Affiliate software for SaaS

ViralPayouts vs PartnerStack

ViralPayouts has no monthly fee, pays your affiliates for you and pays recruiters on every program. You pay 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3%, and nothing in a month when nobody sells. PartnerStack also pays affiliates for you and does not say it has two-tier recruiting. It does not publish its prices.

Every figure for PartnerStack comes from its own pages or named review sites, checked 12 October 2026. Sources are listed at the bottom.

Why brands pick ViralPayouts over PartnerStack

Best fit: Smaller brands that want to pay only when partners earn, with no contract, and want partners to recruit other partners through a built-in second level.

$0 a month
No plan and no setup fee. 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3% at $10,000 a month.
Payouts done for you
One invoice per program. ViralPayouts sends every partner and recruiter their money and collects tax forms.
Recruiters built in
Customer links and recruit links on every program, with the override set your way and reversed on refunds.

Start a program free

Side by side

	PartnerStack	ViralPayouts
Price	Not published: quote on requestTerm: Not stated by PartnerStack. Third-party (Vendr/CostBench): annual contracts with a standard 7% uplift at renewal reported.	$0 a month. 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3% at $10,000 a month.
Setup fee	Official: "All plans include guided onboarding and initial setup". Third-party (Vendr): one-time Enterprise implementation fees of $5,000-$20,000+ reported.	None
Fee for paying affiliates	Official, charged to the partner on withdrawal: PayPal 2% capped at $20; Stripe $2.25 + 0.25% capped at $20; direct deposit varies (e.g. $1.00 for a US transfer of $0-$999, SWIFT $15-$30 + %). Third-party (Vendr): brand-side transaction fees of 1.5-3.5% of partner payouts reported, unconfirmed by PartnerStack.	Included in the fee above: no charge to the brand for sending payoutsPartners pay Whop's own fee when they withdraw to their bank
Pays your affiliates for you	Yesvia PartnerStack (vendor gets one monthly invoice covering all partners); rails: PayPal, Stripe, Airwallex	Yes You fund by bank transfer; we pay every partner
Two-tier recruiting	Not stated	Yes Two levels on every program: share of commission, share of sale or fixed. Paid on approved sales, never sign-ups
Public program directory	Yes600+ brands cited; claims 115,000-135,000+ active partners in network programs	Yes Partners browse and join with one account
Tracking	PartnerStackJS first-party cookie link tracking; Server-to-server (S2S) tracking; Stripe payment tracking; Chargebee webhook	First-party links with click IDs, signed server-to-server events, Stripe Checkout webhook
Coupon tracking	Not stated	Yes A code per partner, per program
Mobile app tracking	Not stated	App installs, sign-ups and purchases reported from your server through the signed event API, with bounties on them. No SDK to ship in your app.
API, webhooks, MCP	API, webhooks, MCP server	REST API for brands and partners with an OpenAPI spec, an MCP server for AI agents, a signed event API and partner postbacks
Integrations	Salesforce, HubSpot, Stripe, Chargebee, Recurly	Stripe Checkout, Shopify orders, any backend via the event API

PartnerStack plans in full

Launch: price not published. Quote only. Affiliate link tracking or lead/deal registration, Marketplace access, PartnerStack AI + MCP Connector, Partner Payments, CRM integrations. No limit on partners or internal users. Third-party (Vendr) list estimate for entry tier: roughly $500-$800/month billed annually.
Growth: price not published. Quote only. Adds advanced integrations support, LMS, challenges/incentives, MDF management and payments, advanced segmentation. Third-party (Vendr) estimate: $1,500-$4,000/month.
Enterprise: price not published. Quote only. Full link tracking plus lead and deal registration, custom workflows/integrations, strategic CS, priority support. Third-party (Vendr) estimate: about $30,000-$100,000+/year.

Pricing source

Where ViralPayouts comes out ahead of PartnerStack

What PartnerStack offers

B2B SaaS companies running affiliate, referral, reseller, co-sell and agency partner programs; also partners (affiliates, creators, agencies) who join its marketplace to find SaaS programs.

Affiliate software for SaaS · G2 4.7 (948 reviews) · Capterra 4.8 (91 reviews) · Trustpilot 1.8 (61 reviews)

Why ViralPayouts is the better choice

No monthly or setup fee: fee is 10% falling to 3% of what the brand pays partners, versus a quoted annual contract (third-party median ~$19.6k/year)
Two levels built in (partner commission plus recruiter override, separate customer and recruit links); PartnerStack documents no recruiter override
Self-serve start versus demo-gated pricing and weeks of onboarding

What PartnerStack users say

Paraphrased from public reviews. Follow each link to read the original.

Praise

Ease of use is the top G2 theme (127 mentions); intuitive interface and easy access to promo materials. g2.com
A founder says the marketplace saves weeks of research when looking for affiliates and partners. capterra.com
Users like automated payouts and having partners, tracking and payments in one place (65 G2 mentions on payouts). g2.com
Omnisend says agency partners went from 10-15% of new business to over 40% after adopting PartnerStack (vendor-published claim). partnerstack.com

Complaints

Payment issues are the top G2 con (29 mentions): slow commission payouts and withdrawal fees. g2.com
Trustpilot partners report missing commissions, withdrawals stuck between 'Sent' and 'processing', and banned accounts with balances not paid. trustpilot.com
Reports update late and lack detailed analytics (18 G2 mentions). g2.com
Interface feels crowded and confusing for new users; payout options limited to Stripe/PayPal in some countries; seen as expensive versus alternatives. capterra.co.uk

About PartnerStack

In their words:: "Drive growth with AI-powered B2B partnerships" (page title: "Partner Ecosystem Platform | Rated #1 | PartnerStack")
Company:: Founded 2015 · Toronto, Ontario, Canada · Independent (venture-backed); began in Y Combinator (formerly GrowSumo)
Funding:: US$29M Series B (May 2021) led by 3L with Whitecap Venture Partners, HarbourVest and RRE Ventures; total raised not stated in the release
Team:: 51-200 employees (LinkedIn); 136 people at Series B in 2021
Named customers:: Apollo.io, Pipedrive, Omnisend, Lemlist, Close, CallRail, Demandbase, Unbounce
Website:: partnerstack.com

Try ViralPayouts on test money

Set your commission and recruiter override, see what each sale costs you, and run it on the test network before a real partner joins. No monthly fee.

Start a program See pricing

More comparisons

All comparisons

Sources for PartnerStack (24), checked 12 October 2026

PartnerStack is a trademark of its owner. ViralPayouts is not affiliated with PartnerStack. Prices and features change: check partnerstack.com before you decide. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.