Affiliate marketing already drives a meaningful share of ecommerce revenue. 74% of brands generate between 11% and 30% of total revenue from affiliate partnerships, per impact.com’s 2025 State of Affiliate Marketing report, cited on Shopify’s own blog. For Malaysian Shopify sellers, the question isn’t whether to run an affiliate program. It’s which app tracks it without eating your margin.
Shopify Affiliate Apps: Quick Comparison
| Tool | Monthly Cost (MYR) | Key Feature | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| UpPromote | Free → from RM 135/month + 2% fee | Free plan to start, fee drops to 1% at Enterprise tier | Sellers who want to prove the channel works before paying |
| Affiliatly | Free → from RM 72/month | Flat monthly fee, no percentage cut on sales | Budget-conscious sellers who want predictable costs |
| Refersion | Free (marketplace) → from RM 176/month + 3% fee | Built-in affiliate and influencer discovery marketplace | Brands actively recruiting new affiliates, not just tracking existing ones |
| ReferralCandy | From RM 176/month + 10.5% fee | Combines customer referrals and affiliate partners in one tool | Stores that want both referral and affiliate programs together |
Pricing converted from USD at approximately RM 4.50 per USD. Exchange rates fluctuate. Verify your actual RM cost at signup. All pricing sourced from each app’s official pricing page, August 2026.
1. UpPromote: Best for Starting Free and Scaling Up
UpPromote is one of the most reviewed affiliate apps on the Shopify App Store. Its tiered pricing model is built around a shrinking percentage fee. The more you pay in subscription, the less UpPromote takes from each successful referral sale.
What it does well:
- Free plan with no payment required (one affiliate program, up to $3,000 in referral sales reviewed per month)
- Multi-level marketing (MLM) support at the Professional tier, letting affiliates recruit sub-affiliates
- Post-checkout invitation flow that turns buyers into affiliates automatically
- PayPal mass payout at the Professional tier for faster commission runs
Pricing (official UpPromote pricing page, August 2026):
| Plan | MYR/month (approx.) | USD/month | Fee on Referral Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | RM 0 | USD 0 | None |
| Growth | ~RM 135 | ~USD 29.99 | 2% |
| Professional | ~RM 405 | ~USD 89.99 | 1.5% |
| Enterprise | ~RM 900 | ~USD 199.99 | 1% |
Where it falls short: The free plan’s $3,000 monthly referral-sales cap is restrictive once your program starts working. A single strong affiliate can blow past it in one campaign. The percentage fee also stacks on top of the subscription, so total cost at scale is higher than a flat-fee app like Affiliatly.
Right fit: A Shopify store launching its first affiliate program that wants to test demand at zero cost, then step up a tier as referral volume grows. If you already know you’ll run a large affiliate network with sub-affiliates, the Professional tier’s MLM support is a real differentiator.
Not sure how to structure your program before picking a tool? Read the Shopify affiliate program setup guide for Malaysian sellers first.
2. Affiliatly: Best for Predictable, Flat-Fee Pricing
Affiliatly takes a different approach from the rest of this list: no percentage fee on affiliate-driven sales, at any tier. You pay a flat monthly price regardless of how much revenue your affiliates generate.
What it does well:
- Flat monthly pricing with zero percentage cut, so the more your affiliates sell, the more you keep
- Tracks referrals by link, QR code, coupon code, email, SKU, or customer/order tags
- Branded affiliate portal at the Advanced tier, so the program looks like part of your store
- Custom commission rules per product or per affiliate
Pricing (official Affiliatly Shopify App Store listing, August 2026):
| Plan | MYR/month (approx.) | USD/month | Affiliate Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | RM 0 | USD 0 | Up to 50 tracked orders |
| Starter | ~RM 72 | ~USD 16 | 50 affiliates |
| Advanced | ~RM 108 | ~USD 24 | 200 affiliates |
| Professional | ~RM 176 | ~USD 39 | 500 affiliates |
Where it falls short: No affiliate discovery marketplace. Affiliatly tracks affiliates you already have, but it won’t help you find new ones. Affiliate limits are also hard caps per tier, so a program that outgrows 500 affiliates needs a custom plan.
Right fit: A Malaysian Shopify store with a growing affiliate network and predictable sales volume, where a percentage fee on top of a subscription would eat too much margin. The flat-fee model rewards stores whose affiliate channel is already performing well.
3. Refersion: Best for Finding New Affiliates and Influencers
Refersion is built for brands that need more than tracking. It includes a marketplace where affiliates and influencers can discover your program and apply directly, which matters if recruitment (not just tracking) is your bottleneck.
What it does well:
- Refersion Marketplace lists your offer for affiliates and creators to browse and apply
- AI-powered affiliate, influencer, and creator discovery tools
- First-party tracking domain (tracks referrals without relying on third-party cookies)
- Automated payouts via PayPal, ACH, and bank transfer, with automated tax form handling
Pricing (official Refersion Shopify App Store listing, August 2026):
| Plan | MYR/month (approx.) | USD/month | Fee on Referral Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketplace | RM 0 | USD 0 | None (listing only) |
| Launch | ~RM 176 | ~USD 39 | 3% |
| Growth | ~RM 896 | ~USD 199 | 2% |
Where it falls short: The percentage fee is the highest among the apps with a paid tracking tier at this price point, and the Growth plan’s RM 896/month entry cost is steep for a store still under RM 30,000/month in revenue. Refersion is built for brands with the budget to actively recruit, not just track.
Right fit: A Malaysian Shopify brand that has plateaued on organic affiliate sign-ups and needs a discovery channel (not just a dashboard) to find new partners actively looking for brands to promote.
For a channel-specific alternative to recruiting affiliates, see the guide to recruiting TikTok Shop affiliates in Malaysia.
4. ReferralCandy: Best for Combining Referrals and Affiliates
ReferralCandy started as a customer-referral tool and has expanded into affiliate marketing, so it’s the only app on this list that runs both program types from one dashboard. Its built-in AI assistant, Referral Expert, helps set up and tune campaigns from your store’s own sales data.
What it does well:
- Runs referral and affiliate campaigns side by side, with shared reward logic
- Fully embedded into the Shopify storefront via theme app blocks
- Custom rewards: coupon codes, store credit, cash, or custom incentives
- Works with Klaviyo, ReCharge, Loop, Skio, and other Shopify subscription apps
Pricing (official ReferralCandy Shopify App Store listing, August 2026):
| Plan | MYR/month (approx.) | USD/month | Fee on Referral Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | ~RM 176 | ~USD 39 | 10.5% |
| Grow | ~RM 356 | ~USD 79 | 3.5% |
| Scale | ~RM 1,121 | ~USD 249 | 1.5% |
| Enterprise | ~RM 3,596 | ~USD 799 | 0.25% |
Where it falls short: The entry-tier fee (10.5%) is the highest of any app compared here. A store doing RM 20,000/month through affiliates on the Basic plan would pay roughly RM 2,100/month in fees alone, on top of the RM 176 subscription. The fee only becomes competitive at the Scale tier and above, which requires meaningful referral-sales volume to justify.
Right fit: A Shopify store that wants a single tool for both customer referrals and affiliate partnerships, and expects to scale into the Grow or Scale tier quickly enough that the percentage fee stops being the dominant cost.
Verdict: Which Shopify Affiliate App Should Malaysian Sellers Use?
Match the tool to where your program actually is, not where you hope it will be in a year.
Just testing affiliate marketing for the first time: Start with Affiliatly’s free plan (50 tracked orders, no fee) or UpPromote’s free plan ($3,000 referral-sales cap). Both let you validate demand before spending anything. Move to a paid tier once you consistently exceed the free-plan limits.
Growing program, watching every ringgit of margin: Affiliatly. Its flat RM 72–176/month pricing with zero percentage fee means a strong month from your affiliates doesn’t cost you more in app fees. That’s the opposite of every percentage-fee competitor on this list.
Stalled on finding new affiliates, not tracking existing ones: Refersion. The marketplace and AI-powered discovery tools solve a recruitment problem that a tracking-only app cannot.
Want referrals and affiliates in one dashboard, and expect real volume: ReferralCandy, but only once you can commit to the Grow tier (RM 356/month, 3.5% fee) or above. The Basic tier’s 10.5% fee erodes margin fast for a Malaysian store still under RM 20,000/month in affiliate-driven sales.
Whichever app you choose, run it for at least one full quarter before switching. Affiliate programs take time to build momentum. Commission structure changes and app-switching mid-program tend to lose affiliates rather than gain them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free Shopify affiliate app?
Affiliatly and UpPromote both offer usable free plans. Affiliatly’s free tier covers up to 50 tracked orders with no payment required and no percentage fee. UpPromote’s free plan covers one affiliate program with a $3,000 monthly referral-sales cap. For a store just testing whether affiliate marketing works before committing budget, either free plan is enough to run a small pilot program, per each app’s official Shopify App Store listing.
How much do Shopify affiliate apps cost in Malaysia?
Entry-level paid plans start at roughly RM 72–176/month (Affiliatly Starter to Refersion Launch), based on official app pricing converted from USD at approximately RM 4.50 per USD. Several apps also charge a percentage fee on top of the monthly subscription. ReferralCandy’s entry plan charges 10.5% of referral-driven sales, while UpPromote’s fee drops from 2% to 1% as you move up tiers. Always check the current fee schedule on the app’s official pricing page before committing, since these rates change.
Do I need a separate app, or can I run an affiliate program manually?
Manual tracking (unique discount codes in a spreadsheet) works only below a handful of affiliates, and it breaks down fast. No automated payouts, no fraud detection, no real-time click tracking. A dedicated app becomes worthwhile once you have 5 or more active affiliates, since manual reconciliation of commissions and payouts starts costing more staff time than a RM 72–176/month subscription.
Which Shopify affiliate app has the lowest fees?
Affiliatly charges a flat monthly fee with no percentage cut on affiliate-driven sales, which makes it the cheapest option at scale for stores with high affiliate sales volume. UpPromote and Refersion charge a percentage on top of the subscription, but that percentage drops as you move to higher tiers. ReferralCandy’s entry-tier fee (10.5%) is the highest of the four compared here, though it drops sharply to 0.25% at its Enterprise tier.