Most software affiliate program directories will not list a SaaS program for free, and several will not list one at all. The listing needs a paid plan, an invitation, one particular tracking platform, or an editor who never writes back. We submitted Oneprofile's own affiliate program, which we run in-house, and recorded each directory's rule and what happened.
The check above covers directories, editorial lists, tracking platform directories and aggregators. It is the affiliate companion to our check of the best SaaS directories.
How to read the check
Each entry says whether the directory takes SaaS programs, gives its rule in our words with the day we read it, states the cost to list, and records what happened when we applied. When the answer is unclear, the site gave us no way to find out, which is not the same as a no. A wait counts from our first submission or email to the day the data was checked.
Sites that sell placements on networks of blogs are left out on purpose.
The three kinds of directory
Open directories. A free form is common. A free listing that goes live is rarer, because the free route often ends at a plan picker, a checkout, or an editor offering a paid review.
Tracking platform directories. They list real SaaS programs, but only their own customers. If your program already runs on one, its directory is probably your easiest listing. Ours runs in-house, so those were closed to us.
Editorial lists. They can send real affiliates, but the editors choose, and none we read had a way to suggest a program. Treat an email to the editor as a long shot.
Where to list first
Free directories that went live. Spell out the commission, the cookie window and the payout terms.
Free directories still waiting. Submit early, then check back on a fixed day each month.
Your tracking platform's own directory, if you use one.
If you weigh a paid listing, weigh the affiliates it sends. Google's guidance on qualifying outbound links asks sites to mark paid links as sponsored, so the link is worth less than the sales page suggests.
The affiliates worth having already write about your category. Oneprofile turns a topic into the people posting about it on LinkedIn, so you can write to them by email and LinkedIn. Our own program is on the Oneprofile affiliate program page.