8 best affiliate email marketing platforms

Affiliate marketing is a contentious subject and there are a few popular email providers that prohibit any kind of affiliate marketing from their users. Avoid using Mailchimp, MailerLite, Kit, HubSpot, and Constant Contact if you're an affiliate marketer or plan on making the majority of your income through affiliate marketing.

We've compiled a list of email marketing platforms that do allow affiliate marketing in some capacity, along with their pros, cons, and most useful features. Some affiliate marketers also pair email campaigns with tools like QR code Generator to track offline-to-online conversions and share affiliate links more seamlessly across channels. Additionally, exploring the best AI tools for CPAs can help optimize affiliate marketing strategies for accounting professionals.

1. GetResponse

GetResponse is one of the most pro-affiliate email marketing platforms out there. The on-site blog has multiple guides to affiliate marketing, so it’s safe to assume it’s a good bet for any kind of affiliate activity (it’s also pretty handy for resources to help grow an affiliate email marketing campaign).

Because of this, GetResponse has a lot of features that are geared towards affiliate marketing. The flexible workflow editor makes it easy to build out complex automations, which means you can create email sequences based on subscriber behavior and interests. For example, you can tag all subscribers who click on an affiliate link and use that information to send them similar links in the future.When collecting and acting on this level of behavioral data, affiliate marketers should also consider Cybersecurity risk, ensuring subscriber information and tracking data are protected throughout automated workflows.

Perhaps the most promising GetResponse feature for affiliates is its affiliate website builder. This lets you build out your entire affiliate marketing machine from start to finish all in one place. You can create a landing page from one of the many templates, offer lead magnets through pop forms, promote webinars, and sell products through targeted email sequences.

Pros of GetResponse for affiliate marketing:

• All-in-one affiliate marketing website builder
• Positively promotes affiliate marketing through its blog
• Powerful segmentation capabilities
• Extra features such as the webinar tool and integrations for paid ads (Google, Facebook etc.)

Cons of GetResponse for affiliate marketing:

• Automation workflows require the expensive Marketing Automation plan

2. Mailmodo

Mailmodo is one of the best AI email marketing platforms in the market right now. The platform is built around the idea that marketers shouldn’t have to manually plan, write, design, segment, and automate emails. With Mailmodo’s AI Agents, most of the heavy lifting is done through simple prompts, making it especially attractive for teams that want faster execution without deep technical expertise.

Because of this AI-first approach, Mailmodo offers features that simplify the entire email lifecycle. You can plan campaigns, generate subject lines and copy, design complete email layouts, and even build automation journeys using AI suggestions. For example, you can simply describe your audience, and Mailmodo will automatically create precise segments for personalization. Its support for AMP and interactive emails also allows subscribers to submit forms, answer polls, or book demos directly inside the email, significantly improving engagement and conversions.

Perhaps the most powerful Mailmodo capability is how it combines AI email creation, interactive AMP content, segmentation, and automation into one unified workflow. You can design emails with the drag-and-drop editor, enhance them with AI, trigger journeys based on behavior, and optimize campaigns using AI insights, all without switching tools.

Pros of Mailmodo:

• AI Agents that help plan, write, design, and automate emails
• AMP and interactive emails for higher engagement and conversions
• AI-driven audience segmentation and personalization
• All-in-one platform for creation, automation, analytics, and optimization
• Scales well from small teams to large businesses

Cons of Mailmodo:

• Primarily email-focused with limited native omni-channel features (no SMS/WhatsApp)

3. ActiveCampaign

While ActiveCampaign does allow affiliate marketing, it’s a little more strict than GetResponse. You can add affiliate links to your email campaigns, but they shouldn’t be the primary focus of the email. On top of this, you can’t promote affiliate marketing or send emails about getting rich and making money from home. If you’re not doing these things, you’re all good.

ActiveCampaign counters its semi-strict rules with some great affiliate-friendly features. It has robust automation capabilities that make it easy to create a personalized affiliate email marketing campaign, customizable templates for sprucing up your emails, and detailed analytics so you can see which subscribers clicked on which affiliate links.

This is critical for monitoring the success of your affiliate email marketing campaigns and the added bonus of real-time data helps you make quick decisions.

Pros of ActiveCampaign for affiliate marketing:

• Powerful automation capabilities
• Easy segmentation for personalized campaigns
• Comprehensive reporting and analytics

Cons of ActiveCampaign for affiliate marketing:

• Stricter than other platforms for affiliate marketing
• On the pricey side and there’s no free plan
• A steeper learning curve than other platforms

4. Mailercloud

Mailercloud is the best email marketing platform where you can Send smarter campaigns with drag-and-drop design, powerful automation, and industry-leading deliverability

The platform doesn’t outright ban affiliate marketing, but it also doesn’t shout about it like GetResponse and other platforms. It’s fine to use as long as you’re discreet about your links and avoid sending content related to risky industries.

However, Mailercloud comes with one big perk: Price. It’s one of the best-value email platforms for affiliate marketing with a free plan that’s incredibly comprehensive. For paying literally nothing each month, you can add as many subscribers to your list as you want, get full access to the handy drag-and-drop email builder, and use any of the email templates or sign-up forms.

The automation capabilities are pretty sweet too, with a visual workflow editor and the ability to A/B test your affiliate email marketing campaigns to see which ones perform best.

Finally, Mailercloud has a built-in CRM that lets you store, organize, and monitor your subscribers and customers from one central place. This is particularly useful for sending a targeted, personalized affiliate link to each individual subscriber and it comes at no extra cost.

Pros of Mailercloud for affiliate marketing:

• Great value for money
• Built-in CRM to organize and store customer information
• Visual workflow editor and powerful automation

Cons of Mailercloud for affiliate marketing:

• Doesn’t openly state it’s okay with affiliate marketing
• Some industries need manual approval to get started

5. EmailOctopus

EmailOctopus is a lightweight, budget-friendly email marketing tool that appeals to bloggers, creators, small businesses, and especially affiliate marketers. Its biggest selling point is value for money — you get generous subscriber allowances and straightforward features at a fraction of the cost of many larger providers. The platform keeps things simple and avoids overwhelming you with complicated menus or extras you might never use.

For affiliate marketers, there’s another major advantage: unlike ESPs like Mailchimp that restrict or outright ban affiliate content, EmailOctopus has a more relaxed policy, making it a safer bet if you plan to promote offers and partnerships via email. Combined with its clear pricing, ease of use, and essential features like automation, templates, and landing pages, it’s a tool designed to help you get campaigns up and running quickly without breaking the bank.

Pros of EmailOctopus for affiliate marketing:

• Generous free tier and affordable paid plans
• Unlimited unlimited landing pages, forms, automations, and team members on Pro plan
• Easy-to-use editor with over 100 templates available, and custom-branded designs
• Landing pages & forms built-in

Cons of EmailOctopus for affiliate marketing:

• Automations are basic, without advanced triggers or pre-built workflows
• Fewer native integrations than all-in-one competitors
• Support on the free plan is limited to the first 30 days automation

6. Freshmarketer

Freshmarketer isn't your run-of-the-mill email marketing tool. Part of the Freshworks business suite, it's a marketing powerhouse that enables you to reach your audience through various channels like email, live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, and more. Think of it as your multi-tool for digital outreach, helping you connect with potential customers at multiple touchpoints.

When it comes to automating your marketing chores, Freshmarketer is on another level. With AI-powered chatbots available in all its paid plans, you can have round-the-clock customer interactions without lifting a finger. Add to this an extensive array of “playbooks” that simplify automating your marketing messages, and you've got a tool that makes life easier for any affiliate marketer.

And let's not overlook its fantastic social media integrations. You can plan and publish Instagram and Facebook posts created using social media post generators from within the platform including short-form video content created with an Instagram reel maker, and automatically save any leads captured on Facebook in Freshworks' CRM. Plus, the Custom Audience feature syncs seamlessly with your Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns, helping you target audiences that have already shown interest in your offerings.

Pros of Freshmarketer for affiliate marketing:

• Diversify your outreach by connecting through emails, live chats, SMS, WhatsApp, and more
• AI-powered chatbot to take care of questions and requests
• Various playbooks and robust segmentation options to help you send targeted messages
• Landing page builder available with paid plans
• Excellent social media integrations, including post management and Custom Audiences

Cons of Freshmarketer for affiliate marketing:

• The free plan's 100-contact limit and single segment option could be outgrown rather quickly
• Once you scale beyond 12,000 contacts, be prepared for your costs to climb
• Email templates are not available with the free plan. Neither is access to the landing page builder
• Although you can build landing pages with paid plans, the templates could use some sprucing up
• Optimization features, such as A/B testing, heatmaps, and funnel analysis are only available through a pricey add-on

7. AWeber

AWeber hasn’t stated outright whether it’s okay with affiliate marketing, but it does include several affiliate program platforms in its library of native integrations, such as ClickBank and JVZoo. It also has a lot of blog content about using affiliate promotions as a side hustle and promoting other people’s products. From this, we can decipher that it does allow affiliate links, but as always, proceed with caution.

Otherwise, AWeber comes with all the usual ESP features, including a huge library of 600+ email templates, a drag-and-drop editor, and landing page templates categorized by industry. You can also split-test your campaigns and use the comprehensive Email Web Analytics feature to get detailed reports on your affiliate email marketing campaign performance. Even better, you can use your own domain in links to track clicks and product sales.

And for the price-conscious affiliate marketers, AWeber recently launched a free plan if you have less than 500 subscribers—great if you’re just getting started. It does come with limitations, though. For example, you can only send 3,000 emails a month.

Pros of AWeber for affiliate marketing:

• Huge library of customizable email templates
• Powerful analytics and detailed reports
• Free plan for those just starting out

Cons of AWeber for affiliate marketing:

• Automation features aren’t as comprehensive as others
• Can get quite costly when you leave the free plan

8. Mailtrap

There’s no evidence suggesting that Mailtrap does or doesn’t support sending affiliate links via email marketing, but as there’s nothing to say it’s a hard no, you can probably proceed with caution.

The biggest selling point of Mailtrap is its affordability—it’s one of the cheapest email platforms on the market without sacrificing quality or number of features. Like the other email tools here, you can access a library of no-code email templates, set up automation workflows, and embed opt-in forms on your website with a user-friendly widget feature.

It might not be helpful if you’re working alone, but Mailtrap also has a cool collaboration feature that lets multiple people edit the same email at the same time. This could be useful if you’re working in partnership with a brand or fellow content creator on an affiliate email marketing campaign.

There are two downsides to Mailtrap. The segmentation capabilities are pretty limited in comparison to other providers and so are its automation features. You can only group together subscribers based on their contact details and whether they clicked or opened an email in a certain timeframe. This can be restrictive if you want to better understand which subscribers click which affiliate links.

When it comes to automation, you can’t edit the workflow once it’s activated or reactivate an inactive workflow. It might not seem like a big deal, but it can mean you have to create repetitive or seasonal campaigns from scratch every time.

Pros of Mailtrap for affiliate marketing:

• Very affordable plans for beginners
• Handy widget feature for embedding sign-up forms
• The collaboration feature is great for working with affiliate partners

Cons of Mailtrap for affiliate marketing:

• Limited segmentation capabilities
• Limited automation options

How to build an email list for affiliate marketing

Of course, choosing the right affiliate email marketing platform is just one part of the puzzle! For your affiliate email marketing strategy to be successful, you'll need to find ways to not only build an email list – you'll also have to offer valuable content to keep them subscribed.

Here are a few simple ideas for building an email list for affiliate marketing:

• Product Reviews and Recommendations: Create in-depth reviews and recommendations of affiliate products within your niche. At the end of each review, encourage readers to subscribe to your email list to receive updates on new product reviews and exclusive discounts.
• Affiliate Exclusive Content: Offer exclusive content or insider information to your email subscribers. For instance, promise to share limited-time affiliate deals or early access to product launches with your email list.
• Comparison Guides: Create comparison guides that help your audience make informed purchasing decisions. Encourage users to subscribe to your list for downloadable PDF versions of these guides.
• Email Courses: Develop an email course that educates your audience about a specific topic related to your affiliate products. Promote the course launch date and ask for email sign-ups to access it.

You can also enhance email list building with interactive video. Instead of sending subscribers to static pages, interactive videos let viewers click, answer questions, or choose what they want to learn next. Interactive video analytics then show how subscribers engage, which topics hold attention, and where interest drops off. These insights help you segment your list more accurately and send more relevant affiliate offers based on real behavior, not assumptions. When paired with tools like AI SDR, these engagement signals can be turned into personalized follow-ups and smarter affiliate outreach at scale.

• Affiliate Webinars: Host webinars where you discuss the benefits and features of affiliate products. Require participants to register with their email addresses to attend the webinar.
• Affiliate Newsletters: Create a newsletter that highlights the latest affiliate product releases, updates, and industry news. Encourage users to subscribe for timely updates.
• Exit-Intent Pop-ups: Use exit-intent pop-ups on your website when users are about to leave. Offer a last-minute discount or access to your affiliate resource library in exchange for their email addresses.
• Affiliate Case Studies: Share success stories and case studies of people who have benefited from using affiliate products. Include a call-to-action to subscribe for more inspiring stories.
• Affiliate Toolbox: Create a resource library with helpful tools, templates, and guides related to your niche's affiliate products. Ask visitors to subscribe to gain access.
• Referral Contests: Organize referral contests where existing subscribers can earn rewards for referring new subscribers to your email list.

These examples show how to integrate affiliate marketing seamlessly into your email list-building strategy, providing value to your subscribers while promoting affiliate products effectively.

Which affiliate email marketing solution is right for you?

Affiliate links are a great way to monetize your newsletters and email marketing efforts. The tool you choose will ultimately depend on your business model, your industry, and how you plan to slot an affiliate program into your wider money-making activities and email campaigns. For businesses in recruitment or HR sectors, integrating an applicant tracking system with your email marketing might also be a consideration for managing candidate communications alongside affiliate campaigns.

Well-known platforms like GetResponse and ActiveCampaign come equipped with powerful features that will scale with your business, but if you're looking for something smaller and more cost-effective as an influencer marketer, opt for something like tinyEmail or Mailtrap to get started. Alternatively, choose a cheaper plan with one of the well-known providers to get a feel for the features you might need.

We highly recommend trialing a few of these ESPs to see which ones you find the most intuitive, have the best templates and workflows for your needs, and provide the best analytics.