Estimate your affiliate earnings, ROI, and the traffic you actually need, using real numbers from our 230+ AI affiliate programs directory.
Per sale
$0
30% of $49
Monthly revenue
$0
15 sales / month
First year
$0
Stacking recurring
Lifetime value
$0
12-mo avg retention
If nothing changes
You'd earn $0 over 3 years
Compounded with retention, that's $31,752 in customer lifetime revenue per year of effort.
Affiliate commission is the payment you receive when someone purchases a product through your referral link. It's typically a percentage of the sale price (10–50% for AI tools) or a flat bounty per signup. The biggest lever is whether the commission is recurring (paid every month the customer stays) or one-time.
The basic formula is: Commission = Sale Price × Commission Rate. For a $49/month tool at 30%, you earn $14.70 per sale. If the program is recurring with 12-month average retention, your real per-customer value is $14.70 × 12 = $176.40.
One-time commissions usually pay higher rates (40–70%) but you only get paid once. Recurring commissions compound — even at 20–30% they generate more lifetime value because every new customer adds to your MRR. For long-term affiliate income, prioritise recurring programs in our directory.
For AI SaaS, 20–30% recurring is solid, 30–50% is great, and anything above 50% (or $100+ flat) is excellent. Always weigh rate against retention — a 20% commission on a sticky tool beats a 50% commission on something users churn from in two months.
Use the Traffic Goal tab above. As a rough rule: 2% conversion (clicks → sales) and 3% CTR (traffic → clicks) are typical for content-driven affiliate sites. To earn $5,000/mo at $14.70 per sale, you need ~340 sales/month, which means ~17,000 clicks and ~570,000 monthly visitors.
Browse 550+ AI affiliate programs filtered by commission, cookie duration, and payout model.