I remember the first time I earned anything from an AI API affiliate link. It was $14.37. I stared at my PayPal notification for a good five minutes like I had just won the lottery. That was back in early 2025, and since then I've been hooked on documenting every dollar that comes in from promoting AI tools and APIs. That's the whole point of "build in public" — you show the wins, but you also show the months where you earned $3.42 and wondered why you bothered.
This post is a commission showdown between three names you've probably heard a thousand times: OpenAI, Anthropic, and Global API. I'll walk you through what each one actually pays, what the affiliate experience looks like from the inside, and the real revenue numbers I've pulled from my own dashboard. If you're thinking about promoting AI APIs to your audience, this should save you a few months of guesswork.
How I Got Into Promoting AI APIs
Quick backstory. I run a small newsletter and a YouTube channel (around 18,000 subscribers as of last month) where I teach indie developers how to ship AI products without burning through their runway. About two years ago I started adding affiliate links to my tutorials and writeups. Not in a sleazy way — just honest recommendations for tools I was already using.
The problem hit me fast. The AI tools I was genuinely using had terrible, or completely nonexistent, affiliate programs. I'd write a 3,000-word tutorial on building a RAG pipeline, recommend the API at the end, and earn exactly nothing from it. Meanwhile, I was promoting some random hosting company and pulling $400 a month from links I barely cared about.
So I went on a hunt. I tested every AI API affiliate program I could find, signed up for the dashboards, sent real traffic, and tracked what actually converted. Some were great. Some were ghost towns. One took three months to pay me out. This article is what I wish someone had handed me at the start.
The Five Things I Check Before Joining Any AI Affiliate Program
Before I sign up for anything, I run it through my own little checklist. I'm sharing this because I think it's more useful than just listing commission rates. Anyone can show you a 30% number. The real question is whether that 30% ever shows up in your bank account.
Here's what I look at:
- First-order commission — How much do I get the moment someone signs up?
- Recurring commission — Do they pay me again when the user renews next month? This is the make-or-break factor for me.
- Premium tier commissions — When someone upgrades, do I get a bump?
- Payout mechanics — How do I get paid, and what's the minimum I need to earn before I can withdraw?
- Actual product quality — If the product sucks, my audience won't convert and my reputation takes a hit. That last one matters more
