OpenPartner vs Post Affiliate Pro
Post Affiliate Pro has been around for two decades — that's its strength and its weakness. It works, it's still actively maintained, and it earns its place for legacy programs already running on it. It's also cloud-only for new customers now: Quality Unit hasn't sold a self-hosted license since June 2022. OpenPartner is what an open-source partner program looks like if you started over today with SaaS, Stripe, and a marketplace in mind.
| OpenPartner | Post Affiliate Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Product framing | Modern partner program software + marketplace | Long-running affiliate platform from Quality Unit, founded in 2004 |
| License | MIT open source | Proprietary |
| Self-host option | Free, MIT-licensed Docker Compose template | None for new customers: no new standalone licenses since June 1, 2022. Existing installs got their last release, and lost support, on December 31, 2022 |
| Hosted option | $0/month on Revshare or $49/month on Flex. Each attributed conversion costs the larger of 3% of its sale amount or 10% of the commission it pays the partner (1.5% or 5% on Flex), so a flat bounty for a lead or demo costs 10% (5% on Flex) of the bounty | Cloud only for new customers. As of October 2026: Starter $89/month, Pro $139, Ultimate $269, Network $649 on monthly billing ($79 to $599 billed annually). Starter allows one campaign and 10,000 tracking requests a month |
| Product surface | Modern React portal, clean UX | Dated UX from a product that has been around since the mid-2000s |
| SaaS / Stripe recurring billing | The hosted Stripe App (beta) records Checkout and Payment Link purchases, invoices, renewals and refunds from your Stripe account once the partner click is passed into Stripe. Other payments are reported from your server | Stripe webhooks track one-time and recurring charges and refunds. The Recurring commissions feature is on Ultimate and Network only |
| Attribution scope | Click → identity → revenue with stitching | Cookie, local storage, IP and server-to-server click tracking; lifetime commissions tie a customer to an affiliate |
| Attribution models | Last-click, first-click, linear, position-based; auditable back to the click | First or last affiliate, set by one switch. Split commissions across affiliates on Ultimate and Network |
| Compound commission rules | First-sale bonus + recurring + trigger bonuses as one campaign | Deep rule set: product, action and performance-based commissions on higher plans |
| Two-tier (sub-affiliate) commissions | On every plan, off until you turn it on for a program: a partner earns a set percent of the commissions the partners they recruited earn. Two levels only | Multi-tier commissions up to 99 levels, on every plan |
| Dual-sided customer rewards | Built in, optional: with Stripe connected, each partner code gets a matching customer discount, created in your Stripe for you | Affiliate coupon codes on Pro and up. You set up the discount in your shop or billing system |
| Direct payouts | Brand-to-partner: your own rail (PayPal, bank transfer) on hosted, Stripe Connect on self-host. No payout fee | Mass-payment export files. You pay affiliates yourself, outside PAP |
| Partner marketplace | OpenPartner Network, included in hosted plans | No marketplace. The Network plan lets you run your own multi-merchant network |
| Data portability | Full export as JSON or SQL dump, which restores into a self-hosted copy; any single table as CSV | CSV import and export of affiliates, campaigns, banners and transactions. A full database backup only on request to support, for migration or compliance |
| Best fit | Modern SaaS that wants open-source + marketplace + Stripe-native attribution | Programs already on PAP, or programs that want sub-affiliates more than two levels deep, banner-heavy affiliate marketing, or EU data hosting |
Two decades of operational depth count for something.
Mature feature surface
Twenty years of customer requests have shaped a deep feature set — from creative-asset management to multi-tier commission ladders up to 99 levels deep to legacy network integrations.
EU or US data hosting
Every PAP plan lets you keep your data in a European or a US data center. OpenPartner's hosted product stores data in the US; for anywhere else, you self-host.
Legacy affiliate-network patterns
If you're running a program that looks like a 2010-era affiliate network — CPA bounties, sub-affiliates many levels deep, banner creatives — PAP's defaults map cleanly. Its Network plan even lets you run your own multi-merchant network.
Continuous maintenance
PAP is still actively maintained. New versions ship every few weeks, and each of the five released between late August and October 9, 2026 included security hardening; the latest as of this writing is 5.16.9.1.
If you're a modern SaaS, these are the differences that matter.
Genuinely open source
MIT-licensed, full source on GitHub, free self-host. PAP is proprietary, and new customers can only get it hosted: Quality Unit no longer sells standalone licenses, and existing installs got their final release, and lost support, on December 31, 2022.
Built for SaaS-shaped revenue
Connect Stripe (the hosted Stripe App is in beta) and pass the partner click into Checkout or Payment Links: purchases, invoices and renewals are then recorded from your Stripe account, with nothing to forward from your server. Refunds reverse or reduce commissions; disputes are recorded for your review. Direct PaymentIntent charges and payments taken elsewhere are one server-side call. Recurring commissions work on every plan. PAP lists its Recurring commissions feature only from its Ultimate plan up ($269/month, or $249 billed annually).
Modern product surface
React portal, clean admin UX, a partner experience creators don't bounce off. PAP's interface shows its age.
Auditable attribution
Raw clicks, identities, and events are append-only, and every attribution traces back to the click that earned it. The raw layers export alongside the attributions, for your own analysis. Change the model and new conversions use it; past ones keep their credit.
Partner marketplace built in
The OpenPartner Network surfaces your program to creators looking for one, at no extra fee on hosted plans. PAP has no marketplace equivalent.
Automated payouts on self-host
Self-hosted OpenPartner can pay partners through Stripe Connect: each payout run transfers to the partner's own Stripe Connect Standard account. On hosted, you pay through your own rail (PayPal, bank transfer) and mark payouts paid, much as PAP's mass-payment files have you do. OpenPartner adds no payout fee, and its platform fee never comes out of a partner's commission.
The honest two-sentence summary
Post Affiliate Pro is a perfectly competent affiliate platform, and for a long time it was the obvious pick if you wanted affiliate software on your own server. It was never open source, and it hasn't sold that self-hosted option since June 2022. For a SaaS team picking today it isn't the obvious answer: its Recurring commissions feature starts at the Ultimate plan, there's no partner marketplace, and you can't run a new copy yourself.
If you're already on PAP and it works for you, stay. If you're picking new today, OpenPartner is the open-source partner program software written for the world we're actually in.
Looking at other tools? Compare against Rewardful, Dub Partners, Tapfiliate, or PartnerStack. Read the full open-source affiliate software guide.