Should you choose AffiliateWP or Refersion? Which of these two WordPress Affiliate Manager Plugins will serve your needs the best by providing tracking, affiliate management, and boost your sales online?
If you are looking for answers to these questions and learn more about Affiliate marketing and its plugins, then you are at the right place.
In this article, we will be comparing the two beasts in the domain of WordPress Affiliate Manager Plugins viz. AffiliateWP and Refersion.
But before that, let us give you a brief overview of what Affiliate Marketing is and why do you need an affiliate manager plugin.
What Exactly Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate Marketing is an excellent tactic of earning online from your website and also getting your sales a boost. The owner of a product can increase the volume of sales by paying a certain amount to affiliates who recommend your products to other users.
This is not only beneficial for the owner of a product but also proves out to be a great option of income for affiliates as well. They can earn money without the need to create their own products.
This simply means that you can begin with your career as an affiliate without any investment. You can just refer a service or product on social media, blogs, or websites, and through your unique link, you earn every time someone purchases from your link.
This opportunity is completely based on how you perform. If done well, you can create a great source of passive income, which can improve your overall income.
Reasons To Use A WordPress Affiliate Plugin
If you are wondering why you need a WordPress Affiliate Plugin, we have listed down the reasons for you to know.
If you have just started a website, you might have really few affiliate links. It is pretty easy to manage a few links in the beginning. Gradually as your website grows and there is an increase in the number of pages, you will find it tough to keep a track of all the affiliates.
Here is where Affiliate Manager Plugins for WordPress comes into the picture.
With an affiliate manager plugin, you can add, edit, save, and also remove affiliate links from the WordPress dashboard. You can create simple, shareable links and also track how each Affiliate is performing on your site. Through auto-linking keywords, you can also automate the processes.
Thus, Affiliate Manager Plugins play a very crucial role in managing your business.
So before you choose a plugin for your needs, it is imperative to take a look at features each of them has to provide so you can choose the one that is optimal for you.
Before jumping into the comparison of these two tools viz: AffiliateWP and Refersion, let us get a brief overview of details of both these platforms.
About AffiliateWP
AffiliateWP is a simple and straightforward WordPress Affiliate Manager Plugin. It was created at the beginning of 2014 with the aim of providing top-notch WordPress affiliate marketing systems.
From managing and tracking your links on your website to offering real-time reports of your affiliate earnings, visits, and registrations, AffiliateWP takes care of all your affiliate needs.
It is simple to integrate it with the WordPress site, and you can easily control affiliates from the dashboard. You can integrate Affiliate WP with Easy Digital Downloads, MemberPress, iTheme exchange, WooCommerce, and a lot more.
Along with these you also get an amazing set of other features like:1. You can create an affiliate program within minutes.
2. It enables you to create unique affiliate IDs and track affiliates accurately.
3. With certain affiliate accounts, you can also connect the coupon codes.
4. You can easily manage and track affiliates straight from the WordPress dashboard.
5. You can set up affiliate registrations automatically.
Check Out: AffiliateWP Review | Get Discount OfferAbout Refersion
Founded in the year 2014 and based in the USA, it is a simple and straightforward platform for integrated affiliate marketing. Both publishers and brands can quickly sign up and start expanding their network and reach so as to boost their incomes.
You can easily keep a track of the number of clicks and the conversions that took place in real-time. It also lets the source where these clicks are coming from and at what time they are at its peak so that you can easily plan your future strategy.
Affiliates can easily check at the marketplace which brands are giving an offer and can choose the business they wish to promote or partner with.
Along with these you also get an amazing set of other features like:
- Commission Payments can be automated.
- Clicks are monitored in real-time.
- You get access to Refersion Marketplace, which is an open market that lets you collaborate with other merchants.
- Payment structures are visible to the affiliates.
- You also get a post-purchase affiliate channel.
So now that we know about the details of both these platforms, in brief, let us begin with a detailed comparison of both these platforms.
Comparison Between WordPress Affiliate Plugins: AffilaiteWP or Refersion 2020
Which of these two affiliate plugins will work for you depends upon the features you are looking for. Even the best of the features might not work for you if they are not relevant to your business.
To make it easy to understand, we will compare both these platforms on the basis of following parameters:
- Device Compatibility
- Integrations
- Pricing
- Payment Format
- Customer Support
At the end of each comparison, we will also mention a category winner to make it easy for you to understand.
So let us get started with an in-depth comparison of both these platforms.
1. Compatibility
Compatibility plays a crucial role in opting for a plugin. Even if a platform has top-notch features to offer, but they aren't compatible with most of the platforms, then those features are of no use.
AffiliateWP is available on Windows and Mac. You also get a web-based version of AffiliateWP.
Refersion, too, is available on Windows and Mac. There is a web-based version of Refersion.
Category Winner
It is a tie! Both AffiliateWP and Refersion are available on Windows and Mac platforms with a web-based version as well.
2. Integrations
Integrations, too, play a vital role when choosing a service or plugin. The plugin you are opting for should work seamlessly with existing systems and communicate with other apps, plugins, or services with ease.
AffiliateWP smoothly integrates with Easy Digital Downloads, Woocommerce, Paypal, Stripe, Restrict Content Pro, Gravity, Ninja Forms, Paid Membership Pro, Zippy Courses, Contact Form 7, Optimize Member, LifterLMS, WPForms, Formidable Forms, Caldera Forms, iThemes exchange and Give.
Other integrations are WP eCommerce, Shopp, Jigoshop, MarketPress, MemberPress, Sprout Invoices, WP-Invoice, S2Member, MemberMouse, WP EasyCart for which AffiliateWP will charge you a fee.
You can also contact their support to get custom integrations.
Refersion, on the other hand, enables its users to access its API. This way, the users can create custom connections and tools. Along with this flexibility, Refersion can also integrate with ChargeBee, Shopify, Magento, Big Commerce, MailChimp, Woo Commerce, Little Data, Google Analytics, Paypal, OneClickUpsell, ReCharge, Stripe, and Skimlinks.
Category Winner
Though AffiliateWP offers more integrations than Refersion, Refersion wins this battle because Refersion lets its users access its API so that they can create their own customized connections and tools. This, in my opinion, gives an extra edge to Refersion.
3. Pricing
We all know that budget plays a crucial role in selecting a platform or service. Most people tend to compromise on a couple of features if they find some other service that fits well in their budget. This is because anyone and everyone wishes to opt for a service that can be cost-effective to them.
AffiliateWP offers a pricing model where users can opt for an annual subscription or go for a one-time payment. Its pricing starts at $99. They have four pricing plans for customers to choose from.
Personal Plan costs $99 every year and is billed until canceled. You get 17 official add-ons totally free, plugin updates, email support, with all core features and one site.
2. Plus PlanPlus Plan costs $149 every year and is billed till you cancel it. With the personal Plan, you get 17 official add-ons totally free, plugin updates, email support, with all core features. It is almost the same as the Personal Plan. The only difference is Personal Plan has one site to offer, whereas, in Plus plan, you get three sites.
3. Professional PlanProfessional Plan costs $249 every year and is billed till you don't cancel it. With the Professional Plan, you get 14 pro-add-ons, 17 official add-ons totally free, all future pro-add-ons, Plugin updates, Email support, all core features, and unlimited websites.
4. Ultimate PlanUltimate Plan is a one-time payment plan that costs $499. With the Ultimate Plan, you get 14 pro-add-ons, 17 official add-ons totally free, all future pro-add-ons, Lifetime plugin updates, Lifetime email support, all core features, and unlimited websites.
The 17 official add-ons which are free with each and every plans are:- Blocks
- Initial Affiliate ID
- Affiliate Area Tabs
- Affiliate Information
- External Referral Links
- Affiliate Coupons
- Allows Self Referral
- Affiliate Area Shortcodes
- Allowed Products
- Sign Up Bonus
- Affiliate Product Rates
- Store Credit
- Leaderboard
- Force Pending Referrals
- Order Details For Affiliates
- Checkout Referrals
- WooCommerce Redirect Affiliates
AffiliateWP provides 30 Days Money Back Guarantee.
Refersion offers two pricing plans with the monthly payment and annual subscription offers. Its pricing starts from $89 per month.
Professional Plan costs $89 per month. It is brilliant for businesses that want amazing deals and intricate tracking in order to expand their network. With this Plan, you can track up to 130 affiliate orders every month.
2. Enterprise PlanThere is no fixed price for the Enterprise Plan. You need to contact their sales team in order to get a quote. This is because the Enterprise Plan is for the business who wants customized functionality and tracking to support large referral networks and large partner channels. With this Plan, you can track unlimited affiliate orders every month. In addition, you get professional services like custom development, white labeling, and multishop support.
Irrespective of which plan you choose amongst these two, you get:
- Unlimited visits and affiliates
- On-site support that is NYC based
- Listing for free in Refersion Marketplace
- Developer API's Access
- To Set commissions by SKU or product
- To track sales with coupon codes, SKUs, emails and referral links
- Customize data reports upon request
- Support from developing if you wish to integrate with your custom systems
- To migrate content and data from the legacy system
- Support and Software training for your team.
With Refersion, you get 14 days free trial.
Category Winner
AffiliateWP is your best bet when it comes to budget. You get good enough features in a cost-effective budget. This makes it fit for companies of any size, from freelancers to small businesses and medium businesses to large enterprises.
On the other hand, though Refersion too showers a wide range of features on their users and the option of customizing the Plan on the basis of business needs, the already provided options are very less as compared to AffiliateWP.
Also, the price of $89 per month cannot generally fit the budget of a freelancer. However, it can still work for small businesses, medium businesses, or large enterprises.
4. Payment Format
This is one of the most underrated yet important aspects to keep in mind when choosing a platform. Imagine a situation where you finally decided the service you want to opt for, and as you hit the "Checkout" button turns out that you cannot purchase their services just because they don't accept payments from the card you own. This can prove out to be a complete disaster.
AffiliateWP accepts payment via Visa, MasterCard, American Express Card, and Discover. It also accepts payments through Paypal.
Refersion, on the other hand, accepts payments via Visa, MasterCard, JCB, Diners Club, and American Express.
Category Winner
There is no winner as such in this category. Both these platforms provide five payment formats covering almost all major payment options.
5. Customer Support
Customer Support is the next aspect we are covering in this article. It is often overlooked, but it is very important to know the customer support the platform has to provide before choosing one. This is because customer support is what you look up to in case of problems and queries.
AffiliateWP provides support to its users via their knowledge base. You can also send them a detailed message, submit a support request, and also email them.
Refersion offers almost similar support. You can connect to them via email and can also go through their help center for FAQ.
Category WinnerThough both these platforms offer similar customer support but if user ratings are to be believed AffiliateWP wins. AffiliateWP scores a rating of 4.6, whereas Refersion scores a rating of 4.4 for their customer support.
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Conclusion: What Should You Choose? | AffiliateWP Or Refersion
So now, we have compared both these platforms for you. But which platform will work for you totally depends upon your business needs and, of course, the budget you are stepping in with. It is possible that one platform might provide you the best of features.
Still, if those features are not required in your business model, then it is pointless to invest in that platform.
Suppose you are looking for a platform providing you good features within an average budget range. In that case, AffiliateWP is the best option to choose from. This makes it fit for everyone from freelancers to massive business enterprises.
But suppose you are handling a big business and too much into customizing things your own way. In that case, Refersion can provide you the best customization for both integrations as well as pricing. Refersion cannot work for freelancers as their Professional business plan is pretty expensive for people who have just started.
