Compare · FirstPromoter and Tolt

FirstPromoter vs Tolt: pricing, revenue caps, and which SaaS affiliate software fits your program

These two come up together because they are the same shape of product at nearly the same price: affiliate tracking that plugs into your billing system, gives partners a branded portal and a referral link, and handles the payouts. Both publish real numbers, both offer a 14-day trial with no credit card, and both are built for SaaS rather than ecommerce. FirstPromoter has been at it since 2016; Tolt is the newer entrant aimed squarely at startups.

The pricing looks similar until you read what each dollar buys. Both gate their plans on monthly revenue earned through affiliates, but Tolt's ceilings are higher at every comparable price: its $69 entry plan covers $10,000 a month where FirstPromoter's $49 plan covers $5,000, and at an identical $99 Tolt covers $20,000 against FirstPromoter's $15,000. FirstPromoter is the cheaper way in; Tolt is the cheaper way up. After that it comes down to two practical constraints, US tax paperwork and which billing system you run.

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Choose FirstPromoter if you bill through Chargebee, want the lowest entry price, or need SSO and granular roles on a larger team. Choose Tolt if you pay US affiliates and want 1099 filing handled, or if your affiliate revenue will pass $5,000 a month quickly. Choose Partnerships if the real bottleneck is that you do not yet know who your partners should be.

The short answer

What is the difference between FirstPromoter and Tolt?

Both are affiliate tracking tools for SaaS companies, both publish their prices, and both meter you the same way: by how much monthly revenue your affiliates drive, not by how many affiliates you have. FirstPromoter is cheaper to start at $49 a month but that plan only covers $5,000 in monthly affiliate revenue and caps you at 1,000 affiliates. Tolt starts higher at $69 a month and covers $10,000. The two differences that usually decide it are tax and billing. Tolt collects W-9 and W-8 forms and files 1099s for you, which matters if you pay US affiliates. FirstPromoter integrates with Stripe, Chargebee, and Paddle, while Tolt supports only Stripe and Paddle, so a Chargebee-billed company can rule Tolt out in one step.

Last updated August 2026 · pricing re-verified on each vendor's own pricing page

FirstPromoter and Tolt at a glance

FirstPromoter published pricing: $49, $99, and $149+ a month, tiered by affiliate-driven revenue
Tolt published pricing: $69, $99, and $199 a month, tiered by affiliate-driven revenue
US tax filing: Tolt files 1099s. FirstPromoter collects W-9/W-8BEN but does not advertise filing
Billing systems: FirstPromoter: Stripe, Chargebee, Paddle. Tolt: Stripe and Paddle
Tolt auto payouts: 2% processing fee, on Growth and above
What neither one does: Find reseller, integration, or co-marketing partner companies for you
Partnerships pricing: $79/mo flat, published, no cut of partner revenue

Side by side

FirstPromoter and Tolt vs Partnerships, honestly

A fair look at what each does well. Both are capable tools. Here is where they differ.

What matters	Partnerships	FirstPromoter and Tolt
Published pricing	Yes. $79, $199, and $449 a month, on the pricing page	Both publish. FirstPromoter $49/$99/$149+, Tolt $69/$99/$199, each tiered by affiliate-driven revenue
What sets your plan	Feature tier only. Your partner revenue never changes the bill	Monthly revenue earned through affiliates on both. Grow the program and you move up a band
AI partner discovery (finds partners)	Surfaces reseller, affiliate, integration, and co-marketing companies ranked by transparent fit, with reasons	Neither one sources partner companies. Both start after you already know who to recruit
US tax paperwork	Not handled. We are not a payout rail	Tolt collects W-9/W-8 and files 1099s. FirstPromoter collects W-9/W-8BEN but does not advertise filing
Billing systems supported	No billing integration required to find and run partners	FirstPromoter adds Chargebee to Stripe and Paddle. Tolt supports Stripe and Paddle per its own FAQ
Partner motions covered	Referral, reseller, affiliate, integration, and co-marketing on every plan	Affiliate, influencer, and referral on both. No reseller or co-sell motion on either
Deal registration for resellers	Included, with conflict checks against your own pipeline	Neither offers deal registration, account mapping, or co-sell attribution
Payout fees	None. We do not move partner money	Tolt auto payouts carry a 2% processing fee. FirstPromoter publishes no platform fee on its bulk payouts

Comparison reflects general, publicly understood positioning. Capabilities change, so check each product for the latest.

Verified figures

FirstPromoter, Tolt, and Partnerships side by side

Checked against each vendor's own pricing page in August 2026. Where a vendor does not publish a number, this table says so rather than repeating a figure from a third-party listicle.

	FirstPromoter	Tolt	Partnerships
Entry price	$49 a month	$69 a month	$79 a month
What the entry plan covers	Up to $5,000 a month in affiliate revenue	Up to $10,000 a month in affiliate revenue	No revenue cap at any tier
Plan names	Starter, Business, Enterprise	Basic, Growth, Pro, Enterprise	Starter, Growth, Scale, Enterprise
Middle tier	$99 for up to $15,000 a month	$99 for up to $20,000 a month	$199, feature tier only
Top published tier	From $149, above $15,000 a month	$199 for up to $50,000 a month	$449, feature tier only
What sets the plan	Affiliate-driven revenue	Affiliate-driven revenue	Feature tier only
Affiliate limit on entry plan	1,000 affiliates on Starter	Unlimited on every plan	Unlimited
Team members on entry plan	Unlimited	3 on Basic, 5 on Growth, unlimited on Pro	Unlimited
Billing systems supported	Stripe, Chargebee, Paddle	Stripe and Paddle	Not required
Collects W-9 and W-8 forms	Yes	Yes	Not applicable
Files 1099s for you	Not advertised	Yes, from the Growth plan	Not applicable
Auto payout fee	No platform fee published	2% processing fee	Not applicable
Free trial	14 days, no credit card	14 days, no credit card	Self-serve signup
Money-back policy	Not published	30 days, no questions asked	Monthly, cancel anytime
Fraud controls	Self-referral and ad-traffic detection, reCAPTCHA, chargeback tracking	Not detailed on the pricing page	Deal conflict checks
SSO	Yes, on higher tiers	Not published	Enterprise
Finds new partners for you	No	No	Yes. AI discovery with fit scores and reasons

Figures are taken from firstpromoter.com/pricing and tolt.com/pricing in August 2026 and reflect monthly billing. Both vendors offer annual plans at a discount. Confirm any number with the vendor before you budget, because revenue bands in this category change often.

Why teams pick Partnerships

AI prospecting and drafted outreach, with no marketplace tax

The revenue caps cross over faster than the sticker price suggests

FirstPromoter wins the headline at $49 against $69, and for a program in its first months that $20 is real. But the entry plans are not the same size. FirstPromoter Starter stops at $5,000 a month in affiliate-driven revenue and 1,000 affiliates; Tolt Basic stops at $10,000 with no affiliate limit at all. So the moment your program clears $5,000 a month you are on FirstPromoter Business at $99, while Tolt is still charging $69 for another $5,000 of headroom. At $99 the gap widens rather than closes, because Tolt Growth covers $20,000 against FirstPromoter Business at $15,000. Model your affiliate revenue at 12 and 24 months before you pick on entry price. If the program works, you will spend most of its life in the middle band, and that is where Tolt is cheaper per dollar tracked.

If you pay US affiliates, the 1099 question is the whole comparison

Paying affiliates in the United States creates a tax obligation that has nothing to do with tracking links. You need a W-9 from each domestic payee, a W-8BEN from foreign ones, and a 1099-NEC filed for anyone you paid at or above the reporting threshold, which rose from $600 to $2,000 for tax year 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Both products collect the forms. Tolt goes one step further and states plainly that it files the 1099s, from the Growth plan up. FirstPromoter advertises W-9 and W-8BEN collection but does not claim to file on your behalf, which leaves that job with your accountant or your finance team every January. For a program with two hundred US affiliates that is not a rounding error, and it is worth pricing out before you compare anything else. Ask both vendors to confirm in writing, because this is the kind of detail that changes between plan tiers.

Check your billing stack first, then read the feature tables

Both tools read your subscription data directly, which is what makes commissions follow upgrades, downgrades, refunds, and cancellations without manual work. It also means your billing system decides whether the tool is usable at all. FirstPromoter supports Stripe, Chargebee, and Paddle. Tolt is more restrictive: its own FAQ says you can only integrate if your app uses Stripe or Paddle. Worth flagging honestly, Tolt is inconsistent about this on its own site, because a comparison block on the same pricing page claims Chargebee integration while the FAQ below it does not. If you bill through Chargebee, get that confirmed by Tolt directly before you shortlist it. If you bill through anything else, NetSuite, Recurly, or manual invoices, both products are out and you are looking at a different category of tool entirely.

Honest about where each one beats us

If you are a Stripe-billed SaaS that wants an affiliate program live this afternoon, both of these are a better buy than we are for that specific job. Their two-way billing sync is deeper than anything we do with subscription data, FirstPromoter has fraud controls we do not match, and Tolt handles payout rails and tax filing we deliberately stay out of. We are the better answer at a different moment: before the program exists, when nobody has decided which companies should be promoting you. Our AI surfaces reseller, integration, affiliate, and co-marketing candidates with a fit score and the reasoning behind it, drafts the outreach for a human to approve, and runs reseller motions like deal registration that neither of these products attempts. Plenty of teams end up running one of them alongside us.

Good questions

FirstPromoter and Tolt vs Partnerships, answered

For a program that pays US affiliates or expects to pass $5,000 a month in affiliate revenue, usually yes. Tolt files 1099s, puts no cap on affiliate count, and gives more revenue headroom at every price. FirstPromoter is better if you bill through Chargebee, want the cheapest entry at $49, or need SSO, custom roles, and its fraud detection on a bigger team.

Tolt publishes four plans. Basic is $69 a month for up to $10,000 in monthly affiliate-earned revenue with manual payouts. Growth is $99 for up to $20,000 and adds auto payouts, invoices, and 1099 filing. Pro is $199 for up to $50,000 with unlimited programs and team members. Enterprise is quoted above $50,000 a month. All plans include a 14-day trial with no credit card.

FirstPromoter publishes three plans. Starter is $49 a month for up to $5,000 in monthly affiliate revenue, capped at 1,000 affiliates and 3 campaigns. Business is $99 for up to $15,000 with unlimited affiliates and campaigns. Enterprise starts at $149 above $15,000 a month, with further tiers available. Every plan has a 14-day free trial and needs no credit card.

Its own FAQ says no. Tolt states that you can currently integrate only if your SaaS or app uses Stripe or Paddle. A comparison block higher up the same pricing page does claim Chargebee integration, so the site contradicts itself. If Chargebee is your billing system, ask Tolt to confirm before you shortlist it. FirstPromoter lists Chargebee alongside Stripe and Paddle without that ambiguity.

Tolt does, from the Growth plan up, and it also collects W-9 and W-8 forms. FirstPromoter collects W-9 and W-8BEN forms but does not advertise filing 1099s on your behalf. For tax year 2026 the reporting threshold rose from $600 to $2,000, so you owe a 1099-NEC for each US affiliate you paid at least that much. The difference is real administrative work rather than a feature-list detail.

Neither takes a commission on the revenue your affiliates drive. Both instead gate the subscription tier by that revenue, so cost still tracks program success in steps rather than as a smooth percentage. Tolt does charge a 2% processing fee on automated payouts, which is a fee on money moved rather than revenue earned. FirstPromoter publishes no platform fee on its bulk PayPal and Wise payouts.

FirstPromoter, while your affiliate revenue stays under $5,000 a month. At $49 against $69 it is the cheapest credible entry point of the two. Past $5,000 the answer flips: FirstPromoter moves you to $99 while Tolt keeps you at $69 until $10,000, and at $99 Tolt covers a third more revenue than FirstPromoter does.

No. Both are affiliate, influencer, and referral platforms built around a tracked link and a billing integration. Neither offers deal registration, partner tiering with co-sell attribution, or account mapping, which are the mechanics a B2B channel program runs on. If a reseller asks how to register a deal so your reps do not collide with them, neither product has an answer.

Neither does. Both assume you already know who should promote your product and give you the infrastructure to track and pay them once they sign up. Recruiting is left to you. That is the gap most SaaS affiliate programs actually stall on, because a tracking link earns nothing until somebody with an audience agrees to use it.

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Describe your product, get partners ranked by fit, approve the outreach, and track the revenue they drive. Flat pricing, no marketplace tax, your relationships stay yours.

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Ranked by transparent fit · you approve every outreach · full lifecycle in one place · no marketplace tax