Affiliate network
LinkApprove vs Rakuten Advertising
Rakuten Advertising is an established affiliate network with strong retail and department-store relationships. LinkApprove is a sub-affiliate network: it holds upstream publisher approvals and redistributes that access to partners who would not be approved individually.
The short answer
Apply to Rakuten directly if you have an established site that will pass its publisher review. Use LinkApprove if you do not, or if you would rather manage one account than several.
Head to head
LinkApprove
Rakuten Advertising- Model
- Sub-affiliate networkAffiliate network
- Approval difficulty
- Low, quality reviewed, no size gateModerate to high
- Retail coverage
- Broad, across multiple upstream networksVery strong retail and department store
Feature by feature
LinkApprove and Rakuten Advertising compared
| LinkApprove | Rakuten Advertising | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Sub-affiliate network | Affiliate network |
| Approval difficulty | Low, quality reviewed, no size gate | Moderate to high |
| Retail coverage | Broad, across multiple upstream networks | Very strong retail and department store |
| Programs per account | 10,000+ across every major network | Rakuten advertisers only |
| Consolidated payout | Yes, across every network we source from | Rakuten only |
| Revenue share | Up to 90% of commission received | 100% of commission, no intermediary |
| Minimum payout | $100 | $50 |
Where Rakuten Advertising is stronger
Written without hedging, because a comparison that only flatters the author is not worth reading.
- You keep 100% of the commission with no intermediary share
- Excellent department-store and premium retail roster
- Direct relationship and direct communication with advertiser teams
- Long-established, highly reliable tracking infrastructure
Where LinkApprove is stronger
The specific cases where we are the better choice.
- No individual publisher review to pass
- One account and one payout spanning every network we source from, rather than Rakuten alone
- Access retained even where an individual application would be declined
- Faster payout tiers and more payment rails
The longer answer
If you can get into Rakuten directly, you should, keeping the full commission beats sharing it, and the direct advertiser relationship has real value.
The reason sub-affiliate networks exist is that a large share of creators cannot get in, or can get into one network but not the other four, and end up managing fragmented accounts each with its own threshold and its own reporting.
The trade you are making with LinkApprove is explicit: you give up a share of commission and gain access plus consolidation. Whether that trade is worth it depends entirely on whether you would have been approved anyway.
Run both and compare the numbers
No exclusivity, no contract and no fee, so testing us against what you already use costs you nothing but a signup.