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Partner programme

Get paid for the hosting you already recommend

$30 when a referred customer pays their first invoice, then 15% of every invoice they pay after that, renewals included, for as long as they stay. No fee to join, no volume to hit.

14 days free. No credit card. No commitment.

$30 bounty

On the first paid invoice

Same price

On renewal, every year

99.99%

Uptime, last 12 mo

Daily

Backups kept up to 30 days

E

190+

Tasks Ellie handles

What you earn

Paid twice on the same customer

Most hosting programmes pay a bounty and stop, which means your work is worth something once and nothing afterwards. This one pays on the signup and then keeps paying on every renewal.

  • $30 when they first pay

    A one-time bounty on the first invoice a referred customer actually pays. It fires once per customer, on their first paying invoice, so a trial that later upgrades earns it at the upgrade rather than at signup.

  • 15% of every invoice after that

    A share of every paid invoice, for as long as they stay. The first payment and every renewal after it, with no cut-off date and no cap.

What that looks like

One client on a $120 a year plan. An illustration, not a quote see the real plan prices.

Their first year
$48.00
Every year they renew
$18.00
Ten such clients, over five years
$1200.00

Assumes every client stays and pays. Commission is calculated on the invoice subtotal, before tax.

How it works

From application to withdrawal

Six steps, and only the first two need anything from you. The colours track what happens to the money: yours to do, then earning, then held, then paid.

  1. Apply from your panel

    Tell us what you do, roughly how many customers you expect to bring, and how you plan to promote it. All three are required and all three are read by a person. You need a Hostney account to apply, and the trial is free.

  2. Get your link

    Once you are approved you get a referral code and a link to share. There is nothing to install and no dashboard to configure.

  3. They sign up through it

    The customer is attributed to you at signup, permanently. Alternatively they can send you their claim code and you enter it yourself, with the difference explained below.

  4. They pay an invoice

    Commission accrues automatically on every paid invoice: the $30 bounty on their first one, and 15% on that one and every renewal after it. You get an email each time.

  5. It is held for 90 days

    Each commission sits as maturing while the payment could still be reversed. You can see it on your ledger the whole time, you just cannot withdraw it yet. It turns withdrawable on its own, with nothing to chase.

  6. You withdraw it

    One button, straight to your connected Stripe account, once you are above $50. There is no invoice to send us and no payment run to wait for.

Getting credited

Two ways to claim a customer, and they are not the same

This is the part worth reading twice, because choosing the wrong one costs you money that cannot be recovered afterwards.

A referral link, before they sign up

They follow your link and create the account. You are credited at signup, and you earn from their very first paid invoice.

  • The $30 bounty is earned
  • Recurring share starts on the first invoice
  • Nothing for them to do

A claim code, after they signed up

They already have an account and send you the claim code from their settings. You enter it and take the referral, but only going forward.

  • Invoices already billed are excluded
  • No bounty if they have paid before
  • Recurring share starts on their next invoice

Send the link first

If you have clients you are planning to move to Hostney, give them your referral link before they create the account rather than claiming them afterwards. A claim cannot reach back over invoices that have already been raised, and there is no way to correct it later: a customer is attributed once and never reassigned.

The rules

What earns and what does not

Written out in full rather than buried in terms, because every one of these is a thing somebody would otherwise find out from a balance that was lower than they expected.

What earns

Paid invoices

Every invoice a referred customer actually pays, the first one and every renewal, counts toward the recurring share.

The upgrade out of a trial

A free trial writes a $0 invoice and earns nothing. When that customer upgrades and pays, that invoice is their first paying one, so it earns the bounty and the recurring share together.

What does not

Trials and $0 invoices

Nothing accrues on a zero-value charge. Signups on their own are not worth anything to us, so they are not worth anything to you either.

Tax

Commission is calculated on the invoice subtotal, before any sales tax or VAT. You are paid a share of what we earn, not a share of what a state collects.

Yourself

You cannot refer or claim your own account, and one customer belongs to one partner permanently. The first attribution wins and is never reassigned.

Invoices billed before a claim

If you bring an existing customer in with a claim code, everything already billed to them is excluded. Only invoices raised after the claim earn.

Getting paid

Stripe handles the money

We do not hold your balance as a store credit, and there is no minimum term before you can take it out.

  • Connect a Stripe account once

    Onboarding and identity verification happen on Stripe’s side, not ours. We never see or store your bank details, and the withdraw button stays locked until Stripe confirms the account can receive payouts.

  • Withdraw any time above $50

    One button, no request form, no monthly payment run. The transfer goes to your connected account, and Stripe’s own payout fee comes out of your side.

  • Nothing moves for the first 90 days

    Every commission sits as maturing for 90 days from the day it is earned, so a payment that gets reversed does not leave us clawing money back off you. After that it is withdrawable and it stays yours.

  • Your ledger shows every line

    Each commission is its own row with the invoice behind it, the rate it was earned at, and when it matures. The balance is not a single number you have to trust.

What you can see about a referral

Almost nothing, on purpose. A referred customer is our customer, and their data is not part of what you are being paid for.

You see

  • A masked name, such as E***** K*****
  • The date they were attributed to you
  • Whether they have started paying
  • What you have earned from them

You never see

  • Their email address
  • Their domains or anything in their account
  • What plan they are on
  • Their real name in full

Who it suits

Built for people who place hosting, not for coupon sites

Applications are reviewed, and what we are looking for is somebody who will put real sites on the platform.

  • Agencies and freelancers

    You already choose the host on every build. This pays you for the choice instead of a one-off referral fee, and you can put clients on their own accounts so they hold their own billing.

  • Consultants and IT support

    You get asked "who should we host with" and answer it for free today. If you also want to work inside the account, delegate access is separate and does not depend on this.

  • Writers, YouTubers and course creators

    A link that pays on renewals rather than only on signup, which suits an audience that keeps a site for years rather than one that churns in a month.

Partner programme

Apply from your account

$30 when a referred customer pays their first invoice, then 15% of every invoice they pay after that, renewals included, for as long as they stay. No fee, no volume requirement.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

How much does the affiliate programme pay?
Two things, on the same referral. A one-time $30 bounty when a referred customer pays their first invoice, and 15% of every paid invoice they ever pay after that, renewals included, with no end date. Both are calculated on the invoice subtotal, before tax.
Do I need to be a Hostney customer to join?
Yes. You apply from inside the control panel, so you need an account first. The trial is free and does not ask for a card. It also means you have used the thing you are recommending, which we would rather you had.
Is everyone accepted?
No. Applications are reviewed. We ask what you do, roughly how many customers you expect to bring, and how you plan to promote it. Three short answers, all required. We are looking for people who will put real sites on the platform, not for coupon pages.
How long does commission take to become withdrawable?
Each commission is held for 90 days from the day it is earned, then becomes withdrawable. The hold covers the period where a payment could still be reversed. Once it has matured it is yours, and we do not go back and take it off you afterwards.
How do I get paid?
Through Stripe. You connect a Stripe account once, verify your identity with them, and after that withdrawing is a button in the panel. You need at least $50 of matured commission before the button unlocks. Stripe's own payout fee comes out of your side.
What if the person I referred does not use my link?
There is a second path. Every Hostney customer has a claim code shown in their settings, and if they send you theirs you can enter it and take the referral. The important difference is that a claim only earns on invoices raised after it. Anything they have already been billed is not commissionable, and there is no bounty on an account that has already paid before.
Can I claim a customer I put on Hostney last year?
You can claim the account, and you will earn the recurring share on their future renewals. You will not get the bounty and you will not get anything for the invoices they have already paid. If you have clients you are planning to move over, sending them a referral link before they sign up is worth real money compared with claiming them afterwards.
How long does a referral link last?
Attribution happens at signup and it is permanent. Once a customer is attributed to you that never changes, and no later link or campaign can take them. There is no 30-day cookie that quietly expires and no chance of a second partner overwriting you.
What can I see about the people I refer?
Deliberately very little. You see a masked name, when they were attributed, whether they have started paying, and what you have earned. You never see their email address, their domains, or anything inside their account. They are our customer, and their data is not part of what you are being paid for.
What happens if you change the rates?
Commission is stamped with the rate it was earned at, so changing a rate never rewrites anything already on your ledger. A change applies to what you earn from that point on, not backwards.
Can I use this alongside delegate access?
Yes, and they are separate things. Delegate access lets you work inside a customer’s account with their permission. The partner programme pays you on their invoices. Neither one implies the other, and you can have either without the other.
Is there a cost to join?
No. There is no fee, no minimum volume you have to hit to stay in, and no requirement to keep sending referrals once you have some. If you bring one customer and never send another, you keep earning on that one.