If you have affiliate marketers in your audience, you can earn additional income with two-tier affiliate programs.
When a marketer that you refer to the program makes a sale, they earn 100% of their commissions, but you also earn a commission for referring them.
Here is a list of some of the best two-tier affiliate programs.
7+ Two-tier Affiliate Programs
Among the list, you’ll find two-tier affiliate programs with recurring commissions, programs that pay per qualified affiliate sign up, or once for each sub-affiliate sale.
Cloudways - 19% of Sub-affiliate Generated Sales
Cloudways is one of the best web hosting for both new and high-traffic sites. Their cloud-managed hosting pricing starts at $11/month. Owned by DigitalOcean, they offer high-quality hosting services with the price of shared hosting. You get managed servers, fast CDN, free malware removal for fast and secure websites.
You can test the platform free for 3-day before you commit to a subscription.
Start Cloudways 3-Day Free Trial
Cloudways affiliate program has two commission structures. You can opt to receive a one-time payment of up to $200 per sale or $30 one-time + 7% in monthly recurring commission.
You also get paid to recruit affiliates for Cloudways. They’ll pay you 19% of the sale revenue generated by affiliates that you refer.
Join Cloudways Affiliate Program
Cloudways Affiliate Program Details:
- Affiliate Commission Structure: up to $200 per sale (with recurring options).
- Two-tier commission: 19% of affiliate-generated sales.
- Payment Methods: PayPal, Wire Transfer.
WP Engine - $50 per referral sale
WPEngine is a well-known web hosting platform for WordPress. They maintain the development of the popular plugin ACF (Advanced Custom Field), the web server called Local, and StudioPress Themes.
Their hosting plans include security features that appeal to individual and business owners.
With the WP Engine affiliate program, you earn a minimum of $200 per sale. you earn 100% of the first payment which can go up to $7500. It’s one of the best high-paying affiliate programs.
They also enable two-tier commission and pay $50 per sale generated by affiliates that you refer.
Join WP Engine Affiliate Program
WPEngine Affiliate Program Details:
- Affiliate Commission Structure: 200% per sale, minimum $200 commission per sale.
- Two-tier commission: $50 per sale generated by your sub-affiliates.
- Payment methods: PayPal, Direct Deposit.
- Affiliate Network: ShareASale.
FlexOffers: up to 50% of fees
FlexOffers is an affiliate network where you’ll find thousands of products to promote. They don’t approve all applications. You need traffic sources with high-quality content and engagement.
Once you’re approved as a FlexOffers affiliate, you can apply for different programs. You’ll see a link for Flexshare, the referral program where you get paid from 5% to 50% per sub-affiliate sales.
FlexOffers Affiliate Network Details:
- Two-tier Commission: recurring share of up to 50% of FlexOffers revenue from sales generated by your referrals.
- Payment Methods: PayPal, ACH, Wire Transfer.
Fiverr: 10% Recurring commission
Fiverr is a micro freelance marketplace where you can buy and sell services online. They have an e-learning section where you can take or teach online courses as well.
See examples of services sold on Fiverr
You’ll find the Fiverr affiliate program in several affiliate networks. However, they enable a two-tier structure with their in-house program. You earn up to $150 per sale. You can opt to receive a 10% recurring commission for your sales.
When you recruit affiliates for Fiverr, you earn 10% of the referred affiliate’s earnings.
Fiverr Affiliate Program Details:
- Affiliate Commission Structure: up to $150 per sale (with recurring options).
- Two-tier Commission: 5% from affiliates that you refer.
- Payment Methods: PayPal, Direct Deposit.
Deposit Photos: 5%
DepositPhotos is a stock photo site where you can buy high-quality images and videos for your project with the rights to use them commercially.
DepositPhotos has an affiliate program where they pay affiliates for their marketing efforts. They have enabled a two-tier payout to reward you for referring other affiliates.
Join DepositPhotos Affiliate Program
Deposit Photos Affiliate Program Details:
- Affiliate Commission Structure: up to 40% per sale.
- Two-tier commission: 5% from affiliates that you refer.
- Payment Methods: PayPal, Direct Deposit.
FreshBooks: $2 per referred affiliate
FreshBooks is an accounting software with practical features for small businesses and freelancers. It makes invoicing and work time tracking easy.
FreshBooks affiliate program offers different reward structures:
- Pay Per Lead: Get paid $5 per sign-up for users located in the U.S., Canada, and some European countries.
- Pay Per Sale: Get $55 per sale.
- 2-tier Reward: $2 per referred affiliate.
Join FreshBooks Affiliate Program
FreshBooks Affiliate Program Details:
- Affiliate Commission Structure: $55 per sale.
- Two-tier commission: $2 per qualified sub-affiliate.
- Payment Methods: PayPal, Direct Deposit.
- Affiliate Software: ShareASale.
A2 Hosting: $5 per sub-affiliate sale
A2 Hosting is a fast and affordable shared hosting platform with plans starting at $2.99 per month if you commit for one year. Renewals are way higher. However, they have an anytime money-back guarantee policy.
It’s a great platform to start a website with less upfront investment.
Referring new customers to A2 Hosting, you earn up to $125 per sale. Your commission starts at $50 per sale and increases based on your monthly sales volume.
You earn $5 for each new customer an affiliate that you refer brings.
Join A2 Hosting Affiliate Program
A2 Hosting Affiliate Program Details:
- Affiliate Commission Structure: $50-$150 per sale.
- Two-tier Commission: $5 per sub-affiliate sale.
- Payment Methods: PayPal.
- Payment Threshold: $100.
Survey Saavy: $1 per survey completed by two-tier referral
Survey Savvy is a website where you get paid to complete surveys. You also get paid to browse the web if you’re in a country where customers spend a lot of money online.
Refer users to SurveySaavy and earn for each survey that they complete. If they refer other users, you earn a 2-tier commission for each survey completed.
SurveySaavy Affiliate Program Details:
- Affiliate Commission Structure: $2 per survey completed by referrals.
- Two-tier Commission: $1 per survey completed by a user your sub-affiliates refer.
- Payment Methods: Cheque.
Pros and Cons of 2 Tier Affiliate Programs
The second-tier affiliate programs strategy doesn’t work generally as the primary monetization method. Sub-affiliates are more likely to join under a successful partner.
- You can increase your affiliate earnings with two-tier commissions.
- A good incentive to recruit affiliates.
- If every promoter focuses on 2-tier commission, no one makes money. Sales generate affiliate commissions.
While I recommend recruiting affiliates with these programs, I don’t recommend programs going beyond 2-tiers, called multi-tier programs.
Build assets to do affiliate marketing as a business.
