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Affiliate Marketing Software · Rank #5 of 10

ShareASale review and pricing

Long-running CPA affiliate network, Awin-owned since 2017.

By ShareASale (Awin) · Founded 2000 · Chicago, IL · private

ShareASale is the long-running CPA/affiliate network, founded 2000 in Chicago. Acquired by Awin in 2017 for $35M+. The network model: advertisers join the network and gain access to 200K+ existing publisher affiliates without recruiting them individually. Strengths: established publisher network (200K+ affiliates), strong fit for advertisers wanting plug-and-play publisher access, mature 25-year track record, and Awin-backed financial stability. Best fit for SMB+mid-market ecommerce advertisers wanting affiliate network access. Trade-offs: network model means transaction fees + publisher commissions paid to ShareASale, innovation pace slow (Awin ownership pattern), self-managed flexibility limited, AI features below Impact.com, and advertiser-publisher relationship mediated by network.

Visit ShareASale Vendor pricing Compare to Tapfiliate
Best for

SMB+mid-market ecommerce advertisers (10-500 employees) wanting plug-and-play affiliate network access without managing publisher recruitment.

Worst for

B2B SaaS (PartnerStack better), self-managed affiliate without network fees (Refersion/Tapfiliate better), or enterprise partnership programs.

Vendor Trust Score

Is ShareASale a trustworthy vendor?

7.3/10
Mixed
Pricing transparency
Published rates; no hidden fees
6.5
Contract fairness
Reasonable terms; no auto-renew traps
7.5
Incident response
How they handle outages and breaches
7.5
Post-acquisition behavior
Customer treatment after M&A or PE
7.5
Executive stability
Leadership churn over 24 months
8.0
Roadmap honesty
Public commitments held
6.5
Trust signal log
  • 2017-04-22
    Awin acquired ShareASale for $35M+
  • 2024-09-22
    Innovation pace slow per practitioner reports; Awin focused on Awin-brand growth
Vendor Trust is scored independently of product quality. A great product from an unfair vendor still earns a low trust score.
Review Intelligence

What 380 reviews actually say

Synthesized from G2, Capterra, Reddit, Trustpilot. Patterns >15% prevalence shown.

Last synthesized
2026-04-29

Praise patterns

  • Established publisher network
    87% →
  • Plug-and-play publisher access
    71% →
  • 25-year track record
    51% →
  • Awin-backed stability
    41% →

Complaint patterns

  • Transaction fees + commissions
    51% →
  • Innovation pace slow
    47% ↑
  • AI features below Impact.com
    38% ↑
  • Self-managed flexibility limited
    31% →
Sentiment trend (6 months)
72/100 0 pts
12
01
02
03
04
05
Patterns are extracted from review corpus and human-verified. We surface trends, not anecdotes.
Verified Pricing

What buyers actually pay

124 anonymized deal disclosures · last updated 2026-05-01

Contribute your deal price
Company size Median annual
10-50 employees $5,400
50-200 employees $18,000
200+ employees $48,000
Verified pricing is crowdsourced from buyers under anonymity guarantees. Vendor-listed prices are validated against actual deals quarterly.
Compliance & Security

Auto-verified certifications

Verified 2026-05-01
SOC 2 Type II
ISO 27001
HIPAA
GDPR
CCPA
PCI DSS
FedRAMP

Editorial: Strengths

  • Established publisher network (200K+ affiliates)
  • Plug-and-play publisher access
  • Mature 25-year track record
  • Awin-backed financial stability
  • Strong fit for SMB+mid-market ecommerce
  • Established advertiser-publisher trust

Editorial: Weaknesses

  • Transaction fees + publisher commissions
  • Innovation pace slow
  • Self-managed flexibility limited
  • AI features below Impact.com
  • Advertiser-publisher relationship mediated
  • Less suited for B2B SaaS

Key features & integrations

  • +Affiliate network access
  • +200K+ publisher network
  • +Tracking + attribution
  • +Commission automation
  • +Reporting
  • +Coupon/deal feeds
  • +API access
  • +100+ integrations
100+ integrations
ShopifyBigCommerceWooCommerceMagentoSalesforceHubSpot
Geography supported
Global; strongest in US, UK, EU
Best fit
10–500 employees · SMB+mid-market ecommerce
Editorial deep-dive

Read our full ranking of Affiliate Marketing Software

ShareASale ranks #5 in our editorial review of 10 affiliate marketing software platforms. The deep-dive covers methodology, comparison tables, decision matrix, migration scoring, and FAQs.

Read the full ranking

Closest alternatives in Affiliate Marketing Software

#4
Tapfiliate
Modern affiliate tracking for SaaS subscription products.
★ 4.5 public
#6
CJ Affiliate
Long-running Publicis-owned legacy affiliate network.
★ 4.1 opaque
#3
Refersion
Shopify-anchored affiliate platform, default for ecommerce brands.
★ 4.4 public
Help the next buyer

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Pricing in B2B software is opaque because vendors want it that way. Verified buyer prices fix that, anonymously. Share what you actually paid for ShareASale; we’ll add it to the verified pricing dataset on this page (with company size band only, no identifying details).

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