Discover the Top 10 Software Reseller Programs for Your Business

The software-as-a-service (SaaS) market is experiencing exponential growth, projected to reach an astounding $908 billion by 2030. This presents an immense opportunity for savvy resellers.

The exciting news? You don’t need to invest years and significant capital in developing your own software to capitalize on this boom. Instead, you can partner with established SaaS providers, reselling their in-demand solutions. This approach often comes with high-profit margins, recurring revenue streams, and minimal upfront costs, making it a lucrative and lower-risk venture for agencies, consultants, and entrepreneurs alike.

10 Best Software Reseller Programs Overview

Explore an overview of the leading software reseller programs:

What is a Software Reseller Program?

A software reseller program empowers businesses and individuals to sell software developed by another company. Instead of building your own platform or application, you forge a partnership with a software vendor. The vendor sells its software to you at a discounted rate, which you then sell to your customers, earning a commission or markup on each transaction.

In essence, you serve as an intermediary between the software company and the end-user. You manage the sales process and receive a share of the revenue, which can be a one-time payment or, more commonly, a recurring commission. A significant advantage of some reseller programs is the option to white-label the software, allowing you to brand it as your own. Crucially, the original company handles all the backend operations, updates, and technical support, freeing you to focus on sales and client relationships.

Reseller Program vs. Affiliate Program

While both reseller and affiliate programs aim to generate sales for a software product, their operational models differ significantly.

What is a Reseller Program?

A reseller program is a business model where you acquire a product or service with the intent to resell it directly to your own customer base. Resellers establish their own pricing, manage customer relationships, and often provide value-added services like implementation or support under their own brand. This model is ideal for those ready to develop a dedicated customer network and manage a traditional business operation.

What is an Affiliate Program?

An affiliate program positions you as a sales representative for an existing business. The primary distinction from a reseller program is that as an affiliate, you typically don’t run your own independent business for that product. You join the affiliate program, receive a unique affiliate link with a tracking code, and then promote this link on your website, blog, or social media. Whenever someone makes a purchase through your link, you earn a commission. Affiliate programs are excellent for generating supplemental income, especially if you already have an established audience or business where these co-marketing opportunities can be integrated seamlessly.

Which model is the best for you?

If you aspire to build a traditional business, control your profit margins, and are prepared to invest the effort in client management and service delivery, becoming a reseller is the optimal path. If you are seeking a flexible side hustle to complement your existing business or content creation, an affiliate program offers a simpler entry point.

Benefits of a Software Reseller Program

Software reseller programs offer numerous advantages for businesses looking to expand their revenue streams:

• Higher Profit Margins: Reselling often yields more substantial commissions compared to affiliate programs, as you control the final selling price and can add value.
• Recurring Revenue: Many reseller programs are subscription-based, meaning you continue to earn as long as your customers remain subscribed to the software, building a predictable income stream.
• Brand Control: White-labeling options allow you to sell software under your own brand, enhancing customer trust and strengthening your brand identity in the market.
• Stronger Customer Relationships: As a reseller, you directly manage your customers, fostering deeper relationships and opening opportunities for upselling, cross-selling, and long-term client retention.
• Custom Sales and Marketing Strategy: You have the freedom to design and implement your own sales and marketing approaches, whether through direct sales, email campaigns, or bundled service offerings.
• Growth Opportunities: With a low-risk model and high reward potential, a reseller partnership can scale steadily with your growing customer base, particularly when targeting the right market segment.
• No Maintenance Costs: The original SaaS provider handles all product updates, bug fixes, and infrastructure management, allowing you to concentrate solely on selling and client support.

What to Look for When Choosing a Software Reseller Program

Not all software reseller programs are created equal. To ensure you select a program that fosters confidence and long-term success, consider these crucial features:

• Initial Setup Costs: Prioritize SaaS providers with minimal setup costs. Lower upfront expenses mean you can achieve profitability faster and compete effectively, even against larger firms, by attracting clients early and establishing a strong market presence.
• Commission Structure: Seek programs that offer high margins or, ideally, recurring revenue. Subscription-based co-marketing opportunities ensure you earn not just once, but continuously as long as the customer maintains their subscription.
• White-labeling: The ability to resell software under your own brand provides full control over the customer experience, helps build trust, and distinguishes you from competitors.
• Marketing and Sales Support: The best reseller programs provide comprehensive marketing materials, such as ready-to-use content, case studies, and email templates, significantly accelerating your deal-closing process.
• Customer Support and Training: Partner with vendors offering robust customer service, thorough onboarding, and reliable technical support. Programs that include a dedicated partner manager can be particularly valuable.
• Integrations: Ensure the software seamlessly integrates with platforms your clients already use. Fewer integration hurdles mean higher client satisfaction and retention.
• Competitive Advantage and Market Demand: Focus on software with a clear competitive edge and strong market demand, backed by positive customer reviews. This ensures easier sales and higher client acquisition.
• Flexibility and Sales Models: Look for programs that offer flexible sales models, such as one-time sales, subscription-based revenue, or volume discounts. This adaptability allows you to cater to diverse client needs and grow your business on your own terms, as a lack of flexible payment options can often hinder deal closures.

10 Best Software Reseller Programs

Here are the top software reseller programs to consider:

1. ActiveCampaign

Partner Program Types: Reseller and Affiliate

ActiveCampaign is a leading marketing automation platform renowned for its powerful email marketing, CRM, and sales automation capabilities. With over 970 integrations and advanced automation features, it stands out as an excellent choice for reselling comprehensive marketing automation services.

Unique Features:

1. Automated campaign builder boasting 900+ templates for diverse marketing needs.
2. Advanced automated sales follow-ups to nurture leads effectively.
3. Intuitive drag-and-drop email newsletter builder featuring 240+ templates.
4. ActiveCampaign AI for content generation, precise segmentation, insightful reporting, and optimized campaign scheduling.
5. Marketing Developer Fund: Provides financial assistance to developers, startups, and agencies building tools that enhance ActiveCampaign’s functionality.

Earning Potential
The ActiveCampaign Partner Program offers a tiered commission structure, allowing resellers to earn between 25% to 55% discounts on plans, with the percentage determined by account volume. Partners also gain access to Marketing Development Funds, providing additional support for sales and marketing initiatives.

SaaS Reseller Program
ActiveCampaign’s partner program equips you with essential tools, training, and support. As a partner, you benefit from dedicated onboarding, robust sales support, product certifications, and valuable co-marketing opportunities, helping you effectively serve and grow your client base.

2. EngageBay

Partner Program Types: Reseller and Affiliate

EngageBay provides an all-in-one marketing, sales, and service platform, positioned as a cost-effective alternative to more premium solutions like HubSpot. Despite its competitive pricing, EngageBay offers an impressive suite of features, including a robust forever-free plan. This free tier allows users to manage contacts, track deals, and automate emails, complete with live chat, appointment scheduling, and email marketing capabilities – all at no upfront cost.

Similar to ActiveCampaign, EngageBay features a drag-and-drop automation workflow for creating personalized emails, assigning tasks, and triggering actions based on customer behavior. It also includes a built-in helpdesk and live chat for comprehensive customer support.

Unique Features:

1. Integrates marketing, sales, and customer support into a unified CRM platform for streamlined operations.
2. Offers a forever-free plan and competitively priced premium plans, making it ideal for startups and small agencies.
3. Includes SMS marketing functionalities for sending personalized text messages directly to customers.
4. Provides flexibility for resellers to set their own pricing, aligning with their unique business models.

Earning Potential
EngageBay resellers have the ability to customize the CRM with their own branding and establish their pricing. The program offers a 50% coverage of the license cost for the first 15 accounts. Specific details regarding the full reseller program are best verified directly on their website.

3. GetResponse MAX

Partner Program Types: Reseller and Affiliate

GetResponse is a well-established email marketing and marketing automation platform, with GetResponse MAX serving as its enterprise-grade offering. Compared to the standard version, MAX delivers an expanded suite of features, including robust webinar hosting capabilities and in-depth audience analytics, catering to larger businesses and agencies with advanced needs.

Unique Features:

1. Dedicated account management for personalized support and strategic guidance.
2. Integrated webinar hosting, allowing you to conduct live or on-demand webinars without relying on third-party tools.
3. Engineered to efficiently manage large contact lists and execute high-volume marketing campaigns.

Earning Potential
GetResponse provides two distinct avenues for earning potential:

• GetResponse Affiliate Program: Earn a 25% commission on every referral that converts into a sale. Affiliates also receive free promotional materials, real-time earning statistics, and exclusive discounts.
• GetResponse MAX Partnership Program: As a GetResponse MAX reseller, you gain exclusive access to products and a significant 40-50% discount. This allows you to offer competitive pricing and potentially earn even if clients choose not to proceed with your full bundled offer. Additional perks include dedicated onboarding and a specialized sales expert to support your efforts.

4. HubSpot

Partner Program Types: Reseller and Affiliate

HubSpot is a renowned all-in-one inbound marketing, sales, and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform. It allows businesses to significantly expand their service offerings by leveraging HubSpot’s extensive ecosystem of tools. While ActiveCampaign excels in deep marketing automation, HubSpot offers a far more comprehensive platform covering a broader range of business functions. It shares similarities with EngageBay in its all-in-one approach, but HubSpot is generally positioned for larger businesses with a higher price point.

Unique Features:

1. A powerful free CRM that includes essential marketing automation, campaign reporting, ad management, Stripe payment processing, and live chat functionalities.
2. An extensive library of free courses and certifications through HubSpot Academy, providing invaluable educational resources.

Earning Potential:
As a HubSpot affiliate, you can earn a 20% commission on referred accounts. Additionally, certified partners have opportunities to generate revenue through onboarding services, training, and consulting, leveraging their expertise in the platform.

SaaS Reseller Program:
The HubSpot Solution Partner Program is primarily designed for agencies aiming to diversify their service offerings and deepen their expertise in HubSpot’s products. The program features a structured tiered system: Untiered, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Elite, rewarding partners for their commitment and sales performance.

5. Pipedrive

Partner Program Types: Reseller and Affiliate

Pipedrive is a specialized CRM platform recognized for its intuitive interface and smart customer management tools, specifically tailored for sales teams. Unlike HubSpot’s broader, all-in-one approach, Pipedrive focuses more intensely on pipeline management, optimizing the sales process from lead to conversion.

Unique Features:

1. A highly visual Kanban-style board that offers a clear representation of the sales pipeline, making it easy to track progress.
2. Customizable pipeline stages, allowing users to align the CRM precisely with their unique sales processes.
3. Robust sales automation features for efficient follow-up emails and timely activity reminders.
4. Comprehensive target setting and reporting tools to monitor performance and drive sales goals.

Earning Potential:
Pipedrive offers a tiered affiliate program, where new affiliates can earn a 20% commission on the customer’s subscription for the first 12 months. For partners who consistently refer 2-5 sales per month for at least six consecutive months, the commission rate can increase to an impressive 30%.

SaaS Reseller Program:
The Pipedrive Solution Providers Program is designed for resellers who wish to integrate Pipedrive with their professional services, such as consulting or implementation. As a partner, you take on responsibilities for sales, billing, initial technical support, and account management.

This program mandates specific technical certifications and commitments, ensuring partners are well-equipped:

For both tiers:

• New partners must complete the necessary certifications within six months of joining and ensure these certifications remain current.
• Resellers are responsible for providing Tier 1 support to address customer issues related to their implementation or configuration of Pipedrive.

These requirements ensure that Pipedrive partners deliver high-quality service and expertise to their clients.

6. Keap

Partner Program Types: Reseller and Affiliate

Keap is a robust CRM and marketing automation platform specifically designed for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Its intuitive drag-and-drop automation builder allows users to effortlessly set up workflows for personalized email campaigns, appointment scheduling, and actions triggered by customer behavior.

Keap’s CRM excels at capturing lead details from various sources—emails, web forms, and social media—ensuring no potential customer is overlooked. Compared to EngageBay, Keap offers integrated invoicing and payment processing, a feature EngageBay currently lacks. However, EngageBay provides an integrated helpdesk and live chat. Keap further distinguishes itself with a more advanced automation builder, an automated AI assistant, and dedicated business phone lines for professional communication management.

Unique Features:

1. Automated appointment scheduling: Clients can book meetings directly through Keap, which syncs with your calendar and dispatches automated confirmations.
2. Integrated invoicing and payments for streamlined financial management within the platform.
3. Dedicated business phone line functionality to manage calls and texts, separating professional communications from personal ones.

Earning Potential:
As an affiliate, you can earn a 20-30% commission on referrals. Additionally, certified partners can generate revenue by providing consulting and priority support services. Through the Certified Partner Program, you can earn a 20-30% recurring commission for every Keap app you sell. Keap offers a convenient calculator to estimate the additional revenue you’ll generate as a Keap certified partner.

SaaS Reseller Program:
Keap’s software partner program is tailored for business consultants, agencies, and sales and marketing professionals. The partner certification involves self-paced online training, culminating in a practice project. Completion typically ranges from 10-24 working hours, depending on your familiarity with Keap CRM.

Upon training completion, an assigned partner coach provides resources and strategies to accelerate your partner success. Partners begin with a 20% commission, which can increase based on your yearly Keap sales production.

7. Semrush

Partner Program Types: Reseller and Affiliate

Semrush is a leading SEO and content marketing platform, offering an extensive array of features for improving search rankings and online visibility. With tools for keyword research, backlink analysis, and site auditing, it empowers businesses to uncover audience search intent, assess demand for products or services, and identify missed opportunities to boost website traffic.

The Keyword Gap tool is particularly useful for comparing your keyword rankings against competitors, revealing strategic areas for improvement. Additionally, its backlink analysis capabilities allow you to dissect competitors’ strategies and identify high-authority domains to target for link acquisition.

Unique Features:

1. Keyword Magic tool for uncovering high-volume search terms and long-tail keywords.
2. Site audit tool that comprehensively scans websites for technical issues and provides actionable insights for optimization.
3. Position tracking tool for diligently monitoring daily changes in keyword rankings and search engine results.

Earning Potential:
Semrush offers an affiliate program where you can earn a 30% commission on each sale or $10 for every new trial activation. The program operates on a last-click attribution model with an extended 120-day cookie life, ensuring you receive credit for conversions even if the sales cycle is prolonged.

SaaS Reseller Program:
Beyond its affiliate program, Semrush actively seeks collaboration with regional resellers. These partners play a crucial role in expanding Semrush’s presence in various markets by working closely with customers. Resellers are responsible for defining localized marketing and sales strategies and managing customer success initiatives, making them integral to Semrush’s global growth.

8. Unbounce

Partner Program Types: Reseller and Affiliate

Unbounce is a specialized platform for creating high-converting landing pages, enabling businesses to boost conversions without the need for extensive developer resources. It distinguishes itself through a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface and innovative AI-powered features designed to optimize campaign performance.

Unique Features:

1. A powerful Smart Builder that simplifies landing page creation, offering data-backed insights and over 100 customizable templates.
2. AI-powered Smart Traffic, which automatically analyzes visitor attributes and directs them to the page version most likely to convert, maximizing efficiency.
3. Dynamic text replacement, a feature that automatically personalizes your landing page content to align with the visitor’s specific search terms, enhancing relevance.

Earning Potential:
Unbounce offers an attractive partner program with 35% recurring revenue for the first 12 months of each referred customer. Each partner is also provided with a dedicated account manager and access to comprehensive sales enablement materials to support their efforts.

SaaS Reseller Program:
Unbounce’s certified partner program is tailored for marketers, agencies, and engaged customers. SaaS partners can earn up to 35% of the monthly revenue for every new customer they refer, making it a lucrative opportunity to integrate landing page optimization services into existing offerings.

9. Wix

Partner Program Types: Reseller and Affiliate

Wix is a popular website-building platform that simplifies the creation of professional-looking websites. Its user-friendly drag-and-drop editor, combined with over 900 customizable templates, allows for the effortless construction of full websites, not just landing pages like Unbounce. Users can easily integrate blogs, online stores, and portfolios, making it a versatile solution for a wide range of web development needs.

Unique Features:

1. An extensive library of more than 900 website templates, catering to diverse industries such as business consulting, health & wellness, travel, and e-commerce.
2. A robust marketplace featuring over 100 applications and integrations to extend website functionality.
3. Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) that can create a personalized website experience by simply answering a series of guided questions.

Earning Potential:
Wix partners can earn a 20%+ revenue share for every Wix Studio Premium site published, and a substantial 25% for each Enterprise client onboarded. This tiered structure rewards partners for higher-value client acquisitions.

SaaS Reseller Program:
Wix facilitates partnerships with SaaS resellers through its dedicated Resellers API. This allows partners to offer paid Wix services directly to their customers. As a SaaS reseller, you assume responsibility for the entire purchase flow, including the checkout experience, payment processing, and comprehensive post-purchase management, giving you full control over the client journey.

10. Shopify

Partner Program Types: Reseller and Affiliate

Shopify is the premier e-commerce platform for creating, customizing, and managing online stores. Renowned for its user-friendly interface and extensive ecosystem of over 10,300 integrations, Shopify caters to both e-commerce beginners and seasoned merchants, providing a powerful yet accessible solution for online retail.

Unique Features:

1. A vast selection of sales channels, including an online store, social media integrations, and Shopify POS for in-person sales.
2. Access to over 10,300 integrations through the Shopify App Store, allowing for significant store functionality enhancements.
3. Affordable starting price of $19/month, which includes features like 10 inventory locations, localized global selling for up to 3 markets, POS Lite, and 24/7 chat support.

Earning Potential:
Shopify partners can generate revenue in multiple ways: by building new stores, developing custom apps, and referring new merchants. When you create and transfer a development store to a client who then subscribes to a paid plan, you earn a recurring commission of 20% of that merchant’s monthly subscription fee. For referring new Shopify Plus merchants, you also receive a recurring commission of 20% of the merchant’s monthly base platform fee, offering substantial long-term earning potential.

SaaS Reseller Program:
The Shopify Partner Program provides comprehensive sales training resources, detailed documentation, and dedicated support. This robust ecosystem empowers partners to effectively assist merchants in building, scaling, and optimizing their online businesses, fostering mutual success in the e-commerce landscape.

Find the Best Software Reseller Program for Your Business

We’ve explored the top software reseller programs available, but selecting the ideal one for your business hinges on your specific focus and client needs.

If your agency’s core strength lies in marketing automation, ActiveCampaign presents a robust and highly scalable option. For those navigating the CRM software industry, the choice between HubSpot and Keap can be nuanced. HubSpot boasts a perpetually free CRM plan and comprehensive customer service tools, while Keap integrates invoicing, payment processing, and advanced appointment scheduling (a feature HubSpot offers via integration). HubSpot generally covers broader business functions, while Keap excels in specialized automation and client management for SMBs.

For e-commerce agencies, Shopify remains the undisputed leader, offering unparalleled tools for online store creation and management. Meanwhile, Wix stands out as an excellent choice for web development agencies, particularly its partner program which facilitates significant revenue generation, especially when onboarding Enterprise clients.

Whatever your specialization, exploring these reseller programs can unlock a valuable additional revenue stream as a SaaS partner, enhancing your service offerings and business growth.

Software Reseller Programs FAQ