Affiliate software for e-commerceViralPayouts vs Merchcoder Affiliate
ViralPayouts has no monthly fee, pays your affiliates for you and pays recruiters on every program. You pay 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3%, and nothing in a month when nobody sells. With Merchcoder Affiliate, you pay your affiliates yourself and has two-tier recruiting on some plans only. It costs $0 to $29.99 a month.
Every figure for Merchcoder Affiliate comes from its own pages or named review sites, checked 12 October 2026. Sources are listed at the bottom.
Why brands pick ViralPayouts over Merchcoder Affiliate
Best fit: A brand that wants partners paid for it and a public directory to find partners.
- $0 a month
No plan and no setup fee. 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3% at $10,000 a month.
- Payouts done for you
One invoice per program. ViralPayouts sends every partner and recruiter their money and collects tax forms.
- Recruiters built in
Customer links and recruit links on every program, with the override set your way and reversed on refunds.
Side by side
| Merchcoder Affiliate | ViralPayouts | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0 to $29.99 a month | $0 a month. 10% of what you pay partners, falling to 3% at $10,000 a month. |
| Setup fee | Not stated | None |
| Fee for paying affiliates | Not stated | Included in the fee above: no charge to the brand for sending payoutsPartners pay Whop's own fee when they withdraw to their bank |
| Pays your affiliates for you | Novia PayPal (merchant account implied) | Yes You fund by bank transfer; we pay every partner |
| Two-tier recruiting | Higher plansPro ($29.99/mo) | Yes Two levels on every program: share of commission, share of sale or fixed. Paid on approved sales, never sign-ups |
| Public program directory | No | Yes Partners browse and join with one account |
| Tracking | Tracking links; Discount codes | First-party links with click IDs, signed server-to-server events, Stripe Checkout webhook |
| Coupon tracking | Yes | Yes A code per partner, per program |
| Mobile app tracking | Not stated | App installs, sign-ups and purchases reported from your server through the signed event API, with bounties on them. No SDK to ship in your app. |
| API, webhooks, MCP | Not stated | REST API for brands and partners with an OpenAPI spec, an MCP server for AI agents, a signed event API and partner postbacks |
| Integrations | Shopify, PayPal | Stripe Checkout, Shopify orders, any backend via the event API |
Merchcoder Affiliate plans in full
- Free: $0 a month. Up to 5 affiliates; 50 commissions/month
- Pro: $29.99 a month. Unlimited affiliates and commissions; customer referrals; multi-level and tiered commissions; fraud protection
Where ViralPayouts comes out ahead of Merchcoder Affiliate
What Merchcoder Affiliate offers
Shopify stores wanting a low-cost affiliate and customer referral program with multi-level overrides.
Affiliate software for e-commerce
Why ViralPayouts is the better choice
- Pays partners for the brand (via Whop) with no separate payout processing fee
- Public directory of programs with one partner account across programs
- REST API and MCP server
- Works beyond Shopify
- No fixed fee while payouts are small
About Merchcoder Affiliate
- In their words:
- "Run affiliate and referral programs from your store. Track links, set commissions, pay via PayPal."
- Company:
- Founded Shopify app launched August 24, 2026 · Brighton, Colorado, USA · MerchCoder LLC
- Website:
- apps.shopify.com
Try ViralPayouts on test money
Set your commission and recruiter override, see what each sale costs you, and run it on the test network before a real partner joins. No monthly fee.
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ViralPayouts vs Override: Multi-Tier AffiliateSources for Merchcoder Affiliate (1), checked 12 October 2026
Merchcoder Affiliate is a trademark of its owner. ViralPayouts is not affiliated with Merchcoder Affiliate. Prices and features change: check apps.shopify.com before you decide. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.