11 Best VPN Affiliate Programs For Secure … – Authority Hacker
Virtual Private Networks have been around for a long time but were really only popular with computer geeks. Or that was the case up until June 2013. Because that’s when Edward Snowden exposed that governments everywhere were snooping on their citizens’ private data. The bureaucratic idiocy of GDPR then added the issue of “Balkanizing” the Internet to the mix. And let’s not forget streaming services offering limited content in certain countries…but still charging full price for that. Together these events created a perfect storm for VPN services to become incredibly popular. The global market for virtual private network solutions is projected to be worth at least US$50 billion within the next few years. So, now is as good a time as any to start an affiliate site in this niche. There are lots of potential markets to target, from security-conscious parents, people who are sick of paying for a streaming service that uses geoblocking, to people who simply want to remain anonymous online. As always, we’ve saved you the countless hours required to find the best VPN affiliate programs to promote. Many of which offer generous commissions. Enjoy! VPN Affiliate Programs ExpressVPN Affiliate ProgramNorton VPN Affiliate ProgramFastestVPN Affiliate ProgramPrivate Internet Access VPN Affiliate ProgramNordVPN Affiliate ProgramTunnelBear VPN Affiliate ProgramAvast Affiliate ProgramPanda Security Affiliate ProgramAVG Technologies Affiliate ProgramF-Secure Affiliate ProgramBonus program: Tiger Direct ExpressVPN So we’re going to start this roundup with one of the most popular virtual private networks available right now – ExpressVPN. They offer software-based VPN solutions for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Linux devices, but they also take things a step further with their browser extensions. But what really sets them apart from the rest of the field is that they also sell VPN routers that are pre-configured for use with their service. A hardware-based VPN is the most effective way to beat the growing number of geoblocks. In terms of how their service works, you get 160 servers spread across 94 countries, each of which offers unlimited bandwidth. Their affiliate program is in-house, so you’ll need to apply directly, but you will typically receive an answer from their affiliate team within 2 or 3 days. But it’s worth the extra effort because you can make up to $36 per sale. Payments are monthly via PayPal, with a minimum payout of US$100, but they also offer wire transfer if you earn more than US$1, 000 per month in commissions URL: ExpressVPN affiliate program Commission: Up to $36 per sale EPC: TBC Cookie duration: 90 days Norton Norton is an old school provider of computer security software – they released their first antivirus product under the Symantec brand way back in 1989 for DOS-based PCs. I actually remember it being released. Anyways, Symantec acquired a company called Norton, and all their future computer security products were released under that brand – including their virtual private network. Norton VPN is compatible with Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices, and is part of the Norton 360 suite. $39. 99 per year buys you a full security suite for 5 devices, plus virtual private network servers in 28 countries so you can use your laptop or smartphone on public Wi-Fi networks without worrying about your online privacy. Norton offers a 60-day money-back guarantee – you can use that as leverage in your affiliate content. This is the top-performing VPN affiliate offer on CJ, bar none. It’s actually one of the top-performing programs, period. Affiliates receive a 20% revenue share of all sales, and the program has a massive EPC. So, while Norton might not offer the single best VPN service available today, the sheer power of their brand is worth taking into consideration. We did expect to see a dedicated account manager for affiliates, but that’s not really a deal-breaker. URL: Norton affiliate program Commission: 20% EPC: $240. 20 Cookie duration: 60 days FastestVPN FastestVPN might not be a VPN service you’re instantly familiar with, but they’ve been making their presence felt in the market. They’re a pretty new company, and that makes them eager to acquire new customers. That’s why they’re happy to sell VPN services for just. 83c per month – but you do have to pay for 5 years in advance to avail of that discount. Besides that, you’ll pay $10 per month for a regular virtual private network package with them, which is the norm these days. This company offers a lot more than most VPN solutions though. For example, it’s compatible with Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices, but they also support Linux, Roku, and Kodi devices. You’re also allowed to connect 10 devices simultaneously to their 150 servers in 35 countries, with zero logging of your activity, a built-in ad blocker, and anti-malware features too. So, altogether, they offer what would appear to be fantastic value for money. These guys are very much tuned into their affiliate marketing, including how to treat their affiliates. This includes offering generous commissions on their product range – affiliates receive a 60% slice of each referred sale, along with a 90-day cookie, and a dedicated landing page for traffic. They genuinely work with you to help you make money. Oh, and every sale adds $14 to your affiliate account on ShareASale. URL: FastestVPN affiliate program Commission: 60% EPC: $17. 47 Cookie duration: 90 days Private Internet Access Private Internet Access is my current VPN of choice and has been for the last two years. But I’m not biased – I evaluate each VPN service based on its actual merits and not just their marketing material. Private Internet Access is very easy to set up and is equally easy to use, even for raw beginners. You get access to servers in 29 countries, with new servers and locations being added all the time. I also really like that they keep the software regularly updated to the extent that I never need to contact their customer support team. They obviously offer all the usual stuff like simultaneous connections for 10 devices, protection from malware, ad blocking, and no traffic logging. And that costs you the “industry standard” rate of $10 per month, although I’m grandfathered in at a lower rate. Is their VPN service perfect? Nope, but it’s a neat fit for my current online privacy needs. Something for affiliates to love about this VPN affiliate program is that it you can earn 33% commissions on not just new sales, but also for ongoing customer renewals. So, each customer might only be only worth $3 per month to you, but 500 recurring customers would mean a monthly passive income of US$1, 500. Affiliate offers with recurring commissions are often far more worthwhile than standalone “high paying” deals. URL: Private Internet Access affiliate program Commission: 33% EPC: TBC Cookie duration: TBC NordVPN NordVPN is what happens when four friends put their heads together to come up with an affordable solution that keeps the Internet accessible and anonymous. This VPN solution provider has been around since 2012, and they now serve and support 12 million customers around the world. In fact, Nord has become something of a household name in tech and online privacy circles, gaining praise from pretty much everyone. But they’re not perfect and did suffer a data breach in 2018, although they’ve been honest about what went down. So what do they actually offer their customers? $10 per month puts Nord on your Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android devices – up to 6 of them simultaneously. But you can also configure your router to use Nord VPN, providing a very real layer of protection between your data and prying eyes. Nothing makes us happier than to be able to share VPN affiliate programs with these types of metrics. They have an impressive EPC along with a very high ‘Network Earnings’ score on Commission Junction. As a Nord VPN affiliate, you’ll receive a 40% revenue share on every referred sale, and you have a 30-day cookie at your disposal too. URL: Nord affiliate program Commission: 40% EPC: $190. 27 Cookie duration: 30 days TunnelBear TunnelBear appears to be a VPN service that’s as strong as a bear, but so easy even a bear could use it. Or at least that seems to be their general marketing angle, so at least they’re trying to stand out in what is becoming a very crowded market – online privacy. But they’re about more than just clever marketing. Firstly, you receive access to servers with unlimited bandwidth located in more than 20 different countries. Secondly, they make connecting to their VPN as easy as possible, plus you see on a map what server you’re currently connected to. Thirdly, and I really like this one, their GhostBear feature allows you to bypass the locks and checks put in place by some countries (we’re looking at you, China) and some businesses *cough* Netflix. And finally, they are allegedly the only VPN provider to publish the results of their third party annual security audits. In terms of pricing, they offer a ‘Free’ package with 500MB of browsing data, and their unlimited VPN (5 devices) costs just $4. 99 per month. So that represents raarr-ly good value. So, how do they compare to the other affiliate programs in this roundup? As a TunnelBear VPN affiliate, you’ll receive a 50% commission for every new customer that signs up with them. This makes a refreshing change to the nickel-and-diming present in some affiliate programs. And their performance on CJ tells you they’re better than your average bear at converting traffic to sales. Okay, I’m done trying to be funny now. URL: TunnelBear affiliate program Commission: 50% EPC: $11. 92 Cookie duration: 45 days Avast Avast is a very popular, and reasonably capable, freemium antivirus package for home computers. In fact, pretty much every new computer sold today will come with one of two antivirus packages starting with the letter “A”. That’s why Avast has in the region of 435 million users worldwide. So it made perfect sense for a company that creates computer security suites to branch out to provide VPN services too, and that’s exactly what ‘Avast SecureLine’ is. But Avast is doing things a little differently by supplying their virtual private network as a standalone service costing $80 per year. There are no monthly options available. For that price, up to 5 devices can access an unlimited, secure VPN with servers in 34 locations around the world for an entire year. They also offer a 7-day free trial of ‘SecureLine’, something worth mentioning in your affiliate content. Promoting this VPN affiliate offer means a payout of 35% for every sale you make. So in the case of an annual plan for Avast VPN, anyone signing up for it will put a $27 commission in your pocket. And a really easy way to upsell people to the annual plan is to encourage them to sign up for the free trial first. Affiliate marketing is often only as difficult as you make it, like not promoting freebies. URL: Avast affiliate program Commission: 35% EPC: $11. 36 Cookie duration: 60 days Panda Security Panda is a Spanish computer security and IT solutions company that’s been around since 1998. This means they have 30+ years of experience in keeping home and business computer systems safe from external and online threats. And, to be fair, their antivirus products are as good as anything else on the market right now. Trivia: I used to work for an antivirus distributor, which included tech support. Ah, the good old days of “fdisking” an MBR to get DOS systems up and running again. Anyways, Panda now has its own VPN offering but they also bundle it with their ‘Panda Dome Premium’ product. So your visitors can either get their VPN as a standalone service for $10. 99 per month, or $77. 35 if they pay a year in advance. Or they can purchase it as part of the ‘Panda Dome Premium’ antivirus product which costs $9. 99 per month, or $1 less per month than the standalone VPN. But the big difference is that their ‘Panda Dome Premium’ VPN only covers 1 device, whereas their standalone VPN covers 5 devices. And their commission structure also means you’re better off selling the standalone virtual private network product. The Panda affiliate program pays up to 35% commission on any annual sales you make. But it’s a flat fee for monthly services. Basically, selling a VPN package will be worth a flat $8 commission to you, whereas their monthly antivirus plans only pay a $5 commission. The moral of the story is…always read the fine print when it comes to VPN affiliate programs. Or any affiliate program, for that matter. URL: Panda affiliate program Commission: Up to 35% EPC: $11. 87 Cookie duration: 30 days AVG Technologies 200 million computer and smartphone users trust AVG (Anti-virus Guard) with keeping their data and system safe. Part of that is because they were one of the first companies to implement the freemium model for antivirus software in an industry dominated by over-priced (and often underpowered) products. Although most people associate AVG with their more recent computer security products, they’ve actually been in business since 1992 – branching out from their home Czechoslovak market into Germany in 1997. They now also offer a VPN product for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices. It offers the typical array of features including 256-bit AES encryption, servers in 50 different locations, supports 5 devices connecting simultaneously, etc. But they also offer a free trial, which is way more attractive to potential customers than “Buy me now and hope you like me. ” After the free trial, the only options are yearly contracts with AVG, which is a bit of a pain – most people don’t like signing up for anything for an entire year. Imagine if Netflix tried that approach? Exactly…well, they’d also stop hemorrhaging cash, but that’s a story for another day. Fortunately, AVG has made the very wise move to keep their commission structure as straightforward as possible. So affiliates get paid a 25% commission on everything they sell, regardless of what it is. That’s the kind of transparency we love to see in programs, and affiliates feel the same way because there’s less “guesswork” involved. And you also get a generous 60-day cookie to work with, giving your visitors time to try the free trial and then sign up if they’re happy. URL: AVG affiliate program Commission: 25% EPC: $14. 32 Cookie duration: 60 days F-Secure Many antivirus software companies share something in common- their businesses all started out doing something else e. g. database development, importing computer equipment, etc. F-Secure is no different in that regard. They started out as a computer security training company in 1988, but became an antivirus software developer just two years later in 1990. The weird thing about F-Secure is that it’s actually one of the best antivirus products on the market. But it’s not very well known. Except within banking and large businesses, where F-Secure is used extensively because it has a small footprint and clever heuristics. But with the current buzz around VPNs and privacy, it made sense for them to launch their own product – FreeDome. This is available for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices, and it’s that bit more affordable than other virtual private networks. Sure, some services allow you to connect 5 -10 devices simultaneously. But what if you only need to connect 2 or 3 devices, and don’t need or want to pay for any more than that? You sign up for the FreeDome VPN service instead. It costs $34. 99 per year and covers 3 devices, so your visitors get all the usual features except at a scaled-down price. And don’t forget to mention to your audience that they can take FreeDome for a test drive before deciding if they want to pay for it. Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of what matters with VPN affiliate programs – the commission rates. This program pays 15% on anti-virus products like ‘F-Secure Total’ but 25% on their VPN solutions. For example, an annual license for ‘F-Secure Total’ costs $89. 99, so you’ll receive a $13 payout. But an annual license for ‘FreeDome’ costs $39. 99, so you’ll receive a $9 payout. This is a perfect example of how you can increase your affiliate marketing income by almost 50% but without doing any extra work. URL: F-Secure affiliate program Commission: Up to 25% EPC: $14. 24 Cookie duration: 60 days Bonus program: Tiger Direct And now for something a little different from what you’ll find in any other roundup on this topic. The Tiger Direct brand name will be familiar to anyone who has ever built, upgraded, or repaired a PC. For everyone else, they’re one of the leading online suppliers of computer hardware and software in the United States. So what are they doing in this roundup? Because there’s more than one type of virtual private network. The majority of people use software VPNs, but you could also go the hardware route instead. Why bother? VPN software works really well, but it places an additional load on your computer, slowing it down. A hardware VPN doesn’t have that problem because its processor does all the hard work, so your connection is much faster. But that speed comes at a cost – hardware VPNs cost hundreds of dollars. This isn’t a solution for newbies, but it is a solution. Tiger Direct affiliates get paid 2% commission on all sales, so you’re not going to get rich overnight here. Don’t make this the primary affiliate program for your site – it’s just a nice add-on to feature when it suits you. URL: Tiger Direct affiliate program Commission: 3% EPC: $12. 16 Cookie duration: 30 days Why Use A Paid VPN? I know some people reading this will wonder why on Earth you’d want to use a paid/premium VPN when there are so many free VPN services available? Let me answer your question with a question: Would you use a free home security system to keep your family safe, or would you insist on a monitored system that costs money? Exactly. The stark truth is that 77% of VPN apps are best described as being ludicrously unsafe. And that’s without factoring in data breaches, logging and selling your data, or cramming ads down your throat…ads that match your search activity. But, but I can just use TOR instead, right? Yes and no. TOR is great, but it’s not an end-to-end solution…unless you actually run it over a VPN. That way it becomes a VPN within a VPN – so it’s a bit like “Inception” but with data tunneling. Long story short, there’s no such thing as a good free VPN solution – they all have their flaws, usually very serious ones. Over to You And that brings us to the end of our roundup of the best VPN affiliate programs we could find for you. Certain VPN services were omitted simply because their affiliate metrics are a dumpster fire. They can boast about their “great commission rates” all they want, but if they have an EPC of $1. 08 they don’t get featured. But, with that said, the affiliate programs we did find are solid, and include a number of high paying possibilities for you. And the other good news is that there are thousands of low competition keywords just waiting for somebody like you to publish content around them. No idea what an EPC or low competition keyword is? Don’t worry – we were all in the same boat when we started out. Yes, even us. And that’s all the more reason to check out our free training class on how to start your first affiliate marketing site. We cover all the basics you need to know. So, you could spend the next two hours on your smartphone lol’ing at memes. Or you could spend it with us, learning something new. Something valuable. When you decide, let us know the best email address to send your invite to.
VPN Affiliate Programs – Geekflare
VPNs are super popular and payout some of the highest commissions to their affiliates, mostly because privacy is number 1 and this realization is spreading like wildfire among people around the world. It’d only be wise to capitalize on this fact and start recommending them to your audience.
TunnelBear
Become an affiliate for TunnelBear and make money on every subscriber you refer their way.
It’s an excellent VPN service that has a very easy and approachable design. Some of the many benefits of using this service include:
Password and data theft prevention
IP-based tracking prevention
Online privacy protection
Access to global content
It allows browsing the internet via servers from 41 different countries and that too at quite a fast speed, which lessens buffering and improves streaming.
As an affiliate for TunnelBear, you’ll have unlimited earning potential. Meaning, you can refer as many customers as you can and get paid for every one of them. There’s also no minimum payout rule, so you can withdraw your earnings even if you’ve made just $10 in the entire month.
NordVPN
A very reliable VPN service with AES-256 encryption, NordVPN does a brilliant job of protecting identity.
It unblocks all major apps and sources on the internet while maintaining complete anonymity of the IP address. There is also no compromise on bandwidth and connection speed despite having over 5400 servers in 59 different countries.
NordVPN has an affiliate program that you can join and make money whenever you refer sales to them. It pays up to 100% commission for new sign-ups and as well as 30% recurring royalties for life in case of renewals.
You can make use of their effective marketing materials to promote this service that is meant to produce high conversion rates.
Fastest VPN
Fastest VPN packs a lot of features while having the lowest prices for their plans.
It has P4P-friendly servers in 39 different locations across 31 countries and allows up to 10 simultaneous connections. Apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ can easily be unblocked using this service, along with many more.
Additionally, it has DNS leak protection and kill switches to protect identity.
You can become an affiliate for Fastest VPN and start promoting it for 100% commissions and as well as recurring royalties. It has high conversion rates, real-time reports, promotional materials, and a dedicated affiliate manager for any assistance.
Payments are sent out on the 15th of every month via PayPal or wire transfer.
ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is a quality VPN that is fast, secure and has a huge network.
It can unblock Netflix, supports torrent, and allows accessing just about any blocked source on the internet while staying anonymous. It has 160 locations across 94 countries, all of which are blazing fast and work smoothly on all devices.
Since almost everybody uses VPN these days, you can make money by recommending ExpressVPN to the people who’d like to try it out. They have one of the highest and the fastest payouts in the industry and as an affiliate, you’ll have your own dedicated managers and tracking/reporting tools along with plenty of marketing resources.
8 Ways Free VPN Services Are Making Money from You – GlobalSign
(Spoiler: Your Data Isn’t so Private After All)
So, you wanted to protect your online privacy and got yourself a free VPN. You felt a surge of adrenaline as you turned it on and started browsing the web.
No longer was your personal data at the mercy of your ISP or DNS servers. You thought that you’d escaped from the tracking technology of personalized ads and that you were 100% secure.
Well you thought wrong!
“Nothing is truly free” is a saying that rings true especially for free VPNs. True, you may not be paying anything directly, but what you may not know is you’re still paying with something else more valuable – your personal data.
How can this be possible? Read more and find out how free VPNs make money from you!
Normally, being offered a cookie is great, especially if you have some milk on hand, but, not when they’re browser cookies. These little packets of data can track your browsing history without you even knowing about it.
Web beacons are similar to browser cookies in that they can also track your internet usage by using a clear picture file.
Tracking pixels are graphics with 1×1 dimensions that are loaded every time you visit a website or email and are used to track certain activities.
So, what do these three have in common? They all track your online habits in some way.
Free VPNs make money from you by permitting advertisers to insert these little trackers that collect information about your browsing history.
Letting advertisers access your data isn’t the only way free VPNs make money from you. They also make more money by letting their partners or sponsors display ads while using their service.
True, most ads may not be obtrusive enough to be a real bother, but they can still make the whole experience less enjoyable – not to mention annoying if you have to scroll down twice or thrice as much because they’re in the way.
What takes the cake would have to be those unskippable pop-up ads that require you to wait for a few seconds to a whole minute!
Some free VPNs give your email away to their business partners or third parties. This presents a huge problem because you never know what your email could be used for.
Ransomware, phishing, cryptojacking, and spam emails are just some of the cyber-threats that use email as an attack vector. This is why you should never allow anyone to mishandle your email – even your free VPN service.
Most free VPNs also offer a paid subscription to their service. Normally, they let you use their free VPN service as a “free taste” of what their paid service offers. This means that they make money from their paid subscription and not from their free service.
The problem arises when a company offers their free VPN service wholly separately from their paid subscription. This is because they sell access to your network and computer, thereby, making it an exit node which other (paying) users can access the internet.
While this may not seem so bad an exchange for free VPN services, remember that being an exit node means that all the traffic made by other users goes through you- including illegal traffic. This could get you into a lot of trouble and you’re doing it at your own risk for free WHILE the company makes money from the paying users using you as an exit node.
If the free VPN you’re using doesn’t let their partners or 3rd parties track you, it may be because they (your free VPN provider) are doing it themselves and then selling the data they collected afterwards.
Some companies admit to doing this, but you still may not be aware of it since their notice to you is hidden away in their privacy policy – which, most of the time, is worded in legal jargon to keep you from fully understanding what you’re getting yourself into.
Remember the free VPNs that also offer paid services (#4)? The good ones will tell you outright that they’re only offering limited free services in the hopes that you’ll eventually upgrade to the paid subscription (which usually carries with it better services, anyway).
On the other hand, there are those that don’t warn you at all. They limit your data, bandwidth, and even disable peer-to-peer connections (torrents included) on purpose to manipulate you into upgrading to their premium service.
Some free VPNs tell you up front that they may (read: will) use your data for marketing purposes. This poses a threat because it means they are actually logging your data and using it to determine how best to sell you ads.
How is this different from numbers 1, 2, and 3? The difference is jurisdiction – specifically 14-eyes jurisdiction. Any VPN company situated in the countries under the 14-eyes jurisdiction can be compelled by their government or proper authorities to retain and surrender any and all data that may come into their possession – which includes your personal data that they logged.
Perhaps the most dangerous action a free VPN company can do is to openly share user data with their marketing partners. This differs from the preceding number in that this means that the free VPN and their marketing partner are basically one and the same entity as far as your personal data is concerned.
They are the most dangerous because they’re bluntly making you their “cattle” from which they can harvest the “milk” of your data. To these companies, your privacy, convenience, and safety come second to their money-making.
I don’t recommend using free VPNs. They sell/give away/share your information, let third parties track your internet traffic, show you ads, and even manipulate you by purposely setting limits. All of these acts ultimately mean that your privacy isn’t as secure as you thought it was.
If your free VPN doesn’t protect your privacy, why use it in the first place?
For more info on bad VPN practices, visit my original post: TheBestVPN: How Free VPNs Sell Your Data.
Note: This blog article was written by a guest contributor for the purpose of offering a wider variety of content for our readers. The opinions expressed in this guest author article are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect those of GlobalSign.
Frequently Asked Questions about vpn affiliate programs
How much do VPN affiliates make?
NordVPN has an affiliate program that you can join and make money whenever you refer sales to them. It pays up to 100% commission for new sign-ups and as well as 30% recurring royalties for life in case of renewals.
Can I earn money from VPN?
Most free VPNs also offer a paid subscription to their service. Normally, they let you use their free VPN service as a “free taste” of what their paid service offers. This means that they make money from their paid subscription and not from their free service.Aug 3, 2018
Does NordVPN have an affiliate program?
NordVPN has a high affiliate acceptance rate. … Affiliates can earn high recurring commissions. Most VPN companies with affiliate programs offer attractive payouts. NordVPN is no different and pays 100 percent for monthly plans and 40 percent on term plans.Feb 15, 2021