Guide

How to compare CPA networks

A CPA network pays you when a visitor completes a defined action, such as a signup, a lead, or a first deposit. The letters stand for cost per action. Two networks can list the same vertical and still be different businesses: one may approve you the same day and pay every week, while another may hold the same conversion for a long review. Before you move traffic, compare offer access, tracking, payout timing, reports, and the person who answers when a campaign stalls.

This comparison is published on the Maxlead homepage. Maxlead is the performance network behind the desk. The checks below apply to any CPA network, including this one. Use them as a list, not as a slogan.

What you are actually comparing

Publishers often compare the biggest number on the offer card. That number is the payout for one approved conversion. It is not the amount you will earn from a hundred clicks, and it is not a promise that every lead will be accepted. A useful comparison looks at the whole path: can you get the offer, can you track the click, can you see the conversion, and can you withdraw the approved balance on a schedule you can plan around.

Write the answers down for each network you are considering. A network that is vague on tracking and precise on the headline CPA is asking you to take the risk. A network that shows the click, the sub IDs, and the payout rule is easier to test with a small budget.

Offer access

Some catalogs are open as soon as the account is approved. Others keep every campaign closed until a manager approves the publisher and then approves each offer. Ask three questions. Which offers can you run on the first day? Which offers need a request? Which traffic sources are forbidden even after you are approved?

A long catalog does not help if the offers that match your traffic are locked, paused, or limited to a country you do not reach. Read the country list and the allowed sources on the offer itself. An international campaign is only useful if your visitors are in an accepted country.

On Maxlead, public offers are available once your publisher account is approved. Other offers stay closed until you apply and an admin approves that request. The offer page is where the tracking link is issued, so the link you copy is the link for that campaign, not a generic redirect you assembled yourself.

Tracking and postbacks

The tracking link should identify the click, the publisher, and the extra values you pass, then survive the hop to the advertiser. If the link drops your parameters, you cannot tell which ad, which page, or which placement produced the conversion. You should be able to place sub IDs on the link and read those same values back when the conversion is recorded.

A global postback and an offer postback should both be available. The global URL covers the account. A second URL covers one campaign when that advertiser needs a different endpoint. The network should document the tokens, so you are not guessing which placeholder means click ID and which means payout.

Maxlead stores sub1 through sub8 on the click and shows them on the conversion report and the performance report. That is the check that matters: the parameter you sent is the parameter you can see later. If a network cannot show you that, you are optimizing blind.

Payout timing

Compare when an approved conversion becomes money you can withdraw, not the headline rate alone. A higher CPA that sits in review for months is not the same as a CPA that is paid on a weekly cycle. Ask what “approved” means, who can reverse a conversion, and which day of the week the payout run happens.

Read the offer for the payout. The network should pay the amount stated on the offer once the conversion is approved. Do not treat a sample rate on a homepage as the rate on every campaign. Offers differ. A finance offer and a sweepstakes offer will not share one number, and they should not be compared as if they do.

Approved earnings on Maxlead are paid every week. The rate sits on the offer. Weekly does not mean an unapproved or rejected conversion is paid. Pending and scrubbed amounts are not the same as approved earnings, and a publisher report should not pretend that they are.

Reports, EPC, and CVR

You need clicks, conversions, earnings, EPC, and CVR for the period you are actually running. EPC is earnings per click. CVR is the share of clicks that became conversions. Together they tell you whether a campaign is worth more traffic. A network that only shows a lifetime total makes it hard to see whether yesterday’s change helped.

Ask whether you can split the report by offer, by day, and by the sub IDs you passed. A publisher who runs three placements needs three rows, not one blended number. Also ask how duplicate clicks are treated. Inflated click counts make EPC look worse than the campaign really is.

Maxlead gives each approved publisher a dashboard for those figures. The same account can open a conversion report and a performance report. Use a short date range when you test, then widen it once the offer is stable.

Caps, rules, and creative limits

A cap is a ceiling. Daily, weekly, or total caps stop the offer from taking more conversions even if your traffic is still converting. If you learn about the cap only after the clicks have already been sent, those visits are wasted. The offer page should state the cap before you scale.

Traffic rules matter just as much. Some offers refuse incentivized traffic, email, social, or a particular country. Breaking the rule is a common reason a conversion is rejected after it looked successful in your tracker. Save the rule next to the link. If the rule changes, pause the campaign until you have read the new version.

Support: a queue or a manager

You also need a person who can tell you which campaign fits the traffic you have. A ticket inbox is not the same as an account manager who already knows the account. When a landing page breaks or an offer pauses, the speed of that reply decides whether you keep spending.

Maxlead assigns a dedicated account manager. Messages with that manager stay on the account, so the advice is tied to the offers you run rather than to a new ticket every time. You can see the manager from the publisher desk after the account is approved.

How to test a network before you scale

Join, get one approved offer that matches a country you already reach, and send a small, clean test. Confirm that the click appears, that your sub ID is stored, and that a test conversion or a real conversion lands on the report you expect. Only then increase traffic. A network that cannot pass this test will not become easier after you spend more.

Keep the test on one offer and one traffic source. If you change the page, the country, and the source on the same day, you will not know which change moved the CVR. Write down the link, the sub IDs, and the time you started. Compare that window in the network report, not a different timezone or a different account.

A worked example

Suppose you have United States social traffic and you are choosing between two networks for the same kind of finance offer. Network A lists a higher CPA, but the account is still pending after a week and the offer does not show a country list. Network B approves the account, shows that the offer accepts the United States, and pays approved conversions every week. The higher number on Network A is not the better choice until you can run the offer and see a click in the report.

On the first test, put one label on the link. Use sub1 for the source, for example fb-us, and sub2 for the creative, for example video-1. Send that link only. If the report later shows 80 clicks on fb-us and the conversions sit on video-1, you know which ad to keep. If the clicks appear with a blank sub ID, the network dropped the parameter and you should stop before you scale. Maxlead keeps sub1 through sub8, so this kind of split is visible on the conversion report and the performance report.

A second example is the payout calendar. You earn an approved conversion on Monday. On a weekly network you can plan for that amount in the next payout run. On a network that reviews for a month, the same conversion is not money you can spend next week. Compare the calendar, not only the CPA printed on the card.

Affiliate marketing tips

Test one offer, one country, and one traffic source at a time. If you change the page and the audience on the same day, you will not know which change moved the CVR.

Name sub IDs so a stranger could read them. source, creative, and placement are more useful than test, test2, and final. On Maxlead, those values belong in sub1 through sub8.

Decide the kill point before you spend. A simple starting rule is to review the placement after a set number of clicks with no approved conversion, then pause it. Do not raise the budget to “force” a conversion.

Match the angle to the landing page. If the offer pays for a first deposit, do not send people who were promised a free sample. The click will count. The conversion will not.

Read EPC with CVR. A high payout with almost no conversions can lose to a lower payout that converts steadily. EPC is the figure that compares them on the same click.

Ask the account manager which offer fits the source you already have, instead of applying for every campaign in the catalog. A short list you are approved to run beats a long list you cannot link.

A direct network and an offer catalog

An offer catalog helps you discover campaigns across many brands. A direct network is where you hold the account, the tracking links, and the payout. Many publishers use both. The catalog is for research. The direct network is for the account you check every morning.

Start that comparison from the Maxlead performance network, then read how to use Affpaying if you also browse that directory. Affpaying is not a CPA network. Affiliates rate other networks there, and the Join button sends you to the network. The account, the tracking link, and the payout stay on the network. The way you judge any network is the list on this page.

Maxlead has operated as a performance network since 2015, with international campaigns and weekly payments to publishers on approved earnings. Open the Maxlead homepage to review the network, look at the campaign examples, and create a publisher account when you are ready to request offers.