pCloud affiliate program: join, rates and payouts
Join the pCloud affiliate program: 20% commission, a 45-day cookie, payouts, and how it differs from referrals.
The pCloud affiliate program pays you 20% commission on the payments of each customer you refer, and it is free to join if you are 18 or older. pCloud also runs a referral program that pays storage, and a reseller program for businesses that sell plans themselves. This guide covers all three, the rules that cost you commission, and which one suits your audience.
You need a pCloud affiliate account (free), a PayPal account to collect payouts, and a blog, channel or newsletter where a link makes sense. Every pCloud fact below comes from pCloud's own pages, linked where it is stated.
How do you join the pCloud affiliate program?
pCloud's affiliate help article lists the steps. You must be at least 18 years old to register, registration is free, and you sign up with pCloud's affiliate invite. Then you set up PayPal in your affiliate settings at partner.pcloud.com, where you also find your banners.
pCloud's affiliate page says the program is open to affiliates worldwide and that you need a PayPal account to receive payments. Registration carries no joining fee.
Set up PayPal in your affiliate settings before you publish your first link. pCloud pays through PayPal, so a payout setting that is missing can hold up your first payment.
What does pCloud pay, and how long does the cookie last?
The help article says you receive 20% of the referee's ongoing monthly payments for as long as their subscription stays active. The affiliate page adds that you can choose a commission model for each referral: 20% of each monthly or annual payment, or 20% of each one-time payment. Once a model is set for a customer, it cannot be changed.
pCloud's affiliate page headline says you can earn up to 300 USD per sale. Read that as a ceiling for the biggest sales, not a typical result. Your income depends on your traffic and on how many readers actually buy.
On tracking, pCloud's own pages disagree. The help article says the cookie is stored for 45 days, and the affiliate page's FAQ says a purchase within 45 days earns the commission. The same page lists 90-day tracking as a feature. Plan around 45 days, and ask pCloud support before you rely on 90.
When and how does pCloud pay?
Commissions are paid monthly around the 16th, and no earlier than 45 days after a successful referral. Plan for your first payment to arrive at least 45 days after your first referral.
The minimum payout is $10 through PayPal and $500 by bank wire.
Payout method | Minimum payout |
|---|---|
PayPal | $10 |
Bank wire | $500 |
You can also use your affiliate earnings to buy pCloud products instead of withdrawing them. The help article says there is no limit on what you can earn.
Which rules cost you commission?
pCloud's help article names three reasons a referral may not pay:
A refund. The customer bought a paid plan, cancelled inside the cancellation period and got their money back.
An untracked click. The customer did not arrive through your link, so the system never linked them to you.
The 45-day wait. The first payment was made less than 45 days ago, so the commission is not due yet.
Paid advertising has its own limits. You cannot place PPC bids on any pCloud trademark, including variations, misspellings and combinations such as "pCloud coupons". You also cannot outrank pCloud's internal paid search ad on any keyword, use www.pcloud.com as a display URL, or run ads that do not match an active pCloud promotion. For email, pCloud gives you banners in your affiliate dashboard, and you include your affiliate link with the banner.
If your dashboard lets you create a separate link for each channel, use one for a review post and another for a newsletter. You can then see which channel brings paying customers.
How does the pCloud referral program work?
The referral program is separate from the affiliate program and pays in storage, not money. You earn 1 GB for each friend who signs up with your link and verifies their account, up to 3 GB. You are also entered into a monthly draw for a Premium Lifetime Plan with 500 GB of storage, and each user can win only once.
One limit matters if you invite many people: referrals from the same IP address are capped at 10 successfully registered users.
You can unlock more free space outside the referral program. According to the same article, you can unlock up to 10 GB on a basic account by completing the Beginner's tutorial, where each step unlocks 1 GB: verify your email, upload a file, log in to the desktop app, log in to the mobile app and enable Automatic Upload. Each successful friend invitation adds another 1 GB until you reach 10 GB.
What do you need to qualify for the pCloud reseller program?
The reseller program is for businesses that sell pCloud plans at their own point of sale, rather than sharing a link. According to the help article, resellers offer and sell pCloud premium plans, collect payment from the customer, and can generate discounted voucher codes that activate a premium account at once. They can set their own prices for all available plans, and reseller discounts are based on the monthly amount of sales.
To qualify you need four things: your own sales point (a website, network, blog or online business), the ability to collect payments from customers, an initial purchase of at least $50 USD to load your reseller account, and monthly sales of at least $100 USD.
Which program suits you?
Program | Pays | Suits | Main catch |
|---|---|---|---|
Affiliate | 20% commission | Bloggers, reviewers, newsletter writers | 45-day wait, refunds cancel commission |
Referral | Up to 3 GB, plus a prize draw | Users who want free space | Small reward, 10 registered users per IP |
Reseller | Your own prices and margin | Shops with a sales point | $50 first purchase, $100 monthly sales |
Join the affiliate program if you already write about storage or software and your readers buy plans. Use the referral program if you are a pCloud user who wants a few extra gigabytes. Consider the reseller program only if you already take payments from customers and can reach the monthly sales level.
Tarkle also has its own affiliate program, covered in the note at the end of this guide.
How do you disclose an affiliate link?
Say it next to the link, in plain words. For example: "This post contains an affiliate link. I earn a commission if you buy through it, at no extra cost to you." In a video, say it out loud as well. Do this on every page and post that carries the link, not only the first one.
Common mistakes
Bidding on "pCloud" or "pCloud coupon" in paid search. The program bans trademark bids.
Counting on 90 days of tracking when the help article says 45.
Spending the commission before it is due. Nothing is paid before the 45 days pass.
Posting your link without disclosure.
Promising readers a result, such as a monthly income. You cannot know it.
A short note on Tarkle
Tarkle is designed primarily for agencies, consulting firms and other client-facing businesses. It can hold personal files too, but if your readers are freelancers, agencies or teams that send files to clients, it is the closer fit. Tarkle's Free plan includes 1 workspace, 5 GB of storage, file sharing and file requests.
Tarkle's affiliate program pays commission in money. It pays 20% of every payment, for as long as the customer stays a paying customer. The tracking cookie lasts 45 days. You apply first, and Tarkle may approve or decline any application. Tarkle pays through PayPal or Wise once your available commission reaches $50. Payouts go out on or around the 16th of the month, after a 45-day hold. The full terms are in Tarkle's affiliate terms.
Tarkle's Refer a friend is separate and pays storage, not cash. Each side gets 5 GB once the new account has verified its email, created its first workspace and 30 days have passed, up to 100 GB in total for each account.
Next step
If you write about storage tools, open the pCloud affiliate page, join, set up PayPal and publish one honest review with a disclosure. If you deliver files to clients, sign up for the Free plan and send a first transfer with file sharing. To see how selling a platform under your own name works, read how to resell cloud storage under your own brand.
What to remember about Tarkle
Tarkle is file sharing and cloud storage for agencies, consulting firms and other client-facing businesses, and its affiliate program pays 20% commission in money. The Free plan is $0 forever with no credit card required, so you can test Tarkle with real files before you recommend it. Start for free.