One-time affiliate commissions are fine. Recurring commissions are a business model.
The difference is compounding. A one-time commission pays you once for every referral. A recurring commission pays you every month that referral remains a customer. Refer ten customers at $99/month to a tool that pays 30% recurring, and you're earning $297 every month — from work you did once.
The AI SaaS market has more recurring affiliate programmes than almost any other category, partly because the tools are genuinely useful (which means customers stay subscribed) and partly because the market is growing fast enough that these companies are willing to pay well to acquire customers they know will stick around.
The programmes worth knowing about
Writing and content: Jasper pays 30% recurring. Anyword pays 40% recurring. CopySmith is at 30% recurring. These tools have proven retention because they solve a recurring problem — the need to produce content — and the users who rely on them rarely churn voluntarily.
Productivity and workflow: HubSpot's affiliate programme pays 30% recurring for the first year, which on a mid-tier plan can be $150–400 per referral per month. Notion AI pays $50 per activated signup plus 20% recurring for 12 months. The customer value from a single successful Notion referral compounds significantly over time.
AI video: Lumen5 pays $100 per sale (one-time but high ticket). Keyla AI is at 30% recurring. For audiences producing video content, these tools solve genuine problems and the value proposition is easy to demonstrate.
The conversion reality
Recurring commission programmes convert best when you use the product seriously and document your experience publicly. Not a review written after a 14-day trial — a running account of what you've built, what broke, what surprised you, what you'd change. That kind of specificity attracts buyers who convert at a higher rate and churn less often than buyers attracted by generic comparisons.
Pick two or three tools that actually belong in your workflow. Use them for three months. Then write the review you wish had existed when you were deciding whether to subscribe. That's the affiliate content that compounds.