Feature-by-feature comparison of WordPress's most popular affiliate plugins.
Transparent, side-by-side pricing. No hidden platform fees.
Every feature, every tier. See exactly what you get with each plugin.
| Feature | From $99/yrRoyal Affiliate Pro | From $149.50/yrAffiliateWP |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking | ||
| Cookie-based tracking | ||
| First/last click attribution | ||
| Cross-subdomain tracking | ||
| Excluded pages (regex) | ||
| Forced landing pages | ||
| Commissions | ||
| Flat & percentage | ||
| Product-specific rates | Pro | Add-on |
| Category-specific rates | Business | |
| Tiered commissions | Business | $300 only |
| Lifetime commissions | Business | $300 only |
| Campaign commissions | Business | |
| Multi-tier MLM | Business | $300 only |
| Up to 5 MLM levels | Agency | |
| Payouts | ||
| PayPal | ||
| Stripe Connect | Business, built-in | Separate add-on |
| Auto payouts (threshold) | Business, built-in | Via add-on |
| Store credit | Business | Add-on |
| Payouts in base plugin | Built-in | Separate add-on |
| Fraud Prevention | ||
| Self-referral blocking | ||
| IP rate limiting | Business | $300 only |
| Proxy-header detection | Business | $300 only |
| Bot detection | Business | $300 only |
| Fraud log | Business | $300 only |
| Integrations | ||
| WooCommerce | ||
| WC Subscriptions | Business | $300 only |
| Easy Digital Downloads | Agency | |
| MemberPress | Agency | |
| Standalone tracking | Agency | |
| Tags & Coupons | ||
| Affiliate tags | Pro | |
| Coupon tracking | Pro | Add-on |
| Tag-based bulk coupons | Pro | |
| Challenges & Gamification | ||
| Goal-based challenges | Business | |
| 5 reward types | Business | |
| Progress bars & leaderboard | Business | |
| Email Marketing & Forms | ||
| Form lead tracking | Pro | |
| Mailchimp / Kit / ActiveCampaign | Business | |
| Affiliate landing pages | Business | $300 only |
| One-click bulk sync (existing affiliates) | Business | |
| Enterprise | ||
| REST API | Agency | $300 only |
| White-label | Agency | |
| Bulk emails | Agency | |
| Activity logging | Agency | |
| Plugin size | 400KB | ~8.3MB |
Stripe Connect and PayPal Payouts API are built into Royal Affiliate Pro — no add-ons to install, no extra purchases, no platform markup. AffiliateWP ships Stripe Payouts and the Payouts Service as separate add-ons that you have to install on top of the base plugin.
Set a threshold, affiliates get paid automatically when they reach it. AffiliateWP requires manual batch processing for every single payout.
400KB vs 8.3MB. Performance matters for SEO and user experience. Royal Affiliate Pro delivers the same (and more) features in a fraction of the footprint.
Create time-bound promotional commission rates for Black Friday, product launches, or seasonal pushes. AffiliateWP doesn't offer campaign-based commissions at any tier.
We believe in honest comparisons. Here is where AffiliateWP has the edge.
Yes! Royal Affiliate Pro includes a built-in migration wizard that automatically imports your affiliates, referrals, visits, payouts, and creatives directly from AffiliateWP. It auto-detects your existing data, lets you preview record counts, and processes everything in batches with a progress bar. Rollback is available if needed. No CSV exports required.
Three main reasons: (1) 20x lighter — 400KB vs 8.3MB. (2) More features at lower cost — auto payouts, fraud detection, gamification challenges, email marketing, campaign system, and multi-tier MLM at lower price points. (3) Built-in Stripe Connect and PayPal Payouts API — AffiliateWP ships Stripe Payouts and the Payouts Service as separate add-ons.
Royal Affiliate Pro: $99/yr (Pro, 1 site), $199/yr (Business, 5 sites), $299/yr (Agency, 100 sites). AffiliateWP: $149.50/yr (Personal, 1 site), $199.50/yr (Plus, 2 sites), $299.50/yr (Pro, 5 sites). Royal Affiliate Pro offers more features at every price point and zero platform fees.
AffiliateWP has a wider integration ecosystem (40+ add-ons) and a larger established user base. However, Royal Affiliate Pro now matches or exceeds AffiliateWP with QR codes, link cloaking, webhooks (13 events with HMAC signing for Zapier/Make), direct link tracking at $99 (AffiliateWP gates to $300), plus unique features like gamification challenges, affiliate tags, vanity coupons, and email marketing integrations that AffiliateWP lacks entirely.
Royal Affiliate Pro is built with modern WordPress standards and thoroughly tested. While AffiliateWP has been around longer, Royal Affiliate Pro is actively developed, regularly updated, and backed by the Royal Plugins team. The 400KB footprint means fewer potential points of failure.
Zero platform fees, auto payouts, fraud detection, and every feature included. More affiliate power, less cost.