learn How to run a Referral program with Tapfiliate.
Advanced Integrations: If your platform requires custom tracking logic beyond our standard integrations (or if you need the developer workarounds discussed in the FAQ), see our guides on: