Roster vs Awin: Affiliate Network or Your Own Program?
Last updated August 2026
Awin is an affiliate network. You pay for access to its publisher base, and Awin takes a percentage of every partner-driven sale on top of the commission you pay the partner.
Roster is software for running your own program with people who already know your brand. The real question isn’t which is better. It’s whether you’re buying reach you don’t have, or activating an audience you already own.
Two different purchases
What you’re actually buying
An affiliate network sells you access. Awin’s publisher base includes most major price-comparison sites, cashback platforms, voucher aggregators, and content publishers, particularly in the UK, DACH, and Nordic markets. If you have no publisher relationships, that supply is genuinely hard to build yourself. Estimates for building a comparable base from zero run six to twelve months and tens of thousands in recruitment spend.
Roster sells you the machinery to run a program with people who already bought from you. No publisher supply, because that isn’t the problem it solves.
The fee structure is the thing to model
Awin publishes a 3.5% tracking fee on transaction value. On a $100 sale with 6% partner commission, the partner gets $6 and Awin gets $3.50. Awin Access also carries a setup fee, and larger managed programs are widely reported at 25 to 30 percent override on publisher commissions plus a monthly minimum.
Roster charges a flat subscription and takes no percentage of your sales.
Who owns the relationship
This is the part the ShareASale shutdown made concrete for a lot of brands. On a network, the network owns the publisher relationship and the data sits behind the network layer. When the network changes, your program changes with it and you don’t get a vote.
In an owned program the relationship is direct, the first-party data is yours, and no third-party platform decision can take it away.
Cost compared
| Roster | Awin | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Flat subscription | Subscription + percentage of partner sales |
| Percentage of your revenue | ZERO | 3.5% tracking fee on transaction value |
| Setup fee | None | Yes, on Awin Access |
| Added tracking fee per month, at 3.5% | ||
| At $50K partner revenue | $0 | + $1,750 |
| At $100K partner revenue | $0 | + $3,500 |
| At $250K partner revenue | $0 | + $8,750 |
| Ownership | ||
| Publisher / advocate relationship | Direct with your brand | Held by the network |
| Publisher contact data | Yours | Gated behind the network layer |
Awin tracking fee per awin.com’s published advertiser pricing page, verified August 2026. Managed-tier override rates and setup fees are not publicly published and are widely reported rather than official; confirm directly with Awin.
Feature comparison
| Roster | Awin | |
|---|---|---|
| Ambassador management | ||
| Unlimited ambassadors and affiliates | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multiple program types in one account | ✓ | — |
| Custom recruitment forms | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ambassador portal | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bulk and one-off messaging | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automated email messaging | ✓ | ✓ |
| Tracking | ||
| Referral link tracking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Discount code tracking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Recurring order tracking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom UTM parameters | ✓ | ✓ |
| Commissions and rewards | ||
| Flat rate commissions | ✓ | ✓ |
| Percentage of sale commissions | ✓ | ✓ |
| Tiered commissions | ✓ | ✓ |
| Manual commissions | ✓ | ✓ |
| Point-based rewards | ✓ | — |
| Automated commission approvals | ✓ | ✓ |
| PayPal payouts | ✓ | — |
| Venmo payouts | ✓ | — |
| Store credit and custom payouts | ✓ | — |
| Dashboards and reports | ||
| Brand performance dashboards | ✓ | ✓ |
| Program-level dashboards | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sales attribution reporting | ✓ | ✓ |
| Social listening and UGC dashboard | ✓ | — |
| Social campaign reporting | ✓ | — |
| Social listening and UGC | ||
| Instagram campaigns | ✓ | — |
| TikTok campaigns | ✓ | — |
| Facebook campaigns | ✓ | — |
| X (Twitter) campaigns | ✓ | — |
| UGC campaigns | ✓ | — |
| Public hashtag campaigns | ✓ | — |
| UGC rights and content management | ✓ | — |
| Ambassador engagement | ||
| Automated milestone journeys | ✓ | — |
| Automated product seeding | ✓ | — |
| Personal discount codes | ✓ | — |
| 55+ action templates | ✓ | — |
| Private community | ||
| Unlimited community channels | ✓ | — |
| Auto-syncing program channels | ✓ | — |
| Invite-only channels | ✓ | — |
| Text and image-based posts | ✓ | — |
| Community member profiles | ✓ | — |
| Platforms and integrations | ||
| Shopify integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| BigCommerce integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| WooCommerce integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| Klaviyo integration | ✓ | — |
| Zapier integration | ✓ | — |
| REST API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Model and access | ||
| Creator or publisher discovery marketplace | — | ✓ |
| Non-ecommerce programs (SaaS, lead generation) | — | ✓ |
| Free or freemium tier | — | — |
Feature comparison last verified August 2026 against Awin’s published advertiser pricing page and help centre. Comparison based on publicly available information. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Awin may have shipped changes since. Spot an error? Email [address].
Where Awin is the better choice
If you have no publisher relationships and need reach you cannot build yourself, a network is the correct tool and Roster is not a substitute for one. Awin’s publisher base is the largest in the UK and among the strongest in Europe, tracking is server-to-server and reliable, and most established affiliates already have an Awin account, so recruitment friction is low.
A new ecommerce brand launching with no affiliate base should start on a network rather than trying to build one. The override fee is, in effect, the cost of outsourcing publisher recruitment.
The calculus changes when a meaningful share of your partner revenue starts coming from people who were already your customers. At that point you’re paying network fees to reach an audience you already own.
Wondering how much of your partner revenue comes from existing customers?
Get a demoIf you were migrated from ShareASale
Awin completed the ShareASale migration in August 2025 and closed ShareASale on 6 October 2025, moving more than 9,500 advertisers and 250,000 publishers. A lot of merchants landed on Awin without choosing it.
Four questions worth asking before you settle:
- Are the publishers driving your sales the same ones you had on ShareASale, or did your mix change in the migration?
- How much of your revenue comes from coupon and loyalty sites versus content publishers? That ratio usually decides whether a network is earning its fee.
- What share of your partner-driven orders come from people who were already your customers?
- What would it cost to build the same volume through your own customers over twelve months?
Running both
This is not an either-or for most brands, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. A common setup is a network for publisher reach and an owned program for the customer base, with one system designated as the source of truth for attribution so sales aren’t double-counted.
Frequently asked questions
Is Roster a replacement for an affiliate network?
No. A network gives you access to publishers you don’t have a relationship with. Roster is software for running your own program with people who already know your brand. If publisher-driven volume is your program’s engine, you need a network.
How much does Awin charge?
Awin’s published advertiser pricing lists a 3.5% tracking fee on transaction value, plus a setup fee on Awin Access. Managed-tier override rates are not publicly published; confirm directly with Awin.
Can I run Roster and Awin at the same time?
Yes, and many brands do. Use one system as the source of truth for attribution.
What happened to ShareASale?
Awin migrated all active ShareASale advertisers and publishers to the Awin platform in August 2025, and ShareASale closed on 6 October 2025.
How Roster works
- Turn customers into ambassadors with recruitment forms and automated onboarding
- Automated product seeding so gifting isn’t a manual fulfillment task
- UGC capture and licensing so you own the rights to what your advocates create
- Milestones and points to keep advocates engaged past month three
- Referral tracking and payouts across links, codes, and PayPal
- See the full feature set or read a case study
Own the half of your program you’re renting
Keep the network for reach. Build the customer side yourself, with no percentage taken and the first-party data staying with you.
Get a demo See how Roster works with your Shopify store, your customers, and your existing program.Comparison based on publicly available information as of August 2026. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Competitor pricing is subject to change, so verify directly with the vendor.