Recurring vs one-time commissions: which should you offer?

The two models in one sentence each

• One-time: the affiliate earns once, on the customer's first payment.
• Recurring: the affiliate earns on the first payment and on renewals, for a set number of months or for the customer's lifetime.

Either way, an affiliate earns only on the customers they personally referred. Keep it that simple: one partner, one customer, one clear commission.

Let the numbers decide

Take a $49 per month plan and a 30 % commission:

Model	Affiliate earns per customer	You pay
One-time, 30 % of the first payment	$14.70	once
Recurring for 12 months	up to $176.40	over a year
Recurring for life	$14.70 every month	as long as the customer stays

The one-time version is cheap, but $14.70 rarely motivates anyone to write a tutorial or record a video. The recurring version pays the affiliate more over time, and you pay it out of revenue you are actually receiving.

When one-time commissions make sense

• One-off purchases: courses, templates, lifetime deals and physical products.
• Annual plans paid upfront: the first payment already contains a year of revenue.
• Very high churn: if most customers leave after a month or two, recurring commissions won't add much anyway.

A fixed amount per sale ("$50 for every new customer") is often the clearest one-time offer.

When recurring commissions make sense

• Monthly subscriptions: the first invoice is small, the lifetime value is large.
• Content partners: bloggers and creators whose posts send customers for years want to share in that long tail.
• Products with low churn: the longer customers stay, the more a recurring offer is worth to a partner, and the more attractive your program looks next to others.

Capped or lifetime?

Lifetime commissions are the strongest pitch, but they are a promise you keep for years. Most SaaS companies cap recurring commissions at 12 or 24 months. It is easy to explain, still generous, and keeps the cost predictable as your customer base grows.

Don't forget refunds and upgrades

• Use a hold period that matches your refund window, so commissions only become payable once a payment is final.
• Make sure refunds and disputes reverse the matching commission automatically. With Stripe webhooks this happens without any manual work.
• A percentage commission grows automatically when a referred customer upgrades. A fixed amount doesn't.

Our suggestion

For most subscription products: 20–30 % recurring for 12 months, a 30-day hold and a $50 minimum payout. Start there, look at the numbers after a quarter, and give your best partners a higher custom rate.