Affiliate networks
Both now publish prices. Here they are side by side, with a third column for an offer network that charges advertisers no monthly fee.
Choose Awin if
you sell online and pay a percent of each sale, especially in Europe, or want a self-serve start at $49 a month with a 3‑month minimum.
you run a coupon, cashback, content or comparison site and want thousands of retail brands to apply to.
Choose impact.com if
you want affiliates, creators and referrals in one platform and can commit to 12 months, or run a store on a listed platform and want Starter.
you're a creator or content publisher who wants to apply to brand programs, up to 10 at a time.
Choose if
you pay per install, sign‑up, funded account, subscription start or sale, and want to test each event free before you spend.
you run a rewarded app, offerwall or site and want app, game and finance offers with payouts in dollars, without applying brand by brand.
Test events are free. Verify each required event before you go live.
Sign-up is by request. We reply by email.
01Side by side
Rows for
| For advertisers | Awin | impact.com | this is us |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $49 on Access, first month free; from $99 on Accelerate; Advanced custom.1 | $30 plus 2.5% of revenue on Starter, for listed store platforms; $500 Essentials; $2,500 Pro; Enterprise custom.2 | None. |
| Fee on each conversion | 3.5% on Access or 2.5% on Accelerate, of the transaction value. For sign‑ups or installs, rates on request.1 | Payouts up to $2,500 a month included on Essentials, $14,300 on Pro. Above that, a rate not listed publicly.2 | None on top. You pay the event price you set. |
| How partners are paid | A percent of the sale or a fixed amount. Leads always pay a fixed amount.3 | A fixed amount or a percent of the sale, set per contract.4 | Your choice: a price at install, a percent of each purchase or sale, or a price per level or other event. How advertisers pay |
| Commitment | Access: 3‑month minimum with 14 days' notice. Other plans not listed publicly.1 | A 12‑month contract, per its pricing FAQ.2 | No minimum term. A $50 balance to submit a campaign; deposits are non‑refundable. |
| Getting started | Access is self-serve. Accelerate and Advanced go through sales.1 | Starter is self-serve on listed store platforms. Other plans start with a demo; onboarding is $250 an hour.2 | Self-serve. Our team reviews each campaign before it goes live. |
| App installs | Through a supported attribution partner; six are named.5 | Through an attribution partner; five are named.6 | Events from your server, or forwarded from your attribution tool. No SDK needed. Setup without an SDK |
| Testing before spend | The first month of Access is free.1 | A 30‑day free trial on Starter.2 | Free test events. Each required event must show Verified before you submit. |
| For publishers | Awin | impact.com | this is us |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to join | A refundable $1 deposit in the US.7 | Free, per its affiliate partners page.8 | None. |
| Account approval | A verification process before you can join.7 | impact.com receives your marketplace application once every sign‑up step is done.9 | Request access. Our team reviews each publisher, and there's no deposit. |
| Working with a brand | Apply to each advertiser's program. Approval times vary by advertiser.10 | Apply to each brand's program. Some show as pre-approved.11 | No program applications. Our team sets your offers, or picks them and sends the links with Offer Links. Offer Links |
| What you promote | 30,000+ brands by its own count, many paying a percent of the sale.312 | Brand programs across affiliates, creators and apps.8 | 10,000+ offers, counting direct and marketplace offers. Mostly app installs and games, plus sign‑ups, finance and trials, most of them for US users. |
Accurate as of 29 October 2026. Facts about Awin and impact.com come from their own public pages, numbered in the sources. Terms change, so check each source before you decide.
02The two you searched
Awin has run affiliate programs since 2000 and is part of the Axel Springer group, with 1 million publishers and 30,000 advertisers by its own count.13 Brands set commissions per group of products or customers: a percent of the sale or a fixed amount, and leads always pay a fixed amount.3 App installs are tracked through a supported attribution partner.5
Their site, awin.com (opens in a new tab)ShareASale closed. Eligible advertisers and their partnerships moved to Awin.1415
impact.com, often just called Impact, is software that brands use to run affiliate, creator, referral and retail media programs. Brands recruit partners from its marketplace, sign contracts and pay them through it.216 Plans and prices are on its pricing page, with a 12‑month contract.2 App events reach it through an attribution partner.6
Their site, impact.com (opens in a new tab)Three of its four plans are listed with prices.2
03Head to head
Awin's Access plan is $49 a month with the first month free and a 3‑month minimum; Accelerate starts at $99.1 impact.com's Starter is $30 a month plus 2.5% of revenue for stores on listed platforms, Essentials is $500 a month and Pro is $2,500 a month, on a 12‑month contract.2
AffiliateOS has no monthly fee for advertisers and no minimum term. A campaign needs $50 in a prepaid balance before you submit it, and deposits are non‑refundable.
Bottom line
Awin's Access term is 3 months. impact.com's contract is 12. We ask for a $50 balance and no term.
Awin adds a tracking fee of 3.5% on Access or 2.5% on Accelerate, as a share of the transaction value, on top of the commission you pay the partner.1 impact.com includes partner payouts up to $2,500 a month on Essentials and $14,300 on Pro, then charges a rate it doesn't list.2
On AffiliateOS there is no fee on top. The price you set for an event is the whole charge for it.
Bottom line
Awin's Access and Accelerate plans add a fee to every sale. impact.com charges by payout volume above what your plan includes. With us, the event price is the bill.
Both networks track app events through attribution partners.56 Awin's fee for a conversion with no sale value, such as an install or a sign‑up, is on request,1 and impact.com's Starter is open only to listed store platforms.2
AffiliateOS takes events from your server, or forwarded from your attribution tool.
Bottom line
If the conversion has no order value, Awin quotes its fee. An app with no listed store platform starts on impact.com Essentials, at $500 a month. Ours is the price you type.
Awin asks for a refundable $1 deposit in the US, and every publisher goes through its verification process before joining.7 impact.com says signing up as an affiliate partner is free, and it receives your marketplace application once every sign‑up step is done.89
AffiliateOS asks for no deposit and no fee. Request access, tell us about your app or site and its users, and we reply by email.
Bottom line
A refundable $1 on Awin. Nothing to join impact.com or AffiliateOS.
On Awin you apply to each advertiser's program and approval times vary.10 On impact.com you apply to each brand's program, and some show as pre-approved.11
On AffiliateOS we review your account. Our team sets the offers it can run, or picks offers for your audience and sends the tracking links with Offer Links.
Bottom line
On both networks each brand can turn you down. With us, the review is ours, not each brand's.
On Awin, commission is typically a percent of the sale.37 impact.com runs brand programs across affiliates, creators and apps.8
Our offers are mostly app installs and games, plus finance, sign‑ups and trials, each with its payout in dollars.
Bottom line
For coupon and cashback sites, Awin lists 30,000+ brands by its own count. For rewarded apps, our offers show a dollar payout per install or event.
Awin defines a Virtual incentives partner type, for audiences that take offers for in-game rewards.17 impact.com lists coupon, cashback and loyalty partners among its partner types.8
Rewarded apps and offerwalls are what AffiliateOS is built for. Each postback carries an HMAC‑SHA256 verifier you can check before you credit a user, and a reversal comes to you as a postback with a reason when we have one.
Bottom line
Both list incentive partners. We sign every credit and push every reversal.
04Worked example
List prices for an app paying per install, from each pricing page. Partner payouts come on top on all three.
Awin
Access
Year one, platform fees
$539
$49 a month, first month free17
impact.com
Essentials
Year one, platform fees
$6,000
$500 a month on a 12‑month contract2
Every campaign
Year one, platform fees
$0
No monthly fee and no contract term
Example arithmetic on list prices checked 29 October 2026. Custom and enterprise prices aren't public.
Test events are free. Verify each required event before you go live.
04Worked example
Live US offers from our public Top Offers Feed, with payouts in dollars. You don't apply to a brand to run them: our team reviews your account and sets your offers.
Sign-up is by request. We reply by email.
05The honest part
AffiliateOS fits if
Awin or impact.com fits better if
AffiliateOS fits if
Awin or impact.com fits better if
06Running both
Your existing postbacks stay live. Nothing you run today changes.
Your Awin or impact.com program and its tracking stay as they are.
Create a campaign for one sale, sign‑up, deposit, trial or install, and send a free test.
Run both and compare what each action cost you, in your own reports.
Tell us about your app or site and its users. We reply by email.
The Offer API, the Top Offers Feed, a Hosted Offerwall link or Offer Links.
Your current links, walls and postbacks stay where they are.
07Questions
How long you'll commit and what the platform has to run decide this one.
For brands: choose Awin if you sell online and pay a percent of each sale, especially in Europe, or want a self-serve start at $49 a month with a 3‑month minimum. Choose impact.com if you want affiliates, creators and referrals in one platform and can commit to 12 months, or run a store on a listed platform and want Starter.
For publishers: choose Awin if you run a coupon, cashback, content or comparison site and want thousands of retail brands to apply to. Choose impact.com if you're a creator or content publisher who wants to apply to brand programs, up to 10 at a time.
On the monthly fee, yes: Awin's Access is $49 a month and impact.com Essentials is $500 a month on a 12‑month contract. Awin also adds 3.5% per transaction, so by our arithmetic Access costs more than the Essentials fee once tracked sales pass about $12,900 a month. Essentials includes up to $2,500 a month in partner payouts and charges for more. A store on one of impact.com's listed platforms can use Starter, at $30 a month plus 2.5% of revenue; impact.com doesn't say what that revenue is measured on, so run both against your own sales. The largest plan on each is custom.
No. Its affiliate partners page says signing up is free, as of 29 October 2026.
Yes. Awin pays leads a fixed amount and sales a percent or a fixed amount. impact.com contracts pay a fixed amount or a percent of the sale.
Yes. You can pay at install, a percent of each purchase or sale, or per level or other event. Publishers choose what they run, so an offer that doesn't let them make money won't get traffic.
Yes. Our events arrive as separate calls from your server or forwarded from your attribution tool, so your other programs stay as they are. Publishers keep their existing programs, links and postbacks; our offers come through your own API key, wall link or Offer Links.
Each read on 29 October 2026. Numbers match the markers in the table and the text.
impact.com Help Center
Mobile tracking using MMPs explained (opens in a new tab)Checked 29 Oct 2026
Awin Success Center
ShareASale to Awin platform upgrade FAQ (opens in a new tab)Checked 29 Oct 2026 Page dated 8 Sep 2026
We read each company's own public pages on 29 October 2026: pricing pages, docs, help centers and terms, plus SEC filings where a company files them. We compared what each offers the same kind of buyer at list terms. We didn't use custom quotes, review sites or anything told to us privately. Facts about AffiliateOS come from our product as it runs today, explained in our developer docs.
Awin and impact.com are trademarks of their owners. AffiliateOS is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by either company. If something here is wrong or out of date, email hello@affiliateos.ai and we'll correct the page and its date.
Advertisers start a campaign and test each event free. Publishers request access, and we reply by email.
I'm buying installs, sales or in-app events
Test events are free. Verify each required event before you go live.
I run an app or site
Sign-up is by request. We reply by email.
