Rakuten Affiliate Network Review: Everything You Need to Know

Quick Summary

This article offers a detailed review of the Rakuten Affiliate Network, covering how it works, key features, and its pros and cons. We break down what to expect, who the program is best suited for, and how tools like Strackr can help you manage Rakuten campaigns more efficiently. Plus, learn how Strackr can help you optimize Rakuten alongside other affiliate networks to boost your revenue.

Is Rakuten Still a Top Choice for Affiliate Marketers?

If you’ve ever struggled to track your commissions, juggle multiple advertiser approvals, or wonder if your cookie durations are long enough to earn, you’re not alone.As one of the longest-running affiliate networks, Rakuten has built partnerships with major brands worldwide and gives affiliates access to a range of products across industries.

But does that make it a smart choice for affiliate marketers today?

It does not matter if you’re new to affiliate marketing or looking to diversify your income streams, it’s worth taking a closer look before signing up.

In this Strackr article, we’ll walk you through how the Rakuten Affiliate Network works, what commission rates and cookie durations you can expect, the pros and cons, and how it stacks up against alternatives.

Why Listen to Us?

At Strackr, we specialize in affiliate tracking and optimization, providing publishers with a comprehensive dashboard to monitor performance across multiple affiliate networks. Our platform consolidates data from over 240 networks, offering real-time insights into transactions, revenues, clicks, and payments.

Our experience working with top-tier affiliates has given us a deep understanding of what makes an affiliate program profitable. In this article, we leverage our expertise to provide a detailed review of the Rakuten Affiliate Network.

Testimonial

What is the Rakuten Affiliate Network?

The Rakuten Affiliate Network is part of Rakuten Advertising, a global performance marketing network that connects publishers with top-tier brands across retail, travel, finance, and more. As an affiliate, you can promote products and services from well-known companies and earn commissions for driving traffic or sales.

Rakuten gives access to a curated network of advertisers, iextensive reporting tools, and reliable payment systems. Unlike many networks, Rakuten takes a partnership-focused approach to build long-term relationships between affiliates and brands.

With over 25 years in the industry and a presence in over 200 countries, Rakuten provides a trusted platform for affiliates looking to grow their revenue through high-quality, brand-aligned campaigns.

Rakuten Advertising

Key Features of the Rakuten Affiliate Network

AI-Driven Partnership Discovery: Rakuten uses artificial intelligence to suggest high-performing affiliate partners based on your brand and product category, making it easier to build strong, profitable relationships quickly and effectively.
Commissioning Suite: Choose from flexible commission structures like first-touch, last-touch, multi-touch, dynamic rates, and seasonal promotions. This allows you to customize incentives that align with your marketing strategy.
Forecasting and Benchmarking Tools: Use Rakuten’s data-driven insights to predict campaign outcomes, measure performance against industry benchmarks, and make informed decisions that maximize the effectiveness of your affiliate program.
Audience Engine: Reach the right customers using personalized targeting powered by first-party data. Audience Engine ensures privacy while delivering relevant offers without relying on third-party cookies or invasive tracking.
Placement Recommender: Get smart suggestions for ad placements and discover new publishers. This tool helps expand your reach and boost campaign results by identifying high-impact opportunities for visibility.

What We Like About This Affiliate Network

Strong Brand Reputation: Rakuten is a trusted name with decades of experience in affiliate marketing, which gives us confidence in the platform’s reliability and credibility.
High-Quality Network of Affiliates: The network includes premium publishers and vetted partners, making it easier to align with affiliates that drive real value and brand-safe traffic.
Excellent Account Support: The dedicated support team offers strategic guidance, quick troubleshooting, and performance insights that help us continuously improve our campaigns.
Seamless Integration and Onboarding: The platform is intuitive and integrates well with our existing tools, making setup and management smooth from the start.
Strong Focus on Performance: Everything on the platform is geared toward measurable growth, with features and support designed to help partners hit revenue and ROI targets.

What We Don’t Like About the Program

Individual Advertiser Approvals: Affiliates must apply to each advertiser separately, which can slow down the setup process and delay earnings for new publishers.
Varying Commission Structures: With no standardized payout model, it’s hard to predict earnings across different programs. Affiliates need to research each brand's terms carefully.
Learning Curve for Beginners: The dashboard and approval process may be overwhelming for new affiliates unfamiliar with Rakuten’s interface and structure.
Limited Instant Offers: Unlike some networks that provide instant access to deals and creatives, Rakuten requires approval before accessing marketing materials from most advertisers.
Inconsistent Cookie Durations: Cookie windows vary by advertiser, and some may offer shorter durations, which can limit conversion tracking opportunities.
No Centralized Support: Support is typically handled at the advertiser level, which can lead to inconsistent experiences when dealing with multiple partners.

A Better Alternative: Strackr for Streamlined Affiliate Management

Strackr

While the Rakuten Affiliate Network might provide good opportunities, managing multiple affiliate networks including Rakuten can become overwhelming quickly. That’s where Strackr comes in. Rather than replacing Rakuten, Strackr enhances your affiliate marketing experience by allowing you to manage campaigns across multiple networks from one unified platform. With Strackr, you can track performance, optimize your strategies, and get a clearer view of your revenue,all in real time.

For example, Matthijs Boon, founder of Thuis Atleet, shares his experience:

I got a couple of affiliate sites and I was searching for a solution to get a grip on what each site generates. Strackr is really perfect! Most of the networks are already in there and when I need a lil tweak on the Strackr tool, Julien just listens and also puts in the work to make things work! Really worth the money!

Strackr consolidates data from over 240 affiliate networks, including Rakuten, allowing you to view all your key metrics, clicks, conversions, and earnings within a single dashboard. It doesn’t matter if you’re promoting products through Rakuten or other networks, Strackr helps streamline your workflow, giving you more time to focus on optimizing your campaigns.

Key Features of Strackr

Stackr offers a smarter, more efficient way to stay on top of your affiliate data and performance.

Product

Collect Data: Strackr aggregates your affiliate data from Rakuten and 240+ other networks in one place. It automatically syncs clicks, commissions, and transactions, saving time on manual tracking and helping you spot revenue patterns faster.
Analyze Data: Go beyond surface-level metrics with Strackr’s detailed performance reports. Monitor EPC, conversion rates, and advertiser performance across your Rakuten campaigns to make data-driven decisions that actually grow your revenue.
Connect to Our API: Strackr’s standard API allows you to plug Rakuten affiliate data directly into your internal systems or custom dashboards. Whether you're running a cashback site or a reporting tool, the API gives you total control.
Publisher Tools: Access tools designed to help affiliates work faster, from deep link builders to automatic deal tracking. These features let you create Rakuten tracking links, discover top offers, and streamline your promotion strategy.
Segmentation: Group Rakuten advertisers by niche, geo, campaign, or custom tags. This makes it easier to compare results, prioritize high-performing partners, and manage multiple sites or verticals without losing visibility.

Pricing

Strackr offers flexible plans to suit different affiliate needs:

Starter (€10/month): 1,000 transactions, 10 networks, data updates every 12 hours, 1 user.
Professional (€25/month): 3,000 transactions, 20 networks, updates every 6 hours, 2 users.
Enterprise (€50/month): 6,000 transactions, 30 networks, updates every 6 hours, 5 users.
Custom (Contact for pricing): Unlimited transactions, API access, 10-minute updates, and unlimited users.

All plans include full data privacy, unlimited historical data, and a 30-day free trial — no credit card required.

Why Choose Strackr?

Simplify Multi-Network Management:

Strackr is built for publishers managing affiliate campaigns across multiple networks. Whether you're working with Rakuten, Amazon, or other programs, Strackr consolidates everything into a single, easy-to-use dashboard. This centralization saves time, reduces manual work, and improves overall efficiency.

As Raul Martinez Valdueza, CEO of eDigitalPartners, shares:

Since using the Strackr affiliate network tool, we have reduced our operational time spent reporting on all our affiliate clients. Strackr is easy to configure and intuitive to use, and we can strongly recommend it if your business is using multiple affiliate networks or countries.

And when you need adjustments, Strackr’s team is quick to respond with effective, hands-on support.

Powerful Reporting and Insights:

Strackr helps you track and analyze the performance of each of your affiliate sites, including your Rakuten campaigns. With real-time updates and customizable reporting tools, you can make data-driven decisions that increase profitability and reduce operational time.

Exceptional Support and Customization:

Strackr is backed by a responsive support team that listens. Whether you're connecting a new network or fine-tuning your analytics, the team is ready to help.

As Amir Rosner, Product Manager at Better Impression, puts it:

Strackr is a fantastic tool for tracking and integration. Their support is extremely fast and friendly, providing us all the support we need, immediately and with 100% accuracy. I would definitely recommend others use this platform.

Should You Consider the Rakuten Affiliate Network?

The Rakuten Affiliate Network remains a reliable option for affiliates who want to work with trusted global brands. However, if you're managing multiple affiliate programs or looking for a more streamlined, scalable approach, Strackr is the better long-term solution.

Instead of juggling dashboards, approval processes, and inconsistent data from each network, Strackr brings everything together into one intuitive platform. You'll get real-time performance insights, automated reporting, easy integration across 240+ affiliate networks, and the kind of support that helps you stay focused on growth, not troubleshooting.