Impact vs Partnerize vs a Lighter Affiliate Tool: How to Choose
Impact and Partnerize are partnership platforms for brands with a partnerships budget and a team to run it. If you recruit your own affiliates, sell through Stripe, Shopify or a creator platform, and want to see what you'll pay before you talk to anyone, a lighter tool usually fits better. Here is what each one charges and the questions that decide it.
Disclosure: we make Affiliate Manager, one of the lighter tools. Impact and Partnerize facts below come from their own websites, checked on October 28, 2026; prices change, so confirm before you sign.
What Impact and Partnerize charge
The two take opposite approaches. impact.com publishes four tiers on its pricing page. Partnerize publishes none: its pricing page says the honest answer to "how much?" is "it depends" and asks you to fill in a form for a proposal.
| impact.com | Partnerize | Affiliate Manager | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | Starter: $30/month plus 2.5% of revenue | Not published; quote after a form or demo | Pro: $9/month or $90/year, no transaction fee |
| Higher tiers | Essentials $500/month (includes up to $2,500/month of partner payouts), Pro $2,500/month (up to $14,300), Enterprise custom | A fixed license fee or a percentage-based fee, priced by service level, number of campaigns, regions and currencies | Recruit $79/month (AI creator discovery), Automate $149/month (outreach sequences) |
| Setup and contract | 12-month contract; setup at $250/hour on Essentials and up, none on Starter | Custom proposal; the page says pricing is all-inclusive with no overage penalties | Self-serve; billed monthly or yearly |
| How you start | Starter is self-serve with a 30-day free trial; other tiers start with a demo | Book a demo | Sign up; 3-day trial, no credit card |
| Where it runs | Starter only on listed stores: Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Adobe Commerce, Squarespace, Ecwid, Shoplazza, nopCommerce, Zoho Commerce | Built for brands in retail, travel, finance, DTC and subscriptions; it says it operates in 214+ countries and territories | Verified: Stripe, Shopify, Lemon Squeezy, Whop, Gumroad; dozens more in beta |
| Finding partners | Partner Marketplace from Essentials; partner recommendations on Starter | Partner discovery that finds, vets and matches partners | Outreach drafting on every plan; AI web discovery on Recruit |
Sources: impact.com/pricing, partnerize.com/pricing and partnerize.com, checked October 28, 2026. Impact's page doesn't say whether Starter's 2.5% applies to partner-driven revenue or all revenue; ask before you sign. Our prices: pricing page.
Five questions that decide it
- Where will your affiliates come from? If you need a network of publishers you don't know yet, a marketplace is the point of Impact (Partner Marketplace from Essentials) or Partnerize (partner discovery). If your affiliates are your customers, creators you already talk to, or people you'll reach out to yourself, you're paying for a network you won't use.
- What do your sales run on? Impact Starter works only on the store platforms listed above. If you bill through Stripe or sell on Whop, Lemon Squeezy or Gumroad, check the tool supports that before anything else; a tracking gap costs more than any subscription.
- Can you commit for a year? Impact requires a 12-month contract, and changing tier means a new 12-month addendum. A program you're still testing is better on monthly billing.
- Who pays the affiliates? Impact's Essentials and Pro tiers include a monthly amount of partner payouts. Affiliate Manager does not move money: it builds the payout list and you pay through your own Stripe, PayPal or bank. If you have hundreds of partners in several countries, having the platform pay them matters; with a dozen, it rarely does.
- How complex is your attribution? Impact lists multi-touch attribution and advanced fraud scoring on Enterprise. Affiliate Manager credits one affiliate per sale: the last click within a fixed 30-day window, or their coupon code. For a program where one creator sends one buyer, that's enough; for paid media, content and loyalty partners touching the same sale, it isn't.
Do the fee math first
Platform fees come out of the same margin as commissions, so compare them with what your affiliates actually sell. A worked example with published prices, assuming $5,000 a month of affiliate-driven sales:
- Impact Starter: $30 + 2.5% of $5,000 = $155/month, if the 2.5% applies only to that revenue (about 3% of affiliate sales).
- Impact Essentials: $500/month, or $6,000 over the 12-month contract (10% of affiliate sales), plus any setup hours.
- Affiliate Manager Pro: $9/month (0.18% of affiliate sales), the same at any volume.
Partnerize can't go in this list because it doesn't publish a price. The numbers flip as you grow: at $500,000 a month of affiliate sales, $500 is 0.1%, and what you get for it (a marketplace, payouts handled, a dedicated team) can be worth far more than the fee. The question is which side of that line you're on today.
When a lighter tool is the right call
- You have tens of affiliates, not thousands, and you know most of them.
- You sell on Stripe, Shopify, Lemon Squeezy, Whop or Gumroad, or on more than one of them, and want those sales in one dashboard.
- You want to see the price, sign up and send your first links today, without a demo or a contract.
- You're fine paying affiliates yourself from a list that shows who's owed what.
- You want to run the program from your phone: Affiliate Manager has a native iOS app.
When Impact or Partnerize is worth it
- You need new partners at scale and want a marketplace or discovery network to recruit from.
- You run several brands, domains, regions or currencies (Partnerize prices by these; Impact lists multi-domain programs from Essentials).
- You need the platform to pay partners for you, with included payout volume.
- You need multi-touch attribution, advanced fraud and risk scoring or a white-labeled portal at enterprise level.
- You want people, not just software: Impact lists dedicated support from Essentials and a dedicated partnership team on Enterprise; Partnerize offers expert services.
Affiliate Manager does none of the first four. If two or more of these describe you, start with a demo at Impact or Partnerize.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does impact.com cost?
Its pricing page (checked October 28, 2026) lists Starter at $30/month plus 2.5% of revenue, Essentials at $500/month, Pro at $2,500/month and Enterprise at a custom price, with a 12-month contract and $250/hour setup on Essentials and up.
How much does Partnerize cost?
Partnerize doesn't publish prices. Its pricing page says it charges either a fixed license fee or a percentage-based fee, set by service level, campaigns, regions and currencies, and that you get a custom proposal after filling in a form.
Is there a free trial?
Impact offers a 30-day free trial on Starter; Partnerize's site mentions none. Affiliate Manager has a 3-day trial with no credit card.
Can a small Shopify store use Impact?
Yes: Impact Starter is self-serve and Shopify is one of its supported stores. Compare $30/month plus 2.5% of revenue with a flat-priced tool against your own affiliate sales, and check whether you'd use its partner recommendations.
What can't Affiliate Manager do that Impact or Partnerize can?
It has no partner marketplace, doesn't pay affiliates for you, credits only the last click (30-day window) or coupon, and runs one program per account. It does track Stripe, Shopify, Lemon Squeezy, Whop and Gumroad sales in one place for $9/month.
Running a small affiliate program?
Affiliate Manager tracks your affiliates' sales across Stripe, Shopify, Lemon Squeezy, Whop and Gumroad, and keeps a payout list of what each one is owed. $9/month after a 3-day free trial, no credit card required.