Free tool
Affiliate Commission & ROI Calculator
Estimate what a SaaS affiliate program actually pays out. Set your referral volume, price, commission rate, and duration to see the lifetime commission per referral, your monthly payout liability, and the return on every dollar of commission you pay.
Your program
Projected result
- Commission per referral (lifetime)49 × 12 mo × 20%
- $118
- New MRR from this month's referralscustomers × price
- $980
- Commission owed on month 1 of that cohortfirst-month payout to affiliates
- $196
- Total commission that cohort will earnover the full commission window
- $2,352
- Net revenue kept per referralafter paying $118 commission
- $1,058
- Return per $1 of commissionnet revenue ÷ commission cost
- 9.0×
Estimates only. Real payouts depend on churn, refunds, and hold periods. Numbers update in your browser and are never sent anywhere.
How affiliate commission is calculated
The core formula is simple: commission per referral = monthly price × eligible months × commission rate. For a recurring program, “eligible months” is how long the customer stays subscribed, capped by your commission duration. For a one-time bounty, it is a single month. Because affiliate spend only happens on a real conversion, the program stays profitable as long as each customer’s lifetime revenue is larger than the commission paid on it.
Questions, answered
How is affiliate commission calculated?
Commission per referral = the customer's monthly price × the number of months the commission applies × the commission rate. For a recurring program, multiply by the months a customer stays subscribed (capped by your commission duration). For a one-time program, use a single month.
What is a typical SaaS affiliate commission rate?
Most SaaS and developer-tool affiliate programs pay 20% to 30% of subscription revenue, often recurring for the customer's lifetime or for a fixed window like 12 months. Higher rates recruit creators faster; longer durations reward affiliates who bring loyal customers.
Should affiliate commission be recurring or one-time?
Recurring commission aligns affiliates with retention: they earn as long as the customer stays, so they refer better-fit customers. One-time commission is simpler and cheaper per referral but gives creators less reason to keep promoting. This calculator lets you model both by adjusting the commission-duration input.
Does a higher commission rate hurt ROI?
Not necessarily. Affiliate spend is variable — you only pay when a referral converts — so the return per dollar of commission stays positive as long as the customer's lifetime revenue exceeds the commission you pay on it. The calculator shows that ratio directly.
Run the real ledger, not just the estimate
Ambassly tracks every referral on Stripe, records each commission in an append-only ledger with a full audit trail, and handles refund clawbacks and hold periods — with no caps on referred revenue. The calculator shows the model; Ambassly runs it for real.