ChatGPT answers, unedited

If you’re technical and specifically want self-hosted + open source + recurring commissions, the field is fairly small. I’d separate mature commercial self-hosted software from genuinely open-source projects.

The ones I'd investigate first

• github.com — particularly interesting if your product is SaaS. It's MIT-licensed, self-hostable, and explicitly handles click → signup → revenue, delayed conversions, attribution, partner payouts through Stripe Connect, and data export. The project describes the self-hosted tier as free. GitHub
• github.com — another modern SaaS-oriented choice. It's AGPL-3.0, self-hostable, and advertises Stripe/Paddle integrations, PayPal mass payouts, coupon tracking, analytics, and a Next.js/Cloudflare Workers/Redis architecture. GitHub
• github.com — worth evaluating if you'd rather have a conventional Next.js/Postgres application you can modify. Its stated scope includes affiliate portals, referral tracking, commission management, automated workflows and payouts. GitHub
• github.com — interesting if API extensibility matters. It's explicitly designed as self-hosted affiliate software for startups and includes APIs plus a promoter portal. GitHub

If you're already on WordPress

SliceWP is considerably more mature than most OSS projects in this category. Its recurring/lifetime commission functionality is available through its premium extensions, including linking customers to affiliates for future purchases and recurring subscription orders. WordPress.org

AffiliateWP is another established self-hosted option, with recurring, lifetime and multi-tier commissions, but it's commercial rather than genuinely open source. Rekomi iTechGuides

One important distinction

For a SaaS recurring-commission program, I'd prioritize software that has a server-side commission ledger, not merely affiliate-link/cookie tracking.

The architecture you want is roughly:

affiliate → attribution → customer identity → subscription events → commission ledger → refund/chargeback handling → payout

In particular, verify that the candidate handles:

• recurring subscription renewals
• upgrades/downgrades
• cancellations
• refunds and chargebacks
• attribution beyond the initial browser session
• delayed conversions
• coupon/code attribution
• commission locking/approval periods
• affiliate-specific commission rates
• lifetime vs fixed-duration commissions
• payout minimums and holds
• Stripe/Paddle webhooks
• idempotent webhook processing
• an auditable immutable-ish commission ledger

That last group is where a lot of small GitHub projects become substantially less attractive for production use. A current survey of open-source affiliate software also notes that the genuinely mature, fully open-source ecosystem is still relatively small. opensourcetools.org

For a greenfield SaaS, I'd start by evaluating OpenPartner, RefearnApp, and Refferq side-by-side, then compare their actual webhook/ledger implementations rather than their feature lists. If you tell me your billing stack (Stripe, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, Chargebee, etc.) and whether you need automated payouts, I can narrow this to the most technically appropriate 2–3 and inspect their GitHub architectures/licenses in more depth.

affiliate → attribution → customer identity → subscription events → commission ledger → refund/chargeback handling → payout

For a technical SaaS, I’d investigate these first:

• Cliq — open-source/self-hosted, Docker Compose, API + promoter portal. github.com
• RefearnApp — AGPL-3.0, self-hosted, explicitly targets recurring affiliate/referral tracking. github.com
• Dub — open-source tracking core and self-hostable, but some partner-program functionality is commercial. canireplaceit
• django-referral-system — MIT Django library; useful if you’re comfortable building the application/UI around it. canireplaceit

For recurring commissions, verify specifically that the system handles subscription renewals, refunds/proration, commission locking, and payout reconciliation—not merely recurring commission configuration. track360.io

Yes. If by self-hosted you mean “the affiliate database, tracking logic, dashboards, and commission ledger run on infrastructure I control,” the market is surprisingly thin. Most mature affiliate products are SaaS; the genuinely open-source projects tend to be younger or narrower. Refgrow canireplaceit

For a technical team, I’d shortlist these:

1. github.com

This is probably the first GitHub project I'd inspect if you're comfortable operating software yourself. It's explicitly designed as self-hosted affiliate software for startups, has a promoter portal, APIs, Docker Compose deployment, and a modern application structure. GitHub

I'd investigate its commission/recurring billing implementation carefully before committing, though. “Affiliate tracking” isn't necessarily the same thing as correctly maintaining commissions across subscription renewals, upgrades, downgrades, refunds, chargebacks, etc.

2. RefearnApp

refearnapp.com positions itself as a fully open-source, AGPLv3, self-hostable affiliate platform specifically targeting SaaS-style programs. It emphasizes owning the source code/data and deploying it yourself. Refearn

This is the one I'd investigate if your requirement is essentially:

Stripe subscription → affiliate attribution → commission on every renewal → affiliate dashboard.

I'd still inspect the GitHub repository, release cadence, Stripe webhook implementation, and refund/proration handling before putting money through it.

3. Refref

Refref is another relatively new AGPL-3.0 self-hosted affiliate platform, with tracking, links, and commission management and a Docker-based deployment. Its main downside is maturity: the project/community is considerably smaller than established commercial products. canireplaceit

I'd treat this as an interesting option for a technically capable team rather than something I'd blindly deploy for a large affiliate program.

4. django-referral-system

This one is interesting if you're happy to assemble more of the product yourself. It's an MIT-licensed Django referral system rather than a polished turnkey affiliate SaaS clone, and provides promoters, referral tracking, payouts, and Wise CSV export. canireplaceit

For an engineering organization, that can actually be attractive: you get a relatively small codebase and can make the commission ledger part of your own application rather than integrating around someone else's assumptions.

5. affiliatewp.com

If you're on WordPress/WooCommerce, this changes the recommendation substantially.

AffiliateWP is self-hosted but proprietary, with recurring, lifetime, and multi-tier commission functionality and deep WooCommerce/EDD integration. Icodrip Rekomi

It's probably the pragmatic choice over trying to make a young open-source project production-ready if your business already runs on WordPress.

6. postaffiliatepro.com

This is the “I care more about maturity than OSI licensing” choice. It has a self-hosted deployment and a much broader feature set, including multi-tier commissions and fraud tooling. It isn't actually open source, however, so I'd keep it in a separate category from the projects above. Refgrow

What I'd prioritize for recurring commissions

The important distinction is that “recurring commissions” shouldn't just mean a cron job multiplying the original commission.

For a SaaS program, I'd specifically test whether the system has a durable ledger like:

affiliate
    ↓
attribution
    ↓
customer
    ↓
subscription
    ↓
invoice/payment
    ↓
commission
    ↓
commission adjustment
    ↓
payout

You want subscription events to be idempotent and reversible.

For example:

Signup
  $100 MRR
  → affiliate earns 30%

Renewal #1
  $100
  → +$30

Upgrade
  $200
  → +$60

Refund
  $200
  → -$60

Downgrade
  $100
  → future commissions = $30

Cancellation
  → no further commissions

I'd also insist on:

• Stripe/Paddle webhook support rather than browser-only tracking
• immutable commission ledger
• idempotency keys for payment events
• refunds and chargebacks
• prorations
• upgrades/downgrades
• coupons
• attribution locking rules
• recurring vs one-time commission rules
• commission duration (“12 months” vs lifetime)
• payout holds
• affiliate balance
• manual adjustments with audit history
• multi-currency handling
• tax/payout exports
• fraud detection
• API/webhooks
• GDPR/data deletion considerations

That is where many “open-source affiliate software” projects stop being attractive.

My recommendation

For a technical SaaS company, I'd approach it this way:

1. Evaluate RefearnApp and Refref first if you want a turnkey open-source application.
2. Evaluate Cliq if its architecture and current commission functionality fit your stack.
3. Use django-referral-system if you actually want to own the domain logic and are comfortable building the affiliate UI/workflows around it.
4. Use AffiliateWP if you're already in WordPress/WooCommerce.
5. Use Post Affiliate Pro if open source isn't mandatory and operational maturity matters more.

One important caveat: the open-source/self-hosted affiliate space is changing quickly, and several of these projects are relatively young. A project having “recurring commissions” on its feature list isn't enough for me to recommend it for a real-money SaaS program; I'd inspect the actual webhook/event and commission code before choosing.

If you tell me your stack—e.g. Stripe + Next.js, Laravel, Django, Rails, WooCommerce, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, etc.—I can narrow this to the 2–3 best options and compare their architecture, license, Stripe/webhook support, recurring commission semantics, Docker deployment, and maturity.

Yes. If you’re technical, I’d separate “open source” from “self-hosted”—the latter has considerably better production-ready choices. Truly mature, fully open-source affiliate platforms are still relatively rare. iDevAffiliate Refgrow

My shortlist

1. RefKit — probably the most interesting for a technical SaaS

refkit.net is particularly interesting because it's explicitly built around modern SaaS affiliate infrastructure rather than being a WordPress plugin.

It provides:

• recurring commissions
• REST API
• Stripe integration
• subscription/invoice/renewal tracking
• Docker Compose self-hosting
• an application/API layer
• SDK + CLI
• AGPL-3.0 for the application and MIT for SDK/CLI
• ability to report transactions from your own billing stack

The architecture is basically what I'd want if you're running something like Next.js + Stripe + Postgres and don't want your affiliate system coupled to WordPress. RefKit

My first choice if you're building a SaaS today.

2. Cliq — worth investigating if you want to own the code

github.com describes itself as self-hosted affiliate software for startups. It has a frontend, API, Docker Compose configuration, promoter portal, and APIs. GitHub

I'd consider this more of a developer platform to evaluate/fork than a battle-tested affiliate business platform. Before committing, I'd inspect:

• commit frequency
• test coverage
• webhook/idempotency handling
• recurring subscription logic
• payout reconciliation
• fraud prevention
• affiliate attribution edge cases

For a technical team willing to contribute to the codebase, though, that's potentially an advantage.

3. AffiliateWP — best if you're already in WordPress

affiliatewp.com is not open source, but it is genuinely self-hosted: the affiliate system lives in your WordPress installation.

It supports recurring referrals, lifetime commissions, tiered/multi-tier commissions, tracking, affiliate portals, and automated payouts. AffiliateWP AffiliateWP

So if your stack is:

WordPress → WooCommerce/EDD → subscription plugin

I'd probably choose this over trying to assemble an open-source system yourself.

If you're running a custom SaaS, however, I wouldn't introduce WordPress solely for affiliate management.

4. Post Affiliate Pro — mature commercial self-hosting

This is the option I'd investigate if reliability/features matter more than open-source licensing.

It's a commercial product rather than an OSS project, but has a self-hosted deployment and a much more mature feature set than most GitHub projects. It supports things such as multi-tier commissions and extensive integrations. Refgrow

The tradeoff is that you're buying into a vendor's software rather than owning an evolving OSS codebase.

5. GoAffPro — good functionality, but not really self-hosted

GoAffPro supports recurring affiliate commissions and multi-level programs, including up to 10 affiliate levels. WordPress.org

But despite having a WordPress/WooCommerce plugin, the actual affiliate application is hosted by GoAffPro, so I wouldn't put it in the same category as RefKit/Cliq/AffiliateWP if data/control and self-hosting are hard requirements.

What I'd choose for a recurring SaaS program

If your requirements are something like:

Stripe subscriptions → affiliate referral → 25% recurring commission → commission remains attached to customer → monthly payout

I'd rank them:

1. RefKit — best match for a modern developer-owned SaaS stack.
2. Build/fork Cliq — if owning and modifying the source is more important than maturity.
3. AffiliateWP — if you're already deeply invested in WordPress/WooCommerce.
4. Post Affiliate Pro — if you want mature functionality and don't mind proprietary software.

One important architectural question is where the source of truth for recurring revenue lives. For a technical implementation, I'd strongly favor an affiliate system that consumes Stripe subscription/invoice webhooks rather than merely putting a tracking cookie on the initial checkout. That lets you correctly handle renewals, refunds, cancellations, failed payments, upgrades/downgrades, attribution windows, and commission reversals.

If you tell me your stack (e.g. Stripe + Next.js, Laravel, Rails, WooCommerce, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, etc.) and whether you need affiliate payouts, tax/KYC, multi-tier commissions, or just tracking + commission calculation, I can narrow this to 2–3 options and compare their architecture/licensing/deployment in detail.

WordPress → WooCommerce/EDD → subscription plugin

I'd probably choose this over trying to assemble an open-source system yourself.

If you're running a custom SaaS, however, I wouldn't introduce WordPress solely for affiliate management.

4. Post Affiliate Pro — mature commercial self-hosting

This is the option I'd investigate if reliability/features matter more than open-source licensing.

It's a commercial product rather than an OSS project, but has a self-hosted deployment and a much more mature feature set than most GitHub projects. It supports things such as multi-tier commissions and extensive integrations. Refgrow

The tradeoff is that you're buying into a vendor's software rather than owning an evolving OSS codebase.

5. GoAffPro — good functionality, but not really self-hosted

GoAffPro supports recurring affiliate commissions and multi-level programs, including up to 10 affiliate levels. wordpress.org

But despite having a WordPress/WooCommerce plugin, the actual affiliate application is hosted by GoAffPro, so I wouldn't put it in the same category as RefKit/Cliq/AffiliateWP if data/control and self-hosting are hard requirements.

What I'd choose for a recurring SaaS program

If your requirements are something like:

Stripe subscriptions → affiliate referral → 25% recurring commission → commission remains attached to customer → monthly payout

I'd rank them:

If you’re technical and specifically want self-hosted/open-source software for a SaaS affiliate program with recurring commissions, the shortlist is fairly small. I’d focus on these:

1. refkit.net — probably my first thing to evaluate

RefKit is particularly interesting for a technical SaaS. It provides a self-hostable Docker deployment, a REST API, SDK/CLI tooling, and integrations with Stripe and Shopify. Its Stripe integration explicitly tracks subscriptions, invoices, and renewals, which is exactly what you need for recurring affiliate commissions. RefKit

The architecture is also attractive if you don't want your affiliate system tightly coupled to your frontend: you can report conversions through POST /v1/transactions, allowing your own billing/application logic to remain authoritative. RefKit

I'd pick this if: you're building a Stripe-based SaaS and want something that feels like infrastructure rather than a WordPress plugin.

2. github.com — most conventional self-hosted platform

RefearnApp is an AGPL-3.0 open-source affiliate/referral platform with Docker deployment, PostgreSQL, a Next.js/React frontend, and Cloudflare-based tracking. It advertises Stripe and Paddle integrations, affiliate portals, coupon tracking, analytics, and payout management. GitHub

Its architecture is reasonably appealing for someone technical:

• Next.js/React
• PostgreSQL + Drizzle
• Docker
• Cloudflare Workers for tracking
• REST/API-oriented infrastructure
• Direct access to your own commission/affiliate data

The project is relatively young, though, so I'd inspect the commit history, issue tracker, tests, and commission-state implementation before putting substantial money through it. GitHub

I'd pick this if: you want an actual ready-made affiliate dashboard rather than assembling affiliate infrastructure yourself.

3. github.com — worth investigating if you want to hack on it

Cliq describes itself as self-hosted affiliate software for startups and provides an API, promoter portal, Dockerfile, and docker-compose.yml. GitHub

I would put this in the "inspect the code before committing" category rather than automatically recommending it for recurring SaaS billing. The important question isn't whether it can create an affiliate link; it's whether its underlying commission ledger correctly handles:

signup → subscription → renewal → upgrade → downgrade → refund → chargeback → cancellation → reactivation

For recurring programs, that state machine matters considerably more than the marketing/dashboard features.

4. affiliatewp.com — excellent if you're on WordPress

If your stack is WordPress/WooCommerce, this is the mature option I'd consider. It's self-hosted, and its Recurring Referrals add-on generates commissions on subscription renewal payments. It supports WooCommerce Subscriptions, Easy Digital Downloads, MemberPress, Paid Memberships Pro, Stripe through WP Simple Pay, etc. AffiliateWP

The catch: it's not open source in the same sense as the projects above, and it's fundamentally a WordPress product.

So I wouldn't choose it for a Next.js/Rails/Laravel/custom SaaS just because it supports recurring commissions.

What I'd choose for a technical SaaS

My ranking would be:

1. RefKit — best architectural fit if you're Stripe/API-centric.
2. RefearnApp — best if you want a more complete, ready-to-run affiliate application.
3. Cliq — interesting if you're comfortable modifying the code.
4. AffiliateWP — only if you're already deeply invested in WordPress.
5. DIY — surprisingly reasonable if your requirements are narrow.

The important distinction is that "recurring commissions" shouldn't just mean a checkbox saying 30% recurring. You want the software to maintain a durable relationship between the affiliate and the referred customer/subscription, then generate commission events from authoritative billing events.

For example, I'd want the data model to look roughly like:

Affiliate
   │
   └── Referral
         │
         └── Customer
               │
               └── Subscription
                     ├── invoice.paid  → commission
                     ├── invoice.paid  → commission
                     ├── invoice.paid  → commission
                     ├── refund        → reversal
                     └── cancellation  → stop future commissions

And preferably have an immutable-ish commission ledger rather than simply calculating:

affiliate.revenue * commission_rate

That becomes important when you have refunds, prorations, annual plans, coupons, failed payments, upgrades, multiple currencies, and manual adjustments.

One more option worth watching

RefKit and RefearnApp are considerably more relevant to your question than most "open-source affiliate software" search results. There are also open-source affiliate program directories such as OpenAffiliate, but those are for discovering/joining affiliate programs, not operating your own recurring-commission program. GitHub

If you tell me your stack (Stripe/Paddle/Chargebee, Next.js/Rails/etc.) and whether you need affiliate payouts via Stripe/PayPal, I can narrow this to the 2–3 options I'd actually deploy and compare their architecture, license, recurring-commission semantics, webhooks, fraud handling, and deployment requirements.

What I'd choose for a technical SaaS

My ranking would be:

If you're technical and specifically want self-hosting + recurring commissions, the field gets much narrower than the generic “affiliate software” lists suggest. Truly mature, fully open-source options are still relatively scarce. Refgrow

My shortlist

1. github.com

Probably one of the more interesting projects if you want something you can actually modify. It's explicitly positioned as self-hosted affiliate software for startups, with APIs, a promoter portal, Docker support and a docker-compose.yml.

I'd investigate this first if your priority is owning the infrastructure and adapting the application to your product.

2. github.com

A newer, developer-oriented option that describes itself as an open-source, self-hostable alternative to Rewardful/FirstPromoter/Tolt. It's AGPL-3.0, Docker-based, and designed around high-volume tracking and analytics.

This is especially interesting if you're comfortable with a relatively young project and want a modern stack rather than a legacy PHP application.

3. github.com

Weferral explicitly supports recurring/lifetime commissions and monthly commissions for subscription/SaaS businesses, with fixed or percentage-based rewards.

The big caveat: its own README says it is not production-ready yet. I'd treat it as a promising codebase to fork/customize rather than something I'd immediately put in charge of millions in commission liability.

If “self-hosted” matters more than “open source”

AffiliateWP is one of the strongest choices if you're already on WordPress/WooCommerce. It runs on your infrastructure and supports recurring commissions, lifetime commissions and multi-tier commissions. Rekomi

Post Affiliate Pro is another serious self-hosted option. It's proprietary rather than open source, but considerably more mature than many GitHub projects, with extensive commission/rule functionality and fraud controls. Refgrow

If you can accept SaaS

Tapfiliate is worth looking at if you ultimately decide that maintaining the infrastructure isn't worth it. It has explicit recurring/lifetime commission functionality and an API that lets you associate subsequent payments with the original customer/referral. Tapfiliate

For a Stripe/Paddle SaaS, I'd also compare Rewardful and FirstPromoter—but neither is self-hosted.

What I'd choose for a technical SaaS

If I were evaluating this for a new system, I'd rank the approaches:

1. RefearnApp — if you want modern OSS and are comfortable evaluating a young project.
2. Cliq — if you want a self-hosted application you can extend.
3. Weferral — interesting if its architecture fits, but I'd wait for production maturity.
4. AffiliateWP — excellent if your application is already WordPress.
5. Post Affiliate Pro — best “I need this to actually work and don't care whether it's OSS” option.
6. Build the commission engine yourself — surprisingly attractive if your billing system is already Stripe/Paddle and you have engineering capacity.

The last option deserves serious consideration. Recurring commissions are fundamentally a billing-event problem, not merely an affiliate-link problem. Your system needs to reliably handle:

affiliate → click → signup → customer_id → subscription → invoice/payment → commission → refund/chargeback → cancellation → payout

I'd make server-side attribution + immutable commission ledger + billing webhooks + idempotency + clawbacks first-class concepts rather than relying on browser cookies and “conversion” records.

If you tell me your stack (e.g. Stripe + Next.js/Postgres, Laravel, Django, Rails, etc.) and roughly number of affiliates / monthly transactions, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 architectures I'd actually deploy.

A newer, developer-oriented option that describes itself as an open-source, self-hostable alternative to Rewardful/FirstPromoter/Tolt. It's AGPL-3.0, Docker-based, and designed around high-volume tracking and analytics.

This is especially interesting if you're comfortable with a relatively young project and want a modern stack rather than a legacy PHP application.

3. github.com

Weferral explicitly supports recurring/lifetime commissions and monthly commissions for subscription/SaaS businesses, with fixed or percentage-based rewards.

The big caveat: its own README says it is not production-ready yet. I'd treat it as a promising codebase to fork/customize rather than something I'd immediately put in charge of millions in commission liability.

If “self-hosted” matters more than “open source”

AffiliateWP is one of the strongest choices if you're already on WordPress/WooCommerce. It runs on your infrastructure and supports recurring commissions, lifetime commissions and multi-tier commissions. rekomi.com

Post Affiliate Pro is another serious self-hosted option. It's proprietary rather than open source, but considerably more mature than many GitHub projects, with extensive commission/rule functionality and fraud controls. Refgrow

If you can accept SaaS

Tapfiliate is worth looking at if you ultimately decide that maintaining the infrastructure isn't worth it. It has explicit recurring/lifetime commission functionality and an API that lets you associate subsequent payments with the original customer/referral.

For a Stripe/Paddle SaaS, I'd also compare Rewardful and FirstPromoter—but neither is self-hosted.

What I'd choose for a technical SaaS

If you’re technical and specifically want self-hosted + recurring commissions, the field is much smaller than the general “affiliate software” market. I’d shortlist these:

1. refkit.net — probably my first choice

This is the most interesting option if you're building a subscription SaaS today. It explicitly supports recurring commissions, Stripe subscription/invoice tracking, REST API integration, affiliate links, payouts, and Docker-based self-hosting. The application/API are AGPL-licensed, while the SDK/CLI/MCP components are MIT. RefKit

The architecture is particularly attractive if you're technical: rather than relying on a browser-only tracking script, you can identify the referred customer in your backend and let the platform associate subsequent billing events with the original affiliate.

I'd investigate this first if your stack is Stripe + a custom SaaS backend.

2. github.com — promising developer-oriented alternative

RefearnApp is explicitly positioned as an open-source/self-hostable alternative to Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tolt. It's AGPL-3.0, Docker-deployable, uses PostgreSQL/Drizzle, and advertises Stripe/Paddle integrations, affiliate portals, payouts and high-scale tracking. GitHub

The project is relatively young, though: its GitHub listing currently shows only a few dozen stars. I'd therefore audit the code, issue tracker, release cadence and payout/commission implementation before putting production money through it.

3. github.com — good if you want something you can modify

Cliq is a genuine self-hosted affiliate application with a backend, promoter portal, API, Docker Compose deployment, PostgreSQL and Redis. GitHub

The appeal here is less “finished Rewardful clone” and more starting point for your own affiliate infrastructure. If you expect unusual commission rules—e.g. recurring for 12 months, different rates by plan, grandfathering, clawbacks, multi-tier commissions—you may actually prefer this model.

I'd inspect whether its current commission engine natively models recurring subscription events before choosing it.

4. numok.com — worth testing for a straightforward Stripe setup

Numok describes itself as an open-source, self-hostable affiliate platform centered around Stripe. It handles attribution, commission calculation, affiliate dashboards and payout queuing. Numok

It's appealing if you want “deploy it and connect Stripe” rather than assembling your own tracking infrastructure. I'd specifically test subscription renewals, upgrades/downgrades, refunds and cancellations in its current implementation before committing to it for recurring commissions.

5. github.com — another full-stack option

Refferq is a Next.js/PostgreSQL open-source affiliate-management platform with affiliate and admin portals, real-time analytics, automated commission calculations, payout processing and email workflows. GitHub

Again, I'd put recurring billing semantics near the top of your evaluation checklist rather than assuming that “affiliate commissions” means recurring subscription commissions.

6. affiliatewp.com — if you're on WordPress

If your application is WordPress/WooCommerce, AffiliateWP is a much more mature option. It is self-hosted and supports tiered, recurring and lifetime commissions, plus REST APIs and extensive WordPress hooks. GitHub

The downside is that it's self-hosted but not open-source in the same sense as the GitHub projects above, and you're buying into WordPress.

One important distinction

I'd separate these into two categories:

“I want an affiliate product I can deploy.”

• RefKit
• RefearnApp
• Numok
• Refferq
• Cliq

“I want infrastructure I can deeply customize.”

• RefKit
• RefearnApp
• Cliq

For a SaaS with recurring revenue, I wouldn't choose based primarily on whether it supports “recurring commissions” in its UI. The important question is whether the commission ledger is tied to the referred customer/subscription, rather than simply generating another commission on a schedule.

For example, you ideally want:

affiliate A
    ↓
referral click
    ↓
customer C created
    ↓
Stripe subscription S
    ↓
invoice.paid
    ↓
commission ledger entry #1
    ↓
next invoice.paid
    ↓
commission ledger entry #2
    ↓
upgrade → commission based on new amount
    ↓
refund → clawback
    ↓
cancellation → future commissions stop

That architecture is substantially more robust than “give affiliate A 20% every month for 12 months.”

What I'd choose

For a new technical SaaS in 2026, my evaluation order would be:

1. RefKit — strongest apparent fit for modern Stripe SaaS + recurring commissions.
2. RefearnApp — especially interesting if you want maximum ownership and are comfortable with a younger project.
3. Cliq — if you're willing to customize the platform.
4. Numok — if your requirements are comparatively simple and Stripe-centric.
5. Refferq — worth benchmarking against the above.
6. AffiliateWP — excellent if your application is already WordPress.

And I'd keep Rewardful/Tapfiliate/etc. out of the shortlist if self-hosting is a hard requirement: they can solve recurring commissions very well, but they're hosted SaaS rather than software you operate yourself. For example, Tapfiliate does support recurring/lifetime commissions and API-driven renewal attribution, but that doesn't make it self-hosted. support.tapfiliate.com tapfiliate.com

If you tell me your stack (Stripe/Paddle/Chargebee + Next.js/Rails/Laravel/etc.) and whether you need multi-tier commissions, coupons, lifetime attribution, clawbacks, and automated payouts, I can narrow this to the 2–3 projects I'd actually deploy and compare their architectures/licenses.

For a new technical SaaS in 2026, my evaluation order would be:

1. RefKit — strongest apparent fit for modern Stripe SaaS + recurring commissions.
2. RefearnApp — especially interesting if you want maximum ownership and are comfortable with a younger project.
3. Cliq — if you're willing to customize the platform.
4. Numok — if your requirements are comparatively simple and Stripe-centric.
5. Refferq — worth benchmarking against the above.
6. AffiliateWP — excellent if your application is already WordPress.

And I'd keep Rewardful/Tapfiliate/etc. out of the shortlist if self-hosting is a hard requirement: they can solve recurring commissions very well, but they're hosted SaaS rather than software you operate yourself. For example, Tapfiliate does support recurring/lifetime commissions and API-driven renewal attribution, but that doesn't make it self-hosted.

I'd inspect whether its current commission engine natively models recurring subscription events before choosing it.

4. numok.com — worth testing for a straightforward Stripe setup

Numok describes itself as an open-source, self-hostable affiliate platform centered around Stripe. It handles attribution, commission calculation, affiliate dashboards and payout queuing. Numok

It's appealing if you want “deploy it and connect Stripe” rather than assembling your own tracking infrastructure. I'd specifically test subscription renewals, upgrades/downgrades, refunds and cancellations in its current implementation before committing to it for recurring commissions.

5. github.com — another full-stack option

Refferq is a Next.js/PostgreSQL open-source affiliate-management platform with affiliate and admin portals, real-time analytics, automated commission calculations, payout processing and email workflows. GitHub

Again, I'd put recurring billing semantics near the top of your evaluation checklist rather than assuming that “affiliate commissions” means recurring subscription commissions.

6. affiliatewp.com — if you're on WordPress

If your application is WordPress/WooCommerce, AffiliateWP is a much more mature option. It is self-hosted and supports tiered, recurring and lifetime commissions, plus REST APIs and extensive WordPress hooks.

The downside is that it's self-hosted but not open-source in the same sense as the GitHub projects above, and you're buying into WordPress.

If you’re technical and specifically want self-hosting + recurring commissions, I’d narrow the field considerably. The genuinely open-source ecosystem is pretty thin; many products marketed as “self-hosted” are actually proprietary software you deploy yourself. Refgrow Remoby

My shortlist

1. RefKit — most interesting for a developer

This is probably the first one I'd investigate. RefKit is developing the application/API publicly under AGPL-3.0, provides Docker Compose self-hosting, and explicitly supports recurring commissions. Its architecture is backend/API-oriented rather than relying entirely on browser cookies: you identify the referred customer in your application and report revenue to RefKit. RefKit

That makes it particularly attractive if you want something like:

your app
   │
   ├── signup → affiliate attribution
   │
   ├── Stripe webhook
   │       └── subscription / renewal
   │
   ▼
RefKit
   ├── affiliate
   ├── attribution
   ├── commission ledger
   └── payout records

It also exposes a REST API, SDK/CLI, and has Stripe integration. The project says the self-hosted distribution is Docker Compose based. RefKit

Caveat: it's relatively young, so I'd inspect the repo's activity, tests, migration strategy, and production deployment story before making it business-critical.

2. Cliq — worth evaluating

Cliq is explicitly described as self-hosted affiliate software for startups, with a Docker Compose setup, API, promoter portal, and a modern frontend/backend architecture. GitHub

The interesting part for a technical buyer is that you get an actual application rather than merely a tracking script/library.

I'd put it in the POC bucket, though. I would verify specifically:

• recurring commission calculation
• commission duration/lifetime
• refunds and chargebacks
• subscription upgrades/downgrades
• cookie vs server-side attribution
• Stripe/webhook handling
• payout ledger
• affiliate fraud controls
• project maintenance/activity

3. Post Affiliate Pro — mature but not open source

If "I want to run it myself" matters more than "I need the source under an open-source license," Post Affiliate Pro becomes considerably more compelling.

It's a mature commercial product with a self-hosted deployment option and a broad affiliate-management feature set, including things such as multi-tier commissions and fraud detection. Refgrow

I'd consider this when you want to avoid building operational infrastructure yourself but still don't want your affiliate database and tracking infrastructure living entirely in somebody else's SaaS.

The downside is obvious: self-hosted ≠ open source here, and you still have licensing costs.

4. RefearnApp — interesting if you want to own the data model

RefearnApp is another newer project explicitly positioning itself as open-source/self-hostable. It uses a PostgreSQL-centric architecture and advertises Docker/Coolify/VPS deployment, Stripe integration, recurring commission functionality, and direct database access. refearnapp.com

For someone comfortable with infrastructure, that's appealing because affiliate attribution can become a surprisingly important piece of your revenue data.

I'd still treat it as evaluate the code before adopting, rather than assuming the marketing claims imply the maturity of something like Post Affiliate Pro.

One important distinction

Don't accidentally end up with a traffic/affiliate tracker when what you actually need is a recurring SaaS affiliate ledger.

Tools such as Keitaro and Binom are strong self-hosted performance-marketing trackers, but their center of gravity is traffic/campaign attribution rather than managing a SaaS affiliate relationship through years of subscription renewals. Current comparisons likewise distinguish these from SaaS affiliate-management products. Remoby

For a SaaS recurring program, I'd want the underlying system to model something roughly like:

Affiliate
  └── Referral
       └── Customer
            └── Subscription
                 ├── Initial commission
                 ├── Renewal commission × N
                 ├── Upgrade adjustment
                 ├── Refund reversal
                 └── Cancellation

rather than simply:

click → cookie → conversion → commission

The former is much more robust for recurring revenue.

What I'd choose

If I were building this today and wanted maximum control, my evaluation order would be:

1. RefKit — strongest conceptual fit for a developer-owned SaaS affiliate system.
2. RefearnApp — investigate if its PostgreSQL/data model and maturity fit your needs.
3. Cliq — promising self-hosted option worth a hands-on deployment.
4. Post Affiliate Pro — choose this if maturity/features matter more than open-source licensing.
5. Build the thin layer yourself — surprisingly reasonable if your billing is already Stripe and your requirements are straightforward.

That last option is worth emphasizing. If you're comfortable with backend engineering, affiliate infrastructure doesn't necessarily need to be huge. Attribution + commission ledger + affiliate portal + payout export can be a fairly contained service, while your existing Stripe webhook stream supplies the authoritative subscription events.

The hard parts I'd not underestimate are attribution semantics, refunds/chargebacks, idempotency, commission reversals, payout reconciliation, and fraud.

If you tell me your stack (e.g. Stripe + Next.js + Postgres, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, etc.) and whether you need lifetime recurring commissions vs X-month recurring commissions, I can narrow this to the 2–3 best architectures and compare their GitHub/codebases in detail.

For someone comfortable with infrastructure, that's appealing because affiliate attribution can become a surprisingly important piece of your revenue data.

I'd still treat it as evaluate the code before adopting, rather than assuming the marketing claims imply the maturity of something like Post Affiliate Pro.

One important distinction

Don't accidentally end up with a traffic/affiliate tracker when what you actually need is a recurring SaaS affiliate ledger.

Tools such as Keitaro and Binom are strong self-hosted performance-marketing trackers, but their center of gravity is traffic/campaign attribution rather than managing a SaaS affiliate relationship through years of subscription renewals. Current comparisons likewise distinguish these from SaaS affiliate-management products.

For a SaaS recurring program, I'd want the underlying system to model something roughly like:

Affiliate
  └── Referral
       └── Customer
            └── Subscription
                 ├── Initial commission
                 ├── Renewal commission × N
                 ├── Upgrade adjustment
                 ├── Refund reversal
                 └── Cancellation

rather than simply:

click → cookie → conversion → commission

The former is much more robust for recurring revenue.

What I'd choose

If I were building this today and wanted maximum control, my evaluation order would be:

If you’re technical and specifically want self-hosted + recurring commissions, the field gets much narrower than the usual “best affiliate software” lists. Most mature products are SaaS rather than self-hostable.

My shortlist

*Verify the exact recurring/subscription behavior against your billing stack before committing.

1. refearnapp.com — probably the first one I'd test

This is the most interesting genuinely open-source, self-hostable option I found. It's explicitly positioned as an alternative to Rewardful/FirstPromoter/Tolt, uses Docker, and is AGPL-3.0. Its architecture is Next.js + Cloudflare Edge + Drizzle/Postgres-oriented infrastructure. Refearn App Git Hubp

The important bits for your use case:

• Self-hosted and source available
• Affiliate/referral links and conversion tracking
• Analytics and payout/commission tracking
• Designed around SaaS referral programs
• Stripe integration
• Can keep your conversion/customer data inside your infrastructure
• Edge-based tracking rather than requiring a third-party tracking domain

Caveat: it's relatively young compared with commercial affiliate platforms. I'd inspect the issue history, test Stripe webhook edge cases, and load-test it before making it the financial source of truth for a large program.

github.com

2. postaffiliatepro.com — mature self-hosted, but not OSS

If by "self-hosted" you mean I don't care whether the source is open, Post Affiliate Pro is worth considering.

It's an established self-hosted affiliate platform with substantially more traditional affiliate-network functionality: multi-tier commissions, fraud detection, banners, tracking integrations, etc. The tradeoff is that it's proprietary/licensed rather than genuinely open source. Refgrow

I'd favor it over an immature OSS project if:

• you're running a large affiliate network,
• you need lots of established integrations,
• affiliate fraud matters,
• you want a vendor-backed product,
• and you don't want your engineering team owning the affiliate ledger.

3. Build the commission engine yourself

For a technical team, this is actually more attractive than it initially sounds if your requirements are narrowly SaaS/Stripe-oriented.

I'd make your application the source of truth and model:

affiliate
  └── referral
        └── customer
              └── subscription
                    ├── invoice
                    ├── refund
                    ├── upgrade
                    ├── downgrade
                    └── cancellation

commission
  ├── pending
  ├── approved
  ├── paid
  └── reversed

Then consume billing webhooks:

checkout.session.completed
customer.subscription.created
invoice.paid
invoice.payment_failed
invoice.refunded
customer.subscription.updated
customer.subscription.deleted

For recurring commissions, the crucial distinction is that you don't create a commission merely because an affiliate referred somebody. You create commission events against actual billing events.

For example:

Affiliate A → Customer X
Customer X → $100/mo subscription
Commission = 30%

Month 1: +$30
Month 2: +$30
Month 3: +$30
...
Cancellation: stop future commissions
Refund: reverse corresponding commission

That gives you considerably more control than trying to force a generic affiliate tracker to understand your business rules.

What I would not prioritize

The big SaaS names—Rewardful, FirstPromoter, Tolt, PartnerStack, etc.—are good products, but they don't meet your self-hosted requirement. For example, current comparisons describe Rewardful as proprietary/hosted rather than self-hostable. Macrostack

Likewise, there are quite a few GitHub "affiliate systems," but many are really tracking components or abandoned projects, rather than production-grade affiliate ledgers. A recent survey of the OSS ecosystem makes the same point: genuinely mature open-source affiliate software is relatively scarce. Refgrow

My recommendation for a technical SaaS

I'd evaluate them in this order:

1. RefearnApp — quickest route to an actual OSS/self-hosted system.
2. Post Affiliate Pro — if proprietary is acceptable and reliability/features trump source availability.
3. Build the core yourself — if affiliate economics are important enough that you want commissions, attribution and billing reconciliation completely under your control.

The key architectural question I'd investigate before choosing is whether you need Stripe-only recurring commissions, or recurring commissions across Stripe + Paddle/Chargebee/Recurly/Lemon Squeezy/etc. If it's Stripe-only, a self-built event-driven commission ledger becomes much more compelling.

If you tell me your stack (e.g. Stripe + Next.js + Postgres) and the commission rules you want (e.g. 30% recurring for 12 months, lifetime, refunds, upgrades, coupons, multiple affiliates), I can narrow this to the best 2–3 architectures and point out the implementation traps.

If you're technical and specifically want self-hosting + recurring commissions, I'd split the market into true open-source/self-hostable options and proprietary software that happens to offer self-hosting. The latter category is much more mature.

My shortlist

*I'd validate the exact recurring/subscription behavior in the current RefearnApp code/docs before betting a production program on it.

1. RefearnApp — first one I'd investigate

refearnapp.com

RefearnApp is interesting because it explicitly positions itself as AGPL-licensed, open source and self-hostable, rather than merely offering an API or an on-premise enterprise edition. Refearn

For a technical team, that's a big distinction: you can inspect the attribution/commission logic, own the database, modify the application, and avoid being locked into a vendor's hosted infrastructure.

Caveat: it's much less battle-tested than something like Post Affiliate Pro. I'd inspect its GitHub activity, test subscription-renewal handling, and verify how it handles refunds, cancellations, chargebacks and commission reversals before deploying it as your financial source of truth.

2. Post Affiliate Pro — the pragmatic choice

postaffiliatepro.com

If "self-hosted" is more important than "open source," this is probably the one I'd put at the top of your evaluation list.

It has unusually mature commission machinery: recurring, lifetime, split and multi-tier commissions, among other structures. Post Affiliate Pro Post Affiliate Pro

Its recurring-commission implementation can operate from scheduled recurrence or from explicit external events/webhooks. The latter is particularly interesting for SaaS because you can tie commission generation to the actual subscription ID/payment event rather than blindly generating a commission every month. Post Affiliate Pro

It also supports Stripe subscription/webhook tracking, refunds, and several subscription billing platforms including Chargebee and Recurly. Post Affiliate Pro

Why I'd consider it: if you're building a serious affiliate program where incorrect commissions could become a material accounting problem, maturity is worth a lot.

Downside: it isn't open source, and its UI/architecture are more "established affiliate software" than modern developer-first SaaS.

3. Building your own

For a technical team, this is more viable than it initially sounds if your requirements are narrow.

I'd avoid building the whole affiliate-marketing surface yourself. Instead, make a small commission ledger around your existing billing system:

Stripe/Paddle/etc.
       │
       ▼
  Billing webhook
       │
       ▼
 Attribution service
       │
       ├── referral → customer
       ├── customer → subscription
       └── subscription → affiliate
                    │
                    ▼
             Commission ledger
                    │
          ┌─────────┴─────────┐
          ▼                   ▼
      Affiliate UI        Payout system

For recurring SaaS commissions, the important primitive isn't actually "affiliate tracking." It's a durable relationship:

affiliate
   ↓
referral
   ↓
customer
   ↓
subscription
   ↓
invoice/payment
   ↓
commission

Then each successful renewal produces a ledger entry such as:

subscription: sub_123
invoice: inv_456
affiliate: aff_789
gross_revenue: $100
commission_rate: 30%
commission: $30
status: pending

And critically, make (invoice_id, affiliate_id) or an equivalent event key idempotent. That prevents duplicate commissions when billing webhooks are retried.

I'd also make refunds/chargebacks first-class ledger events rather than mutating historical commissions.

What I'd choose

If I were evaluating this for a technical SaaS today:

1. RefearnApp → if actual open source + self-hosting is the primary requirement.

2. Post Affiliate Pro → if reliability and sophisticated commission rules matter more than source availability.

3. Custom system → if your billing/CRM infrastructure is already mature and you need unusual rules such as:

• recurring commissions for the lifetime of a customer
• different rates by plan
• commission caps
• first-payment-only bonuses + recurring revshare
• multiple affiliates sharing revenue
• affiliate → sub-affiliate hierarchies
• refunds/clawbacks
• commission lock periods
• manual commission adjustments
• custom attribution windows
• server-side attribution instead of cookies

One important observation: most of the popular SaaS affiliate products aren't actually self-hosted. Rewardful, FirstPromoter, Tolt, etc. are attractive because they make Stripe subscription affiliate programs easy, but they're hosted services rather than something you can deploy into your own infrastructure. Current comparisons still put them primarily in that hosted SaaS category. Affitor Affitor Documentation

If you tell me your stack (e.g. Stripe + Next.js/Rails/Laravel + Postgres) and whether you need affiliate links, coupons, multi-tier affiliates, automated payouts, or just recurring commission tracking, I can narrow this to the 2–3 options I'd actually deploy and compare their architecture/API/licensing in detail.

refearnapp.com

RefearnApp is interesting because it explicitly positions itself as AGPL-licensed, open source and self-hostable, rather than merely offering an API or an on-premise enterprise edition. Refearn

For a technical team, that's a big distinction: you can inspect the attribution/commission logic, own the database, modify the application, and avoid being locked into a vendor's hosted infrastructure.

Caveat: it's much less battle-tested than something like Post Affiliate Pro. I'd inspect its GitHub activity, test subscription-renewal handling, and verify how it handles refunds, cancellations, chargebacks and commission reversals before deploying it as your financial source of truth.

2. Post Affiliate Pro — the pragmatic choice

postaffiliatepro.com

If "self-hosted" is more important than "open source," this is probably the one I'd put at the top of your evaluation list.

It has unusually mature commission machinery: recurring, lifetime, split and multi-tier commissions, among other structures. Post Affiliate Pro Post Affiliate Pro

Its recurring-commission implementation can operate from scheduled recurrence or from explicit external events/webhooks. The latter is particularly interesting for SaaS because you can tie commission generation to the actual subscription ID/payment event rather than blindly generating a commission every month. Post Affiliate Pro

It also supports Stripe subscription/webhook tracking, refunds, and several subscription billing platforms including Chargebee and Recurly. Post Affiliate Pro

Why I'd consider it: if you're building a serious affiliate program where incorrect commissions could become a material accounting problem, maturity is worth a lot.

Downside: it isn't open source, and its UI/architecture are more "established affiliate software" than modern developer-first SaaS.

3. Building your own

For a technical team, this is more viable than it initially sounds if your requirements are narrow.

I'd avoid building the whole affiliate-marketing surface yourself. Instead, make a small commission ledger around your existing billing system:

Stripe/Paddle/etc.
       │
       ▼
  Billing webhook
       │
       ▼
 Attribution service
       │
       ├── referral → customer
       ├── customer → subscription
       └── subscription → affiliate
                    │
                    ▼
             Commission ledger
                    │
          ┌─────────┴─────────┐
          ▼                   ▼
      Affiliate UI        Payout system

For recurring SaaS commissions, the important primitive isn't actually "affiliate tracking." It's a durable relationship:

affiliate
   ↓
referral
   ↓
customer
   ↓
subscription
   ↓
invoice/payment
   ↓
commission

Then each successful renewal produces a ledger entry such as:

subscription: sub_123
invoice: inv_456
affiliate: aff_789
gross_revenue: $100
commission_rate: 30%
commission: $30
status: pending

And critically, make (invoice_id, affiliate_id) or an equivalent event key idempotent. That prevents duplicate commissions when billing webhooks are retried.

I'd also make refunds/chargebacks first-class ledger events rather than mutating historical commissions.

What I'd choose

If I were evaluating this for a technical SaaS today:

1. RefearnApp → if actual open source + self-hosting is the primary requirement.

2. Post Affiliate Pro → if reliability and sophisticated commission rules matter more than source availability.

3. Custom system → if your billing/CRM infrastructure is already mature and you need unusual rules such as:

• recurring commissions for the lifetime of a customer
• different rates by plan
• commission caps
• first-payment-only bonuses + recurring revshare
• multiple affiliates sharing revenue
• affiliate → sub-affiliate hierarchies
• refunds/clawbacks
• commission lock periods
• manual commission adjustments
• custom attribution windows
• server-side attribution instead of cookies

One important observation: most of the popular SaaS affiliate products aren't actually self-hosted. Rewardful, FirstPromoter, Tolt, etc. are attractive because they make Stripe subscription affiliate programs easy, but they're hosted services rather than something you can deploy into your own infrastructure. Current comparisons still put them primarily in that hosted SaaS category.

Yes. If you're technical and specifically want self-hosted + recurring commissions, I’d focus on a fairly small set. The market is surprisingly thin: lots of “open-source affiliate” projects are really link trackers, while mature affiliate platforms tend to be proprietary SaaS or self-hosted commercial software. iDevAffiliate Refgrow

My shortlist

1. refkit.net — probably where I'd start

This is particularly aligned with what you're describing. RefKit is designed around SaaS affiliate infrastructure, supports recurring commissions, has a REST API/SDK, Stripe integration, and can be deployed yourself with Docker Compose. Its application is AGPL-3.0 while its SDK/CLI/MCP pieces are MIT. RefKit

The architecture is appealing if you're technical because the affiliate system lives behind your application's backend rather than relying primarily on a JavaScript tracking snippet.

I'd investigate this first if your program looks like:

affiliate → referred user → Stripe subscription → recurring invoices → recurring affiliate commission

That's exactly the workflow it advertises.

2. github.com

Refferq is another serious-looking OSS candidate. It's built with Next.js + PostgreSQL and includes an affiliate portal, admin interface, referral/conversion tracking, commission management, analytics, automated workflows and payout processing. GitHub

For a technical team, I'd look closely at its database schema and commission engine before choosing it. If the codebase is clean, it could be a very nice base for implementing your own business rules.

3. github.com

RefearnApp is explicitly positioned as an open-source/self-hostable alternative to Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tolt. It uses AGPL-3.0, Docker, Next.js, Drizzle and Cloudflare-oriented infrastructure, with an emphasis on high-volume tracking. GitHub

I'd consider it if tracking performance/scale is more important than having an enormous collection of affiliate-management features.

4. github.com

Weferral is unusually relevant to your recurring-commission requirement. Its documented features include:

• recurring/lifetime commissions
• monthly commissions for SaaS
• fixed or percentage commissions
• affiliate portal
• customizable affiliate experience
• tracking/statistics

The catch is important: its own repository says it is not production-ready and is still a work in progress. GitHub

So I'd treat this as something to mine for ideas/code rather than immediately putting your financial ledger on it.

5. github.com

Cliq is explicitly described as self-hosted affiliate software for startups, with an API, promoter portal and Docker Compose deployment. GitHub

This is attractive if your attitude is:

“I don't necessarily need a finished affiliate SaaS; give me a decent foundation and I'll integrate it into my stack.”

That's often the right approach for a technical team.

6. Raider

Raider is an interesting different architecture. Rather than trying to be a gigantic affiliate-marketing suite, it focuses on the affiliate-side dashboard: partner signup, tracking codes, earnings/balances and payout requests, with your existing backend feeding it transactions through an API. It's MIT-licensed and self-hostable. Open Source Tools

That's potentially ideal if you already own the billing/subscription system and primarily need the affiliate ledger/portal.

7. Commercial but self-hosted: Post Affiliate Pro

If "open source" isn't actually a hard requirement, I'd also evaluate Post Affiliate Pro. It's not open source, but it is self-hosted and considerably more mature than most OSS projects. It supports things like multi-tier commissions, fraud detection, extensive integrations and recurring affiliate-management functionality. Refgrow

For a business handling significant affiliate payouts, I'd take a mature proprietary self-hosted system over an abandoned OSS project without hesitation.

What I'd choose for a technical SaaS

I'd narrow it to:

RefKit → Refferq → RefearnApp → Post Affiliate Pro

And I'd evaluate them based on whether they correctly model your commission ledger, rather than how pretty the affiliate dashboard is.

The critical functionality I'd test is:

Affiliate clicks
      ↓
Attribution
      ↓
Signup
      ↓
Subscription
      ↓
Initial commission
      ↓
Renewal invoice
      ↓
Recurring commission
      ↓
Refund / chargeback
      ↓
Commission reversal
      ↓
Commission becomes payable
      ↓
Payout

In particular, don't settle for software that merely says "recurring commissions supported." You want to know whether it has a durable relationship between:

affiliate
  → referral
    → customer
      → subscription
        → invoice #1 → commission
        → invoice #2 → commission
        → invoice #3 → commission

That makes upgrades, downgrades, cancellations, refunds, failed payments, chargebacks, commission caps, and attribution changes much easier to reason about.

One other option worth watching

numok.com is a newer open-source/self-hosted project built specifically around Stripe, with automatic sale tracking and commission calculation. Its site explicitly advertises free self-hosting and unlimited affiliates. Numok

If Stripe is your billing system, I'd add Numok to the POC alongside RefKit.

My overall recommendation: if you're comfortable integrating APIs and maintaining Dockerized infrastructure, start with RefKit and Refferq, and use Post Affiliate Pro as the mature benchmark. I'd build a small test program against each and throw synthetic subscription events—signup, renewal, upgrade, downgrade, cancellation, refund, failed payment—at them. The one with the cleanest and most auditable commission ledger is probably the winner.

If you’re technical and specifically want self-hosted affiliate software for recurring commissions (SaaS subscriptions, memberships, usage billing, etc.), the shortlist is much smaller than the general affiliate software market. Many “open source affiliate” projects handle clicks and one-time conversions but don’t properly model subscription lifecycles (upgrades, downgrades, churn, refunds, renewals). Refgrow

I’d evaluate them in these buckets:

Best fits for a technical SaaS team

RefKit

refkit.net

Best match if you want a developer-first recurring commission engine. RefKit

Strengths:

• Designed around SaaS affiliate programs
• Recurring commission support
• API-first architecture
• Docker/self-host deployment option
• Works well if your app already owns billing logic
• Better fit than traditional affiliate scripts if you need Stripe/webhook-style attribution

Consider:

• Newer project, so you’d want to inspect maturity, release cadence, tests, and operational history before putting high-value commissions through it.

Good fit:

• Next.js/Rails/Laravel/custom SaaS
• Stripe-based subscriptions
• Teams comfortable owning infrastructure

Refferq

A newer open-source SaaS-oriented option. It aims at:

• affiliate dashboards
• commission rules
• payouts
• API-driven integrations

Open Source ToolsGood fit:

• You want a more complete application rather than building the affiliate ledger yourself.

Things to verify:

• Billing integrations
• Production maturity
• Whether recurring commissions are truly event-based or just “repeat conversions”

Raider

More of a building block than a full affiliate network. Open Source Tools

Strengths:

• Clean affiliate portal concept
• Self-hostable
• Useful if you already have: - customer database
• billing events
• commission calculation service

Architecture idea:

Stripe/Paddle
      |
      v
Your billing service
      |
      v
Commission ledger
      |
      v
Raider affiliate portal

Good fit:

• Engineers who want control
• Internal affiliate infrastructure

Mature self-hosted (not truly open source)

If “self-hosted” matters more than “open source,” these are worth considering.

Post Affiliate Pro

postaffiliatepro.com

Pros:

• Mature affiliate features
• Multi-tier commissions
• Fraud controls
• Lots of integrations

Cons:

• Commercial license
• Older architecture feel
• Less developer-centric

Better for:

• Agencies
• Networks
• Businesses that want a packaged system

Perfosphere

A commercial self-hosted affiliate network platform with publisher/advertiser/admin workflows. EnactSoft

Better for:

• Running an affiliate marketplace
• Many advertisers/publishers
• White-label affiliate networks

Less ideal for:

• A single SaaS company wanting Stripe subscription commissions.

If I were building this today

For a technical SaaS, I would rank them roughly:

Architecture I’d prefer

For a serious recurring program, I would avoid cookie-first affiliate systems and build around a commission ledger:

Affiliate click
      |
      v
Referral attribution
      |
      v
Customer signup
      |
      v
Billing events
(subscription.created)
(subscription.updated)
(invoice.paid)
(refund.created)
      |
      v
Commission engine
      |
      v
Affiliate balance ledger
      |
      v
Payouts

Key features to require:

• server-side attribution
• immutable commission ledger
• recurring commission rules
• refund clawbacks
• upgrade/downgrade handling
• payout states (pending, approved, paid)
• audit logs

A lot of affiliate platforms fail because they store “affiliate earned $X” instead of storing the underlying events that produced that number.

If you tell me your stack (Stripe vs Paddle vs Lemon Squeezy, language/framework, and whether you need a marketplace or just your own affiliate program), I can narrow this to 2–3 realistic choices.

Affiliate click
      |
      v
Referral attribution
      |
      v
Customer signup
      |
      v
Billing events
(subscription.created)
(subscription.updated)
(invoice.paid)
(refund.created)
      |
      v
Commission engine
      |
      v
Affiliate balance ledger
      |
      v
Payouts

Key features to require:

• server-side attribution
• immutable commission ledger
• recurring commission rules
• refund clawbacks
• upgrade/downgrade handling
• payout states (pending, approved, paid)
• audit logs

A lot of affiliate platforms fail because they store “affiliate earned $X” instead of storing the underlying events that produced that number.

If you tell me your stack (Stripe vs Paddle vs Lemon Squeezy, language/framework, and whether you need a marketplace or just your own affiliate program), I can narrow this to 2–3 realistic choices.

If you're technical and specifically want self-hosted + recurring commissions, the field is surprisingly small. Most affiliate SaaS products support recurring commissions, but aren't actually deployable by you. Refgrow

My shortlist

1. RefearnApp — probably the first one I'd investigate

RefearnApp is the most interesting option if you're building a modern SaaS.

It's AGPL-3.0, self-hostable, Docker-friendly, and uses Next.js/React, PostgreSQL/Drizzle, and Cloudflare Workers. Its stated integrations include Stripe and Paddle, plus PayPal payouts. GitHub

github.com

The architecture is particularly appealing if you're technical: you can keep affiliate/conversion data in your own Postgres and integrate attribution into your existing application rather than treating the affiliate platform as a black box. Refearn App

Caveat: it's a relatively young project (the GitHub repo currently shows only ~25 stars), so I'd audit the code, issue tracker, migration strategy, tests, and webhook/idempotency behavior before trusting it with meaningful commission liabilities. GitHub

2. AffiliateWP — excellent if you're on WordPress

AffiliateWP is probably the most mature choice if your application is WordPress/WooCommerce/EDD.

It is genuinely self-hosted and supports recurring, lifetime, and multi-tier commissions, with deep WooCommerce integration. Rekomi

affiliatewp.com

The downside for a technical SaaS developer is obvious: it's fundamentally a WordPress plugin, so I wouldn't introduce WordPress merely to get affiliate management.

3. Post Affiliate Pro — mature rather than open source

Post Affiliate Pro is worth considering if "self-hosted" matters more than "open source."

It has been around for a long time and supports recurring, split, and multi-tier commissions, payment integrations, fraud controls, and extensive reporting. The self-hosted edition is proprietary/licensed rather than genuinely open source. Refgrow AlternativeTo

postaffiliatepro.com

I'd favor it over a young OSS project if your priority is operational maturity and feature breadth rather than code ownership.

What I'd choose for a technical SaaS

If your stack is something like Next.js/Rails/Django + Stripe + Postgres, I'd rank them:

1. RefearnApp — investigate first if AGPL is acceptable.
2. Build the affiliate subsystem yourself — surprisingly attractive if you have strong engineering resources.
3. Post Affiliate Pro — if you want mature functionality and don't require open source.
4. AffiliateWP — only if you're already committed to WordPress.

The DIY route becomes quite reasonable when you realize what "recurring commissions" actually requires. You need durable records for:

• affiliate → customer attribution
• click/referral events
• initial conversion
• every subsequent subscription invoice
• refunds/chargebacks
• upgrades/downgrades
• cancellations
• commission eligibility windows
• commission reversals
• payout states
• idempotent Stripe/Paddle webhook processing
• affiliate balances/ledger
• attribution disputes

I'd strongly recommend modeling commissions as an immutable-ish ledger rather than calculating an affiliate's balance from current subscription state. That makes recurring commissions, refunds, audits, and corrections substantially easier.

One important distinction: "recurring commission" can mean either "pay X% of every renewal forever" or "pay X% for N months/renewals." Make sure whichever product you choose supports the exact rule you need rather than merely advertising "recurring commissions."

If you tell me your stack (Stripe/Paddle/Lemon Squeezy, language/framework, Docker/Kubernetes, and whether you need automated payouts), I can narrow this down to the 2–3 architectures I'd seriously consider and compare their commission/webhook models.

Caveat: it's a relatively young project (the GitHub repo currently shows only ~25 stars), so I'd audit the code, issue tracker, migration strategy, tests, and webhook/idempotency behavior before trusting it with meaningful commission liabilities. GitHub

2. AffiliateWP — excellent if you're on WordPress

AffiliateWP is probably the most mature choice if your application is WordPress/WooCommerce/EDD.

It is genuinely self-hosted and supports recurring, lifetime, and multi-tier commissions, with deep WooCommerce integration. Rekomi

affiliatewp.com

The downside for a technical SaaS developer is obvious: it's fundamentally a WordPress plugin, so I wouldn't introduce WordPress merely to get affiliate management.

3. Post Affiliate Pro — mature rather than open source

Post Affiliate Pro is worth considering if "self-hosted" matters more than "open source."

It has been around for a long time and supports recurring, split, and multi-tier commissions, payment integrations, fraud controls, and extensive reporting. The self-hosted edition is proprietary/licensed rather than genuinely open source. Refgrow alternativeto.net

If you’re technical and specifically want self-hosting + recurring commissions, I’d separate the market into true open-source projects, self-hosted commercial products, and SaaS tools that happen to have good APIs.

My shortlist

1. RefearnApp — probably the first one I'd investigate

refearnapp.com

This is the most interesting option if by "open source" you mean actually inspectable and deployable source code. It advertises an AGPLv3 license, self-hosting, and full source access, specifically targeting SaaS affiliate programs. Refearn App Refearn App

I'd investigate it first if your stack looks something like:

Stripe/Paddle → webhooks → affiliate tracker → recurring subscription commissions → affiliate portal

The important thing I'd validate before production is how well its recurring-commission engine handles subscription changes, cancellations, refunds, failed payments, attribution persistence, and historical reconciliation.

2. AffiliateWP — excellent if you're already on WordPress

affiliatewp.com

AffiliateWP is self-hosted, but it's a commercial WordPress plugin rather than an open-source project. It's particularly compelling with WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads. Recurring commissions are supported through its recurring-commissions functionality/add-on. Icodrip

I wouldn't choose it for a custom Next.js/Rails/Django SaaS simply because you're going to be fighting its WordPress-centric architecture.

3. Post Affiliate Pro — strongest for complicated commission logic

postaffiliatepro.com

This isn't open source, but it's worth considering if commission logic is more important than source-code ownership.

Its recurring commission implementation is unusually mature: it supports recurring payments, subscription IDs, different recurring rates, and both automated and webhook/API-driven modes. Post Affiliate Pro Post Affiliate Pro

It also has a large collection of commission rules/plugins, including lifetime commissions, tiered commissions, bonuses, and other nontrivial structures. Post Affiliate Pro

The catch: if your requirement is literally "I need to deploy the software on my own infrastructure and own the source", this probably isn't the answer.

4. iDevAffiliate

idevaffiliate.com

Another mature self-hosted commercial option. I'd consider it if you want something closer to traditional affiliate-management software rather than a developer-oriented SaaS referral layer.

There's a useful distinction here: self-hosted doesn't necessarily mean open source. Commercial self-hosted software can give you data ownership and deployment control without giving you the source code. iDevAffiliate

5. Build the affiliate layer yourself

For a technical team, this is surprisingly viable if your requirements are relatively narrow.

I'd model the core around an immutable ledger:

affiliate
  └── referral
       └── customer
            └── subscription
                 ├── invoice
                 ├── invoice
                 ├── refund
                 └── cancellation

Then make commissions derived financial records:

Commission
- affiliate_id
- customer_id
- subscription_id
- invoice_id
- amount
- currency
- rate
- status
- attribution_source
- created_at

The crucial design decision is not to say "affiliate gets 20% of this customer's future revenue" and then maintain a mutable balance. Instead, every successful renewal produces a new commission event tied to the original attribution/subscription.

That makes:

• refunds/reversals
• upgrades/downgrades
• prorations
• failed payments
• cancellations
• commission caps
• lifetime vs. time-limited commissions
• audit trails

much easier to reason about.

What I'd choose

If I were evaluating this for a technical SaaS today:

1. RefearnApp — first open-source candidate to POC.
2. Self-build — if affiliate economics are strategically important and you have engineering bandwidth.
3. Post Affiliate Pro — if you need lots of sophisticated commission rules and don't actually require open source.
4. AffiliateWP — if the product is fundamentally WordPress/WooCommerce.
5. iDevAffiliate — worth a look for a mature, conventional self-hosted affiliate system.

One caveat: the open-source/self-hosted affiliate ecosystem is much thinner than the SaaS affiliate ecosystem. There are plenty of products advertising recurring commissions—e.g. Rewardful supports recurring or one-time commissions—but that doesn't satisfy your self-hosting requirement. Rewardful

If you tell me your stack (Stripe vs Paddle, SaaS vs marketplace, Docker/K8s, expected affiliates/transactions, and whether you need PayPal/Wise payouts), I can narrow this to 2–3 options and compare architecture, license, recurring-commission mechanics, APIs/webhooks, payout handling, and deployment model.

Stripe/Paddle → webhooks → affiliate tracker → recurring subscription commissions → affiliate portal

The important thing I'd validate before production is how well its recurring-commission engine handles subscription changes, cancellations, refunds, failed payments, attribution persistence, and historical reconciliation.

2. AffiliateWP — excellent if you're already on WordPress

affiliatewp.com

AffiliateWP is self-hosted, but it's a commercial WordPress plugin rather than an open-source project. It's particularly compelling with WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads. Recurring commissions are supported through its recurring-commissions functionality/add-on. Icodrip

I wouldn't choose it for a custom Next.js/Rails/Django SaaS simply because you're going to be fighting its WordPress-centric architecture.

3. Post Affiliate Pro — strongest for complicated commission logic

postaffiliatepro.com

This isn't open source, but it's worth considering if commission logic is more important than source-code ownership.

Its recurring commission implementation is unusually mature: it supports recurring payments, subscription IDs, different recurring rates, and both automated and webhook/API-driven modes. Post Affiliate Pro Post Affiliate Pro

It also has a large collection of commission rules/plugins, including lifetime commissions, tiered commissions, bonuses, and other nontrivial structures. Post Affiliate Pro

The catch: if your requirement is literally "I need to deploy the software on my own infrastructure and own the source", this probably isn't the answer.

4. iDevAffiliate

idevaffiliate.com

Another mature self-hosted commercial option. I'd consider it if you want something closer to traditional affiliate-management software rather than a developer-oriented SaaS referral layer.

There's a useful distinction here: self-hosted doesn't necessarily mean open source. Commercial self-hosted software can give you data ownership and deployment control without giving you the source code. iDevAffiliate

5. Build the affiliate layer yourself

For a technical team, this is surprisingly viable if your requirements are relatively narrow.

I'd model the core around an immutable ledger:

affiliate
  └── referral
       └── customer
            └── subscription
                 ├── invoice
                 ├── invoice
                 ├── refund
                 └── cancellation

Then make commissions derived financial records:

Commission
- affiliate_id
- customer_id
- subscription_id
- invoice_id
- amount
- currency
- rate
- status
- attribution_source
- created_at

The crucial design decision is not to say "affiliate gets 20% of this customer's future revenue" and then maintain a mutable balance. Instead, every successful renewal produces a new commission event tied to the original attribution/subscription.

That makes:

• refunds/reversals
• upgrades/downgrades
• prorations
• failed payments
• cancellations
• commission caps
• lifetime vs. time-limited commissions
• audit trails

much easier to reason about.

What I'd choose

If I were evaluating this for a technical SaaS today:

1. RefearnApp — first open-source candidate to POC.
2. Self-build — if affiliate economics are strategically important and you have engineering bandwidth.
3. Post Affiliate Pro — if you need lots of sophisticated commission rules and don't actually require open source.
4. AffiliateWP — if the product is fundamentally WordPress/WooCommerce.
5. iDevAffiliate — worth a look for a mature, conventional self-hosted affiliate system.

One caveat: the open-source/self-hosted affiliate ecosystem is much thinner than the SaaS affiliate ecosystem. There are plenty of products advertising recurring commissions—e.g. Rewardful supports recurring or one-time commissions—but that doesn't satisfy your self-hosting requirement.

If you're technical and specifically want self-hosting + recurring commissions, I'd split the market into two buckets: genuinely open-source projects you can modify, and mature self-hosted commercial software.

My shortlist

• RefearnApp explicitly positions itself as an open-source alternative to Rewardful/FirstPromoter/Tolt and supports self-hosting, but I'd verify the exact recurring-renewal behavior against your billing provider before putting money through it. GitHub

1. RefearnApp — probably the first one I'd evaluate

github.com

This is the most interesting option if you're comfortable operating infrastructure. It's AGPL-3.0, Docker-based, built around Next.js/Drizzle, and explicitly targets SaaS referral/affiliate programs. It emphasizes high-scale tracking, real-time analytics and keeping transaction/tracking data on your infrastructure. GitHub

I'd investigate this first if your stack looks like:

Stripe/Paddle → your application → affiliate tracker → commission ledger → payout system

The important caveat is that relatively young OSS affiliate projects can look feature-complete while having less battle-tested handling of refunds, subscription cancellations, upgrades/downgrades, attribution changes, and payout reconciliation.

2. Refferq — interesting general-purpose OSS option

github.com

Refferq is another open-source, self-hostable platform, built with Next.js/PostgreSQL. It has an affiliate portal, admin interface, referral tracking, commission calculation, payout scheduling and flexible commission rules. GitHub

Its stated features are attractive for a program where you want more than just "give me a referral URL":

• affiliate/partner portal
• configurable commission rates
• automated commission calculations
• payout scheduling
• multiple payout methods
• admin workflows
• analytics

I'd put it in the "prototype it and inspect the code/database model carefully" category rather than assuming it's production-grade because the feature checklist is long.

3. Weferral — worth examining if monthly recurring rewards matter

github.com

Weferral explicitly advertises recurring/lifetime commissions and monthly commissions for subscription/SaaS products, along with fixed or percentage-based commissions. GitHub

The big warning: its own repository says it is not production-ready and remains a work in progress. GitHub

So I'd treat it more as a useful reference/codebase to fork than as the obvious production answer.

4. Cliq — clean developer-oriented option

github.com

Cliq describes itself as self-hosted affiliate software for startups and provides a REST/API-oriented architecture, promoter portal, Docker Compose deployment and a modern frontend/backend structure. GitHub

I'd investigate this if API integration and customization are more important to you than having a giant mature feature set.

5. AffiliateWP — if you're on WordPress

affiliatewp.com

This is a different proposition: not open source, but genuinely self-hosted and much more mature.

It supports recurring commissions, lifetime commissions, tiered commissions, affiliate management and automated payouts. Its current automatic-payout system can run scheduled payouts through supported payment methods. AffiliateWP

If your application is WordPress/WooCommerce, I'd choose this over an immature OSS project unless you have a strong reason to own the code.

6. Solid Affiliate — particularly good for WooCommerce subscriptions

If you're specifically running WooCommerce, Solid Affiliate deserves consideration. It handles recurring commissions natively and integrates with WooCommerce Subscriptions; AffiliateWP's equivalent recurring functionality is provided through an add-on. WP All Import

The thing I'd scrutinize most

For a recurring-commission SaaS, "supports recurring commissions" isn't enough.

I'd test the software against this state machine:

Affiliate A
   │
   └── Customer X
          │
          ├── signup       → $100 commission
          ├── renewal #1   → $100
          ├── renewal #2   → $100
          ├── upgrade      → +commission adjustment
          ├── downgrade    → commission adjustment
          ├── refund       → clawback
          └── cancellation → future commissions stop

Then test:

• attribution survives beyond the initial checkout
• subscription renewals are independently recorded
• refunds create negative ledger entries, rather than mutating history
• upgrades/downgrades don't double-credit
• failed payments don't generate commissions
• commission lock/approval periods work
• affiliate changes don't rewrite historical attribution
• payouts are idempotent
• webhook retries don't duplicate commissions
• Stripe/Paddle customer IDs are stored as durable foreign identifiers
• you can export the entire commission ledger
• you can reconstruct why every dollar was credited

That last point is particularly important. Once affiliates are owed real money, I'd much rather have an append-only-ish commission ledger than software that simply maintains a mutable affiliate.balance.

My recommendation

For a technical SaaS team, I'd investigate in this order:

1. RefearnApp — strongest-looking OSS/self-hosted starting point.
2. Refferq — interesting alternative with a broader management/payout feature set.
3. Cliq — investigate if API-first customization is important.
4. Weferral — useful, but its own repo says it isn't production-ready.
5. AffiliateWP/Solid Affiliate — if your stack is WordPress/WooCommerce and you value maturity over source-code ownership.

The broader open-source ecosystem is still quite immature compared with hosted SaaS affiliate products; current directories list only a small handful of genuine OSS/self-hosted options. Open Source Tools Refgrow

If you tell me your stack (e.g. Stripe + Next.js, Laravel + Stripe, Paddle, WooCommerce, etc.) and whether you need 1-tier vs multi-tier commissions, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 I'd actually deploy and compare their architecture, recurring billing support, attribution model, payout handling, license, and GitHub activity.

github.com

Cliq describes itself as self-hosted affiliate software for startups and provides a REST/API-oriented architecture, promoter portal, Docker Compose deployment and a modern frontend/backend structure. GitHub

I'd investigate this if API integration and customization are more important to you than having a giant mature feature set.

5. AffiliateWP — if you're on WordPress

affiliatewp.com

This is a different proposition: not open source, but genuinely self-hosted and much more mature.

It supports recurring commissions, lifetime commissions, tiered commissions, affiliate management and automated payouts. Its current automatic-payout system can run scheduled payouts through supported payment methods. AffiliateWP

If your application is WordPress/WooCommerce, I'd choose this over an immature OSS project unless you have a strong reason to own the code.

6. Solid Affiliate — particularly good for WooCommerce subscriptions

If you're specifically running WooCommerce, Solid Affiliate deserves consideration. It handles recurring commissions natively and integrates with WooCommerce Subscriptions; AffiliateWP's equivalent recurring functionality is provided through an add-on. wpallimport.com

The thing I'd scrutinize most

For a recurring-commission SaaS, "supports recurring commissions" isn't enough.

I'd test the software against this state machine:

Affiliate A
   │
   └── Customer X
          │
          ├── signup       → $100 commission
          ├── renewal #1   → $100
          ├── renewal #2   → $100
          ├── upgrade      → +commission adjustment
          ├── downgrade    → commission adjustment
          ├── refund       → clawback
          └── cancellation → future commissions stop

Then test:

For a technical team running recurring-revenue affiliate programs (SaaS, subscriptions, memberships), I’d separate the market into:

1. True self-hosted/open-source platforms — you own the data and code, but you own the maintenance burden.
2. Developer-first commercial tools — not open source, but sometimes a better engineering tradeoff.

The hard part is not referral links; it is the commission ledger: subscription lifecycle events, upgrades/downgrades, refunds, churn, payout holds, tax records, and auditability.

Open-source / self-hosted options worth evaluating

My shortlist if I were building today

1. RefKit — closest to “build it into my SaaS”

Good choice if you:

• run Stripe subscriptions,
• want API-first integration,
• want your own database of affiliates/customers/commissions,
• are comfortable owning operations.

It treats affiliate tracking more like infrastructure than a marketing widget. RefKit

Architecture I’d expect:

Stripe events
     |
     v
Your webhook service
     |
     v
Affiliate commission ledger
     |
     +--> affiliate dashboard
     +--> payout queue
     +--> reporting

2. Refferq — if you want more of an application

Worth looking at if you want:

• admin UI,
• affiliate portals,
• commission rules,
• payout workflows.

It appears aimed more at being a ready-to-run system than just a library. opensourcetools.org

Self-hosted commercial alternatives (often more production-ready)

If you are okay paying for a license but still want deployment control:

Post Affiliate Pro

Pros:

• Very mature.
• Multi-tier commissions.
• Lots of integrations.

Cons:

• Feels more like traditional affiliate marketing software than SaaS-native infrastructure. Refgrow

AffiliateWP

Good if your business runs on WordPress/WooCommerce. Less attractive for a custom SaaS stack.

If you relax “self-hosted”: developer-friendly SaaS options

For many technical teams, these are actually lower total cost because they eliminate the hardest parts.

• Rewardful — very Stripe/SaaS-oriented, recurring commissions are a core use case. StartupHub
• FirstPromoter — strong for SaaS referral programs and subscription billing flows. StartupHub
• Tolt — another SaaS-focused option. StartupHub

What I would require before choosing one

For recurring commissions, verify these specifically:

Attribution

• Server-side conversion tracking
• First-touch vs last-touch attribution
• Coupon-code attribution
• Handling ad blockers

Billing integration

Must support:

• subscription_created
• invoice_paid
• invoice_failed
• subscription_updated
• subscription_cancelled
• refunds/chargebacks

Commission engine

You probably need:

• lifetime recurring %
• first N months only
• tiered affiliates
• different rates per partner
• manual overrides
• clawbacks

Payouts

Check:

• Stripe Connect support
• PayPal/Wise exports
• payout approval workflow
• minimum payout thresholds
• tax reporting hooks

My recommendation by scenario

• Building a SaaS and want maximum control: RefKit or Refferq.
• Have 10k+ customers and meaningful affiliate revenue: probably build a custom commission ledger and use an affiliate UI layer.
• Need something live this week: Rewardful / FirstPromoter / Tolt.
• Running a network with many merchants: look at traditional affiliate platforms rather than SaaS referral tools.

A good engineering approach is often: own the commission ledger, outsource the affiliate-facing UX/tracking only if needed. The ledger is the part you do not want to lose control of.

If your priority is self-hosted + source-available/open-source + recurring SaaS commissions, the field is surprisingly small. I’d separate the options into “actually open-source” and “self-hosted but proprietary.”

Best options to investigate

1. github.com — first thing I'd test

This is probably the closest match to what you're describing. It's explicitly positioned as an open-source, self-hostable alternative to Rewardful/FirstPromoter/Tolt, uses AGPL-3.0, and provides Docker-based deployment. It emphasizes high-volume tracking, real-time analytics, privacy, and self-hosting. GitHub

The caveat: I'd inspect its current subscription/recurring-commission implementation before committing. “Affiliate tracking” and “recurring subscription commissions” are materially different requirements.

2. affiliatewp.com — excellent if you're on WordPress

AffiliateWP isn't open-source, but it is genuinely self-hosted: it runs inside your own WordPress installation. Its Pro tier explicitly supports recurring referrals, lifetime commissions, tiered rates, and multi-tier commissions. AffiliateWP AffiliateWP

Its recurring-referral system can generate a commission on every subscription renewal, with configurable percentage/flat rates and optional limits. It supports things such as WooCommerce Subscriptions, MemberPress, Easy Digital Downloads and Stripe through WP Simple Pay. AffiliateWP

It also added scheduled automatic affiliate payouts in 2026. AffiliateWP

I'd choose this if: your application is already WordPress/WooCommerce and you don't mind proprietary PHP software.

3. tapfiliate.com — useful reference implementation, but not self-hosted

Tapfiliate isn't self-hosted, but its recurring-commission model is worth looking at architecturally. Its API can associate subsequent subscription payments with the original referring affiliate using a persistent customer ID. Tapfiliate Help Center

That is essentially the model I'd want in a self-hosted system:

affiliate
    ↓
click / referral
    ↓
customer_id ← persisted permanently
    ↓
subscription
    ↓
billing webhook
    ↓
renewal
    ↓
commission ledger

This avoids treating every renewal as a new attribution event.

What I'd prioritize technically

If you're building/operating this yourself, don't evaluate these systems merely on whether they say “recurring commissions.” I'd specifically test whether they handle:

• Subscription lifecycle: signup → renewal → upgrade → downgrade → cancellation → reactivation.
• Attribution persistence: affiliate remains attached to the customer/subscription rather than relying on a cookie at every renewal.
• Proration: upgrades and downgrades shouldn't accidentally create oversized commissions.
• Refunds/chargebacks: commissions need compensating ledger entries rather than destructive edits.
• Commission caps: e.g. 30% for the first 12 months, lifetime, or first $X.
• Multiple currencies.
• Affiliate-specific overrides.
• Delayed approval: e.g. commission becomes payable after a 30-day refund window.
• Idempotent webhooks: Stripe can deliver the same event more than once.
• Immutable commission ledger: particularly important if you're paying real money.
• Payout reconciliation: commission status should be distinct from payout status.
• Fraud controls: self-referrals, duplicate accounts, coupon abuse, suspicious IP/device patterns.
• API/webhooks: you ideally want your billing system to remain the source of truth.

My shortlist

For a technical team, I'd investigate them in this order:

1. RefearnApp — if actual open-source + self-hosting is non-negotiable.
2. AffiliateWP — if you're already in the WordPress ecosystem and want something mature.
3. Build around your own billing/webhook system — if recurring commissions are a core part of the business and you need unusual rules.
4. Rewardful/Tapfiliate/etc. — only if “self-hosted” is negotiable.

One important distinction: “self-hosted” does not necessarily mean “open source.” AffiliateWP is a good example: you operate the software on your own infrastructure, but the product itself is proprietary. AffiliateWP

If you tell me your stack (e.g. Stripe + Laravel/Node/Rails + Postgres, and whether you need a hosted affiliate portal), I can narrow this to the 3–5 most viable architectures, including GitHub projects that are actually deployable rather than abandoned demo repos.

Its recurring-referral system can generate a commission on every subscription renewal, with configurable percentage/flat rates and optional limits. It supports things such as WooCommerce Subscriptions, MemberPress, Easy Digital Downloads and Stripe through WP Simple Pay. AffiliateWP

It also added scheduled automatic affiliate payouts in 2026. AffiliateWP

I'd choose this if: your application is already WordPress/WooCommerce and you don't mind proprietary PHP software.

3. tapfiliate.com — useful reference implementation, but not self-hosted

Tapfiliate isn't self-hosted, but its recurring-commission model is worth looking at architecturally. Its API can associate subsequent subscription payments with the original referring affiliate using a persistent customer ID.

That is essentially the model I'd want in a self-hosted system:

affiliate
    ↓
click / referral
    ↓
customer_id ← persisted permanently
    ↓
subscription
    ↓
billing webhook
    ↓
renewal
    ↓
commission ledger

This avoids treating every renewal as a new attribution event.

What I'd prioritize technically

If you're technical and specifically want self-hosted + recurring commissions, I'd narrow the field pretty aggressively. Fully open-source, production-ready affiliate platforms are surprisingly scarce; many projects are either young or are merely tracking/link-management components. Refgrow

My shortlist

1. github.com — probably the first one I'd test

RefearnApp explicitly positions itself as an open-source/self-hostable alternative to Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tolt. It's built with Next.js, Cloudflare Workers, Drizzle and Docker, and uses an AGPL-3.0 license. It includes affiliate/referral tracking, analytics and payout management. GitHub

Why I'd investigate it:

• Modern TypeScript/Next.js stack.
• Docker deployment.
• Designed specifically around SaaS-style referral programs.
• You retain the tracking and financial data.
• AGPL makes the source available for modification.

The main caveat is maturity. It's a relatively young project, so I'd inspect its issue history, test coverage, webhook handling and release cadence before putting substantial commission liabilities through it.

2. github.com — interesting if you want to extend the code

Cliq is explicitly described as self-hosted affiliate software for startups, with APIs, a promoter portal and a Docker Compose setup. GitHub

This is particularly interesting if you're comfortable treating the affiliate platform as infrastructure you can modify, rather than expecting a polished SaaS replacement.

I'd verify its current commission model and license before choosing it for recurring subscriptions.

3. github.com — recurring/lifetime commission support

Weferral is another open-source referral/affiliate platform. Its documented features specifically include recurring, lifetime and monthly commissions, plus fixed or percentage-based commissions. GitHub

However, there's an important warning directly from the project: it's not production-ready and is still a work in progress. GitHub

So I'd view it more as a useful codebase/reference implementation than my first production recommendation.

4. AffiliateWP — if you're already on WordPress

AffiliateWP is not open source, but it is self-hosted and considerably more mature than the small OSS projects.

For WordPress/WooCommerce, it's a strong option. Recurring commissions are supported through its ecosystem/add-ons, and WooCommerce subscription renewals can be attributed to affiliates. Icodrip WooCommerce

If your stack is Next.js + Stripe, though, I wouldn't introduce WordPress solely for this.

5. Post Affiliate Pro — if "self-hosted" matters more than "open source"

Post Affiliate Pro is worth considering when you need a mature feature set rather than OSS purity. It has a self-hosted deployment option and supports things like multi-tier commissions, tracking, banners and fraud detection, but it's licensed commercial software rather than genuinely open source. Refgrow

It's also a more traditional PHP application, which may or may not appeal to you.

What I'd choose for a SaaS

If your actual architecture is something like:

Stripe → your SaaS → affiliate/referral → recurring subscription commission

I'd rank them:

1. RefearnApp — investigate first.
2. Cliq — investigate if you want to customize heavily.
3. Weferral — interesting but I'd be cautious about production use.
4. Build the affiliate layer yourself — surprisingly compelling if you have strong engineering resources.
5. Rewardful/FirstPromoter/Tolt — if self-hosting isn't actually mandatory.

The last category isn't self-hosted, but it's useful as a benchmark: for example, Rewardful already handles Stripe recurring commissions, upgrades, downgrades and cancellations. Rewardful

The part I'd pay the most attention to

For recurring SaaS commissions, tracking clicks isn't the difficult part. The hard part is making the commission ledger correct when the underlying subscription changes.

I'd make sure whichever system you choose handles:

• Stripe webhook idempotency
• subscription creation
• renewals
• upgrades/downgrades
• cancellations
• refunds
• chargebacks
• failed payments
• trials converting to paid
• coupons
• affiliate reassignment rules
• commission reversals
• commission lock/approval periods
• lifetime vs. fixed-duration attribution
• multiple currencies
• affiliate payout balances
• audit history

Ideally, I'd want the affiliate system to maintain an immutable commission ledger, rather than simply storing affiliate_id on a customer and calculating everything from the current Stripe state.

For example:

Stripe invoice.paid
        │
        ▼
   Attribution
        │
        ▼
 Commission event
        │
        ├── $20 earned
        ├── affiliate = A123
        ├── customer = C456
        ├── invoice = in_...
        └── status = pending
                │
                ▼
          lock period expires
                │
                ▼
             payable
                │
                ▼
              payout

That architecture makes recurring commissions, refunds and disputes much easier to reason about.

If you tell me your stack (e.g. Stripe + Next.js, Laravel + Paddle, Rails + Stripe, etc.) and whether you need affiliate payouts automated, I can narrow this to 2–3 options and compare their GitHub activity, license, architecture, Stripe/webhook support, recurring-commission behavior, and deployment requirements.

AffiliateWP is not open source, but it is self-hosted and considerably more mature than the small OSS projects.

For WordPress/WooCommerce, it's a strong option. Recurring commissions are supported through its ecosystem/add-ons, and WooCommerce subscription renewals can be attributed to affiliates. icodrip.com woocommerce.com

If your stack is Next.js + Stripe, though, I wouldn't introduce WordPress solely for this.

5. Post Affiliate Pro — if "self-hosted" matters more than "open source"

Post Affiliate Pro is worth considering when you need a mature feature set rather than OSS purity. It has a self-hosted deployment option and supports things like multi-tier commissions, tracking, banners and fraud detection, but it's licensed commercial software rather than genuinely open source. Refgrow

It's also a more traditional PHP application, which may or may not appeal to you.

What I'd choose for a SaaS

If your actual architecture is something like:

Stripe → your SaaS → affiliate/referral → recurring subscription commission

I'd rank them:

If you’re technical and specifically want self-hosted + recurring commissions, I’d focus on a fairly small set. The open-source market is still surprisingly immature compared with hosted products like Rewardful.

My shortlist

• Verify the exact recurring-commission behavior against your billing flow before putting it into production.

1. refkit.net — probably my first choice

This is the one I'd investigate first if you're building a SaaS with Stripe and are comfortable integrating at the API level.

RefKit is explicitly positioned as open-source affiliate infrastructure for modern SaaS. It has a REST API, SDK/CLI, dashboard, affiliate tracking, recurring commissions and payout records. The application/API are AGPL-3.0, while the SDK/CLI/MCP pieces are MIT, and it supports Docker Compose self-hosting. RefKit

The architecture is attractive because it doesn't require you to surrender your billing system to the affiliate platform:

Your App
   │
   ├── Stripe
   │     └── subscription/invoice events
   │
   └── RefKit
          ├── attribution
          ├── affiliates
          ├── recurring commissions
          ├── payout records
          └── affiliate dashboard

That's much more appealing to me than a traditional affiliate-network product if your actual requirement is "give me infrastructure for my SaaS affiliate program."

Caveat: it's relatively new, so I'd evaluate the production maturity, upgrade path, license implications, and payout implementation carefully before making it business-critical.

2. github.com — interesting if scale matters

RefearnApp is explicitly an open-source/self-hostable alternative to Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tolt. It's AGPL-3.0 and uses a fairly modern stack around Next.js, Cloudflare Edge, Drizzle and Docker. It emphasizes high-volume tracking, real-time analytics and keeping transaction/payout data under your control. GitHub

I'd consider this particularly if you're thinking:

"I want something I can run myself, but I don't want to build the tracking engine."

Its architecture appears more performance-oriented than many little GitHub affiliate projects.

The downside is the same as with many newer OSS projects: I'd scrutinize the billing/webhook and recurring-commission logic rather than assuming the marketing description means it is battle-tested.

3. github.com — best "complete application" candidate

Refferq is MIT-licensed and built with Next.js/PostgreSQL. It provides an actual affiliate-management application rather than merely tracking primitives:

• affiliate portal
• admin dashboard
• referral tracking
• commission calculation
• payout scheduling
• configurable commission rates
• automated workflows
• Stripe/Wise/PayPal/bank payout support
• white-labeling

GitHubIf you want to deploy something and then customize the application yourself, I'd put this ahead of building your own UI around a tracking library.

The important caveat: I'd test the recurring subscription lifecycle extensively—renewal, upgrade, downgrade, cancellation, refund, chargeback and reactivation.

4. github.com — worth evaluating

Cliq describes itself as self-hosted affiliate software for startups, with APIs, a promoter portal and a Docker Compose deployment. GitHub

I'd put this in the "try it locally and see whether the data model fits" bucket rather than automatically selecting it.

For a technical team, the API and underlying data model matter more than how polished the dashboard looks.

5. github.com — promising, but not production-first

Weferral is particularly interesting for your requirement because its feature list explicitly includes:

• recurring/lifetime commissions
• monthly SaaS commissions
• fixed or percentage commissions
• affiliate portal
• customizable affiliate experience

GitHubHowever, its own README currently says it's not production ready / still a work in progress. GitHub

So I'd use it as a source of ideas or a prototype candidate, not my first production deployment.

6. affiliatewp.com — if you're on WordPress

If your application is WordPress/WooCommerce, the answer changes considerably.

AffiliateWP is a self-hosted WordPress plugin rather than a standalone affiliate SaaS. It supports recurring, tiered and lifetime commissions, affiliate dashboards, coupons, tracking and payouts. GitHub

It's not open source in the same sense as the GitHub projects above, but it is a much more mature option if WordPress is already your stack.

7. postaffiliatepro.com — commercial but mature

If "self-hosted" matters more than "open source," don't overlook Post Affiliate Pro.

It's a longstanding commercial platform with self-hosting, extensive integrations, multi-tier commissions, fraud detection and other functionality that many newer OSS projects haven't replicated. It's not genuinely free/open source, though. Refgrow

What I'd choose for a technical SaaS

I'd narrow it to:

RefKit → RefearnApp → Refferq

in that order, assuming you're building a normal subscription SaaS.

The key distinction is that I wouldn't evaluate these primarily on "does it have affiliate links?" I'd evaluate the subscription accounting model.

For recurring commissions, you really want something like:

affiliate
   │
   └── referral
          │
          └── customer
                 │
                 └── subscription
                       ├── invoice #1 → commission
                       ├── invoice #2 → commission
                       ├── invoice #3 → commission
                       ├── upgrade     → commission adjustment
                       ├── refund      → reversal
                       └── cancellation → stop future commissions

And I'd specifically test:

• Recurring vs lifetime commission duration
• Percentage vs fixed recurring commission
• Commission caps
• Trial → paid conversion
• Subscription renewal attribution
• Upgrade/downgrade handling
• Refunds and chargebacks
• Failed payments
• Affiliate reassignment
• Coupon-code attribution
• Multiple affiliates touching the same customer
• Cookie expiration and first/last-touch rules
• Idempotent webhook processing
• Commission locking/approval periods
• Payout thresholds
• Tax/KYC handling
• Historical commission recalculation
• API/webhook access to the ledger

That last group is important: affiliate tracking is easy; building a trustworthy commission ledger is the hard part.

One important distinction

Don't confuse open-source affiliate software with an open affiliate network. For example, OpenAffiliate is an open registry of other companies' affiliate programs, not software for running your own affiliate program. GitHub

If you tell me your stack (e.g. Stripe + Next.js, Laravel + Stripe, Django, Rails, WooCommerce, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy) and whether you need multi-tier affiliates, lifetime commissions, or just recurring X%, I can narrow this to the 2–3 architectures I'd actually deploy.

If "self-hosted" matters more than "open source," don't overlook Post Affiliate Pro.

It's a longstanding commercial platform with self-hosting, extensive integrations, multi-tier commissions, fraud detection and other functionality that many newer OSS projects haven't replicated. It's not genuinely free/open source, though. refgrow.com

What I'd choose for a technical SaaS

I'd narrow it to:

RefKit → RefearnApp → Refferq

in that order, assuming you're building a normal subscription SaaS.

The key distinction is that I wouldn't evaluate these primarily on "does it have affiliate links?" I'd evaluate the subscription accounting model.

For recurring commissions, you really want something like:

Yes. If you’re technical and specifically want self-hosting + recurring commissions, I’d separate the market into genuinely open-source projects and mature commercial software you can deploy yourself. The latter is often much more production-ready.

My shortlist

1. RefKit — probably the most interesting modern choice

refkit.net

This is the one I'd investigate first for a new SaaS. It's explicitly designed around developer-controlled affiliate infrastructure, has recurring commissions, a REST API/SDK, Stripe integration, and a Docker-based self-hosted distribution. The application/API/dashboard are AGPL-3.0, while the SDK/CLI/MCP pieces are MIT. RefKit

The architecture is particularly appealing if you don't want JavaScript cookie tracking bolted onto your application: the referral is identified in your backend and the system handles attribution and recurring commission records.

Why I'd pick it: modern stack, API-first, self-hostable, and designed around SaaS rather than traditional ecommerce affiliate marketing.

Caveat: it's a relatively young project, so I'd audit its maturity, upgrade process, tests, and payout/accounting edge cases before putting substantial money through it.

2. RefearnApp — strongest "just give me the code" option

github.com

RefearnApp is explicitly positioned as an open-source/self-hostable alternative to Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tolt. It's AGPL-3.0, Docker-deployable, uses PostgreSQL, and supports Stripe/Paddle plus PayPal mass payouts. GitHub

Its stack is also quite reasonable for a technical team: Next.js/React, PostgreSQL/Drizzle, and edge-based tracking.

I'd choose this over RefKit if: you prioritize owning the entire system today and want something that looks more like a conventional standalone affiliate application.

Big caveat: the project is still small/young. I'd treat it as something to evaluate rather than automatically trusting it with your commission ledger.

3. Weferral — interesting if you want to modify the product

github.com

Weferral supports recurring/lifetime commissions, monthly commissions for SaaS, fixed or percentage commissions, and customizable affiliate portals. GitHub

The problem is that the repository itself says it is not production ready and is still a work in progress. So I'd consider it a codebase to learn from/extend rather than my first production recommendation.

4. Post Affiliate Pro — the boring-but-mature choice

If "self-hosted" matters more to you than "open source," this is worth serious consideration.

Post Affiliate Pro is commercial rather than genuinely open source, but has a self-hosted deployment and a much more mature feature set than most OSS projects: multi-tier commissions, extensive integrations, fraud controls, etc. Refgrow

For a business where affiliate payouts are already significant, I'd rather run a mature commercial self-hosted product than an immature OSS project simply because it has a GitHub repo.

5. SliceWP — if your business is WordPress/WooCommerce

wordpress.org

If the application is WooCommerce, this changes the equation substantially. SliceWP supports recurring commissions, lifetime commissions, per-product rates, individual affiliate rates, and affiliate reporting. WordPress.org

I wouldn't choose it as a general SaaS affiliate backend, though. It's fundamentally a WordPress/WooCommerce solution.

What I'd actually do

If you're building a Stripe-based SaaS, I'd narrow it to:

RefKit → RefearnApp → Post Affiliate Pro

in that order depending on your priorities:

• Want modern architecture + API-first integration: RefKit
• Want open source + complete self-hosted application: RefearnApp
• Want mature production software and don't care about OSS: Post Affiliate Pro
• Want to build/modify the system yourself: Weferral is worth studying, but I'd hesitate to run it in production today.

There is a surprisingly small number of genuinely good open-source affiliate systems. Recent surveys of the space also find that most "open-source affiliate" offerings are either incomplete, immature, or actually commercial self-hosted products. iDevAffiliate opensourcetools.org

One architectural point I'd strongly recommend

For recurring SaaS commissions, don't make the browser cookie your source of truth.

I'd want the system to look roughly like:

affiliate link → referral ID → signup/customer ID → billing customer → webhook events → immutable commission ledger → payout

Then Stripe/Paddle/etc. webhooks drive:

• subscription creation
• renewals
• upgrades/downgrades
• refunds
• cancellations
• chargebacks
• commission reversals
• payout eligibility

That makes the affiliate system an accounting-like ledger rather than a collection of tracking cookies. This is particularly important for recurring commissions, where upgrades, downgrades and churn need to alter future commissions correctly. Rewardful Icodrip

If you tell me your stack (e.g. Stripe + Next.js, Laravel, Django, etc.) and whether you need PayPal/Wise/Stripe Connect payouts, I can narrow this to 2–3 options and compare their architecture, licenses, APIs, deployment model, and recurring-commission semantics.

Why I'd pick it: modern stack, API-first, self-hostable, and designed around SaaS rather than traditional ecommerce affiliate marketing.

Caveat: it's a relatively young project, so I'd audit its maturity, upgrade process, tests, and payout/accounting edge cases before putting substantial money through it.

2. RefearnApp — strongest "just give me the code" option

github.com

RefearnApp is explicitly positioned as an open-source/self-hostable alternative to Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tolt. It's AGPL-3.0, Docker-deployable, uses PostgreSQL, and supports Stripe/Paddle plus PayPal mass payouts. GitHub

Its stack is also quite reasonable for a technical team: Next.js/React, PostgreSQL/Drizzle, and edge-based tracking.

I'd choose this over RefKit if: you prioritize owning the entire system today and want something that looks more like a conventional standalone affiliate application.

Big caveat: the project is still small/young. I'd treat it as something to evaluate rather than automatically trusting it with your commission ledger.

3. Weferral — interesting if you want to modify the product

github.com

Weferral supports recurring/lifetime commissions, monthly commissions for SaaS, fixed or percentage commissions, and customizable affiliate portals. GitHub

The problem is that the repository itself says it is not production ready and is still a work in progress. So I'd consider it a codebase to learn from/extend rather than my first production recommendation.

4. Post Affiliate Pro — the boring-but-mature choice

If "self-hosted" matters more to you than "open source," this is worth serious consideration.

Post Affiliate Pro is commercial rather than genuinely open source, but has a self-hosted deployment and a much more mature feature set than most OSS projects: multi-tier commissions, extensive integrations, fraud controls, etc. Refgrow

For a business where affiliate payouts are already significant, I'd rather run a mature commercial self-hosted product than an immature OSS project simply because it has a GitHub repo.

5. SliceWP — if your business is WordPress/WooCommerce

wordpress.org

If the application is WooCommerce, this changes the equation substantially. SliceWP supports recurring commissions, lifetime commissions, per-product rates, individual affiliate rates, and affiliate reporting.

I wouldn't choose it as a general SaaS affiliate backend, though. It's fundamentally a WordPress/WooCommerce solution.

What I'd actually do

If you're building a Stripe-based SaaS, I'd narrow it to:

RefKit → RefearnApp → Post Affiliate Pro

If you're technical and specifically want self-hosted + recurring commissions, the field is surprisingly thin. A lot of projects called “open source affiliate software” are really link trackers or abandoned demos rather than production-grade affiliate ledgers.

I’d divide the options into three tiers:

1. RefearnApp — the one I'd investigate first

github.com

This is probably the closest match to what you're asking for. It's an AGPL-3.0 open-source, self-hostable alternative to Rewardful/FirstPromoter/Tolt, built around Next.js, PostgreSQL/Drizzle, Docker, Cloudflare Workers and Redis. It advertises Stripe and Paddle integration, coupon tracking, affiliate portals, analytics and payouts. GitHub

The important caveat: it's young. The repository currently has only a small community footprint, so I'd treat it as something to audit rather than automatically trust with your commission ledger.

For a technical operator, I'd specifically inspect:

• webhook idempotency
• subscription → affiliate attribution persistence
• refund/chargeback handling
• upgrades/downgrades/proration
• cookie/link attribution
• commission reversals
• payout accounting
• database migrations
• test coverage around duplicate Stripe events

Those details matter considerably more than whether the UI looks good.

2. Cliq — interesting lightweight OSS option

github.com

Cliq describes itself as self-hosted affiliate software for startups, with APIs, a promoter portal and a scalable architecture. The repository includes Docker Compose and separate API/frontend components. GitHub

I'd put this in the “inspect the code before committing” category rather than calling it production-ready outright. In particular, verify that its commission model actually handles subscription renewals the way you need.

3. Post Affiliate Pro — boring, but much more mature

postaffiliatepro.com

This is the interesting option if self-hosting matters more than open-source licensing.

It's proprietary rather than OSS, but it has a self-hosted deployment and a very extensive affiliate feature set. Most importantly for you, it has an explicit recurring-commission implementation supporting subscription renewals, configurable recurrence periods and limits. Its “accurate” mode can create commissions based on actual recurring-payment notifications rather than blindly generating them on a schedule. Post Affiliate Pro Post Affiliate Pro

It also has integrations for Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Chargebee, Recurly, Chargify, FastSpring and others, plus REST/S2S tracking and webhooks. Post Affiliate Pro

The downside is that it feels like enterprise affiliate software from the previous generation rather than something you'd expect a developer to get excited about. And self-hosting means you inherit the operational burden.

For a serious revenue-generating program where commission correctness is more important than having an OSS license, I'd actually choose this over a young GitHub project.

4. PNLCS — worth considering if you're also building billing

github.com

PNLCS is an MIT-licensed, self-hosted WHMCS alternative covering billing, recurring invoicing, customer management and affiliate tracking. GitHub

This is particularly interesting if you're operating something like hosting/infrastructure/SaaS where billing is the core system and affiliates are a feature of it.

I wouldn't select it purely as an affiliate platform, though. Its affiliate functionality isn't the reason I'd deploy it.

5. Custom build — surprisingly reasonable for a technical team

If your stack is already something like Stripe + Postgres + your own application, I'd seriously consider implementing the affiliate ledger yourself rather than bending generic affiliate software around your business.

The minimum architecture I'd want is:

Affiliate
   │
   ├── tracking link / coupon
   │
   ▼
Attribution
   │
   ├── customer_id
   ├── affiliate_id
   └── attribution timestamp
          │
          ▼
Payment events ───────► Commission ledger
Stripe webhook             │
                          ├── pending
                          ├── approved
                          ├── reversed
                          └── paid

The key design decision is don't model “recurring commission” as a cron job.

Instead:

subscription.created
       ↓
affiliate attribution
       ↓
invoice.paid
       ↓
commission.create
       ↓
refund / chargeback
       ↓
commission.reverse

That makes recurring commissions an accounting consequence of actual successful payments.

I'd give every commission a unique key such as:

(subscription_id, invoice_id, affiliate_id, commission_rule_id)

and enforce uniqueness at the database level. Stripe webhook retries then become harmless.

You can build the affiliate UI, tracking and reporting around that ledger later.

What I'd choose

For your particular description, my shortlist would be:

If OSS is mandatory:
RefearnApp → Cliq → custom build

If self-hosting is mandatory but OSS isn't:
Post Affiliate Pro → custom build

If you're already building your own SaaS/billing system:
custom build the commission ledger, and possibly borrow tracking/UI ideas from the OSS projects.

One particularly important distinction: don't confuse “recurring commissions” with “recurring affiliate tracking.” You want the latter tied to the actual subscription/invoice lifecycle. Post Affiliate Pro, for example, explicitly supports subscription IDs so renewal transactions can be attributed back to the original affiliate, including refunds and cancellations. Post Affiliate Pro

And I would not put much weight on projects merely advertising themselves as “open-source affiliate software.” The current ecosystem has a lot of small/incomplete projects; even recent surveys note that genuinely mature, fully open-source affiliate platforms are rare. refgrow.com

If you tell me your billing stack (Stripe/Paddle/Lemon Squeezy/etc.), framework, and whether you need affiliate payouts automated, I can narrow this to 2–3 architectures and compare their actual webhook/commission models.

For a technical team that wants self-hosted affiliate software for recurring commissions, the shortlist is much smaller than the SaaS affiliate market suggests. A lot of popular tools are hosted products with APIs, not software you can run yourself. Open Source Tools Refgrow

I’d evaluate them in these buckets:

Best fits for SaaS recurring commissions

RefKit

• Best match if you are building a SaaS product and want developer control.
• Self-hostable, API-driven, Docker-based deployment.
• Designed around recurring commissions rather than just click tracking.
• Integrates around your billing events (for example Stripe-style subscription lifecycle events).
• More like “affiliate infrastructure you embed” than a traditional affiliate marketplace. RefKit

Good if:

• You have engineers.
• You want affiliate logic close to your application.
• You care about owning attribution and commission data.

Potential downside:

• Newer ecosystem; you may need to build more operational pieces yourself.

Weferral

• A more traditional self-hosted referral/affiliate platform.
• Focuses on referral links, commissions, dashboards, and customization.
• Better if you want a standalone affiliate portal rather than embedding everything into your product. EnactSoft

Good if:

• You want to fork/customize.
• Your affiliate model is relatively straightforward.

Watch for:

• Verify maintenance activity, billing integrations, and subscription renewal handling before committing.

Raider Affiliate Software

• Lightweight self-hosted affiliate management UI.
• Useful as a component if you already have tracking and billing infrastructure.
• Handles affiliate accounts, balances, and dashboards. Open Source Tools EnactSoft

Good if:

• You want to assemble your own stack.

Less ideal if:

• You need a complete Stripe/Paddle/Lemon Squeezy recurring commission engine out of the box.

More mature but not fully open-source

Post Affiliate Pro

• Self-hosted commercial product rather than open source.
• Long history and lots of affiliate features: - multi-tier commissions
• tracking
• fraud controls
• affiliate portals
• Better if you want a turnkey system and can accept licensing. Refgrow

If you are willing to build the commission engine yourself

For a technical SaaS company, a common architecture is:

Affiliate link/coupon
        |
        v
Your app database
        |
        v
Billing provider webhooks
(Stripe/Paddle/etc.)
        |
        v
Commission ledger
        |
        +--> affiliate dashboard
        |
        +--> payout processor

The hard parts are not link tracking; they are:

• recurring renewal attribution
• upgrades/downgrades
• refunds and chargebacks
• affiliate ownership disputes
• payout history/auditability
• tax/payment records

I would model commissions as an immutable ledger:

commission_events
-----------------
id
affiliate_id
customer_id
subscription_id
event_type
amount
currency
status
created_at

Then calculate balances from events instead of mutating a “balance” field.

My shortlist by scenario

One important filter: avoid anything that only tracks clicks/cookies if recurring revenue matters. Subscription affiliate programs need server-side billing events and a commission ledger; otherwise upgrades, churn, and refunds become painful. Icodrip Icodrip

If you are running something like a Stripe + SaaS subscription business, I’d probably start by evaluating RefKit versus building a small internal commission service rather than adopting a generic affiliate script. RefKit

Yes. If you’re technical and specifically want self-hosting + recurring commissions, I’d focus on a fairly small set. The open-source ecosystem is still much thinner than the hosted SaaS market, so I’d separate production candidates from projects you may end up extending yourself.

My shortlist

1. RefKit — probably the first one I'd investigate

refkit.net is unusually close to what I'd want for a modern SaaS affiliate system.

It explicitly supports recurring commissions, has a REST API/SDK/CLI, and is designed around sending conversion/payment information from your backend rather than depending entirely on browser cookies. The application/API is AGPL-3.0, while its SDK/CLI/MCP components are MIT. It can be deployed with Docker Compose. RefKit

The architecture is particularly appealing if you're technical:

your app → identify referral → Stripe/payment event → RefKit → commission ledger → affiliate portal/payouts

It also supports reporting transactions through an API, so you're not necessarily locked into Stripe as your billing system. RefKit

Caveat: it appears relatively young, so I'd inspect the repo's issue history, test coverage, migration strategy, and webhook/idempotency implementation before putting substantial money through it.

2. RefearnApp — interesting if you want to own the whole stack

github.com is another genuinely self-hostable OSS option.

It's AGPL-3.0 and uses Next.js, Drizzle, Docker and Cloudflare Workers, with PostgreSQL-oriented infrastructure. The project specifically positions itself as an open-source alternative to Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tolt. GitHub

Its selling point is more infrastructure-oriented: edge click tracking, conversion tracking, analytics and payout management, while keeping the data on your infrastructure. GitHub

I'd consider this if you want something you can fork and materially customize.

One warning: it currently has a relatively small GitHub footprint, so I'd classify it as promising rather than battle-tested. GitHub

3. Refferq — worth evaluating as a customizable base

github.com is MIT licensed and built with Next.js/PostgreSQL.

It has:

• affiliate/partner management
• referral tracking
• commission calculation
• affiliate portal
• payout management
• flexible percentage/fixed commission rules
• automated workflows
• APIs
• Docker/self-hosting potential

GitHubThe attractive part for you is probably MIT licensing + relatively conventional TypeScript/Postgres architecture. If you expect to modify the commission engine yourself, that's a meaningful advantage over AGPL projects.

I'd specifically inspect whether its commission engine models subscription renewals as independent commission events rather than merely calculating a commission on the initial conversion. That's the key distinction for your use case.

4. Numok — particularly interesting for Stripe SaaS

numok.com is explicitly an open-source affiliate platform for SaaS and connects to Stripe. Its repo describes Docker deployment and PHP/MySQL requirements. Git Hubp Numok

If your architecture is basically:

Stripe → subscription → recurring affiliate commission

I'd put this on the test list.

The tradeoff is the technology stack: if you're a TypeScript/Go/Python shop, PHP may be less attractive than RefKit/RefearnApp/Refferq.

5. Cliq — good if you're comfortable finishing the product

github.com is a self-hosted affiliate platform using NestJS + TypeScript + PostgreSQL + Redis.

It already covers affiliate/promoter management, referral tracking, commission calculation, reporting and a promoter portal, and provides Docker deployment. GitHub

I'd regard it more as a developer-friendly foundation than a proven affiliate product. That's not necessarily bad if your attitude is "I'd rather own the system and fill in the missing 20% myself."

If you don't require open source

This changes the recommendation considerably.

iDevAffiliate

idevaffiliate.com is one of the more interesting choices if your requirement is actually "I want the software/database on my servers", rather than "I require OSS."

It's a mature PHP/MySQL product with a self-hosted edition sold as a one-time purchase. The vendor currently lists it at $499, with no monthly fee. iDevAffiliate

I'd seriously consider this if you're running a business where affiliate payouts are material and you don't want to bet the accounting layer on a young GitHub project.

Post Affiliate Pro

This is another mature commercial/self-hosted option. It has considerably more of the traditional affiliate-network feature set—multi-tier commissions, fraud controls, campaign management, integrations, etc.—but you give up the benefits of an open-source codebase.

For a sophisticated affiliate operation, that's sometimes the better trade.

The thing I'd scrutinize most: recurring commission semantics

Don't just check whether a product says "recurring commissions."

You want to establish that it correctly handles something like:

Affiliate A refers User 123
        ↓
User 123 starts $49/mo subscription
        ↓
$14.70 commission
        ↓
month 2 → $14.70
month 3 → $14.70
        ↓
upgrade to $99/mo
        ↓
$29.70 commission
        ↓
downgrade → commission decreases
        ↓
refund → commission clawback
        ↓
subscription canceled
        ↓
future commissions stop

And, crucially, the system should be ledger/event based and idempotent.

I'd want to see entities/events resembling:

affiliate
affiliate_link
customer
referral
conversion
subscription
transaction
commission
commission_adjustment
payout

rather than simply:

affiliate_id
customer_id
commission_percent

For a recurring SaaS program, that distinction becomes extremely important once you have refunds, upgrades, downgrades, coupons, annual plans, failed payments, chargebacks and manual adjustments.

What I'd choose

For someone technical, I'd narrow it to:

1. RefKit — best first prototype if you want a modern SaaS-native architecture and recurring commissions.
2. RefearnApp — best if owning/customizing the tracking infrastructure is a major priority.
3. Refferq — attractive if MIT licensing and modifying the code are important.
4. Numok — investigate if you're heavily committed to Stripe and don't mind PHP.
5. iDevAffiliate — my choice if you decide mature self-hosted commercial software > immature OSS.
6. Build on top of your own event/ledger system — surprisingly compelling if affiliate revenue is strategically important and you already have a good engineering team.

I would not recommend old "open source affiliate scripts" just because they appear in Google results. For example, eLitius is genuinely open source, but its own GitHub repository says the project is dead and explicitly recommends against using it. GitHub

The bigger picture is that genuinely mature OSS affiliate-management software remains scarce in 2026; many of the products marketed as "self-hosted" are actually proprietary software that you install yourself. iDevAffiliate Refgrow

If you tell me your stack (Stripe/Paddle/Lemon Squeezy/custom billing, language, Docker/K8s, and whether you need automated PayPal/Stripe/Wise payouts), I can narrow these to the 2–3 I'd actually deploy and compare their commission/ledger architectures.

I'd put this on the test list.

The tradeoff is the technology stack: if you're a TypeScript/Go/Python shop, PHP may be less attractive than RefKit/RefearnApp/Refferq.

5. Cliq — good if you're comfortable finishing the product

github.com is a self-hosted affiliate platform using NestJS + TypeScript + PostgreSQL + Redis.

It already covers affiliate/promoter management, referral tracking, commission calculation, reporting and a promoter portal, and provides Docker deployment. GitHub

I'd regard it more as a developer-friendly foundation than a proven affiliate product. That's not necessarily bad if your attitude is "I'd rather own the system and fill in the missing 20% myself."

If you don't require open source

This changes the recommendation considerably.

iDevAffiliate

idevaffiliate.com is one of the more interesting choices if your requirement is actually "I want the software/database on my servers", rather than "I require OSS."

It's a mature PHP/MySQL product with a self-hosted edition sold as a one-time purchase. The vendor currently lists it at $499, with no monthly fee. iDevAffiliate

I'd seriously consider this if you're running a business where affiliate payouts are material and you don't want to bet the accounting layer on a young GitHub project.

Post Affiliate Pro

This is another mature commercial/self-hosted option. It has considerably more of the traditional affiliate-network feature set—multi-tier commissions, fraud controls, campaign management, integrations, etc.—but you give up the benefits of an open-source codebase.

For a sophisticated affiliate operation, that's sometimes the better trade.

The thing I'd scrutinize most: recurring commission semantics

Don't just check whether a product says "recurring commissions."

You want to establish that it correctly handles something like:

Affiliate A refers User 123
        ↓
User 123 starts $49/mo subscription
        ↓
$14.70 commission
        ↓
month 2 → $14.70
month 3 → $14.70
        ↓
upgrade to $99/mo
        ↓
$29.70 commission
        ↓
downgrade → commission decreases
        ↓
refund → commission clawback
        ↓
subscription canceled
        ↓
future commissions stop

And, crucially, the system should be ledger/event based and idempotent.

I'd want to see entities/events resembling:

affiliate
affiliate_link
customer
referral
conversion
subscription
transaction
commission
commission_adjustment
payout

rather than simply:

affiliate_id
customer_id
commission_percent

For a recurring SaaS program, that distinction becomes extremely important once you have refunds, upgrades, downgrades, coupons, annual plans, failed payments, chargebacks and manual adjustments.

What I'd choose

For someone technical, I'd narrow it to:

1. RefKit — best first prototype if you want a modern SaaS-native architecture and recurring commissions.
2. RefearnApp — best if owning/customizing the tracking infrastructure is a major priority.
3. Refferq — attractive if MIT licensing and modifying the code are important.
4. Numok — investigate if you're heavily committed to Stripe and don't mind PHP.
5. iDevAffiliate — my choice if you decide mature self-hosted commercial software > immature OSS.
6. Build on top of your own event/ledger system — surprisingly compelling if affiliate revenue is strategically important and you already have a good engineering team.

I would not recommend old "open source affiliate scripts" just because they appear in Google results. For example, eLitius is genuinely open source, but its own GitHub repository says the project is dead and explicitly recommends against using it.

Yes. If you’re technical, I’d separate the market into true open-source/self-hosted platforms and commercial software that can be deployed on your infrastructure. The first category is surprisingly thin; a lot of “open-source affiliate software” lists are really abandoned GitHub projects or open-source SDKs rather than production systems. refgrow.com

My shortlist

1. RefKit — probably the first one I'd investigate

This is unusually close to what I'd want for a technical SaaS team. It is built around backend/API-based attribution rather than just a JavaScript tracking snippet, supports recurring commissions and payout records, and integrates with Stripe. The project says its application/API is AGPL-3.0, its SDK/CLI/MCP are MIT, and it can be self-hosted with Docker Compose. refkit.net

The architecture is particularly interesting if you already own the billing system:

affiliate link → identify referred user → your checkout → Stripe events → RefKit → recurring commission ledger

That's much nicer than trying to make an affiliate plugin understand your application's subscription state.

I'd put this at #1 for a new SaaS.

2. RefearnApp GitHub

A newer, explicitly self-hostable alternative to Rewardful/FirstPromoter/Tolt. It uses Next.js, Cloudflare Edge, Drizzle and Docker, and is released under AGPL-3.0. It emphasizes high-volume click/conversion tracking and keeping transaction/payout data on your own infrastructure. github.com

I'd investigate this if tracking scale/performance matters more than having the most mature ecosystem.

One caveat: because it's relatively young, I'd inspect the repository's issue activity, tests, release cadence, and especially its handling of subscription cancellation, refunds, chargebacks, retries and attribution changes before putting money through it.

3. Refferq GitHub

Another modern open-source option, built with Next.js/PostgreSQL. It provides an affiliate portal, admin interface, referral/conversion analytics, automated commission calculations, payout processing and email notifications. github.com

This looks more like a complete affiliate application than merely a tracking library.

I'd consider it if you want something you can fork and substantially customize.

4. Weferral GitHub

Interesting if your requirements are relatively straightforward. It explicitly supports:

• recurring/lifetime commissions
• monthly commissions for SaaS
• one-time commissions
• fixed or percentage commissions
• customizable affiliate portals

However, the maintainers explicitly describe it as not production-ready / work in progress, so I wouldn't make it the default choice for a revenue-critical program without doing substantial due diligence. github.com

The non-open-source options I'd still consider

If your definition of "self-hosted" is more important than "OSI-licensed," there are considerably more mature choices.

AffiliateWP is worth considering if you're already on WordPress. It supports recurring referrals through an addon, where subscription renewal payments automatically create affiliate referrals. affiliatewp.com It also has sophisticated payout functionality, including scheduled payouts. affiliatewp.com

The important distinction: it is not actually an open-source/free product. Its public GitHub repository exists primarily for community development, and the project explicitly says a valid commercial license is required for live use. github.com

Solid Affiliate is another good choice if you're specifically a WooCommerce shop. Its native recurring-commission support and subscription integration make it attractive, but it's a commercial WordPress plugin rather than OSS. www.wpallimport.com

Post Affiliate Pro is the other one I'd investigate if you want a mature, broad affiliate-management system and are willing to pay for it. It's self-hostable but proprietary. refgrow.com

What I'd prioritize technically

For a recurring SaaS commission program, I wouldn't choose based primarily on the affiliate dashboard. I'd evaluate the commission ledger and event model.

Specifically, make sure the system can correctly handle:

1. First-touch vs last-touch attribution
2. Affiliate attribution surviving signup → trial → paid conversion
3. Recurring commissions on every invoice/renewal
4. Upgrades/downgrades
5. Cancellations
6. Refunds and chargebacks
7. Failed payments and subsequent recovery
8. Coupons + affiliate links simultaneously
9. Commission caps/durations, e.g. 30% for 12 months
10. Affiliate-specific rates
11. Multiple currencies
12. Idempotent webhook processing
13. A tamper-resistant commission ledger
14. Payout holds/approval periods
15. Fraud/self-referral detection
16. Export/API access to the underlying data

The webhook/event model is the big one. You don't want the affiliate system deciding that someone earned $X merely because a browser landed on /signup. Your billing system should be authoritative:

click
  ↓
affiliate attribution
  ↓
signup
  ↓
customer_id ←→ affiliate_id
  ↓
subscription created
  ↓
Stripe invoice.paid
  ↓
commission ledger entry
  ↓
invoice.paid again
  ↓
recurring commission ledger entry
  ↓
refund / chargeback
  ↓
commission reversal
  ↓
payout

For that reason, I'd start by evaluating RefKit and RefearnApp, then Refferq. If you're already deeply invested in WordPress/WooCommerce, I'd switch that recommendation to AffiliateWP/Solid Affiliate.

One other important observation: "open source" doesn't necessarily mean "economically free." AGPL software is excellent if you want to run and modify it yourself, but you should examine the license implications if you're planning to embed/modify the application and offer it as part of a hosted service.

If you tell me your stack (Stripe/Paddle/Lemon Squeezy, Next.js/Rails/Laravel/etc.) and roughly number of affiliates + monthly transactions, I can narrow this to 2–3 options and compare their architecture, licenses, Stripe/webhook support, recurring commission semantics, and deployment model.

If you’re technical and self-hosting is a real requirement, the field gets surprisingly small. There are plenty of SaaS affiliate platforms, but genuinely open-source, production-ready systems that handle subscription lifecycle + recurring commissions + attribution + affiliate payouts are rare. Refgrow Icodrip

My shortlist

A key distinction: open-source and self-hosted aren't synonymous. Post Affiliate Pro, for example, is self-hostable but proprietary; AffEasy is genuinely open source. Refgrow GitHub

1. AffiliateWP — easiest if you're on WordPress

affiliatewp.com is probably the most polished self-hosted choice if your application is WordPress/WooCommerce.

It supports recurring, lifetime and multi-tier commissions and integrates deeply with WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, memberships, etc. Everything lives in your WordPress installation. Rekomi

I'd choose it if: your billing/application layer is already WordPress.

I wouldn't choose it if: you're running a Rails/Node/Go/Next.js SaaS and merely want to bolt affiliate tracking onto it.

2. Post Affiliate Pro — strongest general-purpose self-hosted option

postaffiliatepro.com is worth serious consideration if you want something more standalone.

It has extensive tracking methods, server-to-server integration, multi-tier capabilities, fraud controls and a large integration ecosystem. It's proprietary rather than open source, but you host the software yourself. Rekomi Refgrow

I'd choose it if: you want mature affiliate infrastructure and don't particularly care about having source code.

The downside is that it has a somewhat dated architecture/UI, and affiliate payments are generally something you manage rather than having a modern Stripe-like automated payout system. Rekomi

3. AffEasy — interesting if "actually open source" matters

github.com is an AGPL-licensed open-source affiliate platform. Its stated goal is to provide an open-source affiliate marketing platform, and it can be self-hosted. GitHub

I'd treat this as a potential foundation rather than an unquestioned production choice, though. The ecosystem and maturity are nowhere near the established proprietary products.

If you're comfortable reading the code and extending it, that's actually potentially attractive.

4. PNLCS — interesting if you're running a hosting/service business

github.com is an open-source, self-hosted WHMCS alternative built with Laravel/MySQL. It includes recurring billing and affiliate tracking alongside customer management, invoicing, provisioning, etc. GitHub

This is more interesting if your business looks like:

customer → subscription/service → recurring invoice → affiliate commission

rather than:

SaaS app → Stripe → affiliate tracking API

In the latter case, I'd build/use something more specialized.

The important part for a SaaS: recurring commissions

If you're selling subscriptions, don't evaluate these systems based merely on whether they say "recurring commissions."

You want the affiliate engine to understand the subscription lifecycle:

affiliate link
     ↓
visitor
     ↓
signup
     ↓
Stripe customer
     ↓
subscription created
     ↓
payment succeeded ──────────────┐
     ↓                         │
commission #1                  │
                               │
payment succeeded              │
     ↓                         │
commission #2                  │
                               │
subscription cancelled ────────┘
     ↓
stop future commissions

Ideally you also want:

• server-side attribution, not just browser cookies
• Stripe/Paddle webhook support
• recurring commission generation from subsequent invoices
• refunds and chargebacks → commission reversals
• subscription upgrades/downgrades
• free trials converting to paid
• coupon attribution
• commission holds/approval periods
• affiliate-specific commission rates
• lifetime vs. fixed-duration commissions
• first-touch vs. last-touch attribution
• fraud/self-referral detection
• immutable commission ledger
• API/webhooks
• manual adjustments
• affiliate payout accounting

That distinction is why I'd be cautious about many of the small GitHub "affiliate" projects: they may solve link tracking, while leaving you to build the actual financial/subscription machinery. The OSS landscape currently has relatively few mature all-in-one implementations. Refgrow

What I'd do in your position

If you're building a non-WordPress SaaS, I'd narrow it to three strategies:

A. Want minimum engineering → Post Affiliate Pro

Use the mature product and integrate your billing system into it.

B. Want source ownership → build a small affiliate service

For a technical team, this can actually be compelling.

I'd make the affiliate system a standalone service:

                ┌───────────────┐
                │   Your SaaS   │
                └───────┬───────┘
                        │
                 Stripe webhooks
                        │
                        ▼
              ┌──────────────────┐
              │ Affiliate service │
              ├──────────────────┤
              │ Attribution       │
              │ Affiliates        │
              │ Commission rules  │
              │ Commission ledger │
              │ Fraud checks      │
              │ Payouts           │
              └────────┬─────────┘
                       │
                 affiliate portal

The key architectural decision is to make the commission ledger event-driven rather than calculating commissions by querying current subscription state.

For example:

invoice.paid
  → identify affiliate
  → calculate commission
  → create commission ledger entry

invoice.refunded
  → identify original commission
  → create reversal ledger entry

That makes recurring commissions, refunds, disputes and audits much easier.

C. Want OSS but don't want to build everything → use an OSS project as the UI/domain layer

This is probably the sweet spot if you're willing to contribute code. Start with something like AffEasy, but make your billing provider the source of truth and integrate it via webhooks rather than trying to make the affiliate software become your billing system.

One thing I would not do

I wouldn't automatically choose a hosted SaaS affiliate platform just because it has better Stripe integration. Products such as Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tolt are much more purpose-built for SaaS subscriptions, but they're hosted rather than self-hosted. Current comparisons show the SaaS category has considerably better native handling of subscription events and recurring commissions. Icodrip Affitor Documentation

If self-hosting is a hard requirement, I'd rank your starting points:

Non-WordPress SaaS:
Post Affiliate Pro → custom service → AffEasy

WordPress/WooCommerce:
AffiliateWP → custom service

Hosting/service business:
PNLCS

If you tell me your stack (Stripe/Paddle/Lemon Squeezy + Node/Rails/Laravel/etc.) and whether you need affiliate payouts or just commission accounting, I can narrow this to the 2–3 architectures I'd actually deploy.

github.com is an AGPL-licensed open-source affiliate platform. Its stated goal is to provide an open-source affiliate marketing platform, and it can be self-hosted. GitHub

I'd treat this as a potential foundation rather than an unquestioned production choice, though. The ecosystem and maturity are nowhere near the established proprietary products.

If you're comfortable reading the code and extending it, that's actually potentially attractive.

4. PNLCS — interesting if you're running a hosting/service business

github.com is an open-source, self-hosted WHMCS alternative built with Laravel/MySQL. It includes recurring billing and affiliate tracking alongside customer management, invoicing, provisioning, etc. GitHub

This is more interesting if your business looks like:

customer → subscription/service → recurring invoice → affiliate commission

rather than:

SaaS app → Stripe → affiliate tracking API

In the latter case, I'd build/use something more specialized.

The important part for a SaaS: recurring commissions

If you're selling subscriptions, don't evaluate these systems based merely on whether they say "recurring commissions."

You want the affiliate engine to understand the subscription lifecycle:

affiliate link
     ↓
visitor
     ↓
signup
     ↓
Stripe customer
     ↓
subscription created
     ↓
payment succeeded ──────────────┐
     ↓                         │
commission #1                  │
                               │
payment succeeded              │
     ↓                         │
commission #2                  │
                               │
subscription cancelled ────────┘
     ↓
stop future commissions

Ideally you also want:

• server-side attribution, not just browser cookies
• Stripe/Paddle webhook support
• recurring commission generation from subsequent invoices
• refunds and chargebacks → commission reversals
• subscription upgrades/downgrades
• free trials converting to paid
• coupon attribution
• commission holds/approval periods
• affiliate-specific commission rates
• lifetime vs. fixed-duration commissions
• first-touch vs. last-touch attribution
• fraud/self-referral detection
• immutable commission ledger
• API/webhooks
• manual adjustments
• affiliate payout accounting

That distinction is why I'd be cautious about many of the small GitHub "affiliate" projects: they may solve link tracking, while leaving you to build the actual financial/subscription machinery. The OSS landscape currently has relatively few mature all-in-one implementations.

What I'd do in your position

If you mean actually self-hosted/open-source, rather than merely “an affiliate SaaS with an API,” the shortlist is surprisingly small. Most of the well-known SaaS affiliate products—Rewardful, FirstPromoter, Tolt, PartnerStack, etc.—are hosted services. Current comparisons confirm that distinction. docs.affitor.com

My shortlist

1. RefearnApp — the one I'd investigate first

RefearnApp GitHub repository

This is unusually close to what you're asking for: it describes itself as an open-source, self-hostable alternative to Rewardful/FirstPromoter/Tolt, is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and provides Docker-oriented infrastructure. Its stated feature set includes tracking, conversions, payouts, analytics, and high-scale tracking. github.com

For a technical team, the interesting part isn't just "affiliate links." I'd evaluate whether its data model supports:

• subscription → affiliate attribution
• recurring commission generation from every invoice
• upgrades/downgrades
• refunds and chargebacks
• commission reversals/clawbacks
• commission duration, e.g. 20% for 12 months
• lifetime commissions
• different rates by product/plan
• affiliate-specific rates
• coupon/code attribution
• multi-touch vs first/last-touch attribution
• manual commission adjustments
• payout states: pending → approved → paid
• immutable/auditable financial history
• Stripe webhooks/idempotency

Those details matter much more than whether it has a pretty affiliate dashboard.

2. SliceWP — excellent if you're already on WordPress

SliceWP

SliceWP is installed directly into WordPress and supports recurring commissions. Its recurring-commission extension can set renewal rates, recurrence limits, and product/membership-specific rates. It integrates with WooCommerce Subscriptions, Easy Digital Downloads, MemberPress, Paid Memberships Pro, SureCart, and others. slicewp.com

It's self-hosted, but I wouldn't classify the current product as a genuinely open-source SaaS affiliate platform in the same sense as an AGPL project. It's much more compelling if your application is already WordPress-based.

3. Solid Affiliate

This is worth considering if your application is fundamentally WooCommerce. It's specifically built around WooCommerce rather than being general-purpose affiliate infrastructure. breakdance.com

I wouldn't choose it for a custom SaaS stack where you're running something like:

Next.js → API → Stripe → Postgres

In that situation you're likely to spend more time adapting WordPress/WooCommerce concepts than you'd save.

What I'd avoid if self-hosting is a hard requirement

Rewardful, FirstPromoter, Tolt, PartnerStack, Tapfiliate, etc.

They're worth studying for feature requirements, though. For example, recurring commissions and subscription lifecycle handling are core features in the SaaS-oriented products. www.rewardful.com

Rewardful is particularly useful as a reference implementation for the UX you probably want: Stripe-centric attribution, recurring commissions, affiliate portals, and automated payouts. But it is a hosted product, not something you deploy on your infrastructure. affitor.com

The important distinction I'd make

There are really three categories:

A. "I want source code and control"

→ RefearnApp
Potentially the best match.

B. "I want something installed on my server"

→ SliceWP / Solid Affiliate if you're in WordPress.
These are much more mature than most hobbyist open-source affiliate projects.

C. "I want a production-grade affiliate ledger for my custom SaaS"

→ I'd seriously consider building a relatively small affiliate subsystem around your existing billing events rather than adopting a generic affiliate application.

For example:

Stripe
  │
  ├── customer.created
  ├── checkout.session.completed
  ├── invoice.paid
  ├── invoice.payment_failed
  ├── customer.subscription.updated
  └── charge.refunded
           │
           ▼
    Affiliate Event Processor
           │
           ├── attribution
           ├── commission rules
           ├── recurring commissions
           ├── clawbacks
           └── ledger
                   │
                   ▼
              Postgres
              ├── affiliates
              ├── referrals
              ├── customers
              ├── commissions
              ├── commission_events
              └── payouts

That architecture is attractive if you're technical because recurring commissions are fundamentally a billing/ledger problem, not merely a click-tracking problem.

What I'd choose

If I were evaluating this for a technical SaaS today:

1. RefearnApp — first thing I'd PoC.
2. SliceWP — only if the product is WordPress-based.
3. Custom affiliate ledger — if affiliate economics are strategically important and you already have a solid Stripe/event architecture.
4. Hosted Rewardful/FirstPromoter/Tolt — if operational simplicity ultimately beats the self-hosting requirement.

One caveat: RefearnApp is relatively young, so I'd do a code/issue/commit-history audit before trusting it with real commission liabilities. The fact that it is AGPL and self-hostable is attractive, but maturity and correctness of the financial ledger matter more than the license.

If you tell me your stack (e.g. Stripe + Laravel/Node/Rails + Postgres, whether you need multi-tier affiliates, and whether commissions are lifetime vs fixed number of months), I can narrow this down to 2–3 options and compare their architectures/API/webhook models.

If by self-hosted you mean “I can deploy the affiliate system on my own infrastructure and own the data,” the market is surprisingly thin. Truly open-source, production-grade SaaS affiliate platforms with recurring commissions are rare; many things marketed as “open source affiliate software” are either tracking libraries, abandoned projects, or self-hosted-but-proprietary products. refgrow.com

For a technical team, I’d divide the options like this:

1. AffiliateWP — strongest if you're on WordPress

AffiliateWP

This is probably the most straightforward self-hosted choice if your application is WordPress + WooCommerce/Easy Digital Downloads. It runs inside your WordPress installation, owns the affiliate data, and supports recurring commissions through its recurring-referrals functionality. refgrow.comicodrip.com

I'd choose it if: your product already lives in WordPress.

I wouldn't choose it for: a Next.js/Rails/Laravel/custom SaaS. You're effectively adopting WordPress as part of the affiliate infrastructure.

2. Post Affiliate Pro — mature self-hosted option

Post Affiliate Pro

This is worth investigating if you want a much more traditional affiliate-management system: multiple commission structures, multi-tier programs, fraud controls, extensive integrations, etc. It has a self-hosted deployment option, but isn't open source—you license the software. refgrow.com

For someone technical, its attraction is that you don't have to build all the boring operational machinery yourself.

3. PNLCS — interesting if billing is part of the problem

PNLCS GitHub repository

PNLCS is an MIT-licensed, Laravel/MySQL, self-hosted WHMCS alternative. It includes billing, recurring invoicing, customer management, reseller functionality, and affiliate tracking. github.com

It's not what I'd call a general-purpose SaaS affiliate platform yet, but it's interesting if you're building a hosting/infrastructure/service business where billing + affiliate management need to be tightly coupled.

4. Billmora — more of a foundation than an affiliate product

Billmora GitHub repository

Billmora is another open-source Laravel billing platform focused on recurring billing and automated provisioning. github.com

I'd consider this only if you're comfortable extending the application yourself. It could be a useful foundation for a custom referral/commission engine, but I wouldn't select it solely because you need affiliate software.

The option I'd seriously consider: build the commission engine yourself

If you're technical and have a conventional SaaS stack, I actually think this can be more attractive than forcing a generic affiliate product into your architecture.

The hard part isn't generating ?ref=abc123. It's making billing events authoritative.

I'd model it roughly as:

Affiliate
  └── Campaign
       └── Referral
            └── Customer
                 └── Subscription
                      ├── Invoice
                      ├── Refund
                      ├── Upgrade/Downgrade
                      └── Cancellation

Commission
  ├── referral_id
  ├── invoice_id
  ├── affiliate_id
  ├── amount
  ├── rate
  ├── status
  └── payable_at

Then make your billing provider's webhook stream the source of truth:

affiliate click
      ↓
first-party referral ID
      ↓
signup / checkout
      ↓
customer ←→ referral
      ↓
billing webhook
      ↓
commission ledger
      ↓
pending → approved → payable → paid

That gives you some important properties that SaaS affiliate tools sometimes obscure:

• recurring commissions are generated from actual invoices, not browser activity
• upgrades/downgrades can recalculate commission
• refunds can reverse commissions
• churn naturally stops future commissions
• you can implement lifetime vs. fixed-duration commissions
• commission caps are trivial
• multiple affiliates/programs can coexist
• you can make the ledger immutable/auditable
• payout providers become a separate concern

For a technical team, I'd strongly prefer an append-only commission ledger + deterministic calculation rules over putting “affiliate balance” in a mutable row.

What I would not optimize for

Don't make “open source” the primary criterion. The current ecosystem has relatively few genuinely mature OSS options; the research around the space consistently finds that many purported open-source choices are incomplete or unmaintained. refgrow.com

Instead, I'd prioritize:

1. Billing integration — Stripe/Paddle/etc.
2. Webhook correctness + idempotency
3. Recurring commission semantics
4. Refund/clawback handling
5. Attribution model — first-party cookie vs. server-side referral binding
6. Commission ledger/API
7. Affiliate portal
8. Payout workflow
9. Fraud/self-referral detection
10. Data export

For comparison, hosted products such as Rewardful already handle recurring commissions, upgrades, downgrades, cancellations and refunds through Stripe integration. www.rewardful.com So that's roughly the bar I'd want an OSS/self-hosted solution to meet.

My shortlist

If I were evaluating this for a technical SaaS today:

WordPress → AffiliateWP

Need mature turnkey self-hosting → Post Affiliate Pro

Hosting/billing business → PNLCS

Custom SaaS + strong engineering team → build a small commission ledger around your billing webhooks

Want SaaS functionality without operating it → Rewardful / FirstPromoter / Tolt

The last category isn't self-hosted, but it's useful as a benchmark: current SaaS affiliate products have gotten quite good at recurring billing attribution. affitor.com

If you tell me your stack (e.g. Rails/Next.js/Laravel), billing provider (Stripe/Paddle/etc.), and whether you need multi-tier affiliates, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 architectures I'd actually consider and compare their data models/APIs.

Yes. If you’re technical, I’d separate the market into actually open-source/self-hostable versus commercial software you install yourself. The first category is surprisingly thin in 2026. openpartner.dev

My shortlist

\*Check the current licensing/deployment terms before committing.

1. RefearnApp — probably the first one I'd investigate

RefearnApp GitHub repository

RefearnApp is explicitly positioned as an open-source, self-hostable alternative to Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tolt. It's AGPL-3.0, uses Docker, and is designed around high-scale tracking, real-time analytics and keeping your customer/financial/tracking data on your infrastructure. github.com

For your use case, the interesting part is that it isn't merely a link shortener + conversion counter; it's aimed at affiliate/referral programs for subscription businesses.

I'd choose this if: you're comfortable running Docker/DB/queues yourself and want a reasonably modern SaaS-oriented foundation.

RefearnApp's self-hosting/open-source page

2. OpenPartner — worth evaluating for a more ambitious program

OpenPartner is another MIT-licensed project explicitly targeting modern SaaS affiliate/partner programs, with Stripe-native attribution and self-hosting. openpartner.dev

The MIT license is particularly attractive if you're thinking:

"I may fork this substantially and make the affiliate engine part of our own product."

That's a materially different proposition from AGPL software.

I'd choose this if: permissive licensing and the ability to build your own commercial layer matter more than having the most mature ecosystem today.

3. Weferral — interesting, but I'd treat it as experimental

Weferral GitHub repository

Weferral has a surprisingly relevant feature set: monthly commissions, recurring/lifetime commissions, fixed or percentage commissions, affiliate portals, etc. github.com

The big caveat is straight from the project: it's not production-ready and is still a work in progress. github.com

So I'd use it as something to study/fork, not automatically put in front of affiliates who are expecting accurate money.

4. AffiliateWP — excellent if you're on WordPress

AffiliateWP is self-hosted and has recurring, lifetime and multi-tier commission capabilities, plus deep WooCommerce/EDD integrations. github.comrekomi.comopenpartner.dev

But it's a commercial WordPress plugin, not an open-source SaaS affiliate engine.

If your application is already WordPress/WooCommerce, though, I'd take this very seriously rather than building your own. If you're running Next.js/Rails/etc., it's basically irrelevant. icodrip.com

5. Post Affiliate Pro — the "boring but mature" option

Post Affiliate Pro is much older and isn't genuinely open source in the conventional sense, but it is one of the established self-hostable/commercial options. It supports recurring and multi-tier commissions and has a large integration surface. openpartner.dev

I'd investigate it if you need things like:

• complex attribution rules
• multiple affiliate types
• sub-affiliates / MLM-like tiers
• lots of legacy payment/e-commerce integrations
• mature fraud/tracking functionality

The downside is that its architecture and UX are considerably less attractive if you're building a modern SaaS stack.

The important technical distinction

For recurring commissions, don't evaluate these primarily on whether they can generate an ?ref=foo link.

The hard part is maintaining a correct commission ledger:

click
  ↓
visitor
  ↓
signup
  ↓
customer
  ↓
subscription
  ↓
invoice #1 ──→ commission
invoice #2 ──→ commission
invoice #3 ──→ commission
  ↓
refund/cancellation
  ↓
commission reversal

I'd specifically verify that the software models billing events, rather than simply saying "recurring commissions supported."

For example, you want to know whether it handles:

• upgrades/downgrades
• failed payments
• refunds
• chargebacks
• cancellations
• trials converting to paid
• coupons
• prorated invoices
• multiple subscriptions per customer
• affiliate reassignment
• commission expiration after N months
• lifetime commissions
• pending → approved → payable → paid states
• retroactive corrections
• idempotent webhook processing

That's where a lot of the seemingly attractive open-source projects become less compelling.

What I'd do in your position

I'd shortlist RefearnApp + OpenPartner, then compare them against building a small purpose-built service yourself.

If your requirements are roughly:

Stripe/Paddle subscription → affiliate referral → recurring percentage commission → affiliate dashboard → webhook-driven ledger → payout export

then building it isn't necessarily crazy for a technical team.

I'd make the architecture something like:

Stripe/Paddle
     │
     ▼
Webhook ingestion ──→ immutable billing events
                           │
                           ▼
                    attribution engine
                           │
                           ▼
                    commission ledger
                           │
                    ┌──────┴──────┐
                    ▼             ▼
              affiliate UI    payout system

The immutable event + ledger approach is the bit I'd insist on. Don't calculate "affiliate balance" by repeatedly querying Stripe and multiplying MRR by a percentage. Store the underlying events and commission transactions so you can audit/replay the calculation.

If you tell me your stack (Stripe vs Paddle, language/framework, Docker/K8s, approximate affiliate count and whether you need multi-tier/referral/partner functionality), I can narrow this down to 2–3 viable choices and compare their architecture, license, recurring-commission semantics, APIs/webhooks, and operational burden.

If you’re technical and specifically want self-hosted + open-source + recurring commissions, the field is surprisingly small. A lot of products marketed as “self-hosted alternatives” are actually proprietary SaaS.

My shortlist

\*You'd be implementing the affiliate/commission layer yourself.

1. RefearnApp GitHub — probably the first one I'd test

RefearnApp is explicitly positioned as an open-source/self-hosted alternative to Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tolt. It's AGPL-3.0, Docker-deployable, uses PostgreSQL, and supports Stripe and Paddle. Its published feature set includes affiliate portals, coupon tracking, analytics and PayPal mass payouts. The repository was updated in July 2026, so it isn't an abandoned OSS project. github.com

The architecture is also reasonably attractive for a technical team:

• Next.js / React
• PostgreSQL + Drizzle
• Docker
• optional Cloudflare Workers for edge tracking
• Stripe/Paddle integrations
• webhook/event-oriented infrastructure

Caveat: only ~25 GitHub stars currently. I'd scrutinize the code, tests, migration strategy, security model and Stripe webhook handling before putting serious commission accounting behind it. github.com

RefearnApp documentation

2. OpenPartner — interesting if you want a more programmable system

OpenPartner describes itself as an MIT-licensed, self-hostable affiliate platform. It supports multiple billing rails including Stripe, Paddle and custom webhooks, attribution models, commission rules and Stripe Connect payouts. openpartner.dev

This is particularly interesting if your requirement isn't merely:

“Stripe subscription → 30% commission every month”

but something more like:

“Affiliate gets 30% for 12 months, reseller gets 20% indefinitely, enterprise referrals use a different attribution model, and upgrades/downgrades/reversals need to recompute commissions.”

I'd put this high on the evaluation list because commission-rule flexibility and event reprocessing matter much more than a pretty affiliate dashboard once you're technical.

One caveat: the strongest claims about the project come from its own site, so I'd inspect the actual repository/activity and license before adopting it.

3. AffiliateWP — very good if you're on WordPress

AffiliateWP is different: it's a commercial WordPress plugin rather than a general-purpose open-source SaaS application. But it is self-hosted, keeps the data in your WordPress installation, and has recurring commissions among its supported commission models. icodrip.com

I'd choose it if your stack is:

WordPress + WooCommerce/Easy Digital Downloads → AffiliateWP

and not if you're running a Next.js/Rails/Django/etc. SaaS.

4. AffEasy GitHub — worth looking at, but I'd rank it lower

AffEasy is AGPL-3.0 and self-hostable, built with TypeScript/Next.js/Prisma and aimed at affiliate marketing/link management. icodrip.comgithub.com

I wouldn't make it my first choice for a serious subscription recurring-commission ledger, though. Its positioning is more affiliate-link/marketing oriented than “subscription billing events become an auditable commission ledger.”

The thing I'd pay the most attention to

For recurring commissions, don't evaluate these primarily by “does it support recurring commissions?”

Instead, inspect their handling of the subscription event lifecycle:

affiliate click
      ↓
signup / checkout
      ↓
subscription.created
      ↓
invoice.paid ──────→ commission
      ↓
invoice.paid ──────→ commission
      ↓
upgrade ────────────→ adjustment?
      ↓
downgrade ──────────→ adjustment?
      ↓
refund ─────────────→ reversal?
      ↓
chargeback ─────────→ reversal?
      ↓
subscription.cancelled

You want the commission system to be event-driven and idempotent, rather than simply calculating:

customer MRR × commission %

every month.

I'd specifically look for:

• Stripe webhook ingestion
• idempotency keys / duplicate-event handling
• immutable commission ledger
• pending → approved → payable → paid states
• refund/chargeback reversals
• subscription upgrade/downgrade handling
• commission duration (12 months, lifetime, etc.)
• commission caps
• multiple commission tiers
• affiliate/customer attribution
• coupon-code attribution
• first-touch vs last-touch
• cookie expiration
• server-side attribution
• historical recomputation
• API/webhooks
• CSV/data export
• payout integration
• fraud controls
• tax/KYC separation from the commission engine

That last point is important: affiliate tracking and affiliate payouts are two different problems. You can have an excellent self-hosted commission engine and still use Stripe Connect/PayPal/Wise/etc. for the actual money movement.

What I'd choose

If I were building a technical SaaS today:

1. RefearnApp → first thing I'd deploy and audit.

2. OpenPartner → strongest candidate if flexible attribution/commission rules and multiple billing providers matter.

3. AffiliateWP → only if WordPress is already your platform.

4. Build it yourself → surprisingly reasonable if your requirements are unusual. I'd make the core a small event-sourced commission service rather than trying to turn an affiliate-marketing package into a billing system.

For comparison, most polished SaaS products such as Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tolt are hosted proprietary services, despite being much more mature. FirstPromoter, for example, currently emphasizes billing-synchronized recurring commissions and supports multiple subscription billing providers. firstpromoter.com

If you tell me your stack (Stripe vs Paddle, Next.js/Rails/etc., Docker/K8s, expected affiliate count, and whether commissions are lifetime or N-month), I can narrow this to 2–3 viable architectures and compare their actual GitHub/codebases, licenses, deployment requirements, and recurring-commission implementation.

Yes. If you're technical, I’d separate “actually open-source/self-hostable” from the much larger category of hosted affiliate SaaS. For a recurring-revenue program, the shortlist is surprisingly small.

My shortlist

A couple of these deserve special attention.

1. RefRef — probably the first one I'd test

RefRef GitHub repository

RefRef is an AGPL-3.0 referral/affiliate platform with Docker deployment, PostgreSQL, a partner portal, referral attribution, configurable rewards, fraud monitoring, manual/automatic reward approval and reward dispersal. It's currently described as alpha, though, so I'd treat it as a promising foundation rather than blindly putting it in production. github.com

The important architectural advantage for you is that it's a reasonably conventional modern TypeScript/Postgres application—you can inspect and modify the commission engine rather than integrating around a black box.

2. RefearnApp — strongest match for SaaS subscriptions

RefearnApp GitHub repository

This is particularly interesting because it explicitly targets the Rewardful/FirstPromoter/Tolt use case and advertises Stripe and Paddle integration, advanced analytics, affiliate portals, PayPal mass payouts, PostgreSQL, Docker, and Cloudflare-based edge tracking. It's AGPL-3.0 and says self-hosted users get the full feature set. github.com

For your use case, I'd put this near the top if your billing is Stripe/Paddle.

The caveat: it's a relatively young project. I'd inspect the webhook/event model and tests before trusting it with a material commission liability.

3. Refferq — attractive if you want MIT

Refferq GitHub repository

Refferq is MIT-licensed and built specifically as an affiliate-management platform for SaaS. It has affiliate and admin portals, referral tracking, flexible percentage/fixed commissions, payout scheduling, automated commission calculations, and Stripe integration. Its stack is Next.js + TypeScript + PostgreSQL + Prisma. github.com

The GitHub organization shows activity as recently as May 2026, which is encouraging for an OSS project. github.com

I'd choose this over an AGPL project if you're planning to embed/fork the software into a proprietary product and the MIT terms are strategically important.

4. Weferral — specifically interesting for recurring billing

Weferral GitHub repository

Its feature list explicitly calls out:

• recurring/lifetime commissions
• monthly commissions for subscription/SaaS
• fixed or percentage commissions
• affiliate portal customization

That's unusually aligned with your requirement. The big warning is that the maintainers explicitly say it's not production-ready and is a work in progress. github.com

I'd look at its commission implementation for ideas, but probably wouldn't make it the production choice without substantial hardening.

5. Raider — good if you want to build the missing pieces

Raider GitHub repository

Raider is older and much narrower. It provides a self-service affiliate dashboard, tracking-code generation, affiliate balances and payout requests, plus an API through which your backend reports referred payments. It's written in Rust and uses MySQL. github.com

That last characteristic can actually be useful for a technical team:

Your application
      │
      ├── Stripe/Paddle/etc.
      │
      ├── subscription lifecycle
      │
      ▼
Your commission service
      │
      ├── attribution
      ├── recurring commission ledger
      ├── refunds / chargebacks
      ├── clawbacks
      └── commission rules
              │
              ▼
           Raider
       affiliate portal
       tracking + balances
       payout requests

You retain complete control of the actual recurring-commission accounting.

Don't overlook Post Affiliate Pro

It's not open source in the conventional sense, but it is self-hostable/source-available, and unlike many GitHub projects it's a mature commercial affiliate system. Current comparisons describe it as an older platform with a self-host SKU and recurring-commission functionality. openpartner.devopenpartner.dev

If your requirement is actually:

"I want this running reliably next month and don't care whether I can fork the source"

I'd seriously evaluate it alongside the OSS projects.

The feature I'd scrutinize hardest: recurring commission accounting

Don't just look for a checkbox saying “recurring commissions.”

For a SaaS program, you want an explicit event/ledger model something like:

affiliate
   │
   └── attribution
          │
          └── customer
                 │
                 └── subscription
                       ├── invoice.paid
                       ├── invoice.paid
                       ├── invoice.paid
                       ├── refund
                       ├── chargeback
                       ├── upgrade
                       ├── downgrade
                       └── cancellation

And commissions should be derived from those events:

$100 subscription
    × 30% affiliate rate
    = $30 commission

next month
    $120 subscription
    × 30%
    = $36 commission

rather than simply creating a $30 commission when the initial signup occurs.

I'd specifically test whether each candidate supports:

• recurring percentage commissions
• fixed recurring commissions
• commission duration (12 months, lifetime, etc.)
• upgrades/downgrades
• prorations
• refunds
• chargebacks
• failed invoices
• cancellations
• trials → paid conversion
• multiple subscriptions per customer
• affiliate reassignment
• cookie expiration vs. customer-level attribution
• coupon-based attribution
• manual commission adjustments
• immutable/auditable commission ledger
• webhook idempotency
• backfilling missed billing events

That last group is more important than the affiliate dashboard.

My ranking for a technical SaaS team

I'd investigate them in this order:

1. RefearnApp — if Stripe/Paddle + modern SaaS architecture is the priority.
2. RefRef — if you want a genuinely hackable OSS foundation.
3. Refferq — especially compelling if MIT licensing matters.
4. Post Affiliate Pro — if production maturity outweighs source availability.
5. Weferral — interesting implementation/reference, but I'd hesitate to run it unchanged.
6. Raider — good if you're comfortable owning the business logic yourself.

There is a real caveat here: the open-source affiliate-management ecosystem is still immature in 2026. Current surveys of the space find very few maintained projects; several things that appear in search results are either abandoned, merely affiliate-link managers, or referral systems rather than production-grade recurring-commission ledgers. openpartner.dev

If you tell me your billing stack (Stripe/Paddle/Lemon Squeezy/custom), expected affiliate volume, commission rules (e.g. 30% recurring for 12 months), and whether you need automated payouts, I can narrow this to 2–3 and compare their actual architecture/API/database models rather than just their feature pages.

Yes. If you’re technical, I’d focus on actual self-hostable/open-source systems, not the many “affiliate platforms” that merely offer an API.

The field is surprisingly thin in 2026. A few projects are worth evaluating:

1. RefearnApp — my first choice

For a technical SaaS team, this is probably the closest match to what you're describing.

It is AGPL-3.0, self-hostable, Docker-based, and uses PostgreSQL. Its architecture is Next.js/TypeScript + Drizzle + PostgreSQL, with Cloudflare Workers for tracking. It supports Stripe and Paddle, coupon attribution, affiliate portals, payouts, and configurable commission durations. github.comrefearnapp.com

Most importantly for you, its commission model explicitly supports recurring subscription commissions, including configurable durations such as a fixed number of months or lifetime. github.comrefearnapp.com

GitHub repository

Why I'd investigate it first: the stack is modern and hackable, and you can actually inspect/modify the attribution and commission logic rather than treating it as a black box.

One caveat: it's a relatively young project (the GitHub repo currently shows only ~25 stars), so I'd audit the code, issue tracker, deployment process, and database/commission semantics before putting substantial affiliate liabilities through it. github.com

2. Numok — particularly interesting if you're Stripe-only

Numok is explicitly an open-source affiliate platform built around Stripe. It provides tracking, attribution, commission calculation, affiliate portals and payout queuing, and has a Docker deployment path. www.numok.com

Numok website

Numok source repository

I'd put it on a test server and specifically test:

• subscription renewal → commission
• upgrade/downgrade → commission adjustment
• cancellation/refund → clawback
• failed payment → commission behavior
• affiliate reassignment
• attribution expiration
• duplicate Stripe webhook delivery
• delayed/out-of-order webhook events

The important question isn't merely “does it say recurring commissions?” but whether the commission ledger remains correct when the subscription lifecycle gets messy.

3. Weferral — useful, but I'd treat it as an engineering project

Weferral is one of the older-looking open-source projects in this space. Its README explicitly supports monthly commissions for SaaS subscriptions and recurring/lifetime commissions, along with a REST API, webhooks, affiliate dashboard and PostgreSQL. github.com

Weferral on GitHub

The big problem is that the maintainers themselves say it is “not production ready yet” and a work in progress. github.com

So I'd consider it if your goal is:

“I want a starting point I can fork and turn into exactly what my business needs.”

I would not choose it if your goal is:

“I need affiliate partners receiving real money next month.”

4. OpenPartner — interesting newer entrant

OpenPartner is another genuinely open-source/self-hostable approach. Its current feature set is unusually ambitious: MIT-licensed core, multiple attribution models, re-derivation from raw events, Stripe/Paddle/custom billing webhooks, compound commission rules, Stripe Connect payouts and a partner marketplace. openpartner.dev

OpenPartner

I'd investigate this one if you're building something more sophisticated than “affiliate gets 30% of subscription revenue,” particularly if you want:

• multiple commission rules
• multi-sided incentives
• multiple payment processors
• a partner marketplace
• auditable attribution
• the ability to recompute commissions from immutable events

That re-derivation from raw events is especially attractive technically. For affiliate software, I'd much rather have an event ledger from which commission state can be reconstructed than a system where the calculated commission is effectively the source of truth.

What I'd prioritize technically

For recurring SaaS commissions, I'd rank the architecture roughly like this:

1. Immutable billing-event ledger
Store the underlying Stripe/Paddle events rather than only the resulting commission.

2. Deterministic attribution
You want something like:

click → visitor → signup → customer → subscription → affiliate

with stable IDs throughout.

3. A proper commission ledger

Instead of:

affiliate.balance = affiliate.balance + $30

prefer something conceptually like:

commission_event
  customer_id
  subscription_id
  affiliate_id
  source_event_id
  billing_period
  gross_amount
  commission_amount
  status
  rule_version

That makes refunds, disputes, upgrades and recomputation manageable.

4. Idempotent webhook processing

This is critical. Stripe can deliver events more than once, and events aren't something I'd blindly treat as a perfectly ordered stream.

5. Explicit subscription lifecycle semantics

Define what happens for:

new subscription
renewal
upgrade
downgrade
pause
resume
failed payment
past_due
cancellation
refund
chargeback
affiliate reassignment

before choosing the software.

6. Commission duration as data, not hardcoded behavior

For example:

commission_rate = 30%
commission_duration = lifetime

or:

commission_rate = 25%
commission_duration = 12 months

or:

commission_rate = 40%
commission_duration = first 3 invoices

That is much more useful than merely having a boolean recurring=true.

My shortlist

If I were building a technical SaaS today, I'd evaluate them in this order:

🥇 RefearnApp — best starting point for a conventional Stripe/Paddle SaaS affiliate program.
🥈 OpenPartner — most interesting if you want sophisticated attribution/commission logic and potentially a partner marketplace.
🥉 Numok — compelling if you're Stripe-centric and want something relatively focused.
🛠 Weferral — potentially useful as a fork/reference implementation, but not where I'd put production money without substantial work.

And I'd keep the affiliate accounting/commission ledger under your control even if you eventually replace the UI/tracking layer. That's the part that becomes painful to migrate once affiliates have years of recurring commissions attached to customers.

If you tell me your stack (e.g. Stripe + Next.js + Postgres, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, Chargebee, etc.) and whether you need lifetime vs X-month recurring commissions, I can narrow this down to the 1–2 I'd actually deploy and compare their architectures/codebases.

If you’re technical and specifically want self-hosted + recurring commissions, the shortlist is much smaller than the usual “affiliate software” lists. Most mature SaaS affiliate products are hosted-only. openpartner.devwww.idevaffiliate.com

My shortlist

\*Verify the exact repository/license before adopting; the open-source ecosystem is changing quickly.

1. OpenPartner — probably the one I'd investigate first

This is unusually close to what you're asking for: an MIT-licensed, self-hostable SaaS affiliate platform with the attribution engine, API, partner portal and commission machinery in the open. Its current architecture uses Postgres, a click router, API, attribution engine and partner/admin portals, with Docker Compose deployment. openpartner.dev

The interesting bit for recurring revenue is that it models raw events separately from derived attribution, rather than treating “signup = commission” as the whole system. It also advertises multiple attribution models and compound commission rules. openpartner.dev

I'd choose it if: you're building a SaaS and want something you can fork/modify rather than merely install.

2. RefearnApp — worth evaluating if you want a very developer-centric stack

RefearnApp's GitHub repository describes it as AGPL-3.0, Docker-based, self-hostable, with real-time tracking, payout management and Stripe webhook handling. github.com

Its stack is particularly interesting for an engineering team: Next.js + Cloudflare Edge + Drizzle + Docker, with an architecture aimed at high-volume tracking. github.com

The downside is maturity: it's a much younger project than the established commercial products. I'd inspect its commit activity, test coverage, migration strategy and Stripe webhook/idempotency implementation before trusting it with a significant commission ledger.

3. Post Affiliate Pro — if “self-hosted” matters more than “open source”

This is the pragmatic option. It isn't genuinely open source, but it has a long history, a self-hosted deployment model, extensive integrations, multi-tier commissions and tracking infrastructure. Current comparisons characterize it as mature but dated. openpartner.devwww.idevaffiliate.com

For a real affiliate network with lots of publishers, postbacks, coupon tracking and complex commission structures, I'd take a serious look at it before assuming a young OSS project is production-ready.

4. iDevAffiliate — another mature self-hosted commercial option

Similar philosophy: not FOSS, but you own/run the installation. It supports server-to-server postbacks, percentage/fixed commissions, multi-tier programs and an affiliate portal. www.nowg.net

I'd consider this if you want something you can deploy and operate yourself without becoming the maintainer of an affiliate platform.

5. SliceWP — only if you're already in WordPress

SliceWP has an explicit recurring-commission extension: you can configure renewal commission rates, recurrence limits, and product-specific recurring rates. It integrates with WooCommerce subscriptions and several membership platforms. slicewp.com

For a conventional SaaS stack, though, I wouldn't introduce WordPress solely for this.

What I'd prioritize technically

For a recurring SaaS affiliate program, don't evaluate these primarily on the affiliate dashboard. The hard part is the commission ledger.

I'd want the system to have:

1. Server-side conversion events — Stripe/Paddle webhooks rather than relying exclusively on browser cookies.
2. An immutable event ledger — clicks, referral identity, signup, subscription creation, invoice paid, refund, cancellation, upgrade/downgrade.
3. Commission state transitions — pending → approved → payable → paid, rather than simply storing $37.50 earned.
4. Recurring billing association — affiliate → customer → subscription, so subsequent invoices can generate commissions.
5. Clawbacks — refunds, chargebacks and cancellations should reverse or adjust commissions.
6. Commission windows — e.g. lifetime, 12 months, first 6 invoices, etc.
7. Idempotent webhook processing — absolutely essential with Stripe/Paddle.
8. Reconciliation — ability to compare the affiliate ledger against your billing provider.
9. Raw attribution data — don't let the software permanently collapse attribution into a single opaque decision.
10. An API/webhook layer so you can make your own billing system the source of truth.

That last point is particularly important. For a technical team, I'd much rather have Postgres + webhooks + a transparent commission engine than a beautiful affiliate portal whose internal accounting is inaccessible.

My ranking for your use case

If you're running a technical SaaS with recurring subscriptions:

OpenPartner → RefearnApp → Post Affiliate Pro → iDevAffiliate

I'd start by POC'ing OpenPartner and RefearnApp, especially if you're comfortable operating Docker/Postgres and potentially contributing code. The OSS space is still immature — one recent survey of the ecosystem found only a handful of credible active projects, with several older projects effectively abandoned. openpartner.devwww.idevaffiliate.com

If you tell me your billing stack (Stripe/Paddle/Chargebee/etc.), expected affiliate volume, commission rules (e.g. 30% lifetime vs 30% for 12 months), and whether you need automated payouts, I can narrow this to 2–3 options and compare their architectures/APIs in much more technical detail.

Yes. If you're technical and self-hosting is a real requirement, the market is surprisingly thin. Most polished SaaS affiliate products are closed-source and hosted-only. As of 2026, I’d narrow the field to a few options rather than looking at the huge list of generic “affiliate software” products. openpartner.dev

My shortlist

1. OpenPartner — probably where I'd start

OpenPartner is the most interesting current option for a technical SaaS team.

It is MIT-licensed, self-hostable with Docker Compose, Stripe-native, and explicitly supports recurring/one-time commissions. Its architecture stores raw clicks/events and derives attribution, which is particularly valuable if you expect to change attribution rules later. openpartner.dev

The interesting technical properties are:

• PostgreSQL-backed event/attribution data
• Docker deployment
• API-first tracking
• Server-side revenue events
• Stripe integration
• recurring commissions
• partner portal
• payouts through Stripe
• ability to self-host the same core as the hosted product openpartner.dev

The raw-event/derived-attribution architecture is something I'd specifically look for. Affiliate systems become painful when the database only stores “affiliate X gets $Y” rather than the underlying click → identity → customer → invoice → commission chain.

OpenPartner's GitHub repository

Caveat: it's relatively young. I'd do a serious code/dependency/audit pass before putting a high-volume program into it.

2. RefearnApp — interesting if you want maximum control

RefearnApp on GitHub is another genuinely self-hostable project. It uses Docker and PostgreSQL-oriented infrastructure and is licensed AGPL-3.0. The project describes itself as an open-source alternative to Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tolt. github.com

Its architecture is particularly interesting for someone technical:

• Next.js
• Drizzle
• Docker
• PostgreSQL
• optional Cloudflare edge tracking
• first-party tracking
• Stripe integration
• analytics
• commission/payout management github.com

I'd choose this over OpenPartner if AGPL is acceptable and you specifically want to own/modify the infrastructure, rather than caring as much about a polished partner-program product.

The main thing I'd investigate before adopting it is maturity: issue velocity, tests, migration quality, webhook idempotency, and what happens when Stripe sends events out of order.

3. Post Affiliate Pro — the boring but mature choice

Post Affiliate Pro isn't open source, but it deserves consideration because it has been around for a long time and supports self-hosting.

Its recurring-commission implementation is considerably more mature than many OSS projects. It supports recurring commissions on daily/weekly/monthly/etc. schedules, as well as an “accurate” webhook-driven mode tied to subscription IDs. www.postaffiliatepro.com

It also has a large integration surface including Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Chargebee, Recurly, etc. www.postaffiliatepro.com

I'd pick it if your priorities are:

“I need this thing to handle complicated affiliate-program edge cases and I don't particularly care whether I can fork the source.”

I wouldn't pick it if your primary motivation is open source, modern architecture, or building the system into your own product.

What I would not choose

Reflio is worth knowing about because it frequently appears in searches for OSS affiliate software. It was MIT-licensed and Stripe-focused, but current OSS surveys describe it as effectively abandoned. I wouldn't deploy it for a new production program. openpartner.dev

Likewise, AffiliateWP is attractive if you're entirely inside WordPress/WooCommerce, but it's a paid WordPress plugin rather than the sort of standalone infrastructure you're describing. openpartner.dev

And products such as Rewardful are excellent references for product requirements, but they don't meet your self-hosting requirement. Rewardful does handle recurring commissions, upgrades, downgrades, cancellations and refunds very nicely, so it's useful as a benchmark when evaluating OSS alternatives. www.rewardful.com

The features I'd evaluate very carefully

For a recurring-revenue program, “supports recurring commissions” isn't enough.

I'd test each candidate against this event sequence:

affiliate click
    ↓
visitor identity
    ↓
signup
    ↓
customer
    ↓
subscription
    ↓
invoice #1 → commission
    ↓
invoice #2 → commission
    ↓
upgrade → adjusted commission
    ↓
downgrade → adjusted commission
    ↓
failed payment → ?
    ↓
recovered payment → ?
    ↓
refund → clawback
    ↓
cancellation → stop future commissions

And I'd specifically require:

1. Idempotent webhook processing — Stripe can deliver events more than once.
2. Subscription-level identity — recurring commissions need a durable relationship between the original referral and subscription.
3. Refund/clawback ledger — don't merely delete the commission.
4. Immutable event history — attribution should be reproducible.
5. Commission states — pending → approved → payable → paid → reversed.
6. Commission caps/durations — e.g. 30% for 12 months vs. lifetime.
7. Upgrade/downgrade handling.
8. Cookie + server-side attribution rather than relying exclusively on browser cookies.
9. Fraud/self-referral controls.
10. Export/import — ideally the entire program can be reconstructed from your database.

That last one is disproportionately important. Your affiliate ledger becomes financial history; I would not want it trapped in an opaque SaaS database.

My ranking for your use case

If I were building a technical SaaS today:

1. OpenPartner — best balance of OSS, modern architecture, SaaS/Stripe orientation and actual affiliate-program functionality.

2. RefearnApp — investigate if you want something you can aggressively modify and operate yourself.

3. Post Affiliate Pro — use if maturity and breadth beat the OSS requirement.

4. DIY — only if your commission/attribution model is unusual enough that integrating with an existing engine will cause more pain than building the ledger yourself.

One architectural option I particularly like is self-hosting the affiliate engine but keeping your application as the source of truth for customers/subscriptions, with a clean webhook/event boundary:

Your app / Stripe
       │
       │ subscription + invoice events
       ▼
Affiliate engine
       │
       ├── attribution
       ├── commission ledger
       ├── affiliate portal
       └── payout state

That keeps the affiliate system replaceable instead of making your billing system depend on it.

If you tell me your stack (Stripe/Paddle/Lemon Squeezy/etc., language, Kubernetes vs Docker Compose, and whether you need multi-tier affiliates or just one-level recurring commissions), I can narrow this to the 2–3 architectures I'd actually deploy and compare their GitHub/codebases.

If you’re technical and specifically want self-hosted + open source + recurring commissions, I’d narrow the field considerably. A lot of “affiliate software” lists are really hosted SaaS products, while the genuinely self-hostable options tend to be newer projects.

My shortlist

\* Verify the exact recurring/subscription behavior against your billing provider before putting it into production.

1. OpenPartner — probably the most interesting modern option

OpenPartner is unusually close to what I'd want for a technically sophisticated SaaS: MIT-licensed, self-hostable, with Stripe/Paddle/custom billing webhooks, multiple attribution models, commission rules, and a ledger-oriented architecture. Its authors specifically emphasize being able to re-derive attribution from raw events rather than treating attribution as an irreversible decision. openpartner.devopenpartner.dev

Why I'd investigate it first:

• MIT rather than copyleft
• Self-hosting
• Stripe + Paddle + custom billing
• Recurring/compound commission rules
• Raw-event attribution
• More suitable for building a serious partner infrastructure than a simple referral widget

The main caveat is project maturity: it's a relatively new entrant, so I'd inspect its issue history, tests, migrations, deployment process, and production users before making it the system of record.

2. RefearnApp GitHub repository — strongest “just deploy the app” candidate

RefearnApp is AGPL-3.0 and explicitly designed as a self-hosted alternative to Rewardful/FirstPromoter/Tolt. It has Docker deployment, PostgreSQL, Stripe and Paddle integrations, affiliate portals, analytics, coupon tracking and PayPal mass payouts. github.com

Its architecture is quite modern:

• Next.js/React
• PostgreSQL + Drizzle
• Docker
• Cloudflare Workers for tracking
• Redis/queue infrastructure
• Affiliate dashboard

The repository has 1,394 commits and was updated as recently as July 2026, although it only has around 25 GitHub stars, so I'd consider it promising rather than battle-tested. github.comgithub.comwww.postaffiliatepro.com

I'd choose this over a hosted affiliate SaaS if your priorities are data ownership and customization.

3. Numok — worth testing for Stripe

Numok is explicitly open source/self-hostable and built around Stripe. It handles affiliate tracking, attribution, commission calculation and payout queuing. www.numok.com

This looks attractive if your architecture is basically:

Your SaaS
   │
   ├── Stripe
   │     └── subscription lifecycle
   │
   └── Numok
         ├── click tracking
         ├── attribution
         ├── commissions
         └── affiliate portal

I'd put it behind RefearnApp/OpenPartner for a more complex program, though, particularly if you need multiple billing systems or sophisticated historical attribution.

4. RefRef GitHub repository — interesting but experimental

RefRef is AGPL-3.0, Docker-friendly, and aimed directly at referral/affiliate programs. The repository has substantially more community activity than many of these projects—around 179 stars and 38 forks—but the project explicitly labels itself alpha, with potential breaking changes. github.com

I'd consider it if you're happy to contribute code and potentially fork it.

5. Refferq GitHub organization — MIT and SaaS-oriented

Refferq is another open-source affiliate/referral platform aimed at SaaS. Its main repository is MIT licensed and was still being updated in May 2026. github.com

This is one I'd evaluate by reading the code rather than trusting feature checklists—the ecosystem is young enough that implementation quality matters more than the advertised feature set.

The “boring but serious” option: Post Affiliate Pro

If your definition of self-hosted doesn't require open-source, I'd put Post Affiliate Pro on the shortlist.

It is much more mature than the GitHub projects above and has unusually deep commission functionality. Its recurring commission engine can generate commissions daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, or using custom intervals, and it supports multi-tier/split commission structures. www.postaffiliatepro.com

That's important because recurring commissions are deceptively complicated. You don't merely want:

signup → pay affiliate 20%

You eventually encounter:

signup
  ↓
$100/mo subscription
  ↓
20% commission
  ↓
upgrade → $200/mo
  ↓
20% of new amount
  ↓
coupon
  ↓
refund
  ↓
failed payment
  ↓
retry succeeds
  ↓
downgrade
  ↓
cancellation
  ↓
reactivation

A mature platform has already encountered many of these edge cases. Post Affiliate Pro explicitly supports recurring commissions tied to recurring payments and has configurable recurrence behavior. www.postaffiliatepro.com

The tradeoff is that it's proprietary/source-available rather than a conventional OSS project, and its UX/architecture aren't as attractive to a developer building a modern SaaS stack.

What I'd prioritize technically

For a recurring-revenue affiliate system, I'd actually evaluate the products in this order:

1. Billing-event correctness
2. Attribution model
3. Commission ledger
4. Refund/chargeback handling
5. Subscription lifecycle handling
6. Data portability
7. Affiliate portal
8. Payout automation
9. Click tracking/analytics

The first six matter considerably more than having a pretty affiliate dashboard.

In particular, I'd want the system to consume immutable billing events rather than periodically asking Stripe “what subscriptions exist?” Your architecture should ideally look something like:

                ┌──────────────┐
click ─────────►│ Attribution  │
                │    engine    │
                └──────┬───────┘
                       │
                       ▼
                ┌──────────────┐
Stripe webhook ─►│ Event store │
                └──────┬───────┘
                       │
                       ▼
                ┌──────────────┐
                │ Commission   │
                │    ledger    │
                └──────┬───────┘
                       │
             ┌─────────┴─────────┐
             ▼                   ▼
       affiliate UI        payout system

That gives you an auditable answer to “why did affiliate X receive $37.42?”, which becomes extremely valuable once money is involved.

My ranking for a technical team

If you're building a SaaS today:

OpenPartner → best architecture/features to investigate
RefearnApp → best ready-to-deploy OSS candidate
Numok → appealing if you're Stripe-only and want simplicity
RefRef → interesting if you're willing to tolerate alpha software
Refferq → worth code-level evaluation
Post Affiliate Pro → my choice if mature recurring-commission machinery matters more than having an OSS license

One important caveat: the open-source affiliate ecosystem is still surprisingly immature. Recent comparisons note that most established affiliate platforms remain closed-source/hosted, so I'd be cautious about putting a young OSS project directly in charge of your financial ledger without testing webhook idempotency, subscription changes, refunds, retries, and reconciliation yourself. openpartner.devopenpartner.dev

If you tell me Stripe vs Paddle vs Chargebee/etc., your commission model (e.g. 20% lifetime recurring), and whether you need PayPal/Stripe Connect payouts, I can narrow this to 2–3 options and compare their actual architectures/repos in depth.

If you’re technical and self-hosting is a hard requirement, the market is surprisingly thin. Most mature affiliate products are SaaS; the genuinely open-source options tend to be newer and less battle-tested.

For recurring SaaS commissions, I’d shortlist these:

1. Numok

Probably the first one I'd investigate. It explicitly positions itself as open-source, self-hosted affiliate software, with unlimited affiliates and your data staying on your infrastructure. Its demo covers the complete flow from affiliate tracking link → purchase → commission appearing in the affiliate portal. www.numok.com

The important thing I'd verify before adopting it is how it handles subscription lifecycle events: renewals, upgrades/downgrades, refunds, cancellations, and attribution after the initial purchase.

2. RefearnApp

A newer AGPL-licensed self-hosted affiliate platform. It is explicitly aimed at SaaS and integrates with Stripe. refearnapp.com

This one is particularly interesting if you want to inspect/modify the actual attribution engine rather than treating the affiliate platform as a black box.

The architecture described by its developer is also quite sensible for a technical team: client-side click tracking + billing webhooks + server-side attribution, with PostgreSQL and Docker. www.reddit.com

I'd consider it for an early/mid-stage SaaS, but I'd scrutinize its test coverage and production history before putting substantial affiliate liabilities through it.

3. OpenPartner

This is probably the most interesting option if your use case is specifically modern SaaS rather than generic e-commerce affiliate tracking.

It uses an MIT license and is designed around Stripe-native attribution, with self-hosting as an option. Its architecture also emphasizes immutable/raw events so commission calculations can be independently audited. openpartner.dev

That last point matters more than it sounds. With recurring commissions, you really want an append-only-ish event history:

customer.created
subscription.created
subscription.updated
invoice.paid
invoice.refunded
subscription.cancelled

and commissions derived from those events, rather than simply maintaining a mutable affiliate_balance column.

4. Sled

If you're using Polar, Sled is worth a look. It's an open-source AGPL affiliate system specifically built around Polar webhooks and reportedly handles subscription renewals, refunds, affiliate-specific commission overrides, and affiliate dashboards. www.reddit.com

I wouldn't choose it merely because it's open source, though—the Polar-specific architecture is the main reason to investigate it.

5. Post Affiliate Pro

This is the "I want something mature and self-hosted, and I don't actually care whether it's OSI-open-source" choice.

It's not genuinely open source; it is proprietary/source-available software with a self-hosted offering. It has been around for a long time and supports sophisticated affiliate structures, including multi-tier commissions and fraud controls. refgrow.com

For a serious program where affiliate accounting is already significant, I'd actually consider it alongside the OSS alternatives because operational maturity can outweigh license purity.

What I'd prioritize for recurring commissions

Don't evaluate these primarily on "does it track affiliate links?" Almost all of them can do that.

For SaaS, I'd test these cases explicitly:

1. Initial conversion → 30% commission
2. Monthly renewal → another 30%
3. Annual → monthly downgrade
4. Plan upgrade → commission on incremental amount
5. Refund → commission reversal
6. Failed payment → no commission
7. Churn → commissions stop
8. Reactivation months later → define whether commission resumes
9. Coupon + affiliate link simultaneously
10. Affiliate changes ownership/referral after signup
11. Chargeback
12. Affiliate deletion
13. Commission rate changes without rewriting historical commissions
14. Multiple currencies
15. Payout hold period

The really important architectural question is whether the system treats billing events as the source of truth. For recurring programs, I'd strongly prefer that over a system that periodically polls Stripe and tries to reconstruct what happened.

My ranking for a technical SaaS team

If you want truly open source:

1. OpenPartner — strongest conceptual fit for SaaS
2. Numok — promising all-around self-hosted option
3. RefearnApp — attractive if you want something lightweight/customizable
4. Sled — move this to #1 if you're on Polar

If "self-hosted" matters more than open-source licensing:

1. Post Affiliate Pro
2. OpenPartner
3. Numok / RefearnApp

One caveat: the OSS ecosystem here is young. A recent survey of the space describes the mature open-source choices as limited, with several projects being new or effectively abandoned. openpartner.dev So I'd do a GitHub-level diligence pass—commit activity, issues, releases, tests, database migrations, webhook idempotency, and number of real production installations—before betting your affiliate ledger on any of them.

If you tell me Stripe vs Paddle vs Lemon Squeezy vs Polar, and whether you need one-tier or multi-tier commissions, I can narrow this to the 2–3 architectures I'd actually deploy.

Yes. If your requirement is specifically self-hosted + recurring commissions + technical control, the field is surprisingly small. I’d separate the options into true open source and source-available/commercial self-hosted.

My shortlist

\*I'd verify the exact recurring/subscription behavior against the current release before committing.

1. OpenPartner — my first choice

This is probably the most interesting option for a new SaaS where you want the software itself under your control. Its core is MIT-licensed and self-hostable, with Postgres, an attribution engine, API, click router, and affiliate/partner portal. It supports Stripe, Paddle, and custom billing webhooks, and its commission model is designed around recurring SaaS revenue. openpartner.dev

The particularly nice architectural choice is immutable raw events + derived attribution. That matters because you can change attribution rules and re-run the calculation rather than having an opaque historical commission ledger. openpartner.dev

I'd pick this if: you're comfortable running Docker/Postgres and want something you can actually extend.

2. RefearnApp — simpler alternative

RefearnApp is explicitly positioned as a free, open-source, self-hostable affiliate-management platform. It provides an affiliate portal, commission engine, payout management and Stripe webhook handling. refearnapp.com

The tradeoff is maturity/ecosystem. It's considerably newer and smaller than commercial affiliate platforms, so I'd inspect the GitHub activity, issue tracker, tests, deployment process, and upgrade story before putting a large affiliate book on it.

I'd pick this if: you want something relatively small that you can understand/fork rather than a big affiliate-network product.

3. Referrq / Raider

There's a small but growing ecosystem of genuinely open-source affiliate/referral projects. A current 2026 directory lists Referrq (AGPL) for affiliate/referral management and Raider (MPL-2.0) for affiliate tracking, alongside RefEarnApp. opensourcetools.org

I'd treat these as projects worth evaluating rather than automatic production recommendations. For recurring SaaS commissions, the important question isn't merely "does it track referrals?" but whether subscription lifecycle events—renewal, upgrade, downgrade, cancellation, refund—are modeled correctly.

If "self-hosted" matters more than "open source"

iDevAffiliate is much more mature. It's proprietary, but you buy a self-hosted PHP/MySQL version for a one-time fee. It explicitly supports lifetime commissions, recurring commissions, configurable numbers of rebills, multi-tier recruiting, delayed commissions, etc. www.idevaffiliate.com

For a business where "I need this to work reliably and don't care whether the source is FOSS" is the priority, I'd seriously consider it.

AffiliateWP is another option if your stack is WordPress. Its higher tiers include lifetime/recurring commissions, recurring referrals, multi-tier commissions and affiliate dashboards. It's specifically a WordPress plugin, though, so I wouldn't choose it for a standalone SaaS stack. affiliatewp.com

What I'd use for a technical SaaS

If your architecture looks roughly like:

Your SaaS
   │
   ├── Stripe/Paddle
   │       │
   │       └── webhooks
   │
   ▼
Affiliate engine
   │
   ├── click attribution
   ├── customer ↔ affiliate association
   ├── recurring commission ledger
   ├── refunds / chargebacks
   ├── upgrades / downgrades / churn
   └── affiliate portal

I'd rank them:

OpenPartner > RefearnApp > iDevAffiliate

The big thing I'd investigate before deployment is commission accounting. Don't choose based on the existence of an "affiliate dashboard." You want an auditable event/ledger model where, for example:

customer referred
→ subscription $100/mo
→ affiliate earns 30%
→ renewal #2: $100 → $30
→ upgrade: $200 → $60
→ cancellation
→ refund
→ commission reversal

If the software can't deterministically reconstruct that history from billing events, you'll eventually end up maintaining a spreadsheet or writing your own reconciliation system.

Also, don't confuse Rewardful with a self-hosted solution: it has excellent recurring Stripe support and automatically handles upgrades, downgrades and cancellations, but it's a hosted commercial service rather than something you deploy yourself. help.rewardful.com

If you tell me your billing stack (Stripe, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, Chargebee, custom, etc.) and whether you need multi-tenant affiliate programs, I can narrow this to 2–3 choices and compare their architecture, licenses, Docker/deployment model, APIs, attribution, and recurring-commission handling.

Yes. The important distinction is “open source/self-hostable” vs. “actually good at recurring SaaS commissions.” The open-source market is much thinner than the hosted market, so I’d shortlist these:

1. Numok — probably the first one I'd test

Numok GitHub repository

Numok is specifically positioned as an open-source, self-hosted SaaS affiliate platform built on Stripe, rather than a generic affiliate-link manager. Its public project listing describes it as a “SaaS Affiliate Program on top of Stripe,” and the project is actively maintained. github.comgithub.com

Its site says you get the source code, unlimited affiliates, your own infrastructure/data, affiliate portal, commission configuration and Stripe-based tracking. www.numok.com

I'd choose it if: you're Stripe-centric and want something relatively close to a Rewardful/FirstPromoter replacement without building the whole system.

Watch closely: I'd inspect its implementation of subscription renewals, refunds, chargebacks, upgrades/downgrades, and attribution before putting significant money through it.

2. Refferq — interesting modern MIT option

Refferq on GitHub

Refferq is a newer MIT-licensed affiliate-management platform built with Next.js and PostgreSQL. It has an affiliate portal, admin panel, referral tracking, commission management, analytics, automated workflows and payout scheduling. github.com

This is attractive if you're comfortable with TypeScript and want a conventional web application you can fork and modify.

Strength: MIT is a particularly permissive license for a commercial internal fork.

Caveat: I would not assume that “commission management” means robust subscription-lifecycle commissions. Before selecting it, I'd specifically test:

affiliate click
    ↓
signup
    ↓
trial
    ↓
subscription
    ↓
renewal #1
    ↓
upgrade
    ↓
renewal #2
    ↓
downgrade
    ↓
refund
    ↓
cancellation

That lifecycle is where many otherwise-good affiliate projects fall down.

3. RefearnApp — most interesting if you're infrastructure-minded

RefearnApp GitHub repository

RefearnApp is explicitly positioned as an open-source/self-hostable alternative to Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tolt. It uses Next.js/React, PostgreSQL/Drizzle, Redis and Cloudflare Workers, and advertises Stripe and Paddle integrations, affiliate portals, analytics, payouts and Docker-based deployment. It's AGPL-3.0. github.com

For a technical operator, the architecture is interesting because tracking is separated from the application layer rather than being just a monolithic dashboard.

I'd investigate this one if:

• you expect substantial tracking volume,
• you want to modify attribution logic,
• you want both Stripe and Paddle,
• you're comfortable operating Redis/Postgres/workers,
• AGPL is acceptable for your deployment model.

I'd still consider it a younger project and do a serious code/security/operational review before using it as the system of record for payouts.

4. AffEasy — useful if attribution infrastructure is the main concern

AffEasy GitHub repository

AffEasy is AGPL-3.0 and self-hostable, built with TypeScript/Next.js/Prisma/Redis. Its emphasis is affiliate-link creation and affiliate-network integration rather than being a complete SaaS subscription commission ledger. github.com

I'd consider it more of a building block than my first choice for a recurring SaaS affiliate program.

The wildcard: build the commission engine yourself

If you're genuinely technical, this may actually be the best long-term architecture.

You don't necessarily need a giant affiliate platform. You need four fairly well-defined pieces:

                ┌──────────────┐
click ────────> │ Attribution  │
                └──────┬───────┘
                       │
                       ▼
                ┌──────────────┐
signup ────────>│ Customer ↔   │
                │ Affiliate    │
                └──────┬───────┘
                       │
Stripe events ────────┤
                       ▼
                ┌──────────────┐
                │ Commission   │
                │ Ledger       │
                └──────┬───────┘
                       │
                       ▼
                ┌──────────────┐
                │ Payouts      │
                └──────────────┘

For the billing side, Lago is an interesting open-source/self-hostable billing foundation, while Kill Bill is a much more mature and highly customizable open-source billing platform. Neither is an affiliate system out of the box, but either can provide a solid event/billing foundation around which you build attribution and commissions. github.com

For a technical team, I'd strongly favor an immutable commission ledger rather than calculating “what this affiliate is owed” from the current Stripe subscription state.

Something like:

CommissionEvent
----------------
id
affiliate_id
customer_id
subscription_id
invoice_id
event_type
gross_amount
commission_rate
commission_amount
currency
status
occurred_at
source_event_id

Then Stripe events become the source of truth:

invoice.paid
invoice.payment_failed
customer.subscription.updated
customer.subscription.deleted
charge.refunded
charge.dispute.created

This makes recurring commissions much easier to reason about and audit.

What I'd pick

For your particular description, my order would be:

1. Numok → if you're Stripe-only and want the shortest path to production.

2. RefearnApp → if you want a more ambitious, hackable platform and don't mind operating it.

3. Refferq → if MIT licensing and a straightforward TypeScript/Postgres stack are particularly attractive.

4. Build your own ledger around Stripe/Lago → if affiliate commissions are financially important enough that you want complete control over attribution and accounting.

One important reality check: Rewardful, FirstPromoter and Tapfiliate are considerably more mature products, but they're hosted rather than self-hosted. They demonstrate what “good” recurring commission handling should look like: Rewardful, for example, adjusts commissions for upgrades, downgrades, cancellations and trials, while FirstPromoter supports lifetime, time-limited and charge-count-based recurring commissions. help.rewardful.com Tapfiliate likewise explicitly supports subscription renewals and lifetime attribution. support.tapfiliate.com

So I'd use those as the behavioral specification when evaluating the open-source projects—not just check whether a README says “recurring commissions.”

If you tell me Stripe vs. Paddle vs. another billing provider, approximate affiliate count/traffic, and whether you need automated PayPal/Wise payouts, I can narrow this to the 2–3 strongest architectures and compare their actual GitHub maturity, licenses, deployment requirements, and recurring-commission implementation.

If you’re technical and want to self-host an affiliate platform for recurring commissions (SaaS-style partner programs, subscriptions, revenue share, lifetime commissions, etc.), the biggest thing to check is whether the software supports recurring attribution + subscription events, not just one-time referral payouts.

Here are the main options worth considering:

Open-source options

Mautic + custom affiliate tracking

A common engineering approach is to avoid traditional affiliate software and build the referral ledger yourself:

• Store referral relationships:
  • affiliate_id
  • customer_id
  • first-touch / last-touch attribution
  • campaign/source
• Listen to billing events:
  • Stripe invoice.paid
  • subscription.created
  • subscription.updated
  • subscription.deleted
• Generate commission ledger entries:
  • month
  • MRR amount
  • commission percentage
  • payout status

Pros:

• True recurring SaaS logic
• Handles upgrades/downgrades/cancellations
• Easier compliance/audit trail

Cons:

• You own payout workflows, fraud checks, dashboards

Solidus ecosystem

If you already run Rails commerce, this can be extended into an affiliate/referral system. It is not a drop-in affiliate SaaS product, but it gives you a strong foundation.

Self-hosted commercial products

Post Affiliate Pro

Probably one of the closest matches if you want a turnkey system.

Good at:

• recurring commissions
• multiple commission types
• coupons
• lifetime commissions
• partner portals
• fraud controls
• API integrations

Downside:

• proprietary
• licensing cost

OSI Affiliate Software

A smaller self-hosted option.

Good for:

• SaaS referrals
• reseller programs
• coupon-based attribution
• recurring commissions

AffiliateWP

Best if your product is already WordPress-based:

Works well with:

• WooCommerce subscriptions
• membership sites
• LMS platforms

Less ideal if your SaaS is:

• Stripe-only
• custom backend
• non-WordPress

What I would evaluate for a SaaS recurring program

Before choosing, verify these features:

Billing integration

Must support:

• Stripe subscriptions
• Paddle
• Chargebee
• Recurly
• custom webhooks

Commission model

Look for:

• Lifetime commission

Affiliate earns 20% of every future payment.

• Recurring for N months

Affiliate earns 30% for first 12 billing cycles.

• MRR share

Affiliate earns based on active recurring revenue.

• Tiered commissions

20% standard, 30% for enterprise partners.

Accounting/audit

Important at scale:

• immutable commission ledger
• payout history
• reversals/refunds
• tax forms/export
• manual adjustments

If I were building a technical SaaS today

I’d usually choose one of these:

Fastest path

Post Affiliate Pro + Stripe webhook integration

WordPress SaaS

AffiliateWP + subscription integration

Engineering-first SaaS

Build a small internal affiliate service:

Stack example:

• PostgreSQL
• Stripe webhooks
• Redis queue
• Rails/Laravel/Node API
• admin dashboard
• payout export

The core model is surprisingly small:

Affiliate
  id
  code
  commission_rate

Referral
  affiliate_id
  customer_id
  created_at

SubscriptionEvent
  customer_id
  event_type
  amount

CommissionLedger
  affiliate_id
  invoice_id
  amount
  status

For a serious recurring-revenue SaaS, the custom ledger approach often ends up cleaner than adapting affiliate software designed around one-time ecommerce transactions.

If you’re technical and want to run your own recurring-commission affiliate program (especially for SaaS subscriptions), you’ll want software that can handle:

• recurring revenue attribution (monthly/annual renewals)
• lifetime commissions or tiered commissions
• affiliate portals
• tracking links/cookies
• payouts and tax workflows
• API/webhooks
• fraud controls
• integrations with Stripe, Paddle, Chargebee, etc.

The open-source/self-hosted ecosystem is smaller than the SaaS affiliate space, but these are the main options worth evaluating.

More genuinely open-source candidates

PostAffiliatePro Open Source alternatives / legacy affiliate scripts

There are older PHP affiliate platforms on GitHub (often forks of abandoned scripts), but many have issues:

• weak security posture
• outdated PHP dependencies
• no modern webhook/event model
• poor recurring billing support

They can work as a base, but you’ll likely spend more time modernizing them than building.

Build around an open-source referral engine

For a technical SaaS, many teams build a small affiliate layer instead of adopting a full affiliate platform:

Core tables

affiliates
- id
- payout_email
- commission_rate

referrals
- affiliate_id
- customer_id
- created_at

subscriptions
- customer_id
- stripe_subscription_id
- status

commissions
- referral_id
- invoice_id
- amount
- status

Flow

1. Affiliate link:

yourapp.com/signup?ref=alice

2. Store referral attribution:

customer.metadata.affiliate_id = alice

3. Stripe webhook:

invoice.paid
customer.subscription.updated
customer.subscription.deleted

4. Generate commissions:

invoice.amount_paid * affiliate.rate

5. Affiliate dashboard reads commission ledger.

For recurring SaaS commissions, this architecture is often cleaner than adapting ecommerce affiliate software.

Self-hosted commercial options I’d shortlist

1. Post Affiliate Pro

Best if you want:

• mature tracking
• many affiliate features out of the box
• less engineering work

Weakness:

• proprietary
• customization can be constrained

2. OSI Affiliate Software

Best if:

• you want a classic affiliate platform
• you’re comfortable modifying PHP

3. Custom service + Stripe webhooks

Best if:

• you run SaaS
• commissions are core business logic
• you need unusual rules:
  • 30% lifetime recurring
  • first-year only
  • partner tiers
  • usage-based commissions
  • clawbacks

If I were designing a SaaS affiliate system today

I’d probably avoid a full affiliate CMS and build:

• Stripe Billing → source of truth for revenue
• Postgres → commission ledger
• Redis/queue → async processing
• Your app auth → affiliate dashboard
• Metabase/Grafana → internal reporting

Useful open-source components:

• Supabase for Postgres/auth/storage
• n8n for workflow automation
• Plausible Analytics for privacy-friendly analytics

You end up with something closer to an internal version of Rewardful or FirstPromoter, but fully under your control.

My shortlist by scenario

You want to launch quickly
→ Post Affiliate Pro / OSI

You run WordPress memberships
→ AffiliateWP

You run a SaaS with Stripe
→ Build a small custom affiliate ledger

You need enterprise partner management
→ Evaluate commercial self-hosted platforms rather than FOSS

For a technical SaaS company, I’d lean toward a custom Stripe-driven commission engine unless you need a large marketplace-style affiliate ecosystem.

If you're comfortable operating your own infrastructure and want recurring commissions (SaaS subscriptions, memberships, etc.), the landscape is surprisingly sparse. Most mature affiliate platforms are SaaS. Among self-hosted options, I'd separate them into three groups:

1. OpenPartner (most interesting if you want open source)

Pros:

• MIT licensed
• Self-hostable
• Designed around subscription SaaS
• Raw event model rather than opaque attribution
• Modern architecture
• Handles recurring billing events via webhooks rather than scheduled jobs openpartner.dev

Things I'd verify before adopting:

• Contributor activity
• Upgrade path
• Database migration strategy
• Test coverage
• Production deployments

If I were starting a greenfield SaaS today and wanted an open-source base, this is probably the first repository I'd inspect.

2. RefearnApp

Also open source and self-hostable.

Pros:

• AGPL
• Docker deployment
• Stripe integration
• Lightweight
• Easy to fork

Cons:

• Much younger ecosystem
• Smaller feature set
• Fewer integrations
• Less battle-tested refearnapp.com

Good if you're happy extending the code yourself.

3. Post Affiliate Pro

This has existed for years.

Pros:

• Self-hosted license
• Very complete feature set
• Multi-tier commissions
• Fraud detection
• Recurring commission engine
• Lots of payment gateway integrations

Cons:

• Proprietary
• PHP
• UI shows its age
• Subscription support feels more like an extension than a core design openpartner.devwww.postaffiliatepro.com

If your priority is "works today" over "modern codebase," it's still one of the strongest self-hosted choices.

If you're technical: consider building the attribution layer yourself

Recurring affiliate tracking is mostly an event-processing problem.

A robust architecture looks like:

Affiliate Link
      │
      ▼
Click service
      │
      ▼
Attribution DB
      │
Checkout
      │
      ▼
Billing Provider
(Stripe/Paddle/Lemon Squeezy)
      │
Webhook
      ▼
Commission Engine
      │
      ▼
Ledger
      │
      ▼
Payout Export

Your commission engine consumes events like:

• subscription.created
• invoice.paid
• subscription.updated
• subscription.canceled
• refund.created

instead of trying to infer recurring payments later.

This makes upgrades, downgrades, pauses, refunds, and churn straightforward.

Features I'd insist on

For recurring SaaS commissions, look for:

• immutable commission ledger
• webhook-driven recurring events
• idempotent webhook processing
• affiliate overrides
• first-touch/last-touch attribution
• coupon attribution
• referral-link attribution
• refund reversals
• commission locking
• payout batches
• API-first architecture
• audit trail
• PostgreSQL support

What I'd avoid

Older affiliate software often relies on cron-generated recurring commissions ("generate monthly commissions until canceled"). That works, but webhook-driven commission generation tied to actual subscription events is generally more accurate because it naturally handles failed renewals, pauses, refunds, and plan changes. openpartner.devwww.postaffiliatepro.com

My short list

If I were evaluating today as an engineer:

1. OpenPartner — first repository I'd inspect.
2. Post Affiliate Pro — if you want mature, feature-complete software and don't require open source.
3. RefearnApp — promising lightweight OSS if you're willing to contribute code.
4. Build your own if you already have an event-driven billing backend and want complete control over attribution, commission rules, and payouts.

If your SaaS uses Stripe, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, Polar, Chargebee, or another billing platform, I can narrow the recommendations further because the webhook and subscription model compatibility is often the deciding factor.