12 Best Affiliate Networks to Earn Passive Income in 2020

If you’re looking for the best affiliate networks in 2020, you’re looking for the passive income sources. Affiliate Marketing is very Big industry and it became an important source of online income for many professional bloggers.

These affiliate networks aggregate advertiser and publisher’s data and provide a platform to connect with each other. There are many affiliate networks out there, literally, hundreds of them but I am not list them all here today. I will help you to choose the best affiliate networks in 2020 through this article.

Bloggers often depend on single source of income through their blog. Posting advertisements on their blog works for some, but the fact is, there are so many other ways through which they can monetize. You might want to have a look at my article where I explained “22 Successful Methods to Earn Money through Blogging”.

In this article, I will try to explain the pros and cons of each affiliate network so that you can choose the best affiliate network which works for you. Below table of contents will let you go to the affiliate network directly when you click on the link.

Table of Contents

1. ShareASale

2. Rakuten (Linkshare)

3. ClickBank

4. Commission Junction (CJ)

5. Amazon Affiliate Program (Amazon Associates)

6. Affiliate Window (AWIN)

7. TradeDoubler

8. eBay Partner Network (EPN)

9. Peerfly

10. VigLink

11. MaxBounty

12. FlexOffers

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12 Best Affiliate Networks for Passive income in 2020

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1.  ShareASale

ShareASale is the largest affiliate network in the world. It was founded in 2000 and was acquired by AWIN in 2017 it offers over 4000 plus affiliate programs in 50 plus categories. If you are looking for the wide variety of affiliate programs, ShareASale is the best network for you.

ShareASale is the most reliable network among all the affiliate networks. Whether you are planning to sell Services, Physical Goods, Digital Downloads or Software as a Service, It has everything for you.

It’s easy and free to join ShareASale network and your application will be approved in 2-3 days if you are eligible for their program. You’ll be immediately given access to their network once your application is approved.

Pros:

• Large Merchant Network: More than 4000 plus merchants which includes 1000 plus exclusive offers.
• Long Track Record: Founded in 2000 and acquired by AWIN in 2017, it has very less complaints compared to the competition.
• Safe and Secure: With almost zero complaints, it’s been listed as A+ business on Better Business Bureau
• Convenient Payment Options: ShareASale allows you to withdraw money from your account via wire transfer, direct deposit, checks and PayPal.
• Consistent Payment Schedule: As long as you have the minimum withdrawal amount, ShareASale will send you money on the 20^th of every month.

Cons:

• One major disadvantage of ShareASale account is, you need to spend lot of time to understand the process.
• You should get approval from each advertiser for promoting their products.

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2. Rakuten (LinkShare)

Formerly LinkShare, Rakuten is considered to be the oldest affiliate networks among all the networks. Rakuten store stocks everything from high-end tech gadgets, electronics to pet supplies.

Rakuten has been ranked as the number 1 affiliate network for 7 straight years by an industry publication that’s been doing research in the industry from several years. With solid reputation in the industry, great user interface and perfect reporting system, Rakuten is the Best Affiliate Network to choose.

Pros:

• Oldest Network: Founded in 1996, it’s been in the industry for more than two decades.
• Strong Merchant Base: Even though this is the oldest network, their merchant database is close to 1000 selective brands.
• Loved by BBB: It’s been rated as A+ business on Better Business Bureau.
• Payment Options: With solid payment options like Direct Deposit, Check and PayPal, Rakuten is the best for its publishers.

Cons:

• You have to get approved by each advertiser to promote their products.
• Compared to the competition, Rakuten has a smaller merchant base on their network.
• Rakuten’s payout option is bit confused. It only pays their affiliates after they collect affiliate commissions from their advertisers.

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3. Clickbank

A Diverse marketplace that filled with the advertisers that you can simply select and promote on the go. Clickbank mainly focuses on digital products created by global entrepreneurs with the highest payouts in the industry.

Though, Clickbank is the most reputable affiliate network, some of the products on their network are questionable. You need to do your homework before choosing any product from their network.

Pros:

• Founded in 1998, it’s been a reputational network since then.
• There are millions of products on the network which are easy to choose and promote.
• Clickbank offers flexible payment options to its users. It gives you an option to choose weekly, monthly payouts.
• Clickbank has variety of payment options such as wire transfer, direct deposit and for international users, it allows you to withdraw through Payoneer.

Cons:

• Since there are millions of products, there is a huge competition among the affiliates too.
• Some of the products listed are of very low quality.
• Very few physical products are listed in the network.
• You will be receiving payments through checks until you reach minimum number of sales.

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4. CJ (Commission Junction)

Commission Junction is considered to be the large affiliate networks among the competition. They have wide range of advertiser network which makes the platform best for its affiliates.

If you’re a beginner or want to start your affiliate career, CJ is the best option to choose. They have been in the market since 1998 so, you can find lots of advertisers and products on their network.

Pros:

• Since it has the largest merchant database, they have millions of the products to start with.
• With over two decades in the industry, CJ has been a reliable affiliate network to choose.
• CJ allows you to receive payments through direct deposit or checks.
• It is clear reporting allows understand the better performing programs.

Cons:

• Your account will be deactivated if you don’t earn commission for 6 months.
• Advertiser needs to approve your request to promote their product.
• Due to the large number of merchants and affiliates, their customer support is quite limited.

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5. Amazon Affiliate Program (Amazon Associates)

Being the largest marketplace for buying and selling any type of products, with products from more than 1.5 million merchants, Amazon affiliate network is one of the Best Affiliate Networks online.

With wide range of physical and digital products online, Amazon affiliate program offers multiple opportunities in hundreds of different categories to its associates. The only drawback of amazon associate program is the commission rates aren’t as high as other competitors.

Since Amazon is the most reliable online platform, the conversion ratio is very high compared to the competitors. Commission percentage differs from category to category but choosing the best sellers from the high conversion categories gets you the best passive income.

Pros:

• With simple and user-friendly interface, it’s easier for the experienced and the beginner affiliates too.
• Having millions of products in the database, you have million ways to earn from amazon affiliate program.
• Reliable platform, so you don’t have to worry about the payment issues.
• Several payment options that include direct deposit, amazon gift certificates and checks.

Cons:

• The tracking cookie which gets you the commission lasts only 24 hours. So, you won’t get a commission if the user buys the product after 24 hours
• No Digital payment option apart from the direct deposit, check and amazon gift cards.

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6. AWIN (Affiliate Window)

Established in the year 2000, Affiliate Window has become one of the best affiliate networks in the world. With over 13000 plus active advertisers and more than one lakh active publishers in their network, it’s one of the fastest growing affiliate networks in the world.

AWIN covers both physical and digital products through their platform. It is the best affiliate network for the experienced affiliates who can handle the promotions without much guidance or feedback from the platform.

AWIN has so many powerful tools such as opportunity marketplace, wordpress plugins, Google chrome extension and many more that makes it easy for an affiliate to work with.

Pros:

• Lowest payouts (you can withdraw if you cross the minimum $20 target)
• Pays you twice a month
• Large network of Advertisers and publishers.
• Real-time reporting makes it easy for advertisers and publishers.
• User-friendly dashboard and tools.

Cons:

• You need to pay $5 in advance while signup
• Your $5 will not be refunded if your account is rejected.

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7. TradeDoubler

Founded in 1999 by two Swedish entrepreneurs, TradeDoubler has been very successful and popular across the UK and Europe countries. With more than 2 lakhs plus active publisher network their main focus is to provide smarter results for both advertisers and publishers.

They have developed a technology to track affiliate sales even when the browser has the cookies turned off. With this kind of advancements, they made sure that the work done by their affiliate should be rewarded for sure.

Pros:

• Big brands such as Philips, HP are part of the affiliate network.
• Advanced tracking systems helps affiliate not to lose their commissions.
• Easy to apply and get approved. Typically takes 3-4 days to review.
• Monthly payouts with minimum payment threshold of 30 GBP ($40)

Cons:

• Since most of their advertisers are UK / Europe based, you should have UK traffic to your blog for easy approval
• Affiliate payments are made through BACS (Bank Automated Clearing System). So, if you don’t have a UK bank account, you need to apply for international payments option.

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8. eBay Partner Network (EPN)

Though the eBay Partner Network is relatively new to the affiliate marketing scenario, they had the largest product inventory which can be promoted easily with their tools. The parent company eBay holds the largest marketplace since its launch in 1995.

With over 1.1 billion listings that includes both physical and digital products, you’ll never run out of the products to promote.

Pros:

• There is no such diversified marketplace than eBay.
• eBay has more than 1 billion listings. So, even with the high competition, you will never run out of the inventory to promote.
• Monthly payouts as long as you reach the minimum payout ($10)
• Payments through direct deposit, PayPal
• Double commission for first 3 months

Cons:

• If you’re promoting auction products, you’ll probably earn nothing.

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9. Peerfly

With over 250 registered affiliates across 165 countries and 8000 plus offers on their platform, Peerfly surely is the best affiliate networks among the competition. With its highly convertible CPA Offers, practically any affiliate can benefit from Peerfly’s Affiliate network.

Peerfly hasn’t been around as long as some of the other big players in the market. With the CPA model, you will be paid when the user completes the action such as filling the form using your affiliate link.

Pros:

• Cost per Action model which helps you to earn for simple lead generation.
• User-friendly interface.
• Thousands of offers, which means you have more chances to earn
• Reliable tracking system

Cons:

• Highly competitive products
• The signup process is quite strict
• Spammy-looking offers

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10. VigLink

VigLink is quite different from other affiliate networks. Unlike other affiliate networks, VigLink is specially designed for bloggers. It places dynamic anchor text links in the blog content which converts better than the other affiliate networks.

If you’re a blogger with a specific niche target and use best keywords in your content, then your chances of earning good commissions are very high. VigLink scans your website / blog content, checks for the opportunity to include high commissioned text links in your text and when your user clicks on the link, you will get paid.

VigLink allows its affiliates to choose between CPC, CPA or both offers. Commission rates are decided by the advertiser.

Pros:

• Works best with the blogging and content focused websites
• Simple dashboard, easy to use.
• Links can be set dynamically to maximize your revenue.
• Best to combine with other affiliate networks.

Cons:

• You should get approval from each advertiser.
• Low commissions compared to the competition.
• Only monthly payouts.
• You need to fine tune “Automatic Creation of Links” to maximize the revenue.

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11. MaxBounty

MaxBounty is one of the best affiliate networks which is dedicated to digital products. It works mainly in the business niche and it claims to have more than 1500 active advertisers. With main focus on digital products, it mainly works on a CPA model which means you will get paid when someone sign-up for a newsletter.

As per their website, the commission rates vary from $2.50 to $85 while other affiliate networks offer to pay the percentage on a sale.

Since MaxBounty mainly focus on digital products, along with the CPA, it also has Pay per Call and CPL models to its affiliates.

Pros:

• $1000 bonus for affiliates who earn minimum $1000 in first 3 months.
• This network has some high-profile brands.
• User-friendly dashboard, simple to use.
• Weekly payouts via direct deposit, check, PayPal, wire transfer, eCheck and Bitcoin.

Cons:

• Application Approval process is bit slow and needs a voice call verification.
• Affiliate accounts are often terminated without any explanation.
• Majority of affiliates have reported a negative experience with this network.

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12. Flexoffers

With more than 10 years in the industry Flexoffers became one of the best affiliate networks which lets you choose from thousands of affiliate programs and offers different types of content delivery formats and many more.

Apart from their regular affiliate programs, they have their own unique referral program which helps you to earn commissions on the sales generated by the affiliates you referred.

Their affiliate programs have been divided into different categories and sub-categories which makes it easy for the affiliate to find and promote specific niche they like.

Pros:

• Along with the regular affiliate commission, you’ll earn up to 50% commission from the revenue generated by your referral.
• Huge Database and programs to choose.
• You will have a dedicated affiliate manager who helps you in maximising the revenue.

Cons:

• International affiliates will be paid only through PayPal.

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Conclusion

These are the 12 Best Affiliate Networks of my knowledge. The affiliate marketing industry is growing day by day and there are hundreds of other affiliate networks that are working best for the affiliates. If you’re a blogger and have worked with an affiliate network which helped you to make money, let me know about it. I will add it here along with my review.

So, Which affiliate network you’re joining today? Hopefully, I have covered maximum information about each affiliate network to make your work easy, but I will also suggest you do your own research before deciding on any network from these best affiliate networks.

Remember, the most important thing you should consider before choosing any affiliate network, is your audience. You should provide value addition to your audience along with your earning plan. Else, you’ll be considered another spammy blogger.

Why wait then? Start working on your blog and if you don’t have one, Build one. There are many more other proven ways to earn money from your blog. I have explained it in my other blog “22 Proven ways to Earn Money Online through Blogging”. Choose the options wisely and start earning passive income from your blog.

Finally, if you have anything that adds value to this article or if you have any queries regarding these 12 best affiliate networks, don’t hesitate to ask me through the comments section. I will be glad to address your queries.