With an unprecedented increase in the volume of data, more businesses adopting automation, and an upsurge in the deployment of enterprise software, the global IT software and solutions market is growing at a rapid pace. The market size was valued at $389.86 billion in 2020, while the revenue is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 7.40% during 2021-2025, reaching a market volume of $772.45 million in 2025.
But does that make software affiliate programs are a profitable niche to build a campaign around ?
The answer is “Yes.”
Computer systems, mobile devices and Information Technology have become an integral part of our lives as well as for modern businesses too – all of which run on robust software systems. While it may not seem quite relevant or interesting to affiliates, software solutions will shape the future of the IT industry, improving productivity, reducing inventory cost, enabling strategic decision-making, and enhancing performance.
If you want to venture into the software niche and boost your affiliate earnings, discussed here are the top 7 affiliate programs for you to consider in 2023.
Top 10 Software Affiliate Programs
In the world of creativity and design, Adobe does not need an introduction. They have a broad spectrum of well-established software solutions like Photoshop, Illustrator, Adobe Stock, Lightroom, and Premium Pro for small-and-medium businesses, photographers, graphic designers, and students. Additionally, Adobe is known for its PDF & e-signature solutions, marketing & commerce products & solutions, and business solutions. So, marketers need not think twice before signing up for the Adobe affiliate program.
Adobe Software Affiliate Program allows you to promote Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Document Cloud, and Adobe Stock. Creative Cloud brings the finest creative apps together in one place, while Adobe Stock has millions of built-in premium images and digital assets. To market the products, you will receive a wide selection of ready-to-use text links and marketing banners, with the latest information on product launches and new releases.
The commission rates are variable and show in the image below:
How to sign up:
Affiliate Signup Link: Click here
Microsoft 365 is an integrated solution that combines OneDrive cloud storage, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Office with robust security options – allowing businesses to facilitate working remotely while reducing costs. Whether your employees are working onsite or remotely, the software solution helps them stay productive anywhere, collaborate in real-time, and stay connected. It is a cost-effective and secure solution, with effective device management and tools to manage your business efficiently.
Microsoft is an established brand, powering individuals and organizations with robust software solutions. Joining their affiliate program allows you to promote Microsoft 365 for Business and earn commission on each customer referral who buys the solution. Select from a wide range of banners and promotional content, and place these on your website, blog, social networks, or email.
Their commission structure is unique and pays in the form of “Bounty” for every seat that qualifies for a new customer sale. The bounty amount will vary depending on the product purchased. The following image provides a glimpse of the bounty amount they offer based on different Microsoft 365 products:
Affiliate Commission: Product - Specific - See snapshot below
Cookie Duration: 30 days
How to sign up:
Affiliate Signup Link Click here
If you are looking for a good file recovery software solution, then EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro allows you to recover 550+ different types of files in three simple steps. It is easy to use and ensures 100% safe data recovery, including partition recovery, HDD/SSD recovery, raw recovery, or format recovery. It can get back all inaccessible, formatted, and deleted files quickly and efficiently. EaseUS is also a reliable photo recovery software that can recover images and videos from hard drives, laptops & PCs, flash drives, removable drives, memory cards, and other storage media.
Joining the EaseUS software affiliate program is simple and quick as they use two affiliate networks – LinkConnector and Cleverbridge Partnerize. Sign up with any of these platforms and once you get approved, start promoting EaseUS data recovery products on your website, blog, vlog, or any social media platform. They have different marketing materials available, such as boxes, banners, and icons that you can place on your content and drive your traffic to the EaseUS website.
They have a tiered commission system, where your percentage of earning increases with the total amount of sales you generate. For a sale amount less than $9999.00, you can earn a 20% commission, while you can make up to 60% as you generate more sales.
Affiliate Commission: Up to 60% commission on total sales
Cookie Duration: N/A
How to sign up
Affiliate Signup Link Click here
Stellar is a widely-used file recovery software that can help retrieve lost data, photos, videos, and much more. One can also recover deleted or lost contacts, photos, videos, call history, etc. directly from your iPhone or iPad. It is an advanced software solution for businesses, providing everything from email repair to email converter, data recovery & erasure, and file repair. They also provide data retrieval and recovery service in complex situations like firmware corruption, crashed hard drive, file system corruption, RAID crash, and more.
You can join the Stellar software affiliate program and monetize your website, social media, blog, or forum to earn up to 50% commission on each sale you generate. There is no threshold on how much you can earn. Get access to a wide range of promotional tools and marketing techniques to promote Stellar products, and get support from a dedicated affiliate account manager.
Their entry-level commission is 30%, while powerful affiliates can earn up to 50% of the order value. They have a high cookie tracking period of 240 days and for any affiliate sale that happens during this period, you will receive the commission percentage.
Affiliate Commission: 50%
Cookie Duration: 240 days
How to sign up
Affiliate Signup Link: Click here
NordVPN is one of the largest VPN server networks in the world that offers fast, stable, and reliable connectivity wherever you are. They have no bandwidth limit and you can enjoy a full-speed VPN network with no throttling. It works efficiently on all platforms, including Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows. The VPN network allows securing up to six devices using a single account, including your router or smart TV. They use cutting-edge encryption that ensures ultimate security when you log into your account, shop online, or make bank transactions.
VPN’s are a hot niche as increasing number of people are starting to travel and work from around the world. You can join the NordVPN affiliate program and earn commissions up to 100%. Your affiliate earning will depend on the subscription plan that your referred customer orders. For every new sign-up for NordVPN 1-month offer, you will receive a 100% commission of the subscription amount and 30% upon renewal. And for their 6-month, 1-year and 2-year offer, you can earn a 40% commission on new sign-ups and 30% on renewals respectively.
Once you sign up for the affiliate program, you will get the promo materials and link to get started right away. For every purchase you generate through the affiliate link, you earn a commission.
Affiliate Commission: Starting from 40% and up to 100%
Cookie Duration: Unknown
How to sign up
Affiliate Signup Link: Click here
Zoho offers a complete suite of online productivity tools, cloud software and SaaS applications to help run an entire business. With over 60 million users globally, Zoho has a broad spectrum of products and software solutions – Zoho CRM solution, Home-Office Toolkit, Zoho One, Finance Plus, Workplace, Creator Plus, People Plus, Marketing Plus, IT Management, Sales & Marketing apps, Email & Collaboration, Business Intelligence, Customer Service, Customer Solutions, and much more.
With such an extensive suite of software solutions and products to promote, it can be worthwhile joining the Zoho software affiliate program. It is most suitable for website owners, industry experts and influencers, educators, trade associations, Zoho customers, or any interested business or blog owner that wants to promote Zoho. For each qualified referral that purchases a Zoho product, you will earn a 15% commission. There is no limit to how you can earn via the affiliate program or no minimum sales requirement to make payouts. Before you join, you can also calculate your potential earnings from the program using their affiliate commission calculator online.
Affiliate Commission: 15%. Your qualified referrals earn $100 in Zoho Wallet credits.
Cookie Duration: 90 days
How to sign up
Affiliate Signup Link: Click here
Autodesk is a leading software development company, with a broad range of products and solutions for the architecture, engineering & construction industry, product design & manufacturing, and media & entertainment. Their products span across 3D CAD software, 3D animation, 3D modeling, manufacturing, product design, civil engineering, product design, drafting, and more.
Through the Autodesk software affiliate program, you can promote all their products and receive a 9% commission. You have the flexibility to market the products across all geographies where Autodesk services. Improve your affiliate campaign with access to the full product data feed, product releases, new promotions, and more.
Affiliate Commission: 9%
Cookie Duration: 60 days
How to sign up
Affiliate Signup Link: Click here
#8 - TechSmith Affiliate Program
TechSmith is an industry leader in screen capturing, video editing, and screen recording – enabling you to create and share high-quality images & videos. These custom-made visual content can be used to improve training & tutorials, business communication, or lessons. Developing software for macOS and Windows, they empower educational institutions, corporations, small businesses, and government agencies.
TechSmith has an array of products and solutions, catering to anything from stock photos and custom assets to video & content hosting, screen recorder & screen capture, video editor, audio editor, video learning platform, and many more.
TechSmith software affiliate program is powered by Impact, offering up to 12% commission on each sale you generate. However, you will get a chance to improve your commission rates as you continue to generate more sales. Their 45-day cookie window offers ample time to convert a click into sales.
TechSmith allows you to promote two of their flagship products – Camtasia and Snagit. The commission rate will vary depending on the product you sell, but the maximum commission amount is 12%. As you join, you will receive a unique attribution URL and other marketing content to promote.
Affiliate Commission: 12%
Cookie Duration: 45 days
How to sign up
Affiliate Signup Link: Click here
QuickBooks is one of the most widely used accounting software that supports small and medium-sized enterprises by helping them manage their business payments, bills, and payroll functions. The GST-compliant software organizes all your data on the cloud, enabling you to create & send invoices, track sales, and analyze business performance.
You can easily connect your bank account to the software and monitor your cash flow in real time. The softwares powerful invoicing capabilities enable you to stay up to date with your payments, anywhere and anytime. It is easy to use cloud computing software that enables users to generate GST return reports, create and send custom GST invoices, and much more automatically.
QuickBooks software affiliate program allows you to earn passive income by referring customers and influencing them to make a purchase. For every sale that comes via your affiliate link, you can earn a 20% commission. QuickBooks Affiliate Toolkit allows you to access reports that provide data on click-throughs, impressions, orders & shipments, commissions earned, etc.
Your commission amount is paid via check every month, provided you reach a minimum threshold of $50.00.
Affiliate Commission: 20%
Cookie Duration: N/A
How to sign up
Affiliate Signup Link: Click here
#10 - AWeber Affiliate Program
AWeber helps build a stronger and meaningful connection with your target audience through landing page builder, email marketing, web push notifications, and more. Using this platform, you can automate your email marketing and save more time focusing on strategic business functions. Custom auto-newsletters and segmentation allows catering to the unique needs of your audiences and providing them tailored solutions.
AWeber also aids in ecommerce development and sales, allowing you to create a page, sell products, customize your store, track sales, and much more. So, it is an all-in-one solution that has all the features for effective marketing.
They also offer a customer referral program that allows you to create an AWeber Advocate account for free, promote their unique affiliate link, and get paid. You can earn 30% recurring payment every month for the lifetime of that account. This affiliate program is suitable if you have passion for digital marketing, want to engage with your target audience, or interested to help entrepreneurs succeed.
The longer your referrals use their AWeber accounts and make recurring payments, the more money you can make through this program. Their affiliate toolkit includes articles and ads, email sale notice, customer referral newsletter, and visitor & sales stats.
Affiliate Commission: 30%
Cookie Duration: Lifetime
How to sign up
Affiliate Signup Link: Click here
Summary - Affiliate Programs for Software:
Software is an evergreen niche that has demand throughout the year. The market is driven by both home based and professional customers and is rapidly expanding globally as internet and technological advances reach far corners of the world. This makes this niche high profitable for affiliate marketers as well people who can promote the software via their blogs, YouTube channel , Social Media or Email list and make good commissions. The softwares listed above have high conversions and do not require much marketing expenses to back up sales. The goal is to connect with the right audience and promote the softwares for increased conversions.
