ClickBank vs Digistore24
ClickBank's Fees Are Fine. Getting Paid Is the Hard Part.
Digistore24 Pays Three Times a Week. It Still Owes You 10% for Two Months.
The short answer
- Entry price
- Neither ClickBank nor Digistore24 publishes a single starting price we can rank, so we do not rank them. A zero in our data means one of two opposite things — a genuine free tier, or a product that is not sold at a fixed monthly rate at all — so calling either one "cheapest" would be wrong.
- Our rating
- 3.6/5 against 3.9/5. That gap is inside our own margin, so treat these as rated level and decide on the specifics below rather than on the score.
ClickBank
see siteJoining as an affiliate is free and the commission rates are genuinely high. What nobody mentions is the Customer Distribution Requirement: five sales across at least two different payment methods before ClickBank releases anything at all. Plenty of accounts sit on a balance they cannot withdraw.
What works
- ✓ Free to join as an affiliate — no application, no approval wait, no monthly fee
- ✓ Commission rates are high because most products are digital, frequently 50–75%
- ✓ Marketplace stats are public: gravity and average earnings per conversion are shown before you promote anything
- ✓ 60-day cookie window is longer than most networks offer
What does not
- ✗ Customer Distribution Requirement: 5 sales across at least 2 payment methods before any payout is released
- ✗ $5.00 processing fee on every payment issued — 5% of a payout at the default $100 threshold
- ✗ 10% of each pay period is held in reserve and released 12 weeks later
- ✗ Dormant accounts are charged $1 per pay period after 90 days with no earnings, rising to $50 after a year
Digistore24
see siteThe 180-day cookie is the longest of any major network and the payout cadence is genuinely fast. But 'paid' and 'paid in full' are different events here: 90% of a commission clears at 14 days and the last 10% is held as a refund reserve until day 60. Read the vendor's funnel before you promote, not after — some listings pay the front end only.
What works
- ✓ 180-day cookie — six months, against ClickBank's 60 days and the 30 days most programmes offer
- ✓ Payouts run up to three times a week, far faster than the fortnightly industry norm
- ✓ 7.9% + $1 per transaction, with no monthly fee, setup cost, or minimum sales requirement
- ✓ Handles EU VAT and invoicing as merchant of record — a real administrative saving for European sales
What does not
- ✗ 10% of every sale is held for 60 days as a refund reserve
- ✗ Commission arrives in two instalments — 90% at 14 days, the last 10% at day 60
- ✗ Digistore24's own marketing says 'no minimum threshold' while its help centre is widely reported to state payout minimums — confirm yours in-account
- ✗ Some vendor listings pay commission on the front-end product only, with upsells excluded — the marketplace does not make this obvious
Who should pick which
Pick ClickBank if this is the thing that matters most to you:
Free to join as an affiliate — no application, no approval wait, no monthly fee.
What most often rules it out: Customer Distribution Requirement: 5 sales across at least 2 payment methods before any payout is released.
Pick Digistore24 if this is the thing that matters most to you:
180-day cookie — six months, against ClickBank's 60 days and the 30 days most programmes offer.
What most often rules it out: 10% of every sale is held for 60 days as a refund reserve.
Figures come from our review of each product, checked against the vendor's own pricing page. We do not convert currencies or rank prices quoted on different billing periods — where that applies it is said above, not quietly resolved.
A third option, and what it is not
Bonfire Terminal is an AI agent that runs as a desktop app on your own machine — no cloud, nothing you type leaves your computer. It does not do what ClickBank or Digistore24 do, and we will not pretend it does. If either is doing its job for you, keep it.
What the $27 actually gets you→The way in is the AI Marketers Club — $27 one-time, including 21 days of access. Keeping it after that is a separate purchase; the vendor's FAQ states Bonfire Terminal starts at $5,000. We earn a commission at no extra cost to you, which is why both tools' drawbacks are printed in full above and the $5,000 is here rather than left for you to find later.