I have considered brand equity, Alexa traffic rank, user experience, and my own personal experience to shortlist them. And I have highlighted the Alexa rank, payout details, and the types of affiliate offers supported by each network for your quick reference.
Also, I have indicated whether they have a referral program as well. If an affiliate network has a referral program then it means that you can refer other publishers to them and earn a percentage (or a one-time bonus) of their income.
1) ShareAsale.com
ShareASale is perhaps the most admired affiliate network with over 4,000 affiliate programs. There are so many affiliate programs on the web that are exclusive to ShareASale. So if you are unable to find an advertiser in CJ then most probably it’s there at ShareASale.
And ShareASale also has a lot of similarities with CJ like user experience, payment, dormant account policy, and affiliate program types. So yes, all inactive ShareASale accounts will be deactivated if its balance is less than $25.
Or, you will be charged $25 per month (if the account balance is over $25) until it becomes zero and is then closed.
And if there is something that I particularly like about ShareASale then it’s their tracking system. It’s real-time and the payment system is also very reliable (just like CJ).
- Alexa Rank: 707
- Minimum Payment Amount: $50
- Payment Method(s): Check, Direct Deposit
- Programs Offered: CPA, CPL, CPS, CPC
- Referral Program: Yes
2) Rakuten.com
Rakuten Affiliate Network was formerly known as LinkShare and is dubbed as the number one affiliate network — for several years now — in affiliate surveys.
Anyway, it doesn’t make much sense to me as the number of advertisers on LinkShare is far less when compared to CJ (or even ShareASale).
However, there are few hundred brands who prefer LinkShare and they do not have an affiliate program elsewhere.
- Alexa Rank: 3,995
- Minimum Payment Amount: $50
- Payment Method(s): Check, Direct Deposit, PayPal
- Programs Offered: CPA, CPL, CPS, CPC
- Referral Program: No
3) Affiliateindow.com
Affiliate Window is one of the best affiliate network in Europe with an advertiser and publisher base of over 1,500 and 75,000 respectively. It’s got a user-friendly interface with real-time reporting.
Affiliate Window even supports deep linking so that you can link to any web page on the advertiser’s website using your affiliate link.
Also, they pay publishers twice every month and the minimum payment amount is also low (when compared to other ad networks).
- Alexa Rank: 9,398
- Minimum Payment Amount: $20/£20
- Payment Method(s): Check, Direct Deposit, Wire Transfer
- Programs Offered: CPA, CPL, CPS, CPC
- Referral Program: Yes
4) ebayenterprise.com
eBay Enterprise Affiliate Network was formerly known as Pepperjam Network and now it’s got over 1,500 advertisers and 200,000 publishers.
- Alexa Rank: 18,610
- Minimum Payment Amount: $25
- Payment Method(s): PayPal
- Programs Offered: CPA, CPL, CPS
- Referral Program: Unknown
5) Tradedoubler.com
Tradedoubler is perhaps the most popular affiliate network in Europe with over 2,000 advertisers. If you live in U.S. then I guess you can focus on the above networks itself as they are more popular in the U.S.
Because there’s a very good chance that you won’t find an American retailer in Tradedoubler and likewise if you live in Europe then your favorite retailer could be there in Tradedoubler (and not in any of those American networks).
- Alexa Rank: 1,773
- Minimum Payment Amount: €70
- Payment Method(s): Direct Deposit
- Programs Offered: CPA, CPL, CPS
- Referral Program: Unknown
6) Zanox.com
Zanox is another affiliate network popular in Europe with over 4,000 advertisers. Some of these European affiliate networks becomes important when they have an exclusive relationship with a brand.
For instance, the super-popular handmade marketplace Etsy.com’s affiliate program is powered by Zanox. So you will need a Zanox publisher account to become an affiliate of Etsy.
- Alexa Rank: 2,109
- Minimum Payment Amount: €25
- Payment Method(s): Check, Direct Deposit, Wire Transfer
- Programs Offered: CPA, CPL, CPS, CPC
- Referral Program: Unknown