Two different jobs
What AppsFlyer does
AppsFlyer is enterprise-grade measurement: real-time attribution across mobile, web and CTV, SKAdNetwork support, fraud protection, 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.
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.
