Two different jobs
What AppsFlyer does
AppsFlyer is enterprise-grade measurement: real-time attribution across mobile, web and CTV, SKAdNetwork support, audiences and deep analytics, plus OneLink for deep and deferred deep linking that routes users to the right in-app content. Its pricing starts at a free Zero tier (12,000 conversions in the first year), moves to pay-as-you-go at $0.07 per conversion, and scales to custom Enterprise plans.
What AppsFlyer does not do
AppsFlyer attributes and measures partner and affiliate performance, and can pass revenue data in postbacks, but it does not calculate or disburse commissions to individual affiliates. The commercial relationship with each affiliate sits between the advertiser and the network, not inside AppsFlyer. Its partner marketplace is a discovery and integration hub, not a payout mechanism.
What Insert Affiliate adds
Insert Affiliate is the affiliate layer: it attributes each verified purchase to the affiliate who referred it, applies your commission rules (including tiered and daisy-chain structures), and pays affiliates through Stripe Connect, with a free marketplace for finding new promoters.
How they work together
Insert Affiliate supports AppsFlyer OneLink as a deep-linking option, so OneLink can serve as the layer that gets a referred user into the app on the right screen, while Insert Affiliate calculates the affiliate commission on the resulting purchase and pays it. And because Insert Affiliate ships its own built-in Insert Links deep linking, AppsFlyer is optional: run Insert Affiliate on its own, or alongside AppsFlyer if it is already your measurement stack.
In plain terms: AppsFlyer measures your marketing and routes the user; Insert Affiliate answers the question AppsFlyer doesn’t: which affiliate earned a commission on the purchase, and how do they get paid.
AppsFlyer alternatives
Which alternative fits depends on what you wanted AppsFlyer for.
| Alternative | What it is for | Starting price |
|---|---|---|
| Insert Links (part of Insert Affiliate) | Deep links for affiliates and creators, with each sale credited and paid | Included in every plan, including the free one |
| Branch | Deep linking and measurement across all of your marketing | Not published; quoted through sales |
| Singular | Measurement across paid advertising | Free for the first 15,000 paid conversions, then $0.05 per conversion |
For comparison, AppsFlyer is free for the first 12,000 conversions in the first year, then $0.07 per conversion on its Growth plan.
If the job is giving affiliates and creators a link that opens your app and credits them for the sale, Insert Links cover it without a separate measurement tool. If the job is measuring paid advertising across many networks, Insert Links are not a replacement for that: Branch and Singular are the like-for-like alternatives, and Insert Affiliate runs alongside whichever you choose. There is more detail in Branch vs Insert Affiliate.
Do you need both?
- If you don’t run affiliates: AppsFlyer covers attribution and deep linking on its own.
- If affiliates drive your growth: add Insert Affiliate to attribute purchases to affiliates and pay them, using AppsFlyer OneLink as the deep-linking layer if you already have it, or Insert Affiliate’s built-in Insert Links if you don’t.
Bottom line
AppsFlyer and Insert Affiliate are complementary, not competing. AppsFlyer is enterprise-grade measurement and deep linking; Insert Affiliate is the affiliate layer that turns verified in-app purchases into tracked, paid commissions. If you run an affiliate programme, Insert Affiliate does the part AppsFlyer leaves to others, and it works with AppsFlyer or entirely on its own.
