Dub.co vs. FirstPromoter: What’s the Right Affiliate Platform for SaaS

Affiliate programs tend to start small.

A handful of partners, a few tracked referrals, and a spreadsheet that mostly makes sense. At that stage, almost any affiliate tool will do the job. The real differences only start to matter once affiliates become a meaningful growth channel rather than an experiment.

That’s where the comparison between Dub.co and FirstPromoter becomes relevant. Both are popular with SaaS companies. Both integrate with subscription billing. And both promise to make affiliate management easier.

They just approach the problem from very different angles.

What Is Dub.co?

Dub.co is a modern link attribution platform built around the idea that links are the start of revenue, not the end of analytics.

Everything in Dub begins with a link. From there, the platform tracks what actually happens after the click — signups, conversions, upgrades, and sales — and ties those outcomes back to the original source.

Affiliate and referral functionality lives inside Dub as Dub Partners, which is not a separate product. It’s a layer within the broader Dub platform that extends link tracking into partner management, payouts, and attribution.

The result is a system designed for teams that want to understand why revenue happens, not just who referred it.

What Is FirstPromoter?

FirstPromoter is an affiliate and referral marketing platform built specifically for subscription-based businesses and SaaS companies.

It focuses on helping teams launch, manage, and scale affiliate programs without heavy setup or custom development. The platform integrates closely with billing tools like Stripe, Paddle, and Recurly, making it well-suited for recurring revenue models.

Over the years, FirstPromoter has evolved from a basic referral tool into a more complete affiliate platform, with stronger automation, reporting, and a redesigned interface aimed at growing programs.

Where Dub is attribution-first, FirstPromoter is affiliate-operations-first.

Let’s Compare Dub and First Promoter

Attribution vs. Affiliate Management

At a high level, this is the most important distinction.

Dub.co is built around attribution. Affiliates are one part of a larger system that tracks how links perform across channels, campaigns, and users. Partner programs benefit from that infrastructure, but they aren’t the only focus.

FirstPromoter is built specifically to run affiliate and referral programs. Everything — from dashboards to emails to commissions — is optimized around managing promoters and their earnings.

Neither approach is inherently better. They simply serve different priorities.

Tracking and Analytics Depth

FirstPromoter offers solid analytics out of the box. It tracks clicks, conversions, recurring payments, upgrades, downgrades, and churn. For many SaaS teams, that visibility is enough to run a healthy affiliate program.

The dashboard is intuitive, and there’s very little friction when getting started. You can see who your top promoters are, how much revenue they generate, and what commissions are owed.

Dub Partners goes deeper.

Because it’s built on top of Dub’s link analytics system, affiliate data is just one slice of a much larger attribution picture. You can analyze partners by traffic source, geography, device, and event type, and even watch conversion events stream in real time.

Dub also relies on server-side tracking, which reduces duplicate events and attribution errors — a common issue in larger programs where accuracy directly affects payouts and trust.

Payouts

Payouts are often where affiliate tools start to feel painful as programs scale.

FirstPromoter supports automated payouts through PayPal, using a one-click bulk payout system. This works well for many teams, especially those already operating in PayPal’s ecosystem. However, it’s still tied to external payment flows and doesn’t eliminate all operational overhead.

Dub Partners handles payouts natively through Stripe Express, with PayPal support where needed. Once payouts are configured, the process is largely hands-off. There’s no CSV exporting, no manual reconciliation, and fewer failure cases to manage.

Tax Handling

Tax handling is another quiet but important difference.

FirstPromoter does not provide built-in tax compliance. Teams typically rely on third-party services to collect forms and prepare tax documents as their affiliate base grows.

Dub Partners automates U.S. tax compliance directly, handling W-9s, W-8s, and 1099-NEC preparation. This doesn’t matter much at the start — but it matters a lot once affiliates generate meaningful income.

Reward Structures and Incentives

FirstPromoter offers flexible commission setups: one-time rewards, recurring percentages, fixed payouts, and even multi-tier structures. For most affiliate programs, this covers the basics well.

Dub Partners expands the model further.

Affiliates can be rewarded not just for sales, but for clicks and leads. Rewards can change based on conditions like location or performance, and commissions can be time-limited or lifetime-based.

Dub also introduces bounties — bonus rewards tied to milestones or content creation. These aren’t required to run a program, but they offer another lever for activating high-performing partners beyond passive link sharing.

Partner Experience and White Labeling

FirstPromoter allows extensive customization of the affiliate portal, including branding, assets, and messaging. Teams can even embed the affiliate dashboard into their product, though deeper customization may require more setup and familiarity with the platform.

Dub Partners focuses on reducing friction for both sides.

Affiliates don’t need to manage multiple logins across programs, and payouts happen automatically without withdrawal fees in most cases. From the company side, white-labeled partner dashboards can be embedded quickly using pre-built components rather than custom development.

For power affiliates working with many SaaS tools, that unified experience can influence which programs they prioritize.

When Should You Use Them?

Final Thoughts

Dub.co and FirstPromoter are both strong tools — but they solve different problems.

FirstPromoter is an excellent choice for SaaS teams that want to launch and manage an affiliate program quickly, with minimal friction and clear subscription-friendly features.

Dub.co, through Dub Partners, is better suited for teams that see affiliates as part of a broader attribution and growth strategy, and want infrastructure that scales with complexity rather than fighting it.

The bottom line is: FirstPromoter is great for simplicity. Dub.co is amazing for scaling.