AffiliateWP vs YITH WooCommerce Affiliates: Tested in 2026
AffiliateWP vs YITH WooCommerce Affiliates, tested on one store: free version, prices, payouts, missing features, and what each loads on your storefront.
YITH WooCommerce Affiliates is the affiliate plugin from YITH, one of the biggest makers of WooCommerce extensions. It does one thing, affiliate programs for WooCommerce stores, and it has a free version on WordPress.org. AffiliateWP is the paid, general-purpose plugin that works with WooCommerce and almost everything else. We installed both on the same test store and read both developers’ pages on 3 October 2026.
The short version of what we found: YITH is the cheaper way in and integrates neatly with other YITH plugins, but it loads more files on your storefront than any other affiliate plugin we have tested, and several features AffiliateWP includes are either missing or sold as separate YITH plugins.
The short answer
- Choose YITH WooCommerce Affiliates if you run WooCommerce only, want to start free, already use other YITH plugins, or want affiliates to request payouts and upload invoices.
- Choose AffiliateWP if you need multi-level commissions, multi-currency, recurring commissions or Stripe payouts without buying another plugin, a store that is not only WooCommerce, or the lightest storefront.
Side by side
| AffiliateWP | YITH WooCommerce Affiliates | |
|---|---|---|
| Free version | No | Yes, on WordPress.org (6,000+ active installations, 4.2 from 19 ratings) |
| Paid price | $149.50 first year, then $299 (1 site); Pro $299.50, then $599 (5 sites) | $179.99 a year, with one year of updates and support. The page we read does not state how many sites that covers. |
| Works with | WooCommerce plus 28 other eCommerce and form plugins | WooCommerce only |
| Payouts | Stripe, PayPal, store credit | Free: manual bank transfer. Premium: PayPal and bank transfer; PayPal Payouts, Stripe Connect, account funds and points each need a separate YITH plugin |
| Recurring commissions | Pro plan | Only with YITH WooCommerce Subscription or WooCommerce Subscriptions, sold separately |
| Lifetime commissions | Pro plan | Yes, through a “permanent commissions” option, per YITH’s FAQ |
| Multi-level commissions | Pro plan | Not listed |
| Fraud prevention | Pro plan | Not listed |
| Multi-currency | Plus plan | Not supported, says YITH’s FAQ |
| Affiliate coupons | Every plan | Premium |
| Affiliate payout requests and invoices | Not listed | Premium |
| Refund | 14 days | 30 days on a first purchase; YITH says renewal orders are non-refundable except in rare cases |
| Users, as claimed by the developer | 30,000+ | 20,581 customers |
What we found on the test store
We installed AffiliateWP Pro 2.37.0 and the free YITH WooCommerce Affiliates 3.31.0 on the same clean WordPress site with WooCommerce, one at a time, and compared public pages with and without each plugin.
| AffiliateWP Pro 2.37.0 | YITH WooCommerce Affiliates 3.31.0 (free) | |
|---|---|---|
| Size on disk | 37.2 MB | 9.7 MB |
| Database tables created | 23 | 7 |
| Pages created | 3 (affiliate area, login, registration) | 1 (affiliate dashboard), plus a My Account endpoint |
| Scripts added to a public page | None | 6 |
| Stylesheets added to a public page | 1 | 2 |
The difference in front-end files is the finding that matters. On every public page we checked (the home page, the shop and a blog post with no affiliate content), YITH loaded its own script and stylesheet plus WooCommerce’s selectWoo dropdown library and its stylesheet, WooCommerce’s country selector, jQuery UI with its date picker, and a polyfill. AffiliateWP loaded one stylesheet for its forms. If page speed matters to you, test YITH on a staging copy before it goes on a live store.
YITH needs WordPress 6.9 and WooCommerce 11.0 or newer. Its WordPress.org listing asks for PHP 8.0; its own product page says PHP 7.0.
The free version: YITH has one
YITH’s free plugin runs a basic program: a registration form with terms and conditions, rejection and banning of affiliates, adding affiliates by hand, referral links tracked by cookie with an expiry you set, an affiliate dashboard inside My Account, social sharing of referral links, one default commission rate, exclusion of own purchases, taxes and discounts, automatic deduction of commissions on refunds, and manual payment by bank transfer.
AffiliateWP has no free version. The developer offers a refund within 14 days.
What the paid versions add
YITH WooCommerce Affiliates Premium
According to its free-versus-premium table, premium adds a custom registration form with unlimited fields, automatic approval, commission rates by user, user role, product and category, exclusion of products, categories, tags, users and roles, affiliate coupons, visit and IP logging, first- or last-click attribution, cookie history, automatic payouts on a threshold or a schedule, payout requests with invoices and minimum and maximum amounts, email notifications to affiliates, PayPal payments, an advanced reporting dashboard, and CSV export of affiliates and commissions.
Four payment methods depend on plugins sold separately: PayPal Payouts needs YITH PayPal Payouts for WooCommerce, Stripe needs YITH Stripe Connect for WooCommerce, paying into a customer balance needs YITH WooCommerce Account Funds, and paying in points needs YITH WooCommerce Points and Rewards. Commissions on subscription renewals need YITH WooCommerce Subscription or WooCommerce Subscriptions. YITH says so on its own page. Its FAQ adds two things: a “permanent commissions” option credits every future order from a customer to the affiliate who referred them, and the plugin does not work with multi-currency plugins.
AffiliateWP
Personal ($149.50, then $299, 1 site): unlimited affiliates, referral link and coupon tracking, the affiliate dashboard, real-time reporting, Stripe and PayPal payouts, international payouts and store credit. Plus ($199.50, then $399, 2 sites) adds sign-up commissions, a welcome bonus, leaderboards, multi-currency and assigning affiliates at checkout. Pro ($299.50, then $599, 5 sites) adds recurring and lifetime commissions, tiered and multi-tier commissions, direct link tracking, landing pages, vanity coupons, automatic payouts, the affiliate portal and the fraud prevention suite, with priority support. A Growth Bundle adds the RewardsWP Pro loyalty plugin for $349.50 the first year (normally $699), with ten site licences in total. There is no trial.
Cost
| AffiliateWP | YITH WooCommerce Affiliates | |
|---|---|---|
| Start for nothing | Not possible | Free version |
| Smallest paid plan, 3 years | $747.50 (Personal, 1 site) | $539.97 (sites not stated) |
| Recurring commissions | Pro plan | Needs a subscription plugin with YITH’s integration |
| Stripe payouts | Included | Needs YITH Stripe Connect, bought separately |
Calculated from the first-year sale price plus renewals at full price, as listed on 3 October 2026, assuming prices do not change. YITH’s price did not show a first-year discount on the day we checked, and it renews automatically, with an email 30 days before.
Where AffiliateWP is ahead
- A lighter storefront: one stylesheet against six scripts and two stylesheets in our test.
- Multi-level commissions, multi-currency and a fraud prevention suite, none of which YITH offers, and recurring commissions without a separate subscription plugin.
- Stripe payouts and store credit without buying another plugin.
- Beyond WooCommerce: Easy Digital Downloads, memberships and forms.
Where YITH is ahead
- A free version that runs a basic program.
- Affiliate payout requests with invoices and minimum and maximum withdrawal amounts.
- More payout schedules: automatic payouts on a threshold, a day of the month, or daily. AffiliateWP’s automatic payouts are on Pro and its pages do not describe a schedule.
- Commission rules by user role and product category, which AffiliateWP’s pricing and features pages do not mention.
- The YITH family: built on the same framework as YITH’s other WooCommerce plugins.
- A longer refund window: 30 days against 14.
Ease of use
YITH’s settings sit in YITH’s own panel, with sections for affiliates, commissions and general options; anyone who uses another YITH plugin will know the layout. AffiliateWP opens a setup wizard on activation and has its own menu. Neither needs code for a standard program.
Both on PureGPL
- AffiliateWP, $3.49, version 2.37.0
- YITH WooCommerce Affiliates Premium, $3.49, version 3.27.0, updated 18 June 2026. The free plugin on WordPress.org was at 3.31.0 when we checked, so the premium file is a few releases behind the free one.
What a GPL copy does and does not include
Both plugins are licensed under the GPL, which is why we can distribute them. A copy from PureGPL is the developer’s original file. It is not a licence with the developer, so you do not get their support, and anything that runs through the developer’s own account or licence activation is not part of it. Updates come from us. If you need the developer’s support, buy from the developer.
Sources
Prices, plan contents and installation figures were read from these pages on 3 October 2026. The measurements are our own.
- AffiliateWP pricing
- AffiliateWP features
- YITH WooCommerce Affiliates
- YITH WooCommerce Affiliates on WordPress.org
Frequently asked questions
Is YITH WooCommerce Affiliates free?
There is a free version on WordPress.org with basic tracking, a dashboard and manual payments. The premium version is $179.99 a year.
Is YITH better than AffiliateWP?
It is cheaper to start and has payout requests and more payout schedules. AffiliateWP has multi-level commissions, multi-currency, built-in recurring commissions, more payout methods built in and a far lighter storefront in our test. For a simple WooCommerce program on a budget, YITH; for anything more, AffiliateWP.
Does YITH WooCommerce Affiliates slow down a site?
In our test it added six scripts and two stylesheets to every public page we checked, including pages with no affiliate content. Whether that is noticeable depends on your theme and caching; measure before and after.
Can YITH pay affiliates through Stripe?
Only with YITH Stripe Connect for WooCommerce, which is sold separately.
Does YITH support recurring commissions?
Yes, but only with a subscription plugin. YITH’s FAQ says YITH WooCommerce Subscription enables commissions on renewal orders, and its WooCommerce Subscriptions integration lets you choose to pay a commission on every renewal. Both are sold separately.
Does YITH WooCommerce Affiliates support multi-currency?
No. YITH’s FAQ says the plugin does not support any multi-currency plugin at the moment. AffiliateWP lists multi-currency commissions on its Plus plan.
See also: best WordPress affiliate plugins, our AffiliateWP review, AffiliateWP vs Solid Affiliate, AffiliateWP vs SliceWP, AffiliateWP vs Easy Affiliate and AffiliateWP vs Ultimate Affiliate Pro.
