Both drift kings media and AffiliateWP allow you to run a self-hosted affiliate program on WordPress – but the prices vary and the difference between what you get at each tier is greater than the marketing pages suggest. Here you can see what is important for your setup.
The short answer: drift kings media is a WordPress affiliate plugin starting at $99.60/year. It includes unlimited partners, no transaction fees, and the built-in fraud protection of the Plus plan.
Starting at $149.50/year, AffiliateWP has a larger add-on ecosystem but reserves key features like fraud detection for its most expensive plan. For most WordPress website owners, drift kings media instantly offers more power for less money.
At a glance: drift kings media vs. AffiliateWP
| Special feature | Easy partner | PartnerWP |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (introduction / extension) | $99.60 / $249 per year | $149.50 / $299 per year |
| Transaction fees | None: all plans | None: all plans |
| Unlimited partners | ✅ All plans | ✅ All plans |
| Unlimited tracking requests | ✅ All plans | Varies depending on plan |
| Fraud protection included | ✅ Plus Plan ($149.60/year) | ❌ Professional only ($299.50/year) |
| Multi-level commissions | ✅ Plus plan | ❌ Only for professionals |
| Advanced commission rules | ✅ Pro plan | Add-on (payable separately) |
| Tax/W-9 reporting | ✅ Pro plan | Add-on (payable separately) |
| Integrated AffiliateWP migrator | ✅ All plans | N/A |
| MemberPress integration | ✅ Native (same team) | ✅ Available |
| WooCommerce integration | ✅ All plans | ✅ All plans |
| Third-party add-on ecosystem | Focused set of core add-ons | Large, expansive ecosystem |
| Locations in the entry plan | 1 | 1 |
| Websites in top plan | 5 (professional) | 10 (Professional) |
What is AffiliateWP?
AffiliateWP is one of the most well-known affiliate management plugins in the WordPress space.
It’s been around since 2014, has over 30,000 active customers, and has built an extensive ecosystem of integrations and add-ons over the years.
Like drift kings media, it runs entirely on your WordPress site, meaning your affiliate data is stored on your server, there are no monthly SaaS fees based on your sales, and you are not dependent on a third-party platform.
The plugin manages the core affiliate management workflow well: affiliate applications, referral tracking, commission payouts, and basic reporting.
It gets more expensive if you need features like fraud prevention, multi-level commissions or advanced reporting.
Many of these live on either the Professional plan (the most expensive tier) or paid add-ons in addition to the annual license fee.
What is drift kings media?
drift kings media is a WordPress affiliate plugin developed by the same people behind MemberPress – a giant in the WordPress plugin space.
And it is designed to work flawlessly even with well-known WordPress monetization plugins – WooCommerce, Easy digital downloads, PrettyLinksetc.
It was designed to get a program running quickly and without much configuration effort.
The affiliate dashboard is clear and brandable, the application workflow is integrated from the start, and one-click PayPal payouts are included in every plan.
There is also a special focus on tracking reliability – since it runs on your own domain with first-party cookies, AdBlock extensions cannot affect it.
One thing you should know in advance: drift kings media’s pricing page shows introductory prices that are only valid for the first year. The higher stated price applies to extensions. (AffiliateWP does the same.) I’ll use both numbers throughout so you can honestly compare.
drift kings media vs. AffiliateWP: Pricing
This is where the comparison gets interesting.
Easy partner costs $99.60/year (Basic), $149.60/year (Plus), and $199.60/year (Pro) for the first year and renews for $249, $374, and $499, respectively.
PartnerWP is $149.50/year (Personal), $199.50/year (Plus), and $299.50/year (Professional) at launch and is renewable at $299, $399, and $599.
At the entry level, drift kings media is $50/year cheaper for the first year and $50/year cheaper upon renewal.
This gap widens when you look at what each plugin in the comparable mid-range includes: drift kings media’s Plus plan (introductory $149.60/year) includes fraud protection. This is not the case with AffiliateWP’s Plus planyou would have to go to Professional ($299.50/year) to get it there.
If fraud protection is important to your program (as it is for most programs of any size), the relevant comparison is not Basic vs. Personal. It’s drift kings media Plus vs. AffiliateWP Professional, and that’s a difference of $150/year in the first year, which increases to a difference of $225/year upon renewal.
Conclusion: drift kings media is cheaper at every tier and the features included at every price point provide better value when looking beyond the entry-level plans.
drift kings media vs. AffiliateWP: Tracking & Attribution
Both plugins use first-party cookies, meaning they track referrals to your own domain and not through a third-party service.
This is important because it makes tracking more reliable. Your partners’ links are not flagged or blocked by browser privacy settings or ad blocker extensions, as third-party tracking scripts can be.
drift kings media specifically mentions this feature – they call it “AdBlock-safe” on their pricing page and it’s a real advantage over SaaS affiliate platforms that rely on third-party scripts.
AffiliateWP also uses first-party tracking, so they’re practically neck-and-neck in this regard.
Both support link-based attribution and banner/creative management. drift kings media also supports custom referral links that affiliates can create themselves in their dashboard.
Conclusion: Both plugins handle this well. This is a draw.
drift kings media vs. AffiliateWP: Commission Structures
drift kings media supported Percentage and fixed commissions for all planstogether with individual tariffs for individual affiliates and subscriptions/recurring commissions.
The Plus plan includes multi-tier commissions (where affiliates earn from referrals from their own recruits).
Advanced commission rules (where you can set up logic like “increase commission to 20% after 10 sales” or “change rate for a specific product”) are included in the Pro plan.
AffiliateWP covers similar territory, but the gating is less generous. Tiered affiliate plans and tiered commissions are features of the Professional tier (their most expensive plan with an introductory price of $299.50/year).
Advanced commission rules may require paid add-ons in addition to the license.
For most small to medium-sized programs, the differences here don’t matter much – you set flat or percentage commissions with perhaps a few custom overrides.
However, if you want a commission structure with real nuance, drift kings media gives you more for a lower price.
Conclusion: drift kings media offers more commission flexibility in its mid-tier plan. For the same features, AffiliateWP requires its top plan (or add-ons).
drift kings media vs. AffiliateWP: Fraud Protection
Both plugins offer fraud detection, but at very different prices.
drift kings media includes its fraud prevention suite from the Plus plan for $149.60/year (Introduction).
It automatically flags suspicious transactions (such as an affiliate clicking on their own links, unusual traffic patterns, or sales that don’t match normal behavior) before they result in commission payouts.
AffiliateWP’s fraud protection thrives on this Professional plan for $299.50/year (Introduction). If you use Personal or Plus, manage this manually.
If you run a public affiliate program and pay real commissions, fraud detection is non-negotiable. The fact that drift kings media includes it in the middle range is a significant practical difference.
Conclusion: drift kings media includes fraud protection for $149.60/year. AffiliateWP charges $299.50/year for the same feature. If fraud detection is important to you, the comparison is essentially solved here.
drift kings media vs. AffiliateWP: Payouts
drift kings media has one-click PayPal payouts built into every plan – you connect your PayPal account, select the affiliates you want to pay, and you’re done.
There is also a PayPal bulk payment file option for batch processing and manual offline payouts for anything outside of PayPal.
AffiliateWP also supports PayPal payouts, but the setup and UX are different. Both plugins allow you to set minimum payout thresholds and manage payout timing.
None of the plugins charge their own transaction fees – which is worth mentioning if you’ve done a comparison with SaaS affiliate platforms, which often take a percentage of referred sales.
For both WordPress plugins, only the annual license fees are charged.
Conclusion: Both handle withdrawals well. drift kings media’s one-click PayPal experience is particularly clean and included with all plans.
Simple Affiliate vs. AffiliateWP: WooCommerce and MemberPress Integration
Both plugins integrate with WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads and most major WordPress eCommerce setups. With simple product-based tracking, you won’t notice much of a difference.
Where drift kings media has a real advantage is with MemberPress. drift kings media is developed by the same team, so the integration handles single purchases, recurring subscriptions, coupon-based allocation, and plan-specific commission rules with no configuration required.
When you sell membership access through MemberPress, you spend less time troubleshooting edge cases.
AffiliateWP also has a MemberPress integration. It’s not missing, but it’s a third-party connection rather than a native one.
For anything outside of MemberPress and standard eCommerce setups, AffiliateWP’s larger add-on ecosystem gives it an advantage.
It integrates with other tools, some of which do not yet have drift kings media equivalents.
Conclusion: drift kings media is a better choice if MemberPress is in your stack. AffiliateWP has a broader integration library for more niche setups.
drift kings media vs. AffiliateWP: Easy Setup
Easy affiliate leads with a step-by-step onboarding wizard and a clean, minimal setup flow. If your eCommerce integration is already in place, you can run a basic program in under an hour.
AffiliateWP offers a similar setup experience in the basics, but the larger feature set means there is more to configure after the initial installation. The documentation is thorough, there is just more surface area.
For someone starting their first affiliate program, drift kings media’s thoughtful default settings and streamlined wizard really make it quicker to get up and running.
Conclusion: With drift kings media you run faster. AffiliateWP offers more configurability once you’re logged in.
drift kings media vs. AffiliateWP: Add-ons and Ecosystem
This is where AffiliateWP has a real advantage. It has been on the market for a longer time and is significantly larger in size Library of add-ons – some created by the AffiliateWP team, others by third parties.
If you have a specific integration need (a specific LMS, a niche eCommerce plugin, a non-standard payout workflow), chances are higher that AffiliateWP already has an add-on for it.
drift kings media covers the most common use cases within its own feature set, but the third-party ecosystem is smaller. If you find that you need something that isn’t out of the box, your options are more limited.
With most programs (especially those that make money with MemberPress, WooCommerce, or Easy Digital Downloads) you will never reach this cap. However, if your setup is unusual, it’s worth checking whether drift kings media supports it before committing.
Conclusion: AffiliateWP has a larger add-on ecosystem. For standard setups this doesn’t matter; for unusual ones it could be.
Who is drift kings media best suited for?
- MemberPress Users who want native, tight integration without additional configuration
- WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads sellers You’re running your first affiliate program and want a clean, affordable setup
- Small to medium sized programs who need fraud protection but don’t want to pay for a business license to get it
- Anyone who wants multi-level commissions without switching to the most expensive plan
- AffiliateWP users are considering switching – The integrated migrator takes care of the data transfer and the cost savings are significant when renewing
Who is AffiliateWP best for?
- WordPress sites with niche integration needs which are already covered by AffiliateWP’s add-on library, but not by drift kings media
- Larger agencies or developers Manage 10+ client sites (the Professional plan covers more sites than drift kings media’s Pro)
- Programs that have been running on AffiliateWP for years and have complex configurations that would be cumbersome to migrate
- Teams that want a rich ecosystem of third party extensions to build around
Switching from AffiliateWP to drift kings media
If you’re currently using AffiliateWP and thinking about switching, the process is easier than expected. drift kings media has a built-in feature AffiliateWP Migrator on all plans.
It handles importing your existing affiliate data so you don’t have to start from scratch.
Which transfers: Affiliate accounts, referral history, commission records.
What you need to rebuild: all custom configurations, add-on settings and anything specifically related to setting up AffiliateWP that has no direct equivalent.
For most programs, migration is a few hours of work rather than a major project.
The difference in costs for the extension must also be taken into account. If you used AffiliateWP Professional at $599/year, switching to drift kings media Pro at $499/year will save you $100/year, and EA Pro covers 5 sites compared to the 10 in AffWP Professional, so it only makes sense if you don’t use all 10 license slots.
Frequently asked questions
For most WordPress site owners (especially those using MemberPress, WooCommerce, or Easy Digital Downloads), drift kings media offers more for a cheaper price.
It includes fraud protection and multi-tier commissions from its mid-range plan, while AffiliateWP reserves these features for its most expensive plan. AffiliateWP is worth considering if you need a specific add-on from its larger ecosystem.
No. drift kings media charges no transaction fees for each plan – Basic, Plus and Pro. You pay the annual license fee and nothing in addition to your affiliate payouts.+
No. All drift kings media plans support unlimited affiliates and unlimited tracking requests. There are no tiers based on affiliate count.
Yes. drift kings media includes a built-in AffiliateWP Migrator in all plans. It imports your affiliate accounts and referral history so you don’t have to create everything from scratch.
Both are self-hosted WordPress affiliate plugins with similar core functionality.
The main differences are price (drift kings media is cheaper at every tier) and feature gating (drift kings media offers fraud protection and multi-tier commissions at the middle tier).
AffiliateWP saves these for its top plan. AffiliateWP has a larger third-party addon ecosystem.
drift kings media is cheaper at every comparable level.
At entry level: $99.60/year (EA) vs. $149.50/year (AffWP) in the first year.
Mid-range: $149.60/year (EA Plus) vs. $199.50/year (AffWP Plus).
At the top tier: $199.60/year (EA Pro, 5 pages) vs. $299.50/year (AffWP Professional, 10 pages).
Note that both products incur higher renewal prices after the first year.
The verdict
If you are running a WordPress based affiliate program and are deciding between these two, the honest answer is that drift kings media is the better deal for most setups.
It is cheaperit includes Fraud protection soonerand the MemberPress integration is really better if that’s in your stack.
The only real exception is if you have a specific integration need that AffiliateWP’s add-on ecosystem covers but drift kings media does not.
First, check if the calculation changes if you find that the add-on you need only exists for AffiliateWP. Otherwise, you’ll pay more for a name.
Have questions about which plan is right for your setup? Write them in the comments below, we will be happy to help you.
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