Per-conversion pricing or a fixed plan: what a tracker really costs
How to calculate the cost of a platform for a network, at what volume per-conversion pricing becomes more expensive and what to look at besides the price.
Affiliate network platforms charge in different ways. Some take a fixed monthly price. Others sell a package with a limit on conversions or events and charge extra above it. At the start the difference is invisible, but as the network grows it becomes one of the main costs.
Two pricing models
Fixed plan. You pay one amount a month; plans differ by the number of partners, offers and features. How many conversions went through does not affect the price.
Per-conversion pricing. The plan includes a limit on conversions or events, and each one above it costs extra. Sometimes not only conversions are counted, but clicks or any events too.
How to calculate
For a plan with a limit, the monthly cost is:
price = plan + max(0, conversions − limit) × price_above_limit
For a fixed plan, the price does not change until you reach the limit on partners or offers.
Example
The numbers are illustrative, to show the mechanics. Say a plan with a limit costs 500 a month for 10,000 conversions, and each conversion above the limit costs 0.05. The fixed plan costs 400 a month.
| Conversions per month | With a limit | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | 500 | 400 |
| 10,000 | 500 | 400 |
| 30,000 | 1,500 | 400 |
| 60,000 | 3,000 | 400 |
The better the network performs, the more it pays the platform for the same work. Put real prices and your forecast for the year into the formula, not just the current month.
What else to consider
- What counts as a conversion. Sign-ups, deposits, repeat deposits, rejected conversions: some platforms count everything toward the limit.
- Custom domain and white label: included in the plan or charged separately.
- Migration: who moves the data and what it costs.
- Partner payouts: made from the platform or by hand.
- Trial period: whether you can test everything on your own offers before paying.
If you already work on another platform and are thinking about switching, see the migration checklist.