ClickBank
Digital product marketplace (no per-merchant approval required)
Overview
Digital-product affiliate marketplace operating since 1998, offering instant approval with no application process, commission rates commonly between 50-75% per sale, and over $6 billion paid out to affiliates to date.
What it does
ClickBank operates differently from every other network here: rather than applying to a network and then to individual advertisers, you sign up once, browse a searchable marketplace of 4,000-plus mostly digital products (ebooks, courses, software, membership sites), and generate trackable HopLinks to promote any product immediately, with no approval process, prior traffic requirement, or experience needed.
This makes it one of the most beginner-accessible options here, though product quality varies significantly across the marketplace, and each listing's Gravity Score (how many affiliates have recently earned a commission on it) is worth checking before committing content to an offer.
Commission rates on digital products are unusually high compared to physical-product networks, commonly 50% to 75%, occasionally reaching 90%, since vendors would rather give up a larger cut than pay for their own advertising. Cookie durations commonly run 60 days, though this varies by vendor.
Signing up as an affiliate is free; sellers pay a one-time $49.95 activation fee.
Payments are issued weekly or biweekly via direct deposit, check, or wire transfer, with a default payout threshold of $100 (adjustable from $10 up to $1,000,000), though your first payout also requires at least five separate paying customers.
Key Features
- 4
- 000+ digital products
- instant affiliate approval
- 50-75% commission rates common on digital products
- Gravity Score to gauge product/offer momentum
- 60-day typical cookie duration
- Adjustable payout threshold from $10 to $1
- 000
- 000