Proton Drive affiliate program: pay, rules and referral
How Proton's Partners Program and referral credits pay, the rules for each, and what covers your whole account.
The Proton Drive affiliate program is part of one Proton Partners Program that pays a commission on Proton subscriptions, and Proton also runs a separate referral program that pays credit, not cash. This guide keeps the two apart, gives the numbers Proton publishes today, and says which rewards apply to your whole Proton account and which belong to one product. It is written for a privacy-minded blogger who wants to earn from a recommendation and for a Proton user who wants cheaper renewals.
The Proton facts below come from Proton's own pages, read on 31 October 2026, and each link goes to that page. Proton may amend the referral terms at any time without prior notice, so open the source before you publish a figure.
Is there a separate Proton Drive affiliate program?
No. Proton Drive sits inside the Proton Partners Program, which lists Proton Mail, Proton VPN, Proton Drive, Proton Pass and Lumo in one commission table. You sign up once, and you get one partner link. The page says "Your income scales based on the specific subscription plans chosen by the people you refer."
The lowest rate in that table is 30%, shown for new paid subscriptions and for renewals. Check the panel for the product you plan to promote. Quote the page, not a directory, because Proton can change the table.
Which program pays what?
Program | What it pays | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
Proton Partners Program | A commission on subscriptions you refer, paid by bank transfer | Bloggers, YouTubers, publishers and organizations |
Proton referral program | $20 in Proton credits per friend who subscribes, up to $1,000 | Proton users who want credit toward their own plan |
How does the Proton affiliate program work?
The partners page says the program is open to YouTubers and vloggers, bloggers and social influencers, publishers and press, and businesses and organizations. The three steps are: sign up, get your unique partner link and marketing material, then promote Proton and earn a commission on every referral.
The sign-up form asks for a company name, a website and a postal address, so it is built for a site or a business, not for a quick link in a forum post.
On payment, Proton writes: "We pay commissions via direct bank transfer on the 30th of the next calendar month if the amount is greater than $100." Below that amount the commission is deferred until the total passes $100.
The rules for promotion are on the same page:
You may use PPC advertising, but you may not bid on Proton's brand names or their variations, and you should send PPC traffic to your own website first.
The list of banned activities includes spamming, cookie-stuffing, brokering or sub-affiliates, fake traffic and promotion on adult or gambling websites.
Proton asks partners to be objective and accurate in reviews, and says it "will not influence your review".
Partners must disclose their relationship to Proton to their readers.
Put the disclosure above the first Proton link, not in the footer. Example: "This post contains my Proton partner link. If you subscribe through it, I earn a commission." Leave out any promise about what readers or you will earn.
How does the Proton referral program work?
The referral program is for Proton users. You open account.proton.me/referral, copy your link and share it with someone who has never used Proton. Proton's referral help article lists Drive Plus among the plans that earn the reward, next to VPN Plus, Mail Plus, Pass Plus and Proton Unlimited. When your friend subscribes, you both get a $20 credit.
A friend who picks an eligible plan such as Drive Plus also gets a two-week free trial, and does not need to add payment details until the trial ends. The help article says the friend must use your link to sign up, otherwise there is no trial and no credit for you.
The limits are in the referral terms, last modified 9 December 2025:
A single referrer can earn up to $1,000 in Proton credits. Once the cap is reached, the referral link is automatically disabled.
Credits cannot be exchanged for cash or refunded.
The referee must not have previously held a Proton account.
Proton can refuse or revoke rewards for abuse, such as self-referrals, multiple accounts or chargeback abuse.
Employees, contractors, affiliates and admins of Proton Business plans are excluded from the program.
The help article says that if you reach the limit and want to keep earning, you can consider becoming a Proton partner.
Do the rewards apply to the whole Proton account?
Both programs work at the level of Proton, not Proton Drive.
For referrals, the credit is $20 for a friend who subscribes to an eligible paid plan, and the help article says credits go toward your Proton subscription and are applied to your next renewal payment. They are not a Drive-only balance. For the partner program, you have one partner link for every product in the table, and the commission depends on the plan the person you refer chooses.
For an edge case, such as how a referred customer who later changes plan is counted, write to partners@proton.me before you build a page around it.
How do you review Proton fairly?
If you write a review, tell readers what other people report as well as your own experience, and give the praise and the complaints equal room. Proton's partner page asks for the same: objective and accurate reviews.
Where does Tarkle fit?
If your own work is sending files to clients, Tarkle sends them from a file transfer link with your logo and your own domain, and Pro and Agency add a client portal where each client signs in. If you are curious how a file sharing company runs its own program, read the Tarkle affiliate program guide. For another worked example of the same questions, see Dropbox affiliate program vs referrals.
Common mistakes
Looking for a Proton Drive program that does not exist, when Drive is one product inside the Partners Program.
Quoting a commission rate from a directory instead of Proton's own table.
Treating referral credit as cash. Proton says credits cannot be exchanged for cash.
Bidding on Proton's brand names in ads.
Publishing a partner link without a disclosure next to it.
What to remember about Tarkle
Tarkle is where you send files to clients on your own domain, with the branding on every link. The Free plan includes file sharing, file requests, custom branding and a custom domain, so you can try it with real files before you choose a paid plan. Start for free or see pricing.
