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How much to pay affiliates: commission rates for courses, coaching and memberships

Affiliate commission rates for courses, coaching, memberships and digital products, with sources. WithMe: $25/month billed annually (UK £25), 0% commission.

WithMe Team·11 November 2026

For a course, coaching programme or membership sold by an individual creator, 10% to 50% of the sale is a sensible commission range. Stay around 10% to 25% for coaching, where your time is the cost, 20% to 30% of each payment for memberships, and go higher, 30% to 50%, for courses and digital products, which cost little to deliver. Affiliate marketplaces for digital products often pay 50% or more, and course platforms pay around 30% for referrals to their own software.

WithMe is $25 per month billed annually (UK £25), with a 14-day trial and 0% WithMe commission. Stripe and PayPal fees still apply. More than 8,000 creators use it.

What do affiliate networks and platforms pay?

These figures were checked on 11 Nov 2026, on each company's own pages, except the ClickBank range, which comes from the Digistore24 blog. The marketplace figures are what sellers there commonly offer. The platform figures are what course platforms pay people who refer new creators to their own software, so treat them as anchors for recurring periods and cookie length rather than as course commission rates.

ClickBank: commonly 50% to 75% on digital products, according to the Digistore24 blog. Sellers set their own rate.
Digistore24: typically 15% to 90%, set by the seller, according to its own blog.
Teachable partner programme: 30% of a referred creator's subscription for their first year, with a 30-day cookie.
Thinkific affiliate programme: 30% recurring for as long as the referral pays, with a 90-day cookie and a $25 minimum payout.
Podia affiliate programme: 30% for up to 12 months, with a 90-day cookie and a $50 minimum payout.
Kajabi Partner Program: 10%, 15% or 20% recurring depending on the partner's tier, with new Starter partners earning a one-off bounty of 100% of the first month instead.

How much should you pay by product type?

The right rate depends on what a sale costs you to deliver. These ranges are a starting point, not a rule:

Digital products and templates: 30% to 50%. Each extra copy costs you almost nothing, so a generous rate still leaves a good margin.
Self-paced courses: 30% to 50%. Like digital products, most of the cost is already spent making the course.
Coaching and coaching calls: 10% to 25%. Every client takes your time, so a high commission can leave you working for less than your usual rate.
Memberships and paid communities: 20% to 30% of each payment, for a set number of months or for as long as the member stays.

How do you work out what you can afford?

Start from what you keep. On a $300 course, a 30% commission is $90, which leaves you $210 before payment fees. That is still a good sale if the buyer would never have found you otherwise, which is the point of affiliates.

For coaching, compare the commission to your hourly rate. If a $1,200 coaching package takes 12 hours, a 25% commission of $300 means you earn $75 an hour instead of $100. Decide whether a referred client is worth that, then set the rate.

If you are unsure, start lower and raise it. Raising a commission is easy to announce. Cutting one upsets the people already promoting you.

One-off or recurring commission?

One-off products earn one commission. For anything billed repeatedly, decide how long affiliates keep earning. Recurring commission for life is the most attractive offer and the hardest to afford on a low monthly price. A cap, such as the first 3, 6 or 12 payments, keeps your cost known while still rewarding referrals that stick.

The platform programmes above show both models: Thinkific pays for as long as the customer pays, while Teachable and Podia stop after 12 months.

How long should the cookie last?

The cookie window is how long after a click a purchase still counts. The platform programmes above use 30 to 90 days. For a course or coaching programme people think about before buying, 30 days is the minimum worth offering, since many buyers return after reading your emails.

How do you set the rate in WithMe?

In each product's editor, open Affiliate Share, switch on Enable Affiliate Sharing and enter a Commission Rate (%). Leave it blank to use the default of 20%. On membership tiers, 1:1 coaching and communities you also choose Indefinite Commissions or a number of payment periods. The referral window is a fixed 30 days.

The commission is a percentage of what the buyer actually pays, after any promo code, and is taken from the sale at checkout. WithMe pays the affiliate around the middle of the following month, so you do not handle payouts.

What is not included?

WithMe pays commission as a percentage only, not a fixed amount per sale. You cannot change the 30-day referral window, and there are no commission tiers that rise with an affiliate's sales. Affiliates must have access to a product to share it.

How much does WithMe cost?

WithMe is $25 per month billed annually (UK £25), with a 14-day trial and 0% WithMe commission. Stripe and PayPal fees still apply. Free migration of up to 10 GB of your courses and members comes with the yearly plan. One plan covers courses, memberships, community, coaching, webinars and digital products, with the affiliate programme, promo codes and order bumps built in.

Affiliate commission questions

What is a good affiliate commission for an online course?

30% to 50% is a sensible range for a self-paced course, because extra sales cost you little to deliver. Digital product marketplaces often pay more.

What commission should I pay on coaching?

Lower, around 10% to 25%, because each client takes your time. Compare the commission to your hourly rate before you set it.

Should I pay recurring commission on a membership?

Usually yes, for a set number of payments such as 3 to 12. It makes the membership worth promoting while keeping your cost known.

What cookie length is normal?

30 to 90 days. Teachable uses 30 days and Thinkific and Podia use 90 days for their own programmes. WithMe credits sales for 30 days after a click.

What does WithMe cost?

$25 per month billed annually (UK £25), with a 14-day trial. WithMe takes 0% commission. Stripe and PayPal fees still apply.

Start your 14-day trial at https://www.withme.so/become-a-creator.