The payment model defines what exactly an affiliate network pays you for: a lead, a sale, an install, or a share of the revenue a referred player generates. It determines not just the payout size but when the money arrives, how much risk you carry and what kind of traffic makes sense at all. This guide covers every payment model in affiliate marketing in plain language, with formulas and a worked example of when RevShare beats CPA.
The main payment models in affiliate marketing
There are around ten models in the industry, but six show up in a media buyer’s daily work. For each: what counts as the target action, who carries the risk, and which verticals use it by default.
CPA — Cost Per Action
The most common model. The network pays a fixed amount for a confirmed target action: an order, a deposit, a verified registration, a completed form. What counts is defined in the offer terms. In nutra it is usually a confirmed order (after a call-centre call), in gambling the first deposit (FTD), in finance an approved application.
The upside of CPA is predictability: you know the rate, you know your conversion rate, you can calculate ROI in advance. The downside is that the network and advertiser keep all the upside — if your player leaves $5,000 at the casino, you still get your $150.
CPL — Cost Per Lead
Payment for a contact: a form, an email, a phone number, an unverified registration. Split into SOI (Single Opt-In — submitting data is enough) and DOI (Double Opt-In — email or phone must be confirmed). Rates are several times lower than CPA, but conversion to lead is higher and holds are shorter. Standard in dating, sweepstakes and part of finance and insurance.
CPS — Cost Per Sale
A percentage or fixed fee on a paid purchase. Unlike a nutra CPA order, the action only counts after real payment. The model of e-commerce, info products, SaaS and prepaid goods. Holds are longer (they wait out the refund window), but approval is close to 100%.
CPI — Cost Per Install
The mobile model: payment for an app install and first launch. Often extended with an event — CPI + registration or CPI + tutorial — to filter out incentivised and bot traffic. Rates range from cents to a few dollars depending on GEO and app category.
RevShare — Revenue Share
Instead of a flat fee you get a percentage of the revenue the referred user generates for the advertiser. In gambling it is a share of NGR (Net Gaming Revenue: player losses minus bonuses, taxes and payment fees), usually 25–50%. In subscription services it is a share of every payment until the user churns.
RevShare is a bet on traffic quality and a long horizon. The first month may pay less than CPA, but a good player pays for a year. The flip side is negative balance: if players win, your revenue on them is negative and often carries over to the next month (negative carryover). Read the terms — some programs don’t carry it over.
Hybrid — CPA plus RevShare
A fixed fee for the target action plus a reduced revenue share. For example, $60 per FTD + 20% RevShare instead of $150 CPA or 40% RevShare. Hybrid fixes RevShare’s main weakness — the cash gap in the first months — while keeping the upside. Networks usually offer hybrid only after seeing the quality of your traffic on CPA.
Comparison table
| Model | Paid for | Risk on affiliate | Speed of cash | Standard in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPA | Confirmed action | Medium | Hold 7–30 days | Nutra, gambling, finance |
| CPL | Lead / registration | Low | Fast | Dating, sweeps, insurance |
| CPS | Paid sale | Medium | Hold 30–60 days | E-com, info products, SaaS |
| CPI | App install | Low | Fast | Mobile apps, games |
| RevShare | % of user revenue | High | Months | Gambling, betting, subscriptions |
| Hybrid | Fee + % of revenue | Medium | Mixed | Gambling, betting |
When RevShare beats CPA: a worked example
Take a gambling offer with two options: $150 CPA per FTD or 40% RevShare on NGR. You bring 100 depositors.
- CPA: 100 × $150 = $15,000 up front (after the hold).
- RevShare: average first-month NGR per player in this GEO is $80; over 6 months, accounting for churn, $300. Revenue: 100 × $300 × 40% = $12,000 over six months, of which only $3,200 in month one.
CPA wins here. RevShare starts to overtake when a player’s lifetime NGR exceeds CPA ÷ RevShare rate — here $150 ÷ 0.4 = $375. If your traffic produces players who leave more than $375 over their lifetime, RevShare pays more. That happens on Tier-1 GEOs, with organic and SEO traffic, with content and streaming sources — wherever “long” players come from. On push and popunder traffic from Tier-3 GEOs — almost never.
The formula for any vertical: RevShare break-even = CPA rate ÷ RevShare share. Compare it with the real LTV of your traffic (the network will give offer averages, but calculate your own through EPC and cohorts).
What else drives the choice
Approval rate. On CPA a share of actions gets rejected: invalid, duplicates, fraud, “couldn’t reach”. 30% approval in nutra is normal, 80% is excellent. A $30 rate at 40% approval really pays $12 per lead. CPL and CPI approval is usually higher; CPS is near 100%.
Hold. Time between action and payout. CPL — days, CPA — 1–4 weeks, CPS — up to two months. Hold hits working capital directly: on CPS with a 60-day hold you need two months of ad budget in reserve.
Caps. Limits on actions per day or month. CPA often has hard caps — the advertiser won’t pay indefinitely. RevShare rarely has caps, since the advertiser pays out of real revenue.
Baseline and KPIs. In gambling and betting on CPA, networks set minimum quality requirements: average deposit, share of repeat deposits, activity. Miss them and the rate gets cut or your traffic is moved to RevShare retroactively. More in the gambling vertical guide.
Which model should a beginner choose
Start with CPA or CPL. The reasons are simple: a short feedback loop (you know within a week whether a funnel works, not a quarter), transparent economics, minimal dependence on how the advertiser counts revenue. RevShare without stats on your own traffic is a lottery: you don’t know your players’ LTV and can’t calculate break-even.
Moving to hybrid or RevShare makes sense when: you have a stable source with proven quality; the network itself offers better terms after seeing your numbers; you have the working capital to survive 2–3 months of low payouts; the traffic is “long” — SEO, content, community — not one-off clicks.
FAQ
How is CPA different from CPL?
CPL pays for a contact (lead), CPA for a confirmed action by that contact. A lead may never confirm the order — on CPL you already got paid, on CPA you didn’t. Hence the 3–10x difference in rates.
What is negative carryover in RevShare?
Carrying a negative balance forward: if your players won more than they lost this month, the deficit rolls into next month and is deducted from future revenue. Programs without carryover reset the negative each month — noticeably better for you.
Can I switch models on traffic already sent?
Usually no: the model is fixed at the moment the player is acquired. New terms apply to new users. The exception is when the network moves you for missing KPIs — that is spelled out in the offer.
CPA or CPS in nutra?
In cash-on-delivery nutra the standard is CPA for a confirmed order, because 60–80% of confirmed orders reach actual payment. CPS appears on prepaid card offers, where the rate is higher but conversion lower.
Discuss which models specific networks actually offer on the forum, and find vetted networks and trackers in the services catalog.
