Referral and Affiliate Program for WHMCS
Customers share a link or code, friends get a first-order discount, and referrers earn commission on what is actually paid, with holds and clawbacks.
How does the referral program work?
A customer joins from the client area, accepts your program terms and gets a referral code. They share a link carrying that code, or the code itself. A friend who signs up through the link, or types the code at checkout on any device, gets a percentage off their first order, set up as a normal WHMCS promotion for each affiliate. The referrer earns a commission when the friend's invoices are paid.
How are commissions calculated?
From what the friend actually paid: eligible invoice lines after discounts, without tax, without add-funds deposits and without the part paid from account credit. The rate is global or set per affiliate, and you choose the scope: the first payment of each new order, all payments for a set number of months, or every payment for as long as the customer stays. Commissions stay pending during a hold period, 30 days by default, and the daily cron then approves them, unless you prefer to approve each one by hand.
When an invoice is refunded, canceled or marked unpaid, or an order is canceled or flagged as fraud, the commission is reversed. If it was already paid out, the amount is deducted from later commissions. Every movement goes into an append-only ledger, so each balance is a sum of recorded events you can trace.
What is included?
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tracking | A ref link on any client area page with an optional campaign tag, a signed cookie, first or last click attribution, raw IP addresses removed after 30 days |
| Discount | One WHMCS promotion per affiliate, limited to the products and TLDs you choose, first payment only, once per new customer |
| Fraud checks | A referral with the same email or IP as the affiliate goes to a review queue; affiliates cannot use their own code |
| Payouts | Account credit at once with an optional bonus, or PayPal and crypto paid by an admin; minimum payout amount |
| Currencies | Balances kept in the currency the friend paid in |
| Admin area | Overview with chart and to-dos, affiliates, referral review, commissions, payouts with CSV export, banners, settings, activity log |
| Affiliate page | Dashboard, referrals with masked names, commissions, payouts, link tools with banners, and the program terms |
| Emails | Five templates for approvals, new referrals, commissions and payouts, each one can be switched off |
Who is it for?
Hosting companies and SaaS sellers on WHMCS 9 that want growth from their existing customers, with rules that hold up against refunds, chargebacks and self-referrals. It replaces the built-in WHMCS affiliate system rather than running beside it.
What do you need, and what are the limits?
Requirements: WHMCS 9, PHP 8.1 or newer and the WHMCS daily cron. Switch off the built-in WHMCS affiliate system so nobody is paid twice; the addon shows a warning while it is on but never changes the setting for you.
Limits: PayPal and crypto payouts are sent by you outside WHMCS and then marked paid with a reference, or declined so the amount returns to the balance. The addon adds no client area menu item by itself, so you link to its page from your theme's menu. Changing settings, paying out and adjusting balances need a full-admin role; other admins can view everything, approve affiliates and review referrals.
It costs $199 once for a lifetime license with twelve months of updates and support, an instant download and license key, and a seven-day refund window.
Key features
- Referral link and matching discount code for each affiliate
- First-order discount as a WHMCS promotion for chosen products and TLDs
- Commission on amounts paid after discounts, without tax or credit
- Commission scope: first order, a set number of months or lifetime
- Hold period with automatic approval by the daily cron
- Reversal and clawback on refunds, cancellations and fraud
- Review queue for referrals sharing an email or IP with the affiliate
- Payouts as account credit, PayPal or crypto with a minimum amount
- Append-only ledger with balances per currency
- Affiliate dashboard with referrals, commissions, payouts and banners
Why customers buy this module
- →Refunded and fraudulent orders do not cost you a commission
- →Affiliates see their own numbers, so fewer balance questions reach support
- →Account credit payouts keep referral money inside your business
Frequently asked questions
Can I keep the built-in WHMCS affiliate system switched on as well?
<p>You should switch it off. Running both could pay the same referrer twice for one customer. The addon shows a warning while the WHMCS setting is on, but it never changes that setting on its own.</p>
What stops customers from referring themselves?
<p>An affiliate cannot use their own code at checkout. A referral that shares the affiliate's email address or IP address is flagged and its commissions wait in a review queue until an admin approves it. Orders marked as fraud reverse their commission and send the referral to review as well.</p>
How do affiliates get paid?
<p>They request a payout once their available balance reaches your minimum. Account credit is added right away, converted into the affiliate's currency with your WHMCS exchange rates, with an optional bonus percentage. PayPal and crypto requests notify your admins, who send the money and mark the payout paid or decline it, in which case the amount returns to the balance.</p>
Technical specifications
- WHMCS
- 9.x
- PHP
- 8.1+
- Payout methods
- Account credit, PayPal, crypto (PayPal and crypto paid manually)
- Cron
- WHMCS daily cron
- License
- Lifetime, 1 year of updates and support included
- Delivery
- Instant download and license key
- Refund window
- 7 days