ShareASale Alternatives for Publishers and Merchants
ShareASale has closed and its programs now live on Awin. Here's whether to stay, which networks fit which catalog, and what switching really costs.
Nov 5, 2026 · 7 min read
ShareASale no longer exists as a separate platform. Awin, which has owned it since 2017, moved all eligible ShareASale publishers and merchants onto Awin on 15 August 2025, and the old ShareASale dashboard closed for good on 6 October 2025. If you still have a ShareASale bookmark, an old login, or a strategy built around "the ShareASale marketplace", you are really choosing between staying on Awin and moving some or all of your programs to another network.
This guide is for both sides of that decision: publishers who want more brands, better terms or faster payouts, and merchants who want a different cost model or a different publisher base. We cover what actually changed, how the main alternatives compare on payout terms and fit, and a simple rule for deciding where each catalog belongs.
Most former ShareASale programs now live on Awin, but the right home depends on your catalog.
What happened to ShareASale
The migration was more complete than most platform consolidations. According to Awin's own upgrade FAQ:
Partnerships transferred automatically. Publishers who were upgraded did not have to reapply to programs they were already approved for.
Terms stayed the same unless the advertiser changed them. Commission rates and cookie periods carried over.
Most old tracking links still work. The exception is ShareASale short links that had no clicks in the 12 months before migration.
History did not move. ShareASale reports and payment statements became inaccessible once the platform closed. Final ShareASale balances were paid out in full in September and October 2025, including balances below the old threshold.
Not everyone was upgraded. Publishers who registered before 2023, had no clicks or sales since January 2024 and held fewer than five approved partnerships didn't get an upgrade invitation. They can register on Awin directly.
So the practical question isn't "where did ShareASale go". It's whether Awin is the right home for your programs, or whether some of them would earn more elsewhere.
Should you just stay on Awin?
For many former ShareASale users, yes. Awin is one of the largest networks in the world, with a strong European base layered on top of ShareASale's US small and mid-sized merchants. Its publisher terms are straightforward:
Awin publisher term
What Awin states
Minimum payment threshold
$20 / £20 / €20 (defaults to 50 if you never set one)
Payment schedule
Twice a month, on the 1st and the 15th, or monthly if you prefer
Sign-up
A small refundable deposit, waived with an advertiser's invitation code
Commission and cookie
Set by each advertiser, not by Awin
The most common mistake after the migration is leaving the default threshold in place. Awin's minimum is $20, but if you never touch the setting it holds payments until you reach 50. That one setting can delay a small site's first payout by months.
Leaving Awin makes sense when your best brands aren't there, when a competitor network offers a brand you want on better terms, or when you're a merchant who wants a different pricing model.
The ShareASale alternatives compared
These are the networks former ShareASale users most often look at. The figures below come from each network's directory listing on Affground (Awin's are from its help centre). Brand-level commission and cookie terms vary by program, so treat cookie lengths as typical defaults rather than guarantees.
Network
Best for
Minimum payout
Payment terms
Approx. brands/offers
Awin
Broad retail, Europe plus former ShareASale merchants
$20
Twice monthly
21,000+
CJ Affiliate
Enterprise retail, travel and finance brands
$50
Net 30
4,000+
Impact.com
Modern brands, SaaS and partnership-style deals
Check current terms*
Net 15
30,000+
Rakuten Advertising
Premium fashion, retail and lifestyle
$50
Net 60
2,500+
FlexOffers
Bloggers wanting many brands in one dashboard
$50
Net 30
12,000+
Pepperjam (Ascend by Partnerize)
Mid-market brands and loyalty publishers
$25
Net 30
2,000+
AvantLink
Outdoor, sports and lifestyle niches
$25
Monthly
700+
LinkConnector
Smaller, vetted US merchant base
$50
Net 15
300+
*Impact.com's help centre currently states a $10 minimum withdrawal, while our listing still shows $25. Confirm inside your account. For a full walkthrough, see how to join Impact.com and get approved.
ShareASale's strength was its long tail: thousands of small and mid-sized merchants in home goods, fashion, hobbies and niche ecommerce. No single network replaces that exactly, so match the network to what you actually promote.
Pick the network that already holds the brands your audience buys, not the one with the biggest headline number.
General retail and home brands: stay on Awin. That is where most of the old ShareASale merchant base now lives.
Big-box retail, travel and financial brands: add CJ Affiliate. Its enterprise roster is the reason to be there, and its Content Certification helps editorial sites negotiate. Compare the two in Impact vs CJ Affiliate.
SaaS, DTC and creator-friendly brands: add Impact.com. Many brands run their programs there directly, and contracts are negotiated per partner.
Premium fashion and lifestyle:Rakuten Advertising is selective, and its Net 60 terms are slow, but the brand quality and order values are high.
Bloggers who want variety without many logins:FlexOffers aggregates thousands of advertisers in one dashboard and runs a 5% sub-affiliate program.
Outdoor, sports and specialty retail:AvantLink is the specialist, with separate US, Canadian and Australian networks.
Loyalty, cashback and content publishers wanting enterprise brands:Pepperjam, now operating as Ascend by Partnerize.
Smaller sites that want a curated US merchant list:LinkConnector is small, but it vets merchants closely.
For merchants: what moving actually costs
Merchants face a different trade-off. Awin charges advertisers a monthly fee plus a percentage of each sale. Impact.com publishes self-serve pricing: its Starter plan costs the greater of $30 a month or 2.5% of monthly revenue and is limited to stores on platforms such as Shopify and WooCommerce. Essentials starts at $500 a month and includes up to $2,500 in monthly partner payouts. CJ doesn't publish advertiser pricing.
The fee matters less than whether your existing affiliates will follow you. Your best publishers already joined you on Awin through the migration. Moving networks means asking each of them to apply again, swap links and trust new tracking. Many will not bother. If you do switch, run both programs in parallel for at least one full cookie window before you close the old one.
A practical framework for deciding
01Audit what transferred. Log in to Awin and compare Joined Programmes with the brands you used to earn from. Missing advertisers either didn't finish the upgrade or are closing their programs.
02Fix your Awin threshold. Set it to the $20 minimum under Account > Payment Details.
03List your top ten earning brands and find where each one runs its program today. Brands often sit on more than one network with different rates.
04Apply to the network that holds the gaps. Usually that's one or two of CJ, Impact.com or Rakuten, not all of them.
05Compare like for like. Look at EPC, cookie length and approval rate, not just the headline commission percentage.
06Rebuild your reporting. ShareASale history is gone, so start exporting monthly network reports now. That record is your proof of performance when you negotiate rates.
Common mistakes
Assuming a missing brand has left affiliate marketing. It may have moved to Impact.com or CJ.
Rejoining programs on Awin that already transferred. That causes duplicate applications and confusion.
Ignoring slow payment terms. Net 60 on a new site is a real cash-flow cost.
Spreading across six networks at once. Each extra network adds logins, thresholds and reporting work.
Not exporting data. The ShareASale shutdown showed that platform history can disappear.
Affground's verdict
For most former ShareASale users, Awin is the right default. Your programs, terms and most of your links already moved there. Treat the alternatives as additions, not replacements: add CJ or Rakuten for enterprise and premium brands, Impact.com for modern DTC and SaaS programs, and a niche network like AvantLink only if your content lives in its vertical. If you're comparing broader options, our guides to Amazon Associates alternatives and the best European affiliate networks cover the same ground from different angles, and the full directory is at /networks.
Frequently asked questions
Does ShareASale still exist?
No. Awin moved all eligible ShareASale publishers and merchants onto the Awin platform on 15 August 2025, and the ShareASale platform closed on 6 October 2025. Existing partnerships, commission rates and cookie periods carried over to Awin.
Do I need to reapply to my old ShareASale programs on Awin?
Not if your account was upgraded. Awin transferred existing partnerships automatically. If a brand is missing from Joined Programmes, it may not have completed the upgrade or may have joined Awin early, in which case you join it manually.
Do my old ShareASale links still work?
Most do. Awin says existing ShareASale tracking links continue to track, except short links that had no clicks in the 12 months before the migration.
Can I still download my ShareASale reports or payment statements?
No. Historical reports and payment statements were only available until the platform closed on 6 October 2025 and can no longer be retrieved.
What is Awin's minimum payout for publishers?
Awin lets you set a threshold as low as $20, £20 or €20. If you never set one, it defaults to 50 in USD, GBP or EUR, so it is worth changing under Account, Payment Details.
What is the best ShareASale alternative for bloggers?
For most bloggers, Awin itself, since it holds the former ShareASale merchants. Add CJ Affiliate or Impact.com for bigger brands, FlexOffers for broad variety in one dashboard, or AvantLink for outdoor and sports content.
What is the best ShareASale alternative for small merchants?
It depends on cost and where your affiliates are. Impact.com's self-serve Starter plan costs the greater of $30 a month or 2.5% of monthly revenue for supported ecommerce platforms. Staying on Awin avoids asking your existing publishers to rejoin elsewhere.
