I signed up, paid for a membership, and spent over two weeks going through everything Wealthy Affiliate has to offer. I wanted to see if it’s actually a good place to start affiliate marketing or if it’s just riding on its early 2000s reputation.
In this review, I’ll walk you through what I found—both the good and the not-so-good. You’ll learn about the founders, the quality of the training, how people are making money with it (and how some aren’t), and why so many reviews online seem a little too positive.
So if you’re trying to figure out if Wealthy Affiliate is the right place to start or grow your affiliate journey, stick around.
Before we dive in..
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Key Takeaways(if you’re in a hurry!)
- Wealthy Affiliate is an online platform that teaches people how to make money through affiliate marketing by building niche websites and promoting products for commissions.
- The program offers you step-by-step training, giving you the tools to build and host a website, offering keyword research tools, and connecting you with a community for support.
- The platform was created by Kyle Loudoun and Carson Lim, two long-time affiliate marketers who share what worked for them and help others succeed online.
- There’s a free starter plan to try things out, but the main training and tools are behind a paid membership that starts at $58 a month or $697 a year, with a higher-tier option available for more advanced features.
- VERDICT: Wealthy Affiliate is a legit program that delivers on its promise of training and resources, though your actual results will depend on your dedication, outside learning, and how well you apply what you’ve been taught.
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What is Wealthy Affiliate?
Wealthy Affiliate is a membership-based platform that teaches you how to make money online through affiliate marketing. The core idea is simple: build a niche website, create content, get traffic—mostly from Google—and monetize it by promoting products and earning commissions.
The platform was co-founded by Kyle Loudoun and Carson Lim back in 2005, and since then, it’s grown to a community of over 1.4 million members, making it one of the most well-known affiliate marketing training programs out there.
The training starts with the basics: how to pick a niche, build a website using their built-in site builder, and write blog content that’s optimized for SEO. You’ll also find lessons on paid traffic strategies (like running ads), keyword research, and scaling your site. Along with the training, members get access to tools like a keyword research tool, web hosting, and an active online community.
Wealthy Affiliate also doubles as an affiliate program. In fact, one of the biggest ways members make money is by promoting Wealthy Affiliate itself. They offer a dedicated “Affiliate Bootcamp” to teach you how to market the platform, and you can earn commissions of around $121 per sale. The promotional tools are all provided—custom landing pages, banners, keyword lists, and tracking links.
In short, Wealthy Affiliate is part training platform, part affiliate program, and part community. It’s designed mainly for beginners who are starting from scratch—but, as you’ll see later in this review, there are a few things to be aware of before you jump in.
Who Is Wealthy Affiliate For?
Wealthy Affiliate is clearly built with beginners in mind. If you’re new to affiliate marketing and don’t know where to start, it can give you a decent introduction to how the business model works.
The step-by-step structure, simple website builder, and beginner-friendly training make it approachable if you’ve never built a site or written blog content before.
It’s also geared toward those who want to make money by promoting Wealthy Affiliate itself. Because of its built-in affiliate program, some people join just to go through the “Affiliate Bootcamp” training and start referring others to the platform. The commissions are recurring, which can be attractive if you manage to get people to sign up under you and stick around.
But here’s the thing: if you already know the basics of affiliate marketing—things like SEO, keyword research, or using AI content tools—you’re probably going to feel like you’ve outgrown the training. It doesn’t go very deep, and some of the strategies feel outdated in 2025.
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Who Is Behind Wealthy Affiliate?
Wealthy Affiliate was founded by two Canadian entrepreneurs, Kyle Loudoun and Carson Lim, back in 2005.
The platform has grown massively since then, claiming over a million members, but at its core, it still revolves around the vision these two had: to help everyday people build affiliate marketing websites and potentially build a successful online business.
Kyle Loudoun
Kyle is the more public-facing of the two. He’s not just the co-founder—he’s actively involved in the community, often writing blog posts, responding to comments, and sharing updates. His background is in computer science, but his real passion kicked in when he discovered affiliate marketing as a college student.
He didn’t exactly strike gold on day one. In fact, he had to borrow money from his girlfriend (now wife) to run his first PPC campaigns. After making a modest $75 in his first month, he kept pushing, and by the sixth month, he was earning five figures. That grind-it-out mentality is a big part of the Wealthy Affiliate brand.
Carson Lim
Carson is more behind the scenes but equally important. He’s also a computer science guy, with a long-standing interest in tech that goes back to his first computer in 1994. Carson handles much of the technical side of the platform and occasionally pops into the community for live chats and updates.
How Much Money Can You Make With Wealthy Affiliate?
Let’s be real—this is the question everyone wants answered. And like with most affiliate marketing courses, the answer is: it depends.
Wealthy Affiliate doesn’t guarantee earnings, and for good reason. If you only sign up for the free Starter plan, you can expect to make exactly zero dollars. The free membership gives you a small taste of the platform, but not enough to actually build a business unless you immediately start promoting Wealthy Affiliate itself.
If you upgrade to a paid membership and put in the work—building a site, creating content regularly, experimenting with paid traffic—you could start earning. But even then, there are some caveats. A lot of the training feels outdated, and with so many affiliate marketers out there using more advanced strategies, it’s hard to stay competitive if you’re relying only on what WA teaches.
From what I’ve seen, most members who do make money tend to do so by promoting Wealthy Affiliate to others. That’s where the Affiliate Bootcamp comes in, and that’s also why you’ll find so many overly positive WA reviews online—they’re often written by affiliates hoping to earn a commission from you signing up.
So, is it possible to make money with Wealthy Affiliate? Technically, yes. But it’s going to require a lot of effort, patience, and likely some skills you won’t learn inside the platform. If you’re expecting to hit four or five figures a month just by following the training to the letter, you’ll probably be disappointed.
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What’s Inside the Wealthy Affiliate Members Area?
Once you join Wealthy Affiliate, you’re taken into a dashboard that feels like a mix between an online course platform and a social network. It’s packed with training, tools, and a pretty active community—but let’s break down what’s actually inside so you know what to expect.
Wealthy Affiliate is built around five core areas:
- Online Entrepreneur Certification
- Affiliate Bootcamp
- Live Events
- WA Community
- Tools (SiteRubix & Jaaxy)
1. Online Entrepreneur Certification
This is Wealthy Affiliate’s foundational course. It’s aimed at beginners who want to create a niche website unrelated to promoting WA itself.
If you’ve ever thought about starting a blog or website in a topic you’re passionate about—whether that’s dogs, home décor, personal finance, or plant care—this is where you’ll start.
The certification course is divided into 5 levels, each with 10 lessons:
- Level 1: Getting Started
Teaches the basic structure of affiliate marketing and how to pick a niche. You’ll learn how to set up a website using their SiteRubix builder and publish your first few pieces of content. - Level 2: Building Your Own Traffic-Producing Website
This level digs into SEO and shows you how to start ranking on Google. You’ll learn about keywords, internal linking, user experience, and basic site structure. - Level 3: Making Money
Once traffic starts trickling in, this section introduces ways to monetize—affiliate links, ads, product reviews, and comparison articles. It’s where you start thinking about how to turn clicks into commissions. - Level 4: Mastering Social Engagement
Here, the focus shifts to using platforms like Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook to drive more traffic and build a brand outside of just Google. - Level 5: Content Creation
You’ll learn how to write posts that are both search-friendly and helpful to readers. This includes tips on formatting, using headings, call-to-actions, and improving engagement metrics.
Overall, the Online Entrepreneur Certification is great if you’re starting completely from scratch and want to build a website around a topic you already love.
2. Affiliate Bootcamp
The Affiliate Bootcamp is Wealthy Affiliate’s second major training path—and it’s a big one. It’s made up of 7 phases and 70 in-depth lessons, all designed to teach you how to promote Wealthy Affiliate itself as an affiliate.
Yes, you read that right. While the Online Entrepreneur Certification walks you through building a niche site in any topic under the sun, the Bootcamp narrows your focus to one: the “make money online” space. That’s where things can get a bit controversial, but I’ll get to that in a second.
Here’s what each phase in the Bootcamp covers:
- Phase 1: Getting Your Business Rolling
You’ll learn the basics of setting up a site specifically to promote Wealthy Affiliate. This includes choosing a domain, installing WordPress, and understanding the fundamentals of the affiliate model WA uses. - Phase 2: Content, Keywords, and Conversions
This phase focuses on how to write content that ranks and converts—particularly reviews, comparison posts, and tutorials that lead people toward signing up for WA through your link. - Phase 3: Giving Your Site Social Value
It dives into building your social presence, particularly on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. The goal is to make your brand look legit and trustworthy beyond just SEO. - Phase 4: Get Visual – Get Aesthetic – Get a Brand Through Media
As the name suggests, this one’s about presentation. You’ll learn how to improve your branding through visuals, logos, banners, and media that give your site a more polished, professional look. - Phase 5: Knowing Your Audiences and Catapulting Your Referrals
This part gets deeper into understanding different customer profiles and how to speak to their needs, objections, and motivations in your content. - Phase 6: Yahoo, Bing & The Power of PPC
Here, WA introduces paid traffic strategies using Yahoo and Bing Ads. It’s a relatively safe place for beginners to dip their toes into pay-per-click without jumping straight into the deep end of Google Ads. - Phase 7: How to Scale Profitable PPC Campaigns
This phase is about optimizing and scaling. You’ll learn how to track conversions, refine ad copy, and manage your PPC budget to grow affiliate earnings in a sustainable way.
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3. Wealthy Affiliate Live Events (Webinars)
One of the better features inside Wealthy Affiliate is the weekly live expert classes, usually hosted by Jay Neill, who’s known within the platform as the “Live Training Coach.” These webinars are held once a week and typically cover everything from SEO updates to content strategies, site audits, niche research, email marketing—you name it.
Unlike some of the pre-recorded training modules that feel a bit outdated (yes, some of them still mention tools like Google Webmaster Tools, which was rebranded years ago to Google Search Console), the live webinars are actually current. This is where you’ll likely pick up the most relevant, up-to-date information—especially if you’re trying to stay on top of how Google is evolving or how to refine your affiliate content strategy.
What’s great is that all sessions are recorded and available in the archive, so you can watch them anytime—even if you can’t make the live broadcast. And at the bottom of each replay page, there’s usually an active comment section where members ask questions, share experiences, or dive deeper into whatever topic was covered.
Now, to be fair, some of these webinars are geared toward promoting Wealthy Affiliate itself, so there’s still that leaning toward keeping things “in the family.” But overall, the webinars are especially helpful if you’re looking to learn affiliate marketing in real time, rather than relying solely on outdated modules.
4. Wealthy Affiliate Community
One of the more talked-about aspects of Wealthy Affiliate is its community. Inside the members area, you’ll find an active space where people are encouraged to write posts, ask questions, and respond to each other’s challenges and wins. The idea is to create a “pay it forward culture”—help others, and they’ll help you in return.
In theory, it sounds great. A supportive community can go a long way when you’re trying to learn affiliate marketing and build a business that actually succeeds. There’s always someone online to answer questions, give feedback, or drop a motivational comment.
But here’s the thing—how Wealthy Affiliate leans so heavily on its community can also be a double-edged sword.
If your main goal is to build a successful affiliate site or blog, constant engagement with other members can become a distraction. You could end up spending more time chatting than building. It’s easy to fall into the trap of reading “success posts” or chasing after trending niches someone claims is making them thousands—only to abandon your own plan before it ever had a chance to work.
Yes, being part of the Wealthy Affiliate community gives you a sense of belonging, and sometimes, the motivation you need to keep pushing. But at the end of the day, everyone is there for themselves. If you join, it’s best to treat the community like a tool—not the entire toolbox.
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5. Tools: SiteRubix & Jaaxy
Wealthy Affiliate offers two primary tools to support your affiliate marketing journey: SiteRubix for website creation and hosting, and Jaaxy for keyword research.
SiteRubix: Build and Host Your Website
SiteRubix is Wealthy Affiliate’s integrated platform that allows members to create and host websites. It simplifies the process of purchasing a domain, setting up a website, and managing hosting—all within the WA ecosystem.
While this integration offers convenience, it’s important to consider long-term implications. If you decide to leave Wealthy Affiliate, your website hosted on SiteRubix may be removed. Although it’s possible to transfer your site to another host, the process can be complex and may lead to technical issues.
For greater control and flexibility, you might consider registering your domain through services like GoDaddy or Namecheap and hosting your site with providers such as Bluehost. This approach can offer better reliability and ease of management, especially as your business grows.
Jaaxy: Keyword Research Tool
Jaaxy is Wealthy Affiliate’s proprietary keyword research tool, designed to help users identify profitable keywords for their niche. It provides data on average monthly searches, traffic potential, competition (QSR), and SEO scores.
While Jaaxy offers a user-friendly interface suitable for beginners, it has limitations compared to more advanced tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush. For instance, Jaaxy’s data may lack depth in areas such as backlink analysis and SERP feature tracking. Additionally, some users have reported discrepancies between Jaaxy’s keyword data and actual search performance.
Jaaxy is available in several tiers:
- Jaaxy Starter: Free with 30 keyword searches.
- Jaaxy Lite: Included with Wealthy Affiliate Premium membership.
- Jaaxy Pro: $49/month, offering enhanced features and faster performance.
- Jaaxy Enterprise: $99/month, designed for advanced users requiring extensive data and automation.
While Jaaxy can be a helpful starting point for those new to affiliate marketing, investing in more comprehensive SEO tools may be beneficial as your business scales.
How Much Does Wealthy Affiliate Cost?
Let’s talk money—because if you’re thinking about joining Wealthy Affiliate, you should know exactly what you’re getting into financially.
Wealthy Affiliate offers a free starter membership, allowing newcomers to dip their toes into online marketing and see the potential that affiliate is simply amazing for generating income. However, the free tier is limited.
The Premium membership costs $49 per month, and you get access to to the full suite of training, tools, hosting, and support—all wrapped into one subscription.
If you go with the annual option, you’re looking at:
- $497 per year for the Premium plan
- $697 per year for the Premium Plus plan
Sure, the yearly option saves you a bit compared to paying monthly—but let’s not pretend this is cheap. Over time, it adds up. And here’s the catch: it’s a subscription. As long as you’re a member, you’re paying. Stop paying, and you lose access to everything—training, hosting, support, your tools… the whole package.
Now compare that to some of the top-rated affiliate marketing courses out there—The Authority Site System or Affiliate Lab, for example. Those are one-time payments, often in the same price range or less, and you get lifetime updates. With Wealthy Affiliate, there’s no lifetime access, just recurring bills.
And if you’re wondering whether you can try it out and get a refund if it’s not for you—you can’t. Wealthy Affiliate has a strict no-refund policy. You can cancel anytime, sure, but whatever you’ve paid, it’s gone. Whether you signed up for the monthly or went all in for the yearly plan—there’s no getting that money back.
So while it’s often marketed as an “affordable way to start affiliate marketing,” it’s worth being clear-eyed: Wealthy Affiliate isn’t as budget-friendly as it seems, especially when you consider the long-term costs and the fact that you’re stuck with the subscription model.
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Wealthy Affiliate Reviews
When evaluating Wealthy Affiliate (WA), it’s essential to consider user experiences to understand its effectiveness. Here’s a breakdown of what users are saying:
Many newcomers to affiliate marketing appreciate WA’s structured training and active community. One Reddit user shared:
“I’ve been with Wealthy Affiliate for a year now and I’ve got to say that it is a fantastic tool if you want to learn how to build an online business.”
—mattp27
On Trustpilot, Wealthy Affiliate holds a TrustScore of 4.7 out of 5, with over 640 reviews. And more than 90% of reviewers give it a full 5 stars.
One user shared:
I have been a member of WA since 2015 and they have always stayed up to date in the area of Affiliate Marketing. Especially since there have been so many changes in the industry in the past year or so, WA has always kept up and stayed with the times and changes. I run a successful online business today because of WA. I am totally satisfied with all they have to offer.
These testimonials suggest that WA can be a valuable resource for those starting their journey in affiliate marketing, offering guidance and a community-driven environment.
However, not all feedback is positive. Some users express concerns about the platform’s training materials and technical support. One user noted:
“A joke of a programme
Outdated material, misleading and with the order of contents in the wrong way. Can’t believe I wasted my time with them for more than half a year.
Kyle never replied to my messages. And when I had a technical issue with my website, support suddenly stopped to respond to me. Appalling
Another user criticized the hosting services:
“Their hosting is TRASH… there are numerous bugs that were reported… and even my own sites would go down occasionally (for no reason).”
— Vivsterz17
Most of the positive reviews I found were generally favorable but lacked any real proof of earnings. On the flip side, the negative reviews raised two recurring issues—many users said they didn’t make any money with the program, while others felt it operated more like a multi-level marketing scheme than a genuine opportunity.
Is Wealthy Affiliate a MLM or Pyramid Scheme?
Wealthy Affiliate isn’t a pyramid scheme or a traditional MLM. But if you’ve spent any time exploring the platform, it’s easy to see why the question keeps coming up.
A pyramid scheme is built around paying to join and making money solely by recruiting others, with no real product or service involved. That’s not the case here. With Wealthy Affiliate, you pay for access to training, website tools, and community support—so there’s a tangible product.
That said, a big chunk of the community focuses almost entirely on promoting Wealthy Affiliate itself. And the platform incentivizes that through commissions—especially for Premium members, who earn double. So while it’s not technically MLM, the setup does resemble one: you promote the program to bring in new people who also promote the program. The cycle is clear.
To be fair, the training covers broader affiliate marketing tactics. You can build websites in any niche and promote products from places like Amazon or ClickBank. But in practice, many users bypass that and go straight into promoting Wealthy Affiliate—because it’s the fastest route to a commission.
So is it an MLM? Not by definition. You’re not required to recruit to earn. But the way the affiliate program is integrated into the training gives it a definite MLM-like feel.
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Is Wealthy Affiliate Legit?
Yes—Wealthy Affiliate is legit. You pay for a membership, and you get access to what’s advertised: training modules, keyword tools, community support, and live coaching. No bait and switch.
But whether it actually helps you build a profitable business online is a different question.
Many members sign up hoping to create niche affiliate sites, but quickly find themselves nudged toward promoting Wealthy Affiliate itself. It’s a recurring pattern—especially when most of the platform’s success stories revolve around people earning commissions by referring others to the program.
That doesn’t make it a scam. You’re still getting a functional platform with tools and support. But it does create a sense that the real business model lies in selling the very thing you just bought.
So while Wealthy Affiliate delivers what it promises, the path to success often feels narrowly focused. If your goal is to build a long-term, independent affiliate business outside the WA ecosystem, you may need to look beyond its core training.
Wealthy Affiliate – My Review/Experience
After spending a significant amount of time inside the program, going through the training, using the tools, and even engaging with the community, I’ve got a pretty balanced perspective on what Wealthy Affiliate really offers — and where it falls short.
Let me break it down.
The Good Stuff First
To start with, Wealthy Affiliate is simply one of the more accessible programs out there for beginners. You don’t need any prior experience to jump in. The training is laid out in structured phases, and you’re encouraged early on to choose a business idea and start building around it.
For someone new to affiliate marketing, that can be helpful. Instead of endlessly researching how to get started, you’re pushed to take action, which in many ways keeps you ahead of the paralysis that stops most people from launching anything at all.
I also appreciated the access to community support — something that’s surprisingly underrated. The live chat, forums, and ability to connect with long-time members can genuinely help when you’re stuck or just need validation on an idea.
And if you’re completely new to search engine optimization, Wealthy Affiliate does provide a solid foundation on on-page SEO. You’ll learn how to structure your posts, target keywords, and improve readability, which is crucial for ranking.
You can also cancel your membership anytime, which gives a bit of peace of mind if you’re unsure about a long-term commitment.
What I did not Like
1. Outdated Material
Wealthy Affiliate training is severely outdated. I ran into lessons referencing Google Plus — a platform that was shut down in 2019. There are videos from as far back as 2013 explaining how to respond to blog comments. The internet evolves fast, especially within affiliate marketing alone, and relying on decade-old strategies puts you behind the curve — not ahead of it.
2. A Course Structure That’s… All Over the Place
One of the most frustrating parts was how the course sequence felt jumbled. At one point, you’re told to start writing content — lots of it. Then later, you’re shown how to properly structure a blog post. That kind of out-of-order guidance can be really discouraging for beginners who are trying to build confidence, not backtrack and redo their work.
3. SEO Advice That Feels Half-Finished
Another major red flag for me was the SEO philosophy. There’s a heavy emphasis on on-page SEO, but almost no discussion of off-page strategies. The idea that you can consistently rank for meaningful keywords without any backlinks is not just wishful — it’s misleading. In reality, ranking well in competitive niches often requires more than just good writing. You need a link profile that shows authority, and unfortunately, Wealthy Affiliate glosses over this.
Final Thoughts
So where do I stand after using Wealthy Affiliate?
It’s a decent starting point if you’re brand new, and want to learn how affiliate marketing and online marketing works from a high-level perspective.
It gives you a structured way to choose a business idea, build a site, and get comfortable with basic SEO. The access to community support is helpful, and if nothing else, the platform forces you to take action.
But if you’re aiming to be ahead of the curve, I’d argue you’ll eventually outgrow it — or find yourself frustrated by its limitations. The training doesn’t keep pace with the real world, the SEO strategy is incomplete, and the hard-sell affiliate recruitment approach gets tiring. Plus, some of the claims simply don’t hold up when you scrutinize them.
I’ve since moved on to using more current resources for my affiliate sites and SEO education. Still, Wealthy Affiliate was part of the journey — and for that, I’m glad I checked it out.
Before You Go…
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