Independent Affiliate Program vs Affiliate Network: Which Is Better for Your Business?

Affiliate marketing is a popular way for businesses to grow. It helps you reach more customers, increase sales, and make your brand more known. But when you start, you have a big choice to make: should you create your own affiliate program or join an affiliate network? This decision affects your costs, control, and how fast you can grow.

In this article, we’ll explain the differences between an affiliate network and an independent affiliate program, list their pros and cons, and help you decide what’s best for your business.

If you prefer a budget-friendly option for starting affiliate marketing and the ability to take full control of what you do, running your own affiliate program through affiliate software can be a better choice. Check out UpPromote, the top trusted Shopify affiliate solution for growth, with a 4.9/5 rating and over 4,000 positive reviews, to build your affiliate campaign yourself right away.

What Is an Independent Affiliate Program?

An independent affiliate program is an affiliate campaign that companies build and manage on their own. Businesses handle everything from recruiting affiliates and setting commission structures to tracking performance and managing partnerships. In this model, brands often use off-the-shelf affiliate marketing tracking software or develop their own tools to run and scale their program more effectively.

A real-world example of an independent affiliate program comes from Holbrook Pickleball, a family-owned company focused on high-quality pickleball equipment.

Seeing the potential of affiliate marketing, the brand starts an affiliate program for pickleball enthusiasts, brand advocates, and influencers.

They run it in house and use UpPromote to keep it smooth and effective. The software is the key part of their marketing strategy, helping them build a strong network of brand supporters and speed up their acquisition.

Pickleball fans easily join as ambassadors and receive a unique discount code to share with friends and followers. Each code usage earns ambassadors 15% store credit to encourage repeat purchases and build brand loyalty.

By late 2023, Holbrook Pickleball saw an 87% order increase from this affiliate campaign.

Pros of Starting Your Own Affiliate Program

Creating your own affiliate program is beneficial to your business in several ways.

Here are the good things about running it independently:

• Full control: You decide everything. You structure commission rates, choose the types of affiliates to work with, and select payment methods. Plus, you guide how partners promote your products and establish the terms and conditions they must abide by.
• Cost efficiency: Running it in-house keeps expenses low with just a flat software fee and commissions on affiliate sales. Some affiliate apps provide an affordable price to use. Using UpPromote, the software lets you start for free, so there’s no need to worry about upfront costs.
• Stronger affiliate relationships: Handling the program yourself builds direct ties with affiliates. You find and reach out to them your way. Then, you can offer personal training and support, stay in touch regularly for feedback, and provide bonuses to keep them engaged.
• Data ownership: Owning the program means you hold all the data. This includes affiliate results, customer preferences, top products, and other valuable insights. This information helps you refine affiliate marketing strategies and grow your business effectively.
• High flexibility: An in-house program lets you adjust quickly without depending on agencies or networks. You can change commission rates for special products or promotions, design the affiliate signup form to match your brand image, and update the program instantly. Also, with affiliate software like UpPromote, you can request customized features for your specific needs to track sales, reward affiliates, or generate detailed reports.

Cons of Starting Your Own Affiliate Program

Running an independent affiliate program has its benefits, but it also brings certain drawbacks. You can consider these points:

• Initial setup costs: Launching your own affiliate program involves investing in software and tools to track sales and commissions. Developing your own software can be expensive, while purchasing a ready-made solution still involves an upfront cost. Plus, you’ll need to budget for hiring and training staff to manage affiliates and payments, as well as legal fees for contracts and compliance.
• Finding affiliates is challenging: You’ll have to search for and recruit affiliates from scratch. It takes considerable time and effort, especially when your program isn’t widely known yet.
• Technical expertise is necessary: Managing your own program involves setting up tracking software, generating reports to analyze performance, and ensuring data security. All of these demand a certain level of technical knowledge. 
• Ongoing management is essential: Even after setup, the program needs continuous attention. You keep finding affiliates, train them, stay in touch, track results, pay on time, and watch for fraud to keep everything running well.

What Is an Affiliate Network?

An affiliate network is a platform that connects businesses with affiliates. It’s like a marketplace. You sign up and list your program on the platform. And affiliates who join the network can browse and find out your offer and join to promote your products.

The whole affiliate partnership can be managed from within the network. It handles almost everything like tracking sales, paying affiliates, and giving reports.

ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, and Rakuten Advertising are popular examples of affiliate networks.

Pros of Joining an Affiliate Network

Joining an affiliate network can offer some outstanding advantages for brands.

Here’s what you can expect:

• Access to a large pool of affiliates. Businesses can instantly connect with thousands of affiliates already active on the network and save time on recruitment.
• Simplified affiliate management. The network manages tracking, reporting, and commission payouts, which keeps the workload light for business owners.
• Reliable tracking and analytics. Most networks offer advanced tools and detailed reports, and this ensures affiliate performance remains monitored and commissions stay accurate.
• Credibility and trust. Affiliates often prefer to promote brands on established networks because they rely on the platform’s reputation.

Cons of Joining an Affiliate Network

However, running an affiliate program through a network still presents challenges to consider:

• High network fees. Most networks charge setup fees, monthly fees, or a share of affiliate commissions. Some take 20-30% of the revenue your partners earn. These costs can reduce your profits.
• Less control over affiliates. Affiliate marketers join via the network, so you can’t fully decide who promotes your brand or how they do it. Some might not align with your brand’s values.
• Competitive environment. Your program sits among many brands on the same platform, and this competition can make it tougher to attract top affiliates.
• Restricted data access. The network holds most information, so data security relies on their systems.
• Limited customization choices. Networks use set rules and commission plans, so you can’t tailor the program as much as an independent setup allows.

Affiliate Network vs. Affiliate Software: Key Differences

When deciding between an affiliate network and affiliate software, it’s important to know how they work differently. An affiliate network is a ready-made platform that connects you with affiliates and manages many tasks for you. Affiliate software is a tool you use to run your own program.

Here is a table that summarizes the key differences between the two options:

We’ll break down the points in more detail below:

Affiliate Recruitment

Affiliate Network

With a network, finding affiliates is easy. They already have thousands of affiliates signed up and ready to promote products. You just list your program, and people can join. This saves time, especially if you’re new or don’t have a big audience yet.

However, you can only work with affiliates who are part of the network. The network acts as a middleman in managing the process. Your brand also competes with others on the platform to attract high-quality affiliates. Affiliates might choose a competitor’s program if it’s better.

Affiliate Software

With software, you have to find affiliates yourself. You might promote your affiliate program through your website, social media, ads, or events. You also have to create your own outreach plan to connect and invite affiliates to join your campaign.

It takes more effort, but you get to choose exactly who you team up with and build your own network of trusted affiliates.

Affiliate Tracking Solution

Affiliate Network

Networks come with tracking built in. They provide the tools—affiliate links, click tracking, and sales reports—and it’s all network-provided. You don’t need tech skills, but you rely on their system to work right.

Affiliate Software

Software tracks too, but it’s company-owned or purchased. You set it up on your website and decide how it runs. It takes more work to start, but you can customize it to fit your needs perfectly.

Costs

Affiliate Network

You pay fees to use a network—like set-up costs, monthly fees, or a cut of each sale. It could be affordable to start, but the costs grow as you make more money.

Affiliate Software

You pay for the software once or as a subscription. No one takes a share of your sales, so it’s cheaper over time. But it might cost more upfront, plus tech setup.

The good news? Some affiliate software options are budget-friendly. For instance, UpPromote, the top trusted Shopify affiliate solution for growth—recommended by experts and over 115,000 users worldwide —offers a free plan. So, you can launch and manage your own affiliate program with no financial stress and scale up whenever you’re ready.

Affiliate Engagement

Affiliate Network

Engagement is harder with a network. You don’t talk to affiliates directly because they go through the platform. This makes it tough to build close relationships or give personal support. The network might send updates, but it’s less personal.

Affiliate Software

You engage with affiliates yourself. You can email them, offer tips, or answer questions directly. This builds trust and keeps them excited about promoting your products, but it takes more effort.

With UpPromote, you can connect and communicate with your partners effortlessly. Pick one of these two ways to contact them:

• In-app chat: Chat with affiliates and message them directly inside the app.

• Email: Use our templates to quickly notify a large group of affiliates. Send mass updates about program changes to everyone at once.

Affiliate Management

Affiliate Network

The network handles most tasks. They handle tracking, payouts, and fraud prevention. It can save time, but you’re not fully in charge.

Affiliate Software

You’re responsible for it all—supporting affiliates, monitoring their work, ensuring compliance, keeping the system going, and finding ways to prevent affiliate fraud. It’s more hands-on, but you stay in control.

If you choose the right affiliate management software, managing affiliates is much easier.

With UpPromote, the system tracks affiliate performance automatically. Also, the app can quickly detect suspicious activities with a built-in fraud detection feature:

• Detect and block fraudulent signups or referrals from suspicious IP addresses.
• Deny referrals linked to flagged IPs.
• Restrict certain affiliates from joining.
• Keep your affiliate signup page hidden from search engines.
• Limit registrations to affiliates from selected countries or regions.

Control and Flexibility

Affiliate Network

You have less control with a network. You must follow their rules and terms, and customization options are limited. If you want to try new ideas or change things, you’re stuck with what they allow.

Affiliate Software

You get full control over recruitment, commissions, and program terms. You can customize features to fit your business needs and goals. You can adjust anything anytime, but it takes more effort to manage.

Data Ownership

Affiliate Network

The network keeps the data, like affiliate details and sales stats. You get reports, but you don’t own them. If you leave the network, you might lose it.

Affiliate Software

You own all the data. It’s on your system—affiliate names, sales, everything. You keep it no matter what.

Affiliate Software vs Affiliate Network: Which is Better for Running Your Program?

Choosing between affiliate software and an affiliate network depends on your business needs. Affiliate software lets you build and manage your own program with full control and customization. Affiliate networks connect you to ready-made affiliates and handle much of the work, but with fees and less flexibility. What’s best for you? It depends on your size, budget, and goals.

For Small Businesses and Startups

Small businesses or startups usually tap into affiliate marketing with tight budgets and little resources.

With affiliate software, you pay once or a low subscription, which can be cheaper than network fees over time. You will get full control over your program, shaping it your way. But it takes time and some tech skills to set up and manage. Finding affiliates can also be hard if you don’t have a thorough recruitment plan.

On the other hand, affiliate networks give you instant access to thousands of affiliates. The platform can handle most tasks for you, from tracking affiliate sales to the payment process. The downside is fees or commission cuts, which might strain your limited funds. You’re also not fully in charge of your program.

So, if your budget is small but you can spare time to manage it, software makes sense. If quickly finding affiliate partners is your goal and you can deal with the costs, a network could be fine.

For Medium-Sized Businesses

Medium-sized businesses have steady resources but still need to balance cost and growth.

Affiliate software offers flexibility to customize your program however you want. It saves money in the long run since you avoid network fees, especially if you already have some affiliates. Running it smoothly requires tech skills, though, which could be a challenge.

In contrast, affiliate networks help you scale fast with a large pool of affiliates. They take care of management, letting you focus on other important tasks. But costs grow as your revenue does, and you give up some control to their rules.

For this type of business, software is ideal if you’re set on building a long-term system your way and save money. A network fits if you want to expand the affiliate team quickly without much effort.

For Large Companies and Enterprises

Large enterprises have substantial budgets and huge resources for affiliate marketing. They also have a high demand for customized solutions to align with their brand and scale up.

Affiliate software provides complete control over data and branding. It can integrate seamlessly with existing internal systems. Enterprises can collaborate with the software vendors to develop tailored features that meet specific needs.

But managing hundreds or thousands of affiliates requires significant technological resources and personnel. Customization can also involve higher costs.

On the other hand, affiliate networks offer a straightforward way to oversee a large number of affiliates. They leverage their established reputation to attract reliable partners. However, fees increase with higher sales volumes. The platform’s lack of flexibility limits adjustments to suit unique requirements.

Affiliate software is the preferred choice for enterprises seeking full ownership and customized features to support their brand. A network suits those prioritizing time efficiency over extensive personalization.

For Niche or Specialized Businesses

If your business focuses on a niche market, you need to work with affiliates who fit your target audience.

Affiliate software lets you tweak your program to attract the right partners. You don’t compete with thousands of other programs like on a network. Finding affiliates is hard without a strong promotion plan, however.

Affiliate networks give quick access to niche affiliates if they’ve got the right category. It’s less work to find partners. Still, your program might struggle to stand out among bigger ones on the platform.

Software is best if you’ve got a plan to recruit your own affiliates. A network works well if you want to explore their ready-made niche options.

How Can You Combine Affiliate Software with Affiliate Networks?

Choosing between affiliate software and affiliate networks for running an affiliate program is not easy. Each option has its pros and cons.

So, what if you want the best of both worlds—complete control and flexible customization from software and great reach from networks?

The good news is this is possible. You can make it work with affiliate software that develops a built-in affiliate marketplace to find affiliates more easily and quickly.

With UpPromote, for instance, you can easily access the UpPromote Marketplace and list your program here. This gives your offer strong visibility within a community of nearly 20,000 affiliates.

Wrapping Up

Affiliate software vs affiliate networks is an important consideration when you start your affiliate marketing campaign. They are different in many aspects.

Both options have their advantages and disadvantages. Each is suitable for specific needs and situations.

Some factors that guide your choice include your business goals, and budget. Think about these factors carefully. Then, you can make informed decisions and start your own affiliate marketing campaign.