Free for under 25 affiliates.
Core affiliate program for WooCommerce stores small enough not to need MLM, AI swipe-copy, or Stripe Connect / PayPal auto-payout. Upgrade when you outgrow it.
Get it on WordPress.org →What's in free vs paid
Free · $0/yr
Up to 25 affiliates- Up to 25 active affiliatesHard cap. Hit 25 and new signups are blocked until you upgrade or remove inactive ones.
- Core commission trackingTrack sales, calculate commissions, store them in WP database. Standard percentage or flat-rate.
- Affiliate registration + portalAffiliates sign up, get a dashboard showing referrals + earnings + payout history.
- Manual payoutsMark commissions paid manually. Export to CSV. Pay via your existing process.
- Basic email notificationsWelcome, approval, commission earned, payout sent. No A/B testing in free.
- WooCommerce integrationFree tier supports WC only. EDD + Surecart adapters are paid.
Starter+ · from $149/yr
Unlimited affiliates- Unlimited affiliatesNo 25-affiliate cap.
- ★ MLM / two-tier referralsTier-2 commissions on sub-affiliate sales.
- ★ AI swipe-copy generator16 pre-written snippets + AI variants.
- ★ Cloud-assist fraud detectionSHA-256-hashed signal sharing across Asteris stores.
- ★ Stripe Connect auto-payoutDirect payouts to affiliate Stripe accounts. OAuth-based onboarding.
- PayPal API auto-payoutOAuth2 + Payouts API. Schedule batches.
- Per-product commission ratesOverride rates per WC product.
- A/B email testingVariant routing on transactional emails.
- Vanity /go/ landing pagesBranded affiliate landing pages.
- EDD + Surecart adaptersDrop-in support for non-WC carts.
- Stats REST APICursor-paginated, transient-cached.
- WP-CLI commandsFull CLI: list / approve / reject / payout / recompute.
- Bulk operations + CSV exportAdmin list table bulk actions on every entity.
- Admin impersonation"View as" any affiliate with audit log.
- Date-range reportsNarrow Reports + Commissions to any window.
- Onboarding wizard4-step guided signup. Captures payout + tax info up-front.
- Email throttlingPer-recipient per-template per-day cap.
- Mobile-responsive portalAffiliate portal works on phones.
Why we ship a free WooCommerce affiliate plugin tier
Most paid affiliate plugins don't have a free tier on WordPress.org, and the ones that do tend to use it as a 7-day trial dressed up as "free" — feature-restricted, banner-laden, designed to make you upgrade as fast as possible. We don't. The Asteris Affiliates Free tier on WordPress.org is genuinely the same plugin code as the paid one, with feature flags that gate the four "Pro" features (MLM, AI swipe-copy, cloud-assist fraud, Stripe Connect direct payouts) and a soft cap at 25 active affiliates.
The reasoning: small WooCommerce stores running an affiliate program for the first time shouldn't need to pay $149 to find out if affiliate marketing works for them at all. Try it on the free tier with 25 affiliates, see if the program drives meaningful revenue, then upgrade to Starter when you outgrow the cap or want one of the Pro features. We'd rather earn the $149 when you actually need what we're charging for than gate the trial behind a credit card.
Free vs paid — the honest version
Free covers: WooCommerce-only affiliate tracking (no EDD or Surecart), up to 25 active affiliates, single-tier referrals only (no MLM), manual payout flow (mark as paid yourself), basic commission tracking, the standard affiliate portal, basic email notifications. That's a real affiliate program — many stores run successfully on exactly this configuration.
Paid adds: unlimited affiliates, two-tier MLM referrals, AI swipe-copy generator, cloud-assist fraud detection, Stripe Connect direct payouts (0.25% fee), PayPal API auto-batch (2% fee, scheduled), bank-CSV export, EDD + Surecart adapters, per-product commission rates, A/B email testing, vanity /go/{handle} landing pages, real-time stats REST API, full WP-CLI suite, admin impersonation, bulk operations with CSV export, dashboard widget, date-range reports, onboarding wizard, mobile-responsive portal polish, denormalised aggregates for sub-50ms stats. All 31 modules →
FAQ
Is the free tier really free, forever?
Yes. GPL-2.0 on WordPress.org. We will never paywall what is currently free. We may add new features to free; we will not remove existing ones.
What happens at 25 affiliates?
New signups are blocked. Existing affiliates keep working. To accept more, upgrade to Starter ($149/yr) for unlimited affiliates.
Do I need an account on asterisaffiliates.com?
No. Install from WordPress.org. No signup required.
Will the free tier get security updates?
Yes. Security patches apply across all tiers including free.
How does support work for free users?
WordPress.org plugin forum is the primary channel. Email is fallback (2–3 business days). Paid tiers get priority email.
Can I use it on a client site?
Yes. GPL — use anywhere. If they need paid features, they (or you) buy a Starter / Pro / Agency licence.
Start free, upgrade when you outgrow it
Install from WordPress.org. No account. No card. No email gate.
Download free →