It's the first question every new affiliate asks, and the honest answer is: it depends on your traffic. But "it depends" isn't much help when you're trying to pick a deal this week — so here's the real breakdown, without the sales pitch.
Both models pay well. They just pay differently, on different timelines, and they reward completely different kinds of traffic.
CPA — paid fast, paid once
CPA is a fixed amount for every qualifying first-time depositor (FTD) — typically $150–350 depending on the GEO. You get paid within the week, and you get paid the same whether that player turns into a whale, busts on day one, or never logs in again.
It suits media buyers who need fast payback to recycle ad spend, high-volume traffic with shorter retention, and anyone who has to budget campaigns off predictable numbers. The trade-off is simple: you capture none of the upside. A player who deposits for two years pays you exactly what a one-and-done player does.
RevShare — paid slowly, paid forever
RevShare is a percentage — commonly 25–45% — of the net revenue every referred player generates, for their entire lifetime. No cap, no end date.
It suits SEO and content traffic, communities, streamers — any source that sends genuinely engaged players who stick around. The magic is compounding: your income this month is the sum of every cohort you've ever sent that's still active. Year one feels slow. Year two it's a different business.
Before you sign a RevShare deal, check one line: negative carry-over. If a program writes it into the standard terms, it's telling you it doesn't believe in its own retention. Programs without it (Payout included) let a losing month reset to zero instead of eating into the next one.
The math, with real numbers
Say one player generates €400 of net revenue over 18 months. On a €250 CPA, you banked €250 up front and you're done. On 30% RevShare, you earn €120 from that single player — less, on paper.
But you earned it passively, a second similar player doubles it, and a hundred retained players is €12,000 a year that keeps paying while you sleep. For one player, CPA wins. Across a retained cohort, RevShare wins — often by 3–5×.
