Reflink and Tapfiliate solve the same problem from opposite directions: one is source-available software you can own outright for $39, the other is a subscription at $89/mo run entirely on someone else's servers.
Head to head
| Reflink | Tapfiliate | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $39 once | $89/mo |
| Cost after 1 year | $39 | $1,068 |
| Data ownership | Your server, your SQLite file | Their cloud |
| Affiliates | Unlimited | Tiered limits |
| Clicks / conversions | Unlimited | Plan-capped |
| Affiliate portal | Yes | Yes |
| Payout CSV export | Yes | Yes |
| MLM tiers / integrations marketplace | No | Yes |
What Reflink does well
- Tracking links — A short link records the click and 302-redirects to your landing page with a ref code appended for client-side pickup.
- Cookie-based attribution — A configurable window of 30, 60 or 90 days is your call.
- Conversion tracking two ways — A server-to-server postback from your checkout webhook, or a JS pixel with a convert call.
- Order-ID dedupe — The same order can never pay commission twice.
What Tapfiliate still does better
There's a real reason Tapfiliate costs what it does: a bigger team, broader integrations and dedicated support behind it. If that ecosystem is genuinely what you need, it's worth paying for.
Which one should you pick
If your workflow depends on Tapfiliate's specific integrations or you'd rather not run anything yourself, stay put — that's a legitimate call. If you're comfortable owning the tool and want to stop paying $89/mo for a job your own hardware can do, Reflink pays for itself and then some: pays for itself in the first two weeks of a Tapfiliate subscription, then keeps running for free.
Try Reflink — $39, once
Self-hosted affiliate tracking with attribution, commissions, approvals and payout CSV export.