Show how it works for

Launch your affiliate program
in an afternoon

An affiliate program pays partners and creators a commission on the customers they bring you. Here's how it works.

Do it yourself Do it with AI

Create your affiliate program in under 15 minutes with the help of our quickstart guide. Then invite your dev team to complete installation.

Follow your program checklist to test, launch, and promote your affiliate program. GrowSurf guides you through each step.

The admin dashboard shows real-time analytics, like who your top affiliates are and the engagement funnel for your affiliate program, while weekly and monthly email reports keep you in the loop.

Step 1

Give affiliates a link to share

Step 2

Track referred signups

Next, tell GrowSurf when a new customer signs up through an affiliate link. Choose one of the options below based on how your signup flow works.

Add one GrowSurf script to your signup page and GrowSurf can connect each signup back to the affiliate who shared the link. It attaches affiliate tracking to the signup flow and landing pages you already use, so you do not need to change how new users or leads sign up today.

<script type='text/javascript'>
    (function(g,r,s,f){g.grsfSettings={campaignId:'45hxmj',version:'2.0.0'};s=r.getElementsByTagName('head')[0];f=r.createElement('script');f.async=1;f.src='https://app.growsurf.com/growsurf.js'+'?v='+g.grsfSettings.version;f.setAttribute('grsf-campaign', g.grsfSettings.campaignId);!g.grsfInit?s.appendChild(f):';})(window,document);
</script>

If you use a custom form or single-page app, send the signup to GrowSurf with growsurf.addReferredParticipant() . Pass the new customer's email and GrowSurf can match them to the affiliate from the browser cookie.

// Only creates a referred participant if the referral code is valid
const result = await growsurf.addReferredParticipant({
    email: '[email protected]',
    firstName: 'Gavin',
    lastName: 'Belson',

    // Optional: Save any custom data as participant metadata
    country: 'UK',
    subscriptionPlan: 'Pro',
});

if (result.added) {
    const participant = result.participant;
}

You can also send extra fields as metadata if you want to use them later in reports or automations.

If signups happen inside your iOS, Android, or React Native app, use the GrowSurf mobile SDK. There are two parts: capture the affiliate attribution when the new customer opens the link, then create the referred participant when they sign up.

1. Capture attribution

Capture affiliate attribution before you create the referred participant, so the referral survives the journey from link to signup. A referred customer can arrive two ways: by opening your already-installed app (a direct deep link), or by installing the app first and opening it later (a deferred deep link). For deferred links, GrowSurf provides adapters for Branch, Adjust, AppsFlyer, and Singular (see the iOS and Android adapter docs); on Android it can also read the Google Play Install Referrer natively.

Direct deep link

if let url {
    try await growsurf.handleDeepLink(url)
}

Deferred deep link (attribution provider)

import GrowSurfBranchAttribution

// Forward your provider's deferred deep link (Branch shown; Adjust, AppsFlyer, and Singular work the same)
try await GrowSurfBranchAttribution.handle(branchParams, sdk: growsurf)

Direct deep link

intent.data?.let { uri ->
    growsurf.handleDeepLink(uri)
}

Deferred deep link (attribution provider)

lifecycleScope.launch {
    // Native: read the Google Play Install Referrer
    growsurf.handleDeferredDeepLink()

    // Or forward an attribution provider's data (Branch, Adjust, AppsFlyer, Singular)
    GrowSurfBranchAttribution.handle(branchParams, growsurf)
}

2. Create a referred participant

When the new customer signs up, call addReferredParticipant(). The SDK validates the saved attribution and only creates the participant when the referral code is valid.

// Only creates a referred participant if the referral code is valid
let created = try await growsurf.addReferredParticipant(
    .init(
        email: "[email protected]",
        firstName: "Gavin",
        lastName: "Belson",
        metadata: ["subscriptionPlan": "Pro"] // Optional, saved as participant metadata
    )
)

let participant = created.participant

// Only creates a referred participant if the referral code is valid
val created = growsurf.addReferredParticipant(
    GrowSurfParticipantInput(
        email = "[email protected]",
        firstName = "Gavin",
        lastName = "Belson",
        metadata = mapOf("subscriptionPlan" to "Pro"), // Optional, saved as participant metadata
    )
)

val participant = created.participant

You can also send extra fields as metadata if you want to use them later in reports or automations.

If your signups happen on your server, send the signup through /POST Add Participant . Pass the new customer's email plus referredBy, which can be the affiliate ID or email address, or retrieve it with growsurf.getReferrerId() on the web, pendingAttribution() on iOS, or getPendingAttribution() on Android.

curl -X POST 'https://api.growsurf.com/v2/campaign/45hxmj/participant' \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     -d $'{
         "email": "[email protected]",
         "firstName": "Gavin",
         "lastName": "Belson",
         "referredBy": "richard-h8kp6l",

         # Optional: Save custom fields as participant metadata
         "metadata": {
             "country": "UK",
             "subscriptionPlan": "Pro"
         }
     }'

You can also send extra fields as metadata if you want to use them later in reports or automations.

Then tell GrowSurf when a referred customer pays. Choose one of the options below based on how you track purchases. GrowSurf keeps commissions up to date even on refunds or chargebacks.

Connect Stripe, Chargebee, or Recurly to track purchases and calculate commissions

Alternatively, use our JavaScript method growsurf.triggerReferral() to trigger referrals on any front-end event. Just provide the email address of the referred customer who completes the action that counts.

growsurf.triggerReferral('[email protected]');

If you are not using Stripe, Chargebee, or Recurly as your billing system, use /POST Record Affiliate Transaction to send each purchase to GrowSurf so it can calculate the commission. Just provide the email address of the referred customer and the transaction details.

curl -X POST 'https://api.growsurf.com/v2/campaign/45hxmj/participant/[email protected]/transaction' \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     -d $'{
         "currency": "USD",
         "grossAmount": 9900,
         "amountCashNet": 7900,
         "invoiceId": "invoice_54",
         "paidAt": 1733702400000,
         "description": "Renewal for Pro subscription"
     }'

To handle refunds/chargebacks, call /POST Refund or Amend Affiliate Transaction .

Finally, pay affiliates. GrowSurf emails affiliates when they earn a payout, and once they qualify, you can send payouts in bulk from the dashboard.

Send bulk payouts with PayPal, or create and fund payout batches with Wise

By setting a minimum payout amount, such as $50, you can reduce PayPal/Wise transaction fees by only paying affiliates once their balance reaches that amount (GrowSurf does not charge any payout processing fees on top of this).

Once an affiliate applies to your program and you approve them, they'll be granted access to their affiliate portal where they can get their link, share it, and see their signups, commissions, and payouts. Here are four simple options.

Affiliates log in to copy their link and check signups, commissions, and payouts. You can also put the hosted page on your own custom domain, such as https://affiliates.yoursite.com.

If your users are your affiliates, let them open their affiliate portal inside your app to copy their link and check signups, commissions, and payouts. Open it from any button in your UI and pass the logged-in user's email so GrowSurf knows whose details to show.

Example button code:

<a class="growsurf-window-open"
   data-grsf-email="[email protected]"
   data-grsf-first-name="Gavin"
   data-grsf-last-name="Belson">

    View my affiliate portal

</a>

If your users are your affiliates, show each affiliate's link, signups, commissions, and payouts directly on your own page. These details can load automatically when the affiliate is logged in.

Referral Link - Show each affiliate's referral link

Example embed code:

<div data-grsf-block-form
   data-grsf-email="[email protected]"
   data-grsf-first-name="Gavin"
   data-grsf-last-name="Belson"
></div>

Invite Form - Let affiliates send email invites from this page

Example embed code:

<div data-grsf-block-invite></div>

Referral Status - Show each affiliate's progress

Example embed code:

<div data-grsf-block-referral-status></div>

You can style these embedded blocks to match your product. See our docs for setup details.

If your users are your affiliates and you have an iOS, Android, or React Native app, use the GrowSurf mobile SDK to show each affiliate their link, referrals, commissions, and payouts in a native window. Open it from any button in your app with presentGrowSurfWindow() and pass a participant token so GrowSurf knows whose details to show.

See how affiliates share their link and check referrals, commissions, and payouts.

Example code:

growsurf.presentGrowSurfWindow(
    from: viewController,
    identity: .existingParticipantToken(participantToken)
)

growsurf.presentGrowSurfWindow(
    activity = this,
    identity = GrowSurfWindowIdentity.ExistingParticipantToken(participantToken)
)

Connect your email tool to add affiliate links to the emails you already send.

Add affiliate links to email campaigns and transactional emails

Sign up for GrowSurf first (no credit card required). Copy the prompt below and paste it into an AI assistant that can browse the web and send requests. Your assistant asks you what you want and prepares a draft affiliate program for you to review.

and other assistants that can browse the web and call APIs

Help me create a GrowSurf referral or affiliate program. Start by reading https://growsurf.com/agent-start.md and follow it as the source of truth. Use your action-capable tools and the GrowSurf REST API to create and configure the program. Before any protected request, I sign up at https://app.growsurf.com/signup and either create an API key or connect GrowSurf to you. If you can speak MCP, connect to https://growsurf.com/.well-known/mcp, which needs no credentials, and use growsurf_program_design_advisor for the design. Consult https://growsurf.com/openapi.json, https://growsurf.com/arazzo.yaml, https://growsurf.com/auth.md, https://growsurf.com/llms.txt, and the linked GrowSurf docs when useful.

Ask me for my website first, and whether this is a referral or affiliate program if I have not said. Read the website, then come back with a complete recommended program: what counts as a referral, the reward structure, who gets rewarded, and where people share. Ask me what I want to change instead of interviewing me setting by setting. Do not pick a reward amount or commission rate yourself. Ask what a converted customer is worth to me, and leave rewards switched off until I confirm the amount and how it gets paid. Pause for me to verify my email before protected API requests. Treat my API key as a secret: keep it in your secret store, and keep it out of chat, logs, screenshots, source files, and shell history. Do not ask me to paste it into chat.

Create and configure the program as DRAFT. Read back the saved resources and summarize what is ready for review. Do not launch or resume the program, add payment details, accept charges, enable or fulfill rewards or commissions, initiate payouts, rotate keys, delete data, or edit or deploy my website or app without separate explicit approval.

If you already have a signed-in GrowSurf connection, with tools such as growsurf_create_campaign, use it. Otherwise, check two things before you ask me anything. If you cannot fetch the linked resources or send HTTPS requests to api.growsurf.com, reply with only this: "I can't send requests to GrowSurf from here, so I can't set up your GrowSurf program. Sign up at https://app.growsurf.com/signup (no credit card required), connect GrowSurf to me in Settings → AI Connections at https://app.growsurf.com/settings#ai-connections, then paste this prompt again." If you can send requests but have no secret store that keeps the API key between turns, reply with only this: "I can send requests to GrowSurf, but I can't keep your GrowSurf API key safe between messages, so I won't set up your program here. Sign up at https://app.growsurf.com/signup (no credit card required), connect GrowSurf to me in Settings → AI Connections at https://app.growsurf.com/settings#ai-connections, then paste this prompt again." A code sandbox in a chat app, such as the Claude or ChatGPT apps, is not a secret store. In either case, do not create the program, do not offer to generate cURL or scripts, and do not plan the program. Never claim that you executed the workflow.

See how AI builds your program

Your assistant asks for your website, reads it, and recommends a complete affiliate program. Tell it what to change and how much the commission should be. It prepares the draft once you confirm the plan.

AI agent workspace

Help me create a GrowSurf referral or affiliate program. Start by reading https://growsurf.com/agent-start.md and follow it as the source of truth.

Your draft affiliate program is ready for review.

Built an affiliate program from a program template
Set a 20% commission for each referred subscription
Saved the program as a draft for approval

Here's what your affiliates will see:

Earn 20% commission

Share your link. When a referred customer subscribes, you earn commission.

yourbrand.com/r/jordan-t

Your program is saved as a draft — nothing reaches your affiliates until you approve it. Your assistant can help with installation too: open the Installation step in your dashboard, hit Copy for AI, and paste it into your assistant or send it to your dev team.

app.growsurf.com

Last step: connect GrowSurf to your product.

Three things. Install the code, connect the payment processor that bills your customers, and pick how affiliates get paid.

Copy for AI Copies these steps as a markdown prompt. Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or Antigravity and it walks through the install. Copied — paste it into your assistant

1Install the GrowSurf Universal CodeOne script on your site
2Connect your payment processorPayments, refunds, and chargebacks
3Pay your affiliatesPick how payouts get sent

Before you launch Partner Portal Test a referral Recommended launch check

AI agent workspace

# GrowSurf Affiliate program installation guide for AI. Use this markdown as the source of truth when helping me install this GrowSurf program. If you have access to my codebase, make the code changes for me instead of telling me to do them myself…

Added the GrowSurf script to your site
Connected your payment processor so commissions calculate
Embedded the Partner Portal in your account page

Prefer to write the code yourself? See the four installation steps under Do it yourself →

After Launch

From affiliate conversion
to payout

You recruit your own affiliates and set the commission terms before you invite them: what counts as a sale, the rate, the waiting period, and the payout minimum. Once your program is live, here is what happens from the moment an affiliate brings in a sale to the moment they are paid.

Step 1
An affiliate brings in a sale
When someone clicks an affiliate's link and becomes a paying customer, GrowSurf credits that sale to the affiliate as it lands, not on a schedule you run.
Step 2
The affiliate earns a commission
Your terms decide the amount: a flat fee or a percentage, plus renewals and repeat payments if you set it up that way. The commission lands in the affiliate's balance straight away. Nothing is paid out yet.
Step 3
Refunds settle during the waiting period
A new commission is not ready to pay. It sits through the waiting period you set, the window where refunds and chargebacks can still land. A refund inside that window takes it back off the balance. When the waiting period ends, the commissions that remain are approved.
Step 4
You pay everyone who is due
An affiliate becomes due once their approved balance clears the minimum you set. Your dashboard lists everyone who qualifies, and one action pays them all through PayPal or Wise, with a record of every payout. Pay US customers and affiliates with Venmo through PayPal.
Step 5
Affiliates watch their earnings
Affiliates see every commission, whether its waiting period has ended, and every payout you have sent. They enter their own payment details, so you never chase anyone for a PayPal address before you can pay them.

Notes and related links

Customer referrals and affiliate programs are different program types. A referral program rewards existing customers with one-off rewards when a referral qualifies. An affiliate program pays recruited partners recurring commissions on the sales they bring in. Each is set up as its own program with its own pricing: referral programs are priced by the people who receive a referral link or sign up through one, and affiliate programs charge a percentage of referral revenue.
Decide who gets credit. If more than one channel can claim a sale, decide which program gets credit and set up your integration to match.

Read the full guide, Affiliate Program Workflow, for setup instructions, the commission and payout webhooks, and checks before launch. Or start with the affiliate software overview.

"GrowSurf manages everything to do with our referral program from A to Z — our tech team had to merely paste a small piece of code into our app, everything else was easily set up by marketing. The savings from that alone makes the decision to go with a 3rd party (instead of building things ourselves) well worth it."

Alex Klein

Co-Founder at Ubindi

"We wanted a cost-savvy solution that could be managed and changed easily without the help of IT/devs. GrowSurf provided us exactly what our business needed! They saved me and our development team valuable time by providing an easy-to-use solution of building an internal system, with minimal coding. With GrowSurf's support, I was able to set up the entire program within a day."

Gabriella Di Fazio

Marketing Manager at SurveyMonkey

Launch your affiliate programin an afternoon

Last step: connect GrowSurf to your product.

From affiliate conversionto payout

An affiliate brings in a sale

The affiliate earns a commission

Refunds settle during the waiting period

You pay everyone who is due

Affiliates watch their earnings

Alex Klein

Gabriella Di Fazio

Turn word of mouth into steady growthfrom your customers

Built for lean teams,scaled for category leaders

$100 for 30 minutesof your time

View GrowSurfCustomer Examples

Launch your affiliate program
in an afternoon

From affiliate conversion
to payout

Turn word of mouth into steady growth
from your customers

Built for lean teams,
scaled for category leaders

$100 for 30 minutes
of your time

View GrowSurf
Customer Examples