GoAffPro and AvantLink both connect to your Shopify store and credit affiliates for the sales they drive. So at first glance, either one can be the engine behind your affiliate channel.

The real difference is who runs the program. With GoAffPro, you run your own program, recruiting and approving each affiliate yourself, starting on a free plan. With AvantLink, you tap a network of affiliate publishers that its compliance team screens by hand.

From there, a few tie-breakers settle it: what you pay, where your affiliates come from, who vets them, and which regions you sell in.

Read on to discover which is the best fit for your program and whether there are alternatives worth considering...

GoAffPro vs. AvantLink at a glance

GoAffPro is for brands that want to run their own affiliate program. AvantLink is for brands that would rather tap a network of content sites, with a focus on the US, Canada, and Australia.

Where they differ: GoAffPro has a free plan, with paid plans starting at $49/month, and every approval decision sits with you. AvantLink screens affiliates by hand before they join its network, and you pay through an AvantLink invoice.

Beyond this, both tools have a problem that makes them unsuitable for brands using affiliate marketing as a content generation tool: they don't automatically track the social content your affiliates publish. So you rely on self-reported activity logs or affiliate media kits to see what went live. If that's a dealbreaker, consider an affiliate marketing platform with built-in content tracking, like Modash.

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Try Modash for free.

AvantLink gives you a pool of vetted affiliates

While both tools help you find affiliates, they got about it quite differently.

With AvantLink, you get to access a network of 10,000+ affiliates who are put through a strict application, compliance review, and site-verification process, all with the goal of ensuring high-quality traffic for merchants.

There's a second check when affiliates apply to your program. Affiliates already in the network apply to join, and you accept or deny each one from the Affiliate Program Applications page. In most cases, pending applications auto-approve 7 days after the application date, so AvantLink recommends reviewing them weekly.

GoAffPro gives you 2 ways to find affiliates without starting from zero.

You can turn on a marketplace listing that shows your store to affiliates registered in GoAffPro's network, so interested affiliates come to you. And/or you can browse influencers in GoAffPro's Recruit tab, filter by niche, region, tags, country, or category, and invite them with a customizable email template. Each influencer profile in the Recruit tab shows their bio, age, gender, niche, country, and links to their social media handles.

(Bear in mind GoAffPro doesn't put a number on the size of its network.)

GoAffPro also helps you turn existing customers and contacts into affiliates. Its post-checkout popup promotes your affiliate program on the order confirmation page. You can also add an affiliate by hand with just a name and email address, and GoAffPro sends them an invitation email.

Alternatively, if you want to recruit creators beyond any one network's sign-ups, Modash gives you a 380M+ creator database to recruit from. That way your pool isn't limited to affiliates who have already signed up to a network.

✍️ Bottom line: GoAffPro suits brands that want to combine a marketplace listing and influencer invites with recruiting their own customers. AvantLink wins if you only want to work with pre-vetted creators. Modash is the best fit if you're looking to tap into the largest possible creator database.

AvantLink's network centers on content sites in the US, Canada, and Australia

AvantLink specializes in growing affiliate programs in the United States, Canada, and Australia. That focus matters if your customers, or the creators you want promoting your store, are based outside those 3 markets.

Also, bear in mind the platform is geared toward traditional publishers (AKA websites and blogs) rather than social media creators.

GoAffPro doesn't have such strict geographic limitations. But as the platform doesn't share information about the size of its creator database, it's hard to make an informed choice on how well it fits your niche when it comes to proactive recruitment.

If market fit matters, Modash shows where each creator's followers are based, so you can confirm their audience is in the countries you sell to before you invite them.

✍️ Bottom line: AvantLink suits brands selling in the US, Canada, or Australia that predominantly want reach through content websites. GoAffPro is more flexible, but also less clear about its network size and reach.

GoAffPro has transparent pricing & a generous free plan

GoAffPro lists its prices openly, and you can start at $0. GoAffPro says its free plan is designed for stores generating <100 daily sales. But the platform won't push you onto a higher tier, because every GoAffPro plan, including the free one, allows unlimited affiliates.

The first paid step is GoAffPro's premium plan at $49/month. It adds a multi-level affiliate network, email marketing, third-party integrations, target bonuses, and affiliate portal customization. Some features sit on a separate tier, and GoAffPro's affiliate tasks and activities feature is available only on its business plan.

AvantLink doesn't share public pricing information, but you're likely to pay some or all of the following:

• 1-time integration fee
• Ongoing management fee
• Network/commission fees

Modash's pricing is totally transparent too. Our plans start at $199/month on an annual contract or $299/month if you don't fancy the yearly commitment.

✍️ Bottom line: GoAffPro and Modash give you a known monthly cost, whereas with AvantLink, you'll have to reach out to learn about pricing.

AvantLink sets commission rates by product, GoAffPro adds multi-level commissions

AvantLink builds its commission controls around what you sell. Its Item Based Commission feature lets you set commission rates on specific products instead of using one general base commission rate.

In practice, you can pay a higher commission on the products you want affiliates to push harder. You can apply these product rules to all affiliates, a tagged group of affiliates, or a single affiliate.

AvantLink also lets you reward volume. Its Performance Based Commission feature can give 1 affiliate or a group of affiliates a higher commission rate once they pass a set sales threshold within a month. You can also pay bonuses or raise an affiliate's commission directly from AvantLink's interface.

With GoAffPro's Affiliate Groups, you can put different types of affiliates on different commission structures. Its Targets and Bonuses option layers targets, commission boosters, recurring bonuses, and a signup bonus on top of the base rate.

GoAffPro also supports a multi-level affiliate network, which you set up from its Multi Level tab. You choose how many levels you want, then set a commission rate for each one.

Modash sets commission rates by creator tier rather than by product. Each tier can pay 1 rate for first-time customers and another for repeat orders, so you can pay more to the creators who bring in new buyers.

✍️ Bottom line: AvantLink is the better fit if you want to steer affiliates toward specific products or reward monthly sales milestones. GoAffPro suits brands that want to sort affiliates into commission groups or run a multi-level network with stacked bonuses.

Both GoAffPro and AvantLink install on Shopify, but GoAffPro can link several stores

GoAffPro and AvantLink both integrate with Shopify, but each uses the store connection for a different job.

GoAffPro has 1 store requirement to know about. It creates every affiliate discount code under its own app code in your store's discounts section, so that app code needs to stay active for affiliate coupons to work.

AvantLink's Shopify app connects affiliate tracking, automates the return process, and sets up your product datafeed – the product catalog feed that many of its affiliates' ad tools pull from. AvantLink also offers a Datafeed Manager for handling those catalog feeds.

Where they differ: GoAffPro supports brands running more than one store. In its federated model, affiliates can sign up through any store's portal, and their account syncs across every connected program. In its hub-and-spoke model, affiliates join only the main program, and sales from the connected stores flow back to it so you track everything in one place.

Modash also handles Shopify affiliate tracking and credits a sale whether your customer clicked a creator's link or entered their discount code. Code sales still count after a link's attribution window closes, so creators keep credit for late buyers.

✍️ Bottom line: GoAffPro suits brands that run several storefronts and want to pool affiliates and sales into one program. AvantLink suits brands that want their store's tracking, returns, and product catalog connected to its network.

Neither GoAffPro nor AvantLink automatically tracks affiliate content

That's right: neither GoAffPro nor AvantLink automatically captures the content your affiliates publish, so seeing what went live depends on what affiliates report back to you.

GoAffPro's closest feature is a task list. Its Affiliate Tasks and Activities feature lets you create an activity sheet, and affiliates complete and log their tasks in their own dashboards.

Affiliates can log the date and details of an activity and add attachments. Those logged activities appear for you in the Manage Activities tab of the GoAffPro admin panel.

AvantLink doesn't offer any tracking tools, manual or otherwise, so you'll have to check publisher sites yourself or ask affiliates to self-report.

On the flip side, Modash automatically tracks the content your creators publish and how it performs, so you can see the posts behind your affiliate sales without asking creators to send them in.

✍️ Bottom line: If you want to see every post without chasing affiliates for it, neither tool covers that job, so you'll need an alternative like Modash.

Which should you choose?

Choose GoAffPro if:

• You want to run your own program at a predictable cost, starting free and moving to $49/month+ only when you need multi-level commissions and integrations.
  
• Your best promoters are customers, party hosts, and referrers you already know, and you'd rather approve each affiliate yourself.
• You run several storefronts and want all your affiliates and sales pooled into one program.

Choose AvantLink if:

• You'd rather tap a ready-made network of 10,000+ affiliates than recruit from scratch.
• You want content sites screened by a compliance team before they can apply to your program.
• You sell in the US, Canada, or Australia and predominantly want to work with content sites.

A third choice: Modash

Neither GoAffPro nor AvantLink automatically tracks the social content your affiliates publish. So if you want to see what creators post for you, and recruit beyond one network's signups, Modash covers both jobs.

You see what went live without chasing anyone. Modash tracks the content your creators publish and how it performs, so you see the posts behind your affiliate sales. You can also search 380M+ creators and check each one's audience demographics and engagement before you reach out, so you only pitch creators who fit your store.

When a sale comes in, you know who earned it. Modash credits Shopify sales from tracking links and discount codes, using last-touch attribution.

Paying creators stays simple too. You pay one Modash invoice, and Modash handles creator payment and tax.

Try Modash for free with a 14-day trial – no credit card required.