# Affiliates overview https://help.circle.so/p/payments/affiliates/affiliates-overview Category: [Payments](https://help.circle.so/p/payments) › [Affiliates](https://help.circle.so/p/payments/affiliates) --- _Last updated: December 20, 2025_ Welcome to the built-in community affiliate program! Easily create and manage your affiliate program, onboard affiliates, track referrals, and efficiently manage commissions – all within your Circle community. Affiliate programs are collaborative partnerships where individuals, known as affiliates, promote your products or services in exchange for a commission on sales generated through their efforts. With our community affiliate program, you can invite your existing community members and non-members, such as collaborators and creators, to become your community’s advocates. They can help promote your fantastic community memberships, driving more traffic and contributing to substantial growth. > ℹ️ **Availability:** The affiliate program is available on our Professional plan and above. > > Please note that admins can manage the affiliate program, and members can access and manage their affiliate dashboard, only through **web browsers**. ## Essential insights into the affiliate program Let’s explore key information about the affiliate program. ### Tracking For tracking purposes, we follow the **Last cookie** rule. This means that if the user had multiple affiliate links, the affiliate link they last used for the purchase would earn the commission. Suppose James clicks on Arjun's affiliate link to explore your community membership but doesn't make a purchase. A few days later, he comes across Hazel's post on Twitter containing the membership link. This time, he completes the transaction and subscribes to your community membership. As a result, Hazel receives the commission for the sale. The affiliate's cookie will remain valid for 90 days. This means that any conversions that happen more than 90 days after the link has been clicked will not be attributed to the affiliate. ### Commissions You can choose between a specific percentage of the paywall price or a fixed amount for commissions. You have greater flexibility in applying commission rates to your paywalls: - Apply the commission rate consistently across all paywalls and prices. - Override the commission for a specific paywall. - Override the commission for a specific price within the paywall. After a referral makes a payment for a membership purchase or subsequent recurring payments, we will automatically calculate the commission based on your [commission rate settings](/p/payments/affiliates/set-up-an-affiliate-program). 📚 To learn more about how we calculate commissions and how they are affected by subscription changes and refunds, see [**Understanding affiliate commission calculation**](/p/payments/affiliates/understanding-affiliate-commission-calculation)[**.**](/p/payments/affiliates/understanding-affiliate-commission-calculation) ### Payouts When it comes to affiliate payouts, we've got you covered. We offer you the flexibility to choose from two payout methods for rewarding the affiliates: **PayPal** or **Wise**. This preferred method can be set when you are configuring your commission rate. During the affiliate onboarding, the member will be asked to provide the email of their PayPal or Wise account, depending on the method you have chosen. It's essential to note that Circle does not handle the payout process for your affiliate program. You can manually manage payouts using your selected payout method (PayPal or Wise) specified in the commission rate settings. When a commission payout is due, you can initiate the payout process and export a CSV file to manually process payouts using PayPal or Wise's mass payments feature. Additionally, please note that regular payments for paywall purchases within your community will continue to be processed through your Stripe account and won’t be affected by the affiliate program. ### Affiliates The affiliate program is designed in a way that makes it really easy for affiliates to manage their referrals within their community account. You have the flexibility to invite your existing members and non-members to join your affiliate program. With just a few steps, affiliates can swiftly onboard and start promoting your community memberships using their unique referral links to earn rewards. They can conveniently copy their referral links, track their referral activity, and view commission details through the affiliate dashboard in their account. ### Referral links Affiliates have access to two types of unique referral links after completing the onboarding for the affiliate program: - **Direct purchase link** : Affiliates gain access to default direct purchase links for each paywall included in the affiliate program. These links are essentially paywall checkout URLs appended with the affiliate’s unique code. - **Promotional link** : If you have set up the [promotional link](https://help.circle.so/p/payments/affiliates/add-a-promotional-link-to-your-affiliate-program) in your affiliate program, affiliates also get access to this link appended with the unique code. For example, an affiliate’s referral URL with their unique code might look like this: ``` https://community.circle.so/checkout/basic-membership?affiliate_code=dcaf27 ``` When someone clicks on an affiliate's direct purchase link, the unique code is attached to the paywall checkout URL, ensuring the affiliate receives a commission for the purchase. Similarly, purchases made on the paywall checkout page via a promotional link are tracked to provide commissions to the affiliate. ## Set up an affiliate program Setting up an affiliate program for your community is a breeze. Let's dive into the steps you need to take to set up your program. Each of these steps has its dedicated guide, making it easy for you to follow along at your own pace: 1. **Affiliate settings** : To get started, configure the default commission rate and add all or specific paywalls you want to include in this program. For detailed instructions, refer to our guide on [**Set up an affiliate program**](/p/payments/affiliates/set-up-an-affiliate-program)[**.**](/p/payments/affiliates/set-up-an-affiliate-program) 2. **Invite affiliates** : Invite your existing members and non-members to participate in your affiliate program. To start inviting affiliates, see [**Invite affiliates**](/p/payments/affiliates/invite-affiliates)[**.**](/p/payments/affiliates/invite-affiliates) 3. **Affiliates:** Once affiliates have started sharing the referral links, keep track of all your affiliates and monitor their referral stats. Learn how to do this by following our guide on [**View affiliates and their referral activity**](/p/payments/affiliates/view-affiliates-and-their-referral-activity)[**.**](/p/payments/affiliates/view-affiliates-and-their-referral-activity) 4. **Commissions** : Access details about sales generated by your affiliates categorized into various commission statuses. For insights on this, take a look at our guide on [**View commissions earned by affiliates**](/p/payments/affiliates/view-commissions-earned-by-affiliates)[**.**](/p/payments/affiliates/view-commissions-earned-by-affiliates) 5. **Manual attribution:** Attribute a paywall sale to a specific affiliate to award commissions for related transactions. For more details, see [**Manually attribute paywall sales to affiliates**](/p/payments/affiliates/manually-attribute-paywall-sales-to-affiliates)[**.**](/p/payments/affiliates/manually-attribute-paywall-sales-to-affiliates) 6. **Payouts** : Manually process commission payouts to your affiliates. To learn more about the process, see [**Pay affiliate commissions**](/p/payments/affiliates/pay-affiliate-commissions)[**.**](/p/payments/affiliates/pay-affiliate-commissions)