# AI Affiliate Programs (2026): What 240 Applications Taught Us About Who Approves and Who Pays

> We applied to about 240 affiliate programs for AI and software tools in 2026. Here is who approved, who never answered, which famous programs do not exist, and what 19 programs actually pay, from each vendor's own terms page.

- Source: https://www.stork.ai/blog/ai-affiliate-programs-2026
- Publisher: Stork.AI editorial team
- Published: 2026-11-11
- Updated: 2026-11-11
- Language: en
- Reading time: 9 min

## Key takeaways

- About three in four of roughly 240 applications ended up active, and one program still accounts for about 95% of what PartnerStack has paid us.
- Claude, Grok, Perplexity and Cursor have no cash affiliate program today. We found no official one for ChatGPT or Midjourney.
- Jasper and Notion are not accepting independent affiliates. HeyGen excludes websites and blog-only promotion.
- Most recurring AI programs pay 20% to 30% for 12 months. One-time bounties run from $25 to $300.
- A PartnerStack waitlist never converted for us in up to 1,021 days. Treat it as a no.
- Re-check tracking links twice a year: 17 of ours were closed or expired.

**Short answer:** most AI tools that run an affiliate program pay 20% to 30% of what the customer pays, for 12 months, through one of three networks: PartnerStack, impact.com or Dub. The rate is the least useful number on the page. What decides whether you earn anything is whether the program is still open, whether it accepts your kind of site, and how long it holds your money. Several of the most searched "affiliate programs" in AI, including Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Cursor, either do not exist or have closed.

We run [Stork](https://www.stork.ai), an AI tools directory. Over 2026 we applied to or were invited into about 240 affiliate programs for AI and software products. This post is what the applications, approval emails, rejections and terms pages actually say, as of November 10, 2026.

How we checked: our own counts come from the PartnerStack and impact.com partner APIs, the Dub partner dashboard and our affiliate mailbox, read November 9, 2026. Commission terms come from each vendor's own program or terms page, read November 10, 2026, and every one is linked. Where a vendor's page does not state something, we say "Not stated". We did not copy any figure from an affiliate roundup.

## What happened to 240 applications

| Where | Total | Active | Declined or not approved | Stuck or gone |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| PartnerStack | 134 | 103 | 2 | 19 waitlisted, 4 pending, 6 removed |
| impact.com | 59 | 40 | 8 | 11 contracts expired |
| Dub | 35 | 33 | 2 | 0 |
| Direct with the vendor | About 12 | About 12 | 1 that told us why | Not counted |

*Stork's own affiliate applications and invitations, counted November 9, 2026*

- **About three in four ended up active.** Roughly 188 of 240. That sounds easy. It hides that many approvals are for products nobody on an AI site will ever buy through you.
- **A PartnerStack waitlist is a no.** We have 19 programs showing "waitlisted". The newest of those has been waiting 161 days. The oldest has been waiting 1,021 days. None has ever converted to an approval on its own.
- **Programs end without telling you much.** Six PartnerStack programs removed us or shut down, and 11 impact.com contracts expired. That is 17 dead links out of roughly 190 we once held, and a dead tracking link still looks fine on your page.
- **Rejections rarely give a reason.** impact.com sends one line: the request was declined. Dub sends one line. Only one vendor, on Tolt, explained itself: the program was for creators with an established YouTube channel or a site with verified traffic.

> [!FACT] On PartnerStack, where we have the longest history, one program accounts for about 95% of all the commission we have ever been paid. The other hundred active programs share the rest.

That concentration is the most important thing we learned. Joining programs is cheap. A program only pays when you already have readers who are deciding whether to buy that exact product.

## The programs people search for that do not exist

Google Ads keyword data (United States, November 2026, via DataForSEO) shows about 210 searches a month for "claude affiliate program" and 170 for "chatgpt affiliate program". Here is what the vendors' own pages say.

| Search | What exists | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Claude affiliate program | Guest passes. The referrer gets usage credit that the terms say has no cash value. | [Guest pass terms](https://www.anthropic.com/legal/guest-pass-terms) |
| Grok affiliate program | A referral program whose rewards have no cash value. | [xAI referral docs](https://docs.x.ai/x-subscription/referral-program) |
| Perplexity affiliate program | Closed. The help center says the Comet referral program has concluded. | [Perplexity help center](https://www.perplexity.ai/help-center/en/articles/11385821-partner-promotions-and-referral-programs) |
| Cursor affiliate program | Closed. Cursor says it ended its referral program because of fraud. | [Cursor help](https://cursor.com/help/account-and-billing/referral-program) |
| ChatGPT or OpenAI affiliate program | We found no official program page. | Not stated by the vendor |
| Midjourney affiliate program | We found no official program page. | Not stated by the vendor |

If a site offers you a "ChatGPT affiliate link", it is selling something else. The large model companies do not need affiliates, and the two that tried referral rewards closed them.

## Open in name, closed in practice

Three programs that still rank in Google for their own name are not taking independent affiliates today.

- **Jasper.** The 2023 affiliate agreement is still online (25% for 12 months), but the current [partners page](https://www.jasper.ai/partners) says independent affiliates and individual promoters are not eligible.
- **Notion.** The [affiliate page](https://www.notion.com/affiliates) lists up to $50 per activated signup plus 20% of year-one revenue, and also says the program is currently not accepting new affiliates.
- **HeyGen.** The [program](https://www.heygen.com/affiliate-program) is open, pays 20% to 30% for 6 months, and is for video creators with 5,000 or more followers. It excludes SEO and blog-only promotion, so a website cannot join.

## What AI affiliate programs pay, from the vendors' own pages

| Program | Network | Commission as stated | Cookie | Worth knowing |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [ElevenLabs](https://elevenlabs.io/affiliates) | PartnerStack | 22% on Starter to Scale plans, 11% on Business, for 12 months, per its [affiliate terms](https://elevenlabs.io/affiliates-terms) | Not stated | Commissions become payable about 90 days after the paid signup. No paid ads that send people to ElevenLabs. |
| [Murf AI](https://murf.ai/affiliate-program) | PartnerStack | 20% recurring for up to 24 months | 90 days | The page says anyone can join. |
| [Synthesia](https://www.synthesia.io/partners/affiliates) | Rewardful | 25% on Starter and Creator plans for 12 months | 60 days | Paid once the balance passes $30. |
| [Writesonic](https://writesonic.com/affiliate) | FirstPromoter | 20% recurring for up to 12 months | 60 days | Most applications approved within 24 hours. No coupon sites. |
| [Semrush](https://www.semrush.com/lp/affiliate-program/en/) | impact.com | $100 to $300 per sale on its main plans, plus $10 per free trial. Some toolkits pay $50. | 120 days | Content sites should have at least 1,000 monthly visitors. Paid search needs approval. |
| [Surfer](https://surfer.ai/affiliate-program/) | PartnerStack | 75% to 125% of the first monthly payment, or 15% to 25% of an annual plan. First payment only. | 90 days | Tiers at 0 to 10, 11 to 50 and 51 or more referrals. |
| [Gamma](https://help.gamma.app/en/articles/11048092-how-do-i-join-the-gamma-affiliate-program) | PartnerStack | 25% for the customer's first year, per its [PartnerStack listing](https://market.partnerstack.com/page/gammaapp) | Not stated consistently | Applications are reviewed in 5 to 10 business days. |
| [Descript](https://www.descript.com/affiliate) | PartnerStack | $25 flat per new subscription, one-time | 30 days | Nothing on renewals. No search ads on Descript keywords. |
| [InVideo](https://invideo.io/make/affiliate-program/) | impact.com | 50% on monthly plans, 25% on annual plans, first billing cycle only | 120 days | Open to everyone, per the page. |
| [VEED](https://www.veed.io/affiliate) | impact.com | 20% on the first sale plus 20% recurring | Not stated | Recurring duration is not stated. |
| [n8n](https://n8n.io/affiliates) | Not stated | 30% for 12 months | Not stated | EUR 100 minimum payout. Any paid ads get you removed. |
| [10Web](https://10web.io/affiliate/) | impact.com | 30% for the first 12 months | Not stated | No coupon or cashback positioning. |
| [Webflow](https://webflow.com/solutions/affiliates) | Not stated | 50% of the first subscription for up to 12 months | 90 days | You must publish content within 30 days of approval. |
| [Higgsfield](https://higgsfield.ai/affiliate) | Not stated | Up to 25% of the plan price for 12 months | Not stated | No paid ads, no coupon sites. |
| [Emergent](https://emergent.sh/affiliates) | Not stated | 20% of gross revenue for the first 6 months | 30 days | $100 minimum, PayPal only. |
| [Cal.com](https://cal.com/affiliate-program) | Not stated | 20% for 12 months | Not stated | No paid advertising of any kind. |
| [Chatbase](https://partners.dub.co/chatbase) | Dub | 20% per sale for 1 year, up to 30% for members of its expert program | Not stated | The 30% headline is not the base rate. |
| [Granola](https://partners.dub.co/granola) | Dub | $20 per user who completes a valid meeting | Not stated | Pays on activation, not on a sale. |
| [Lovable](https://lovable.dev/affiliates) | impact.com | Up to $100 per first-time subscriber | Not stated | The page does not state a percentage or whether it recurs. |

*Terms as stated on each vendor's page, read November 10, 2026. Programs change terms often, so check the linked page before you rely on a figure.*

## Three payout shapes, and which one suits you

- **Recurring share, usually 12 months.** ElevenLabs, Murf, Synthesia, Writesonic, n8n, 10Web. This pays best when the product keeps customers for a year, and it pays slowly. Expect little in the first quarter.
- **One-time bounty.** Semrush, Surfer, Descript, InVideo. You get paid once, often within two months. A flat $25 and a flat $300 are both "one-time", so read the amount, not the label.
- **Pay per signup or activation.** Granola pays when a referred user completes a meeting. [ClickUp](https://clickup.com/partners/affiliates) pays per new free workspace. These convert far more often because nobody has to buy anything, and each one pays less.

A 30% headline rate on a $20 plan held for 90 days is worth less to a small site than a $20 activation bounty paid next month. Work out the first payment you would actually receive, and when.

## How the three networks differ in practice

### PartnerStack

The largest catalog of business software, and the one where invitations arrive on their own once you have a few active programs. Most of those invitations were for products with no connection to our readers: payroll, fax, background checks. Its "waitlisted" status never resolved for us in up to 1,021 days. Payouts are consolidated across programs, which helps when each program earns a little.

### impact.com

Home to the larger brands in our list: Semrush, Lovable, InVideo, VEED, 10Web. Each brand approves you separately and can decline with a one-line email. Contracts also expire: 11 of ours did. Check the contract status in the dashboard every few months, not only the click report.

### Dub

The newest of the three and where younger AI startups are launching programs: Chatbase, Granola, Firecrawl, Lindy. Approval was the fastest and the most generous for us, 33 of 35. The programs are also the youngest, so there is less history to tell you which ones convert.

### Direct programs

Many AI tools run their own program on Rewardful, FirstPromoter or Tolt, or on a form. These are the hardest to find and the easiest to lose track of, because nothing lists them in one place and each has its own login, payout threshold and tax form.

## Rules that will get you removed

- **Brand bidding.** Nearly every program bans bidding on the brand's name, including misspellings. Base44 requires you to add the brand as a negative keyword.
- **Paid ads of any kind.** n8n and Cal.com ban all paid advertising, not only brand terms.
- **Coupon and deal sites.** Semrush, Surfer, Writesonic, 10Web and Higgsfield decline them or rule them out in their terms.
- **Self-referral.** Buying through your own link is prohibited almost everywhere it is mentioned.

## How to choose, if you are starting now

- **Start from pages you already have.** Join the program for a product your readers already look at on your site. A program for a product you have never covered will earn nothing.
- **Check the program is open before you write.** Open the vendor's own page. If it says not accepting, or independent affiliates are not eligible, move on.
- **Read the restrictions before the rate.** A program that excludes blogs, or bans the traffic source you use, has a rate of zero for you.
- **Note the payout delay and minimum.** A 90-day hold and a $100 minimum can mean six months before the first payment.
- **Re-check your links twice a year.** Programs close, contracts expire and tracking domains die. We found 17 of our own.

_Disclosure: Stork is a member of most of the programs named here and earns commission from some of them on other pages. This page contains no affiliate links. Every vendor link goes to that vendor's own program or terms page._

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the best AI affiliate program in 2026?

There is no single best one. The program that pays is the one for a product your audience is already deciding whether to buy. On stated terms alone, Murf AI (20% for up to 24 months, 90-day cookie) and Semrush ($100 to $300 per sale, 120-day cookie) are among the more generous in this list, and both accept websites.

### Does ChatGPT or Claude have an affiliate program?

We found no official ChatGPT or OpenAI affiliate program page. Claude has guest passes that give the referrer usage credit, and Anthropic's terms say that credit has no cash value. We found no cash commission program for either as of November 10, 2026.

### How much do AI affiliate programs pay?

Most recurring programs we read pay 20% to 30% of the customer's payments for 12 months. One-time programs range from a flat $25 (Descript) to $100 to $300 per sale (Semrush). Activation programs pay around $20 per qualified user (Granola).

### Are AI affiliate programs hard to get approved for?

About three in four of our roughly 240 applications ended up active. Approval was easiest on Dub (33 of 35) and least predictable on impact.com, where each brand decides separately and declines with no reason. Some programs require a minimum audience: HeyGen asks for 5,000 followers and Semrush suggests 1,000 monthly visitors for content sites.

### Which network has the most AI affiliate programs?

In our experience PartnerStack has the most programs overall, impact.com has the larger established brands, and Dub has the most new AI startups. Many AI tools are on none of them and run their own program on Rewardful, FirstPromoter or Tolt.

### How long does it take to get paid?

Longer than the terms page headline suggests. ElevenLabs commissions become payable about 90 days after the paid signup. Surfer approves commissions 45 days after the referral pays. Add a minimum payout, often $50 to $100, and a first payment can take several months.