Field guide
Where Digital Launches Are Built
Before any info product turns into a sale, it travels through a string of technical decisions: where it's hosted, who processes the payment, who recruits affiliates to sell it, and which script announces it to the world. Here's a pocket map of that trail.
The U.S. and global checkout platforms
A handful of platforms carry most of today's course, coaching, and ebook launches. They all solve the same basic problem — checkout, a members area, an affiliate program, and payout handling — but each has picked a different crowd to call its own.
ClickBank
The veteran of the space, running since 1998 and still one of the largest affiliate marketplaces in the world. It carries thousands of info-product and supplement offers, with affiliate commissions that typically run between 50% and 75%, and remains the default entry point for creators who want a global affiliate army from day one.
Digistore24
A hybrid option with a strong footprint across Europe and the U.S., mixing digital and physical products in the same catalog — a common second checkout for sellers who want redundancy or a foothold in the European market.
Kajabi and Teachable
All-in-one course platforms built for the creator who wants pages, email, and checkout under one roof rather than stitching tools together. They trade some of the affiliate reach of a marketplace for simplicity and control over the brand experience.
SamCart and ThriveCart
Checkout-first tools rather than full marketplaces — built to plug into whatever email and page tools a launch team already runs, with an emphasis on order bumps, upsells, and cart-conversion features.
The affiliate networks around them
Outside the info-product world, generalist affiliate networks add reach for physical goods and bigger brands.
Amazon Associates
The safest on-ramp for anyone testing affiliate income with physical products — a massive catalog and buyer trust, though commissions are modest, usually in the 1%–10% range.
CJ Affiliate and Awin
Two of the biggest generalist affiliate networks, connecting publishers to a wide roster of retail and SaaS brands beyond the info-product niche.
Payoneer
Not a launch platform itself, but the payout rail many international affiliates rely on to receive commissions from marketplaces that don't pay directly to a local bank.
| Platform | Known for | Tends to fit |
|---|---|---|
| ClickBank | Global affiliate reach | Info products and supplements sold worldwide |
| Digistore24 | US/EU coverage | Backup checkout, European audience |
| Kajabi | All-in-one course tools | Brand-first course creators |
| Teachable | Simple course setup | First-time course creators |
| SamCart / ThriveCart | Checkout optimization | Teams with their own funnel stack |
| Amazon Associates | Trust and catalog size | Physical-product affiliates |
The launch formats behind them
The platform is the engine, but the launch script is the road map. Four formats keep resurfacing, with variations from one marketer to the next.
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Product Launch Formula
The most widely copied structure, created by Jeff Walker: a sequence of free content that warms up an audience before the cart opens for a short, fixed window.
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Seed launch
A leaner version aimed at creators without a large audience yet — the product is validated and sold to a small group before any heavy ad spend.
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Evergreen cart
Instead of a short window, the cart stays open year-round, fed by ongoing ads aimed at people who already understand the problem and the solution.
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Live and ongoing content
A more informal format built on recurring live streams, without necessarily relying on email capture — the audience is built and converted in the same place.
A detail that's easy to miss: during high-traffic launch days, larger operations commonly keep a backup checkout on a second platform — a technical hiccup at the peak of an open cart is too expensive a risk to leave to a single vendor.
Where to start
There's no single "best" platform outside of context — only the one that fits the product, the audience, and the stage of the business. Anyone testing a first product tends to save time on a simple checkout setup; anyone already selling abroad benefits from one that handles currency and international payment without friction; anyone building recurring revenue benefits from one built for subscriptions. Everything else — the copy, the offer, the audience — still decides whether the launch actually sells.