How much commission should you pay app affiliates?

For a subscription app, a solid starting point is a recurring commission of 20–30% of net revenue — net meaning what you actually receive after the App Store or Google Play takes its platform fee. Publicly listed SaaS affiliate programs cluster in that range, and it translates well to mobile once you adjust the basis for store fees. Pay less and strong affiliates won’t bother; pay much more and the unit economics stop working once you stack the customer discount, the store fee, and the commission.

That’s the short answer. The longer answer is that the structure of the commission matters more than the exact percentage. Let’s build it up.

Recurring vs. one-time: choose recurring

A one-time bounty (“$10 per subscriber”) is simple, but it misaligns incentives: the affiliate is rewarded for volume, not quality, and has no stake in whether the subscriber stays past month one.

A recurring commission — a percentage of every payment the subscriber makes, for as long as they stay — aligns the affiliate with exactly what you want: subscribers who stick. It also compounds for the affiliate, which is the single strongest retention tool for the program itself. An affiliate whose passive income grows every month keeps mentioning your app; one who got a flat bounty last spring has moved on.

If lifetime recurring feels like too long a tail, a middle ground is recurring for the first 12 months of each subscription. Whatever you choose, write it down before the first invite.

Calculate on net revenue, not the sticker price

This is the detail that separates sustainable programs from painful ones. When a customer pays $59.99, you don’t receive $59.99 — Apple or Google keeps a platform fee first, 15% for most small developers in their small-business programs, 30% otherwise. If you pay commission on the gross price, your real rate is meaningfully higher than the number in your terms.

So define the basis explicitly: commission = rate × net revenue, where net = gross minus the store’s platform fee. Affiliates accept this readily when it’s stated up front — it mirrors how the money actually flows. What they don’t accept well is discovering an undisclosed deduction on their first invoice. Transparency in the definition buys you trust for the life of the program. (This is also how Affiliate Raccoon computes figures by default: rate × net, with the platform fee configurable, shown identically to both sides as a transparent estimate.)

A worked example you can copy

Say your app sells an annual plan at $59.99/year, you’re in Apple’s Small Business Program (15% fee), and your affiliate deal is: customers get 20% off their first year with the affiliate’s code, the affiliate earns 25% of net revenue, recurring.

Year 1 (discounted):

Customer pays: $59.99 × 0.80 = $47.99
Your net after the 15% store fee: $47.99 × 0.85 = $40.79
Affiliate commission: $40.79 × 0.25 = $10.20
You keep: $30.59

Year 2 (renewal at full price):

Customer pays: $59.99
Your net: $59.99 × 0.85 = $50.99
Affiliate commission: $50.99 × 0.25 = $12.75
You keep: $38.24

Two things jump out. First, even in the discounted year, you keep about 64% of what the store pays out — the program funds itself from revenue that, by construction, an affiliate drove. Second, the affiliate’s income rises at renewal, exactly when their subscriber proved to be a good one. That’s the alignment working.

Run your own numbers before setting rates: your price, your store fee tier, your intended discount. The math is four multiplications; doing it in advance is what keeps the rate honest later. And remember refunds — a refunded purchase should reverse its commission, which is why attribution has to follow the whole subscription lifecycle, not just the first sale.

How the customer discount and the commission interact

The discount and the commission compete for the same margin, so set them together, not separately. A few practical rules:

The discount is the affiliate’s pitch. “20% off with my code” gives the creator a genuine reason to mention you and gives their audience a reason to act. A program with commission but no customer discount is much harder for an affiliate to promote.
Keep one program-wide discount. Per-affiliate deals multiply complexity and invite comparison drama. One clean “X% off the first year,” many personal codes.
If you must trim, trim the discount before the commission. The commission is what keeps affiliates promoting month after month; the discount mainly affects conversion at the paywall.

Payout mechanics: thresholds and timing

Set a payout threshold — commonly around €50 or $50 — below which balances roll forward to the next month. It saves everyone from processing €7 invoices. Close each month on a fixed date, freeze the numbers, and let the affiliate generate an invoice for their balance.

And keep the language precise, with your affiliates and in your own head: commissions are tracked and calculated automatically; paying is a step you take, after review. That final human check is what catches the odd refund dispute or terms violation before money moves.

FAQ

Should smaller affiliates get a lower rate? Start everyone at the same rate — it’s simpler and it’s fair. If you want leverage, negotiate up for proven top performers rather than down for newcomers. Rates are set per affiliate anyway, so you have room later.

What about a flat fee plus commission? Larger creators sometimes ask for an upfront fee for a dedicated video. That’s a sponsorship layered on top of the affiliate deal — fine, but keep the recurring commission in place so the incentive survives past the video. More on structuring outreach in how to find influencers to promote your app.

Do these numbers work the same on Android? The structure is identical; only the platform-fee input changes if your fee tier differs. The attribution plumbing differs — see the Google Play setup guide.

Once the rate is set, the hard part is the ledger: every renewal, every refund, every affiliate, every month. That part is automated. Start a 7-day free trial.