ClickBank vs Hotmart: Which Platform is BEST for Marketers? [2024]
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you purchase something through the links below, I will receive a commission at no cost to you. Learn more.
Choosing the right affiliate offers for your audience always delivers the highest conversions and commissions over the long run. So today, we’re going to take a look at two of the top affiliate marketplaces and evaluate ClickBank vs Hotmart to see which one may be right for your situation.
TL;DR:
- ClickBank is better for beginners, with a large catalog of digital products and high commission rates. It is a staple in the US and other English-speaking countries.
- Hotmart specializes in online courses and dominates in Brazil and Latin America. It has a strong affiliate program.
- ClickBank has a wider range of products beyond just courses, including physical products. Hotmart focuses specifically on eLearning.
ClickBank vs Hotmart: At a Glance
ClickBank vs Hotmart: My Experience
As an online marketer with almost a decade in the industry, I’ve worked with various affiliate platforms.
When I started as an affiliate marketer, ClickBank was one of the first networks I joined. At the time, ClickBank offered a treasure trove of digital products in niches that appealed to my audience. I found several solid offers to promote and saw some steady commissions rolling in during my first couple of years.
However, it seems ClickBank has geared more towards health, relationships and spirituality offers nowadays rather than products specifically for online business and marketing purposes.
Because of this, I began struggling to find internet marketing offers on ClickBank that truly resonated with my audience and provided real value. Another side effect was that the offers that were still high-quality became ultra-competitive to promote as an affiliate.
My personal experience (in my niche) led me to virtually stop promoting ClickBank affiliate offers altogether in the past few years.
On the flip side, I joined Hotmart last year but have yet to actively promote affiliate products from their marketplace.
I have not taken the time to thoroughly evaluate Hotmart’s catalog. Before considering promoting any Hotmart offers, I would need to vet the quality of their courses and ensure they align with the interests of my audience.
Regardless of platform, finding the right balance between quality affiliate products and an engaged audience is one of the keys to success as an affiliate marketer.
Which One is More Popular?
Based on Google Trends data, ClickBank has a higher average search volume over time. However, as of this article, Hotmart is now equally popular as ClickBank.
Search volume is usually a good indication of overall popularity.
Below is a chart comparing the organic search popularity of ClickBank and Hotmart over the last 12 months.
About ClickBank
Founded in 1998, ClickBank is an online marketplace that features over 6 million products from 130,000 vendors and serves over 30 million customers globally.
The platform is best known for hosting a wide range of products in the internet marketing, online business, and software niches.
With over 100,000 active affiliates, ClickBank has become a key monetization channel for info and software businesses.
Check out this list of the 11 Best ClickBank Alternatives for Affiliate Marketers
Why You Should Choose ClickBank
With over 6 million registered members, ClickBank stands out as one of the leading digital marketplaces connecting affiliate marketers with product creators.
If you’re looking to promote offers or sell your own products, ClickBank provides key advantages:
Extensive catalog of offers – Browse and filter thousands of products across niches like health, relationships, finance, and more to find relevant offers tailored to your audience. The diverse marketplace makes it easy to match products that resonate.
High commission rates – ClickBank products often pay generous commissions between 50-75% to reward affiliate efforts. Their competitive rates optimize your earning potential.
Trust and recognition – As an early industry pioneer, ClickBank has an established brand presence. Customers recognize and trust the ClickBank name.
User-friendly platform – The dashboard lets you conveniently track detailed analytics like EPC, conversion rates, and commission totals to optimize promotions.
Valuable resources – ClickBank University offers free tools and education for both affiliate marketers and product creators. Useful for beginners.
Other ClickBank Comparisons
How to Sign Up as a ClickBank Affiliate
Signing up as an affiliate on Clickbank is free and takes only a few minutes.
Here is the link to sign up for a ClickBank affiliate account.
Once your account is approved, you’ll access the ClickBank marketplace containing thousands of offers across niches.
You’ll be able to browse products, scout offers relevant to your audience and generate unique affiliate links to share with your audience.
Be sure to set up your payment method by going into account settings.
Connecting your preferred payout option like direct deposit or PayPal ensures you get paid out reliably each period when your commissions are due.
How to Find ClickBank Offers to Promote
Once you have signed up as a ClickBank affiliate, navigate to the Affiliate Marketplace to search for offers to promote on Twitter.
I’ll start my search by narrowing it down to a specific niche and filtering the results by Gravity: High-Low.
You may be wondering what the ClickBank Gravity Score is.
The ClickBank Gravity Score is a performance metric calculated over a 12-week rolling period to measure the sales momentum of offers on the ClickBank affiliate marketplace.
The higher the Gravity Score, the better an offer is currently performing for various affiliates. It’s not an end-all-be-all metric but it is certainly helpful when choosing a new offer to try out.
The next step is to examine if the offer is good enough to promote (can it make consistent money).
Things I Look For
- Gravity Score > 10
- Average $/conversion > $100 USD
- Recurring/Rebill commissions available
Once I find an offer that looks solid, I’m going to use the eye test on the offer’s landing page and funnel to determine if I feel like it will convert well.
Let’s try this out with the offer below 👇
John Thornhill’s Ambassador Program is ClickBank’s top IM (internet marketing) offer, and one of the few I still recommend.
Sending traffic to this type of polished landing page will more often than not result in the user entering their information.
From that point on, the lead is pushed through a conversion-optimized funnel, and you receive 50% commission every step of the way (including all recurring billing).
In fact, the average commission earned per conversion, including upsells and recurring revenue is over $350 and you have the opportunity to make up to $3493 for just a single sale!
John is so confident that the Ambassador Program will work for almost anyone who is serious about making money online that he even guarantees you will make $2000 in the first 90 days.
Unlike other IM webinars out there, this one is no frills and jumps immediately into explaining step-by-step exactly how the Ambassador Program works. If you are interested in a super simple system to make money as an affiliate bypromoting some of ClickBank’s top products you should do yourself a favor and watch it.
Even if you aren’t in the Make Money Online (MMO) niche like me you can still steal my offer selection process for your niche to find ClickBank products that give you the best chance to make money as an affiliate!
About Hotmart
Founded in 2011, Hotmart is a Brazilian digital marketplace platform focused on entrepreneurs selling educational products, online training courses, ebooks and tools to start digital businesses
Hotmart has over 500,000 products listed from merchants in Brazil and globally across 100+ countries.
There is a network of 65,000+ affiliates that market these Hotmart products.
The company has expanded with offices in Brazil, Mexico, Spain, and France and has an international affiliate network.
Why You Should Choose Hotmart
With over 19 million users, Hotmart stands out as a top platform in Latin America for selling and promoting online courses.
If you want to market education-based products or affiliate offers, Hotmart provides these advantages:
Specialization in online courses – Hotmart focuses on eLearning products, offering over 50,000 online courses catering to diverse topics from marketing to health to photography.
High-converting model – The nature of selling education and classes online lends itself to recurring passive income and repeat buyers who take multiple courses.
Global reach with strong LATAM base – Based in Brazil, Hotmart dominates the Latin American market while expanding growth across 190+ countries with students and creators worldwide.
Industry-leading affiliate program – Hotmart’s affiliate program is touted as one of the most well-rounded. It rewards affiliates with 30-50% commissions on every sale depending on agreement terms.
Multiple payment facilitators – Besides major options like PayPal, Hotmart integrates dozens of localized payment methods making regional conversion and checkout seamless.
How to Sign Up as a Hotmart Affiliate
Becoming a Hotmart affiliate is simple, and joining their program is free. As an affiliate, you earn commissions by driving traffic and sales to online course creators on the Hotmart platform.
Here is the link to sign up as a Hotmart affiliate.
Once registered, you’ll access your Hotmart affiliate dashboard.
This is where you can start browsing products and grab your unique affiliate links and promo tools to drive traffic.
Make sure to also take a moment to set up your payment account so you are ready to receive your affiliate commissions seamlessly.
Hotmart offers several payout options, including bank transfer, PayPal, and Mercado Pago, so you can select the method that suits you best.
How to Find Hotmart Offers to Promote
As an affiliate-focused ecommerce platform for selling online courses, Hotmart makes it easy to search and find offers tailored to your audience.
Similar to other affiliate marketplaces, Hotmart has a pretty straightforward user interface.
When you first log in to your Hotmart affiliate dashboard, you’ll see highlighted offers across niches like finance, health, technology, and more. You can scroll through or search for your specific niche.
The site has a user-friendly interface that allows you to drill down by relevant categories and filters to match products to promote.
Additionally, Hotmart allows you to filter offers by:
- Commission rate – Find the highest-paying offers
- Bestsellers – Promote established courses that already convert
- Categories – Narrow down by niche from marketing, personal development, design and more
- Product type – Focus specifically on high-ticket online courses
Spend time clicking on multiple offers that catch your eye, and vet the course content by taking free previews when possible.
Make sure to do your research to pick offers that truly provide value.
This ensures when you do promote Hotmart offers, you feel confident sending your audience to products they’ll genuinely appreciate.
What are the Key Differences Between ClickBank and Hotmart?
Both platforms serve as affiliate networks, but they differ in terms of product offerings and market presence.
Product Categories
ClickBank is renowned for its extensive range of product categories.
In addition to informational products like ebooks, video courses, and membership sites, ClickBank also allows the promotion of physical products. A major portion of its catalog focuses on health supplements and nutraceuticals.
Some of ClickBank’s largest niches by offers include:
- Health & Fitness – One of the most popular verticals, spanning specialized diets, workout plans, alternative medicine and more. It also contains a large supplement segment.
- Wealth & Investing – Products focused on finance, trading platforms, crypto strategies, budgeting tools and related education.
- Self-Help & Motivation – Life coaching courses, neurolinguistic programming, and meditation guides covering personal growth.
- Employment & Jobs – Range of educational products related to resume building, freelancing skills, and side income generation outside traditional work.
For more insights into the products available, you can check the ClickBank Support page which outlines the platform’s categories and subcategories.
In contrast, Hotmart emphasizes education-based products, predominantly ebooks and online video courses.
While this narrower focus might seem limiting, it positions Hotmart as a specialized platform catering especially to educational content creators and consumers.
Geographical Market Presence
ClickBank overwhelmingly dominates the North American market, especially the United States, in terms of digital products listed, active affiliate marketers driving traffic, and a customer base making frequent online purchases.
It also has a strong foothold in other major English speaking countries like Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
In contrast, Hotmart’s stronghold lies in Latin America, primarily Brazil where the company originated.
Hotmart’s product listings and interface are available in Portuguese, Spanish, and English, allowing it to see good traction in Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and Chile.
Hotmart also has a growing presence in France leveraging local affiliate connections.
As online commerce grows worldwide, both platforms will likely continue penetrating new geographical territories beyond their current footholds.
ClickBank vs Hotmart: Final Thoughts
Some of you may feel compelled to choose one over the other. However, savvy marketers realize don’t need to take an either/or approach.
The two models can complement each other quite well.
Nothing prevents you from cherry-picking the best products across marketplaces to suit your audience.
Take what you learned today about the two platforms and use that to make the most money you possibly can!